Lightweight window managers

Message

bp1506 · Post by **bp1506** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 2:21 pm

So what window manager do you people recommend for a new user that likes applications that are not that bloated with features. I used to run gnome and it was a little slow on my laptop. But it think it would be a lot faster on my desktop. Anyway i emerged xfree86 and i am ready to install the window manager. Any input would be appreciated.

EDIT: Added "lightweight" to title for clarity. -- pjp

elzbal · Post by **elzbal** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 2:29 pm

A lot of folks use and swear by Fluxbox (along with a lot of the other *box WMs). My recommendation for you is to try a few out and see what you like most.

I myself use KDE, which performs great on my desktop, but which may be a bit too bloated for your liking.

hook · Post by **hook** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 2:43 pm

my favourites are:

kde - as a full desktop (combine it with karamba and slicker and it's perfect!!)
fluxbox - as the lightwieght wm, that's always there for you (idesk is helpfull, and i'm waiting for an update)

these are my recomendations

Post by **pjp** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 7:31 pm

Searching for "window manager" will probably help, though you may need to add some search terms.

Most don't take very long to compile, so try them all... I have, and don't like any of them

. Most lack at least a few features that I'd like. I haven't found any with a decent menuing system (I don't like "start" buttons or "root" menus).

xlyz · Post by **xlyz** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 7:46 pm

pjp wrote: I haven't found any with a decent menuing system (I don't like "start" buttons or "root" menus).

and what would u like?

bp1506 · Post by **bp1506** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 7:59 pm

I am compiling gnome2 right now. its taking a long time though. Then afterwards i will recompile my kernel so i can make my text based interface look better. A quick question, should i recompile the kernel by booting from the cd? or can i just do it frommy installed system?

dice · Post by **dice** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 8:03 pm

bp1506 wrote:I am compiling gnome2 right now. its taking a long time though. Then afterwards i will recompile my kernel so i can make my text based interface look better. A quick question, should i recompile the kernel by booting from the cd? or can i just do it frommy installed system?

You can just do it from your regular system. Imagine how much of a PITA it would be if you had to boot off a CD every time you wanted to compile a new kernel

Post by **pjp** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 8:11 pm

xlyz wrote:
pjp wrote: I haven't found any with a decent menuing system (I don't like "start" buttons or "root" menus).
and what would u like?

I'm working on that. Have a few ideas, but still doing research on UI design. I suspect I'll not get anywhere beyond graphical mock-up. I have downloaded some simple WMs to play with, but I'm no programmer.

mb4guns · Post by **mb4guns** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 8:41 pm

MYself was using kde,but I think it is just a bit to fancy and to much. Fluxed I think are to basic, found my rest with gnome2 pretty strippeddown with minor panels, looks good speed is fine, think I marrie soon

jondkent · Post by **jondkent** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 10:24 pm

For me Fluxbox is my main WM, KDE is good but has too many features I don't use and GNOME always feels like a poor cousin of KDE. Other than that I used WindowMaker whic is OK if you like the NeXtStep approach to things and XFCE is interesting as well. Have a play

plasmagunman · Post by **plasmagunman** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 10:30 pm

i'm still with good old fvwm. surely it isn't that cool as the new *boxes and the config-files are a little bit ugly, but it does everything i want him to do.

Angelus · Post by **Angelus** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 2:24 am

Windowmaker is really complete, fast, light and easy to use. Has a config program to do all the configuration stuff.

I myself use openbox with Rox to do the icons, mounts and stuff like that.

But i think, as someone said after ..you should try them all.

jimlynch11 · Post by **jimlynch11** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 3:29 am

i formerly used KDE (back when i used other linux distros and for a few weeks of gentoo) to ease my transition over from windows.

since then i have stopped using KDE in favor of fluxbox, as well as stopped using the graphical login manager. i like being able to bootup and have all my everyday programs going (GAIM, email, scheduler etc.) in less than 1 minute (give or take).

enlightenment also looks pretty cool, but i havent gotten around to trying it.

shm · Post by **shm** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 5:15 am

I went from windowmaker to KDE 1.2 to GNOME 1.0-1.2 to blackbox to KDE 3

btw, the new and upcoming xfce4 looks very nice. I'll definatly check it out.

zypher · Post by **zypher** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 6:00 am

Yes, I'm using xfce4 for a few months now and it's getting better and better wthout loosing it's speed.

MasonMouse · Post by **MasonMouse** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 7:09 am

If you like the Win95 interface, you'll probably find IceWM useful. Freshmeat hosts quite a few themes for it that include screenshots to see what all it can look like.

v0n · Post by **v0n** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 7:52 am

How do you guys move around Fluxbox without proper clickable taskbar, alt-tab all the time? Doesn't it bother you that it doesn't have tray as well? I have to say I couldn't find patience to run Fluxbox on my desktop full time despite its looks.

xlyz · Post by **xlyz** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 11:58 am

v0n wrote:How do you guys move around Fluxbox without proper clickable taskbar, alt-tab all the time? Doesn't it bother you that it doesn't have tray as well? I have to say I couldn't find patience to run Fluxbox on my desktop full time despite its looks.

I assign 1 or 2 apps to each workspace, and scroll through them with the mousewheel

btw with 0.9.x you can have your apps appear in the toolbar (if you prefer)

jimlynch11 · Post by **jimlynch11** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 12:55 pm

v0n wrote:How do you guys move around Fluxbox without proper clickable taskbar, alt-tab all the time? Doesn't it bother you that it doesn't have tray as well? I have to say I couldn't find patience to run Fluxbox on my desktop full time despite its looks.

yeah thats the biggest thing that annoys me about flux...although supposedly they are working on more XP-like alt-tabbing (which is alot more effective)....

i also think there are some addons you can get to dock your apps, but i havent gotten around to playing with them yet. what do you use?

v0n · Post by **v0n** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 1:42 pm

I'm quite unfortunatelly stuck with KDE, which is way overgrown, overdriven and overdosed for (probably any) desktop needs, but remains sane in terms of overall design ergonomics. I felt enlightenment had quite an idea for a desktop few years ago. But as much as I admire everything they do, without pun intended, one has to understand E developement is not proceeding any faster (and probably further) than Australian Space Program and intergalactic flights...

TripKnot · Post by **TripKnot** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 3:39 pm

How do you guys move around Fluxbox without proper clickable taskbar, alt-tab all the time? Doesn't it bother you that it doesn't have tray as well? I have to say I couldn't find patience to run Fluxbox on my desktop full time despite its looks.

Middle click for the workspaces menu then browse the menu to the app you want.

st. anger · Post by **st. anger** » Sat May 03, 2003 2:48 am

i use icewm. very light wm.
i used to use fluxbox, but i hated that there isnt a real taskbar, and i think the taskbar is a very important part of a wm.
plus i also like that icewm doesnt rely on the mouse

Superfly · Post by **Superfly** » Sat May 03, 2003 5:33 pm

I like having no clutter on my desktop. By clutter, I mean "anything that isn't a window".

I also prefer to use command line tools through an rxvt shell... so all the gui stuff in KDE and Gnome is just a lot of bloat for me.

I used WindowMaker for a LONG time and loved it... but those icons were just so damn ugly. When I tried Gentoo, I noticed a lot of people raving about Fluxbox, so I tried that out, and fell in love.

Tabbed windows are just great. You can group any windows you want. I set up some keyboard shortcuts for cycling through the tabbed windows in the group I have choosen, and it's just so usefull.

Also, I can use my favorite WindowMaker doc apps. I've got them docked in the upper left corner of the screen with auto-hide on. I really only use Volume.app though, to easily change the volume in fluxbox.

I also love being able to right click anywhere on the desktop to get to the root menu, and middle click to get to the taskbar-like menu. I find it so much quicker to use than a staticly-placed start menu and taskbar.

The only things I missed from WindowMaker were being able to use "%s" in my menu to insert selected text in to it and "%a" in my menu to pop up an input box and then enter that text into it... (i.e. "phoenix %s" would open phoenix with whatever I have selected with my mouse where %s is... GREAT for centericq. and "phoenix %a(Enter Url)" would pop up an fbrun box asking for a url (with it's OWN history list!).) So I hacked the source code and made a couple patch files to add that functionality into fluxbox. I couldn't be more happier with any other WM. :)

Actually... I think I might like ratpoison. It's based off GNU Screen... I've been wanting to try it for a while now.

bkhl · Post by **bkhl** » Sat May 03, 2003 5:57 pm

Superfly wrote:I used WindowMaker for a LONG time and loved it... but those icons were just so damn ugly. When I tried Gentoo, I noticed a lot of people raving about Fluxbox, so I tried that out, and fell in love.

You couldn't just change the icons?

Superfly wrote:Actually... I think I might like ratpoison. It's based off GNU Screen... I've been wanting to try it for a while now.

I've used that one for some time, and liked it. However, after trying out larswm, I don't think I will be going back.

For more info on simplistic X usage I recommend this fm.net article.

Blurpy · Post by **Blurpy** » Sat May 03, 2003 6:11 pm

I used fluxbox a while, but then I tried waimea, and loved it. I might go back to fluxbox soon to test the new stuff they have done in 0.9x.

Lightweight window managers

Lightweight window managers

Some suggestions