Distros and DEs

[raymac46]

Thanks HJ for your contributions to this thread.
Just as an aside - when it comes to netbooks, you may be lucky enough to have one that is a 64 bit machine. Later Atoms like the N450 qualify. If you have 2 GB of RAM you can have a pretty nice experience with an LXQt distro like Lubuntu or Sparky Linux. These 64 bit models may have originally run Windows 7 Starter edition.
https://uk.dynabook.com/discontinued-products/toshiba-nb305-106/

[Forlorn]

Yep, you can change this [Rox-Filer] behavior

Those crafty buggers hid the menu. You have to right-click to see the options menu. I turned off auto re-size and now all is good in the AntiX file manager world

[Hedon James]

Thanks HJ for your contributions to this thread.
Just as an aside - when it comes to netbooks, you may be lucky enough to have one that is a 64 bit machine. Later Atoms like the N450 qualify. If you have 2 GB of RAM you can have a pretty nice experience with an LXQt distro like Lubuntu or Sparky Linux. These 64 bit models may have originally run Windows 7 Starter edition.
https://uk.dynabook.com/discontinued-products/toshiba-nb305-106/

Raymac, happy to contribute when I have something worthwhile to add to the discussion.  And I've done a LOT of distro farming with different distros and different DEs, so I know a little about this subject.  Otherwise, I'm usually sitting in the corner, paying close attention while I eat my bucket of popcorn!  LOL!

And your advice on those Netbooks with 2GB RAM is spot on.  For those who find WM distros to be too "minimalist", I think LXDE/LXQT is the minimum DE to provide a homogeneous DE experience.  Of course LXDE is dying a slow death on the GTK toolkit vine, but LXQT is very active and keeps improving.  You know LXQT is in my "sweet spot" and I've hot-rodded my own LXQT with various customizations.  Lubuntu and Sparky both have nice LXQT implementations, but I think Siduction is probably the gold standard for the LXQT DE.  OTOH, I wouldn't recommend Siduction to linux beginners, except maybe a Live Medium for experimentation; but for those willing to put up with the things you need to do to be on a "cutting edge" rolling release, Siduction LXQT is the standard, IMO.  Your advice regarding Sparky and Lubuntu is solid, but I'd clarify that the Sparky "rolling" release updates VERY frequently and the Sparky "stable" release is a better choice for linux beginners.  Sparky "stable" and Lubuntu LXQT for the win!

[raymac46]

@HJ I was running Arch Linux LXQt on my Lenovo Flex2-15D laptop until a kernel update trashed my already janky wifi card. It started connecting and disconnecting and wifi speeds dropped to zero. I replaced Arch with the Lubuntu LTS version and all is well. You are right, there is a lot to be said for just going with a stable version of a given distro, even if you are an experienced user.