opa, professional genealogist, power walker, avid reader, technologist, historian, civil libertarian, constitutionalist, NAFO member
Looks like my cut & paste skills need work… here are the links I intended to give everyone:
Exodia (dwm, bspwm) Arch Distro: https://exodia-os.github.io/exodia-website/?ref=news.itsfoss.com
CachyOS (gnome, kde) Arch Distro: https://cachyos.org/
XeroLinux (Stable base Arch): https://xerolinux.xyz/
Another factor impacting memory significantly is the kernel used. My liquorix kernel “updated” this morning and I am using 200MB less memory than yesterday; it must be my lucky day. 😜
Thank you for noticing my omission. I added the following: NB.: Dropbox is shown because it runs at login and is a large contaminant in terms of memory utilization on each window manager (setup). If you do NOT use Dropbox you should expect your idle memory use to be lower than my total by some 600MB.
FWIW neither KDE nor gnome are Window Managers (WM), they are Desktop Environments (DE). WMs are significantly different from DEs in terms of what they provide and how they are constructed. WMs are more of a builder’s kit and less of something you just install and use. If you like doing things in a specific, unique manner you might enjoy WMs. Be advised they are, almost always, much more detailed in terms of their installation.
If you look through this thread, you may notice that almost everything is biased towards personal preference(s). I recommend you research for those aspects of security AND privacy that interest you and select the tools, distros that you prefer. The beauty of Linux lies in its variety. Use what pleases you and serves your needs.
I, also, use systemd… When running Wayland and x11 window managers there are quite a few dependencies on systemd that are easiest ti handle by just using it. ;)