Lightweight Xubuntu
The latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly has a feature on reducing the memory footprint of Xubuntu 9.04. This is in response to an earlier comparison of performance and memory consumption between Xubuntu and Debian with Xfce, published in the previous edition of DistroWatch Weekly.
Unfortunately the sequence of steps starts by installing a minimal Ubuntu setup with command line only and then adding to it bit by bit, meaning a reinstall. I would also like to see the steps of simplifying a full blown Xubuntu setup by removing unnecessary components.
As an aside, I am typing this post on a fairly old laptop with only 256 MB RAM running Xubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty), and I have to say that for light everyday use (ie. Firefox, Thunar, Terminal, Mousepad) it is absolutely fine. I have been toying with the idea of installing Zenwalk or Debian (with Xfce of course!), we’ll see.