Will using KDE programs use too much system resources?

[Nikolas Arend]

Dotan Cohen wrote:
> I have switched to Xfce from KDE because I find KDE to slow on my
> machine (1.5gHz P4, 256MB RAM). Xfce is a little faster, or at least I
> feel this way though I haven't timed with a stopwatch. At least there
> is no lag between typing and seeing text on the screen on Xfce.
>
> There are some KDE programs that I have come to rely upon, such as
> Kopete and Kate. Will loading these programs use resources as if I was
> on KDE? In other words, if I continue to use these programs, will I be
> negating any benefit of Xfce over KDE?
>
>   
Starting KDE programs will most likely be accompanied by the lauch of 
several KDE components like dcopserver, kded, klauncher, kio_whatever. 
There is no way to avoid this since there's no switch in KDE or one of 
its components to turn that off. So, basically, by launching KDE 
programs you'll also launch a part of KDE. There is the possibility, 
however, to have those basic KDE stuff launched when starting xfce (look 
into the session manager configuration). But that will of course 
increase startup time when you log in and cost system resources (memory).

The benefit of xfce is that the other comparable components (like the 
window manager, panel, desktop, etc.) should be more "lightweight" in 
xfce than in KDE. Also, a standard KDE desktop consists of many other 
"gimmicks" that you may not use or need. Surely you can try to make your 
KDE desktop as lean as possible by disabling superfluous stuff, but then 
again, I don't wanna talk you out of xfce ;-)

> Also, if I have KDE open in F7 and Xfce open in F8, will I loose out
> on the speed benefits of Xfce by the fact that KDE is open in F7?
>
>   
Unless some process in KDE is using the CPU frequently and besides the 
fact that running two X sessions and two desktop environments at a time 
is a bit memory intensive, no.
> I have only a very limited knowledge of how windows managers work, so
> if there is a technical reason for a given answer, I'd like to know it
> so that I can learn. From what I could google, if there is a drawback
> to using KDE apps in Xfce, it is because of libraries being loaded.
> But is this persistant after I close the app? Thanks.
>   
It's not only libraries, see above.

HTH,  Nick.