Picking A Window Manager / Desktop Environment

wcbaker · n00b Joined: 24 Oct 2003 Posts: 36

What would be a good WM/DE for a recent convert? I like clean lines and smooth fonts (no courier). I want somthing not too bloated, yet not so complicated that configuring it takes a few hours. thx again and sorry if this has been answered a lot.

teknomage1 · Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2003 4:08 am Post subject:

i started on mandrake with kde but now i run blackbox. with the package bbconf it's easy to configure. it's pretty minimalist though

30726 · Veteran Joined: 24 Sep 2003 Posts: 1501

XFce4 might be what you're looking for.
Lightweight and still has a nice and intuitive gui.

[herb] · Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2003 6:42 am Post subject:

Gnome isnt TOO bloated.

KDE is very user friendly, and I find it to be a good starting DE for converts. However, I'm pretty sure its quite bloated as well.
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Anderas · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 08 Sep 2003 Posts: 77

I've tried using tonnes of WM's throughout the time. I've even used KDE for long periods of time. But I must say that I find Gnome2.4 to be the best and cleanest desktop for linux I've ever experienced yet. With a lot of tweaking, of course. I liked KDE some time ago, but I just find it too bloated now... I also feel that the progress the Gnome project is making is happening much faster.

fp2099 · Apprentice Joined: 08 Oct 2003 Posts: 261

XFCE4+Rox (file manager)

GenKreton · Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2003 3:30 pm Post subject:

Try kahakai. The menu's are easy to program, and pypanel is now in portage for an amazing look and very small footprint.

Roguelazer · Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2003 11:56 pm Post subject:

ROX-desktop for usability. Enlightenment for eyecandy.
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harnir · n00b Joined: 05 Nov 2003 Posts: 39 Location: Poland

Maybe crystal for a change? http://fvwm-crystal.linuxpl.org - there's English version of the site now

hook · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 9:49 am Post subject:

well, i started on kde-1.x and loved it ...only my PC was too poor to run it fluently
then i ran blackbox ...minimalistic, but nice.
got a new PC and ran kde-2.x (in it's late stages) ...still loved it

switched to fluxbox ...liked it even more then blackbox.
kde-3.0 got out ...fell in love

kde-3.1 got out ...got a biiiiiiiig smile on my face
kde-3.2 is getting out ...can't wait

...long story short: in my eyes KDE is the best I've seen ...with fluxbox right behind it. you might also want to try xfce and icewm.

a nice idea is to emerge -s all these wm/de (to get the URL) and visit their pages ...and especially the screenshots area to get the idea ...and by the way, except KDE and GNOME (and enlightenment) all wm should install really fast, so you can try the out

...you can always unmerge those which you won't like

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fp2099 · Apprentice Joined: 08 Oct 2003 Posts: 261

ikaro · Advocate Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 2527 Location: Denmark

I would go for Fluxbox
actually version 0.9.6 was released today

Fluxbox is minimalistic, fast, stable and looks great.. and Its easy to configure.
You dont need to know either xml or python to get it going in a couple of minutes.
And if you have questions there is #fluxbox on freenode and Fluxmod ( check the sig )

Happy vm hunting

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househead · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 12:57 pm Post subject:

monotux · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 1:32 pm Post subject:

well, I would like to recommend fluxbox.
it's not to hard to configure, it lean, fast and really nice.
if you try the development-versions, you will also have some really nice features availible - like systemtray a lá freedesktop.org, pixmaps and transparent menus :-)

if you don't like fluxbox, gnome is always nice on a high resolution screen (1280x1024+) - and you can make it go really smooth, make it clean (using different fonts etc. etc.) - and it's simple to configure.

good luck! :-)

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captnjameskirk · n00b Joined: 11 Jun 2002 Posts: 48

I second the vote for kahakai.

kde -> xfce -> fluxbox -> kahakai. Done.

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TactX · n00b Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 31 Location: Germany

With all the popular *boxes beeing advertised here, I have to mention Openbox3. Clean and fast.

kde -> Windowmaker -> Enlightenment -> Blackbox -> Fluxbox -> Openbox3. Done (propably)

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shm · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 6:24 pm Post subject:

my vote is to try everything, and see what you like.

kde 1.x->enlightenment->gnome 1.x->blackbox->kde 3.1->waimea->kde 3.2/xfce4

I personally love kde 3.2.. it's impressive how far it's gone from just kde 3.1. I also run xfce4 on my ibook. It's impressive how far it's gone from xfce3!
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GMFTatsujin · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 104

I've used Fluxbox for about a year now and I love the clean interface. If nothin else, it has spoiled me for two things: Tabs on application windows, and right-clicking the desktop for the launch menu.

On the other hand, last week I decided to give XFce4 a go, and I'm quite happy with it. It's got the right-click feature I mentioned above, and the little launcher panel is kind of nifty. I like the theme manager and desktop image manager a lot too, and configuring it is very simple. It comes with a few tiny applications for file browsing and such that make life easy. I'll be sticking with it.

The only thing the could make my XFce4 experience better would be if it had tabs a la Fluxbox. Then life would truly be complete.

For either Flux or XFce4, just be aware -- neither of them comes with applications pre-installed (KDE and Gnome do, which I can see the benefit of). Also, they don't detect when new apps have been installed, and don't add them to your launcher menu automagically. This means that you'll still have to build your system up, with the apps you want, and that you'll have to add them to the launcher menus manually. That last bit means editing a file every time you want to make a change. Not a big deal, but you may find it irritating at first.

Andersson · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 7:15 pm Post subject:

I think there was another thread about this a while back... Let's see if I can find it... :twisted:

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fp2099 · Apprentice Joined: 08 Oct 2003 Posts: 261

that's the ugliest desktop i have ever seen

nex_tym · Apprentice Joined: 29 Jul 2003 Posts: 211

Openbox3, nice and clean

erikedin · n00b Joined: 16 Mar 2003 Posts: 40 Location: Stockholm

I'm a fan of fluxbox...

It's clean and fast and clean and fast, and did I mention clean and fast...
But I wouldn't recommend 0.9.6, cause it's just not working all the way yet.

If you wanna go alternative, try ion-devel... It was actually kinda cool once you learned the keybindings... But the documentation isn't good at all...

I tried XFce4 a bit, but I was too used to fluxbox to like it...

Yay for tabs!
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wcbaker · n00b Joined: 24 Oct 2003 Posts: 36

thx for all the tips guys, but one question, when you do a rc-update how do you remove that addition. say i followed the desktop config guide and did a

HeartBreakKid · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 13 Jun 2003 Posts: 76