Desktop Or Window Manager

Message

jlowell · Post by **jlowell** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 12:11 am

I'd be interested in knowing what percentage of Gentoo users prefer Window Managers and what percentage full scale Desktops.

oniq · Post by **oniq** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 12:31 am

Do you mean something like fluxbox vs. kde or gnome? If so, I prefer gnome. I like having all my open windows listed at the bottom, and enjoy having things integrated into my desktop. Makes a lot of things look the same across the board.

idl · Post by **idl** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 12:45 am

I currently use Fluxbox, but im gonna try out gnome when 2.2 is released and see if I wanna stick with it.

Lovechild · Post by **Lovechild** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 12:51 am

Getting KDE loving...

Arthur Vandelay · Post by **Arthur Vandelay** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 12:57 am

Fluxbox and gkrellm is all I ever need baby. I'm just sick of icons, bloat and useless crap taking up space and memory. I just love having a desktop 1 second after typing startx...

kres · Post by **kres** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 4:24 am

Having just discoverd the joy that is WindowMaker and Enlightnement... I must say window manger.

Fast, pretty, and clean. I used to be a hard-core supporter of gnome. (In both regular and helixcode-Ximian) But all the seemly random changes to the package left a bad taste in my mouth. (Just what the hell IS metacity supposed to be? Revenge of Windows95? Icky)

KDE... to bloated. Fast, pretty, and solid yes - no contest.. but simply too bloated and WIMP centric. (Windows, Icons, Mouse, and Panel)

All that said.. you can not beat the INSTANT load of WM on a PIII 1G. Login and work.

Yummy.

sOuLjA · Post by **sOuLjA** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 10:34 am

i love my fluxbox

PARENA · Post by **PARENA** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 10:55 am

For several years I've used Linux (Slack, RedHat, MDK and now Gentoo) next to my Windblows (95/98/2000) installation. First, it couldn't compete with Windows, but since KDE 3.x I don't even have Windows installed anymore. So, I'm a KDE user right now. I'd love going over to Fluxbox (or E17, but that's becoming a Desktop Manager, of course), WM or whatever window manager, but configuration and things like that is often tedious and eventually, the desktop isn't easy to use for my wife. She likes clickety-click too much for that.

Maybe, when I get my system setup better (run X twice so my wife can simply CTRL-F8 to her own desktop) I'll start fiddling with Fluxbox more, but right now it's just too much work while I'm probably not gonna use it ('coz of the lack of clickety-click, the config file editing needed to change stuff, etc).

Unless someone can prove me wrong, of course. Feel free!

charlieg · Post by **charlieg** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 11:34 am

You just can't beat the pure speed of Waimea/Flux/Windowmaker.

No jagged redraw issues when moving Windows etc... it's hideously slow in both Gnome and KDE. (Vitals: Celeron2 733, 256, 30) Plus there was a distinct lack of aa fonts in KDE 3.0.5.... EW!

chr1z · Post by **chr1z** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 3:28 pm

window manager of course
i love the speed and stable feeling it gives me
i use pwm and that's all i need

H-Pi · Post by **H-Pi** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 3:59 pm

I you only may choose between these I choose desktop

if you you use for example fluxbox with iDesk, dockapps etc. then it's also a desktop, remember that for example gnome is just a windowmanager (metacity or sawfish or enlightenment or whatever) with the same sort of extras like icons, panels, etc. if you remove them you're just using a wm

so it's a bit an unclear question

jlowell · Post by **jlowell** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 2:39 am

Well, we're about 24 hours into this poll and it looks like a clear trend has developed: Window Managers. I suppose I'm not surprized by this development, Gentoo is source based and you'd be more apt to find Window Manager and command line enthusiasts here than, say, on a Red Hat mailing list. Not long ago, I visited one of the SuSE mailing lists with a problem about moving e-mail out of K-Mail and onto a floppy. I'd done most of what I'd been doing to solve the problem from the command line. It was interesting to receive questions about why it was that I'd not used drag-n-drop and other graphical techniques to deal with it. If this poll were run at SuSE, I'll bet the results would show a very lopsided preference for Desktops, with little or no support for WIndow Managers.

jlowell

gsfgf · Post by **gsfgf** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 3:18 am

PARENA wrote: Maybe, when I get my system setup better (run X twice so my wife can simply CTRL-F8 to her own desktop) I'll start fiddling with Fluxbox more, but right now it's just too much work while I'm probably not gonna use it ('coz of the lack of clickety-click, the config file editing needed to change stuff, etc).

Unless someone can prove me wrong, of course. Feel free! :)

install idesk so your wife can just use the icons on the desktop. of course even my mom could figure out the flux menu w/ a little help. (And boy was she proud of herself).

PARENA · Post by **PARENA** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 6:54 am

gsfgf wrote:install idesk so your wife can just use the icons on the desktop. of course even my mom could figure out the flux menu w/ a little help. (And boy was she proud of herself).

Actually, I am experimenting with Openbox right now (I NEED border snapping, and the sorts). Unfortunately, there's a problem which I have described here: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=31463

And yes, I have IDesk running with that. Unfortunately, if the above problem isn't solved, Openbox is quite useless.

drakonite · Post by **drakonite** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 7:32 am

Right now window manager. (E16 to me exact

)

When is released as stable (or is atleast alomst done

) then desktop.

frippz · Post by **frippz** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 7:33 am

I have fallen completely for Fluxbox...!

taskara · Post by **taskara** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 11:00 am

fluxbox baby!!

hook · Post by **hook** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 6:26 pm

ii use both
.root: fluxbox (tried waimea, but didn't like it)
my end-user: kde (currently fluxbox, until 3.1 comes out ...don't ask why!)

jlowell · Post by **jlowell** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 3:49 am

OK, its now about 48 hours into this poll and the question it raised initially is certainly getting answered. I've taken a hard look at Fluxbox, am interested in it and, judging from some of the screen shots of it I've seen of it on this site and others, would like to know if the hardware monitors occasionally pictured with it are integrated or are separate programs?

jlowell

shm · Post by **shm** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 5:02 am

How about a poll option for both?

I personally use waimea, but for whoever else uses my computer, I install kde 3.1 into their box.

matroskin · Post by **matroskin** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 6:35 am

my favorites are sawfish+fbpanel+gkrellm
1. sawfish is the best wm for its highly configurable nature: remove cross-over adv windows, change window title, iconize all windows, move all browsers to certain desktop - just anything

with a single key-stroke
2. fbpanel gives a light tasklist. u can configure window's icon etc + it is GTK app and it integrates nicely into GTK desktop
3. gkrellm is ... just cool
give it a try

Mindstab · Post by **Mindstab** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 7:35 am

Window manager: enlightenment
until e17 comes out
then... "desktop shell"

museX · Post by **museX** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 6:13 pm

window manager:
enlightenment is the best;)

Arthur Vandelay · Post by **Arthur Vandelay** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 7:11 pm

Hey jlowell,

Those monitors are seperate programs that fluxbox can insert into its dock area. Most people (including me) seem to use gkrellm. It rocks.

Arthur Vandelay · Post by **Arthur Vandelay** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 7:12 pm

Hey jlowell,

Those monitors are seperate programs that fluxbox can insert into its dock area. Most people (including me) seem to use gkrellm. It rocks.

Desktop Or Window Manager

What's Your Preference:

Desktop Or Window Manager

WM all the way