Throughout this week a stable version of LXQt a new desktop that combines the LXDE philosophy with QT libraries, the libraries that are used in desktops such as KDE but that so far did not use the lightweight desktop since LXDE uses the GTK 2 libraries. As we have said, LXQt uses the same philosophy as LXDE, it can be considered as an evolution of LXDE although we don't really know if LXQt will be the future of LXDE or not.
In this case, LXQt instead of using the OpenBox project, what it does is use the desktop window manager razor-qt, a very light desk that has given a lot and that seems to still have to contribute to many projects. In addition to the window manager, LXQt uses the modules or programs that have been created for LXDE as LXTerminal, LXApperance, LXMusic, etc ...
Why LXQt and not LXDE?
Like all projects, things always look good when talking about it, but more evidence is needed. This must have been thought by the developers and have decided to give tests that they have carried out on a virtual machine. So OpenBox occupies about 58 Mb of ram; Xfce, another of the lightweight desktops par excellence, occupies about 89 mb of ram. Lxde with OpenBox occupies about 78 mb of ram and LXQt about 95 mb of ram. I know that comparing these results it seems illogical that LXQt is lighter than LXDE but this last desktop uses the GTK 2 libraries that have a duration about to expire and with the GTK 3 libraries the consumption is not only different but incredibly disproportionate, therefore It seems that the alternative of Qt seems like the most logical thing to do.
How to test LXQt on Ubuntu?
In order to test this new desktop, the first thing we will have to do is open a terminal and write:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa: lubuntu-dev / lubuntu-daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install lxqt
If we already have Lxde installed or we have installed Lubuntu, possibly what happens to us is that the entire desktop is updated, since it is the same development team, even so, care must be taken with it and if we have a production team better not to do it since it is still experimental. Still, if you can, it's worth a try Do not you think?
I mean, we went up almost 20mb more ram consumption
@carles but LXDE does not have a correct memory management, which makes it heavier than LXQT. M'kay?
But I don't know, I also see the very strange desktop with what is now Lubuntu D:
The performance is not compared to the consumption of RAM. It can consume more RAM but move better. Apart from this, thank you very much for clarifying many things about LXDE and LXQT. I didn't really understand some of the differences.
What about stability and speed?
Hello. Excellent information. But it seems to me that this sentence is poorly worded: "it seems illogical that LXQt is lighter than LXDE" should read: "it seems illogical that LXQt is heavier than LXDE". And I say this by following the comparisons it makes on each desktop and window manager.
more than ram memory, you would have to worry about the use of the microprocessor. many people believe that it is always measured by the consumption of ram memory, and no. not everything is ram memory, you also have to worry about the use of the microprocessor to know if it is really light and efficient.
Exact. in a notebook the effects animations and others use more resources, more battery.
the important thing is efficient cpu usage for long battery life.