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I have a 5th generation Intel laptop with Nvidia 820M GPU and i wan to use Archlinux/Salix with Ratpoison WM for development purposes. The problem is Ratpoison is ment for lowend computers. What are the chances that I can use it my pc?

Godwin Kimani
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Works fine.

"Meant" for low-end computers means that unlike a window manager that uses OpenGL to render to an off-screen buffer that is then alpha-blended into the resulting image by the compositing manager, ratpoison does not rely on 3D rendering functions.

So it uses only a small subset of the GPU features that is implemented on almost any hardware, including older machines. This means that the looks are rather plain, but on the other hand this really conserves power, especially on nVidia hardware.

Simon Richter
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  • wow thanks now do i go for the iso image with ratposion preinstalled or i go with the one without and install drivers first then the rat poison WM? – Godwin Kimani Jan 17 '16 at 07:11
  • Shouldn't matter, I think. If you're a beginner, having most of the setup done for you might be easier, but over time you probably want better control over what is installed. – Simon Richter Jan 17 '16 at 11:56