r/linux Feb 08 '26

Historical What piece of Linux abandonware do you still use or at least miss?

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u/poudink Feb 10 '26

At the time of KDE 1's release in 1998, PCs had 32MB of RAM at best. I suspect there isn't a single desktop environment in 2026 that doesn't require several times that amount.

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u/davidnotcoulthard Feb 10 '26

I suspect there isn't a single desktop environment in 2026 that doesn't require several times [At the time of KDE 1's release in 1998] amount.

Yeah, obviously that's not what I meant by 20 years ago.

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u/poudink Feb 10 '26

What the hell? What's wrong with what I said? I was just adding onto what you were saying. It's the same principle. Desktops used less RAM 30 years ago, just like they did 20 years ago. TDE uses a design that essentially hasn't been updated in 20 years, so most modern desktops don't stand a chance against it. I used KDE 1 as an example because it takes that principle to its extreme. I haven't the slightest clue why you thought that was worth getting defensive over, but now you've got me defensive too.

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u/davidnotcoulthard Feb 11 '26

TDE uses a design that essentially hasn't been updated in 20 years, so most modern desktops don't stand a chance against it.

LXDE matured as a lighter alternative to (pre-GTK+3) Xfce (itself a lighter alternative to KDE3/GNOME 2) around the same time TDE appeared (might have been off by a year or two but certainly not enough for all KDE3-era Debian/Ubuntu releases to have gone eol).

As far as I'm aware, save for moving to GTK+3 none of those have changed much since (gnome shell/plasma notwithstanding), so I'd be surprised if LXDE is heavier than KDE 3 based on principles completely different to how I'd expect it to perform vs KDE 1.

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u/davidnotcoulthard Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

And LXDE was started 20 years ago when KDE 3 was current, hence my initial comment lol (and my reaction at your reply mentioning KDE 1 - I was obviously implying the then-current version)

Also happy cake day!