It is true that [KDE4] it needs longer to come to life, but once up and running it performs the same as Trinity and has many features that the others cannot offer; not remotely! And I run it with only 1.25 G of ram and 4 G swap in harddisk.
With only 1.25 G of RAM??
My own computer is 4 Gb of RAM plus 8 Gb of swap (just in case i need to hibernate, you know), but I use to work in some computers that are long the way back. One of them is less than 200 Mb, so KDE4 is out of the question. A distribution with a good implementation of LXDE would be good option for it, but Porteus lacks of that good implementation. Conclusion? That computer runs another distro.
The way I see it: any desktop environment that wastes 400 Mb of RAM for doing nothing is not serious. Debian Squeeze+LXDE uses less than 190 Mb unless you start compressing things with paq8o or start some other heavy work. I can understand lrzip to seize 3 Gb of RAM for working, but an environment that wastes 0.5 Gb just because it exists makes not much sense. In addition, the fact that you have to write down all that memory means that it takes longer for the apps to start working, etc, etc.
LXDE (when it is well done) gives you all you need. What is a desktop environment for? It is for helping you to manage your work, your windows and find your apps, plain and simple. LXDE has a window manager, and a pannel to find your apps and organize your work. It has everythig you need without uneeded resources comsumption. Something similar can be said of many other standalone window managers.
Definitely, if we are there to conker the world, we must come out with KDE 4.6.5, also for 32 bits Porteus
If we are to conker the world, we need a war strategy.
We have to offer something nobody else offers. After all, there are many known distributions around. Why would someone switch to Porteus if it didn't have attractive features not found in other distributions?
You cannot try to offer the most beautiful system, because the MacOS crowd and many other GNU/Linux distributions would be tought to defeat.
You cannot try to be the smallest distribution, because Slitaz and TinyCore control that field.
You cannot try to be the most user friendly, because many other Live distributions have had that idea before.
You cannot try to have the better hardware detection. Knoppix and Kanotix rule in this area.
What can you try?
You can try to be a hightly customizable Live distribution which offers an easy way to create a fully working environment just by adding and replacing modules from the medium.
The first step where custom changes begin is where the user sets the desktop environment. KDE4 is well cared off, but I think it's the only one. There are no official modules for common tasks that can be done in KDE but not in Porteus' LXDE. That turns any DE that is not KDE a poor option in Porteus, thus limiting the viability of LXDE (and any other environment) as a desktop.
What does the W.O.P.R recomend?
Make LOTS of hight quality official modules. Once you have many competitive environments availible for Porteus, the user will be able to install his own environment as he likes just by adding modules. If you have a gtk app for a task and a qt app for the same task, you are in the way to make a customizable desktop agnostic distribution, as everyone should be.
Easier said than done