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by JasonFruit 4369 days ago
Looking at the recommended hardware specs, I see that it absolutely requires 512MB RAM and recommends at least 2GB, yet it says it has modest hardware requirements. Ubuntu Server has a minimum RAM requirement of 64MB and recommends 256MB; I know an X server takes some memory, but does a reasonable desktop environment have to require 448MB to 1.75GB to run?

Probably memory use is not a high priority, but it still seems like there's a lot of waste.
3 comments
leorocky 4369 days ago
You cannot require the memory requirements of Ubuntu server with a desktop version of Ubuntu. Desktop Ubuntu's minimum is also 512MB:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequire...

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JasonFruit 4368 days ago
Right, but I don't think that addresses my point at all. I'm not saying there should be no difference, but should there really be that much?
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Touche 4369 days ago
I don't think 512 is asking much in 2014.
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bryanlarsen 4369 days ago
I'm sure that are DE's that work well with less than 512MB of RAM, but there aren't any modern web browsers that do. They're going to put 512MB as a requirement no matter what the DE itself requires.
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slacka 4368 days ago
> there aren't any modern web browsers that do.

My parents old Athlon laptop with 512MB runs Linux Mint Mate and is fine for their needs. When they started to complain about the browser slowing down, I downgraded them to Firefox 13, and they were happy again. It's not ideal, but modern enough for reading the news, emailing, and watching videos.

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tomrod 4369 days ago
Elinks or links2 is quite servicable.
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