Lightweight window managers

Message

hackertype · Post by **hackertype** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 12:43 am

I've been using ratpoison all day and I still like it more than I have liked any other wm. I've only tried twm, fvwm, cde, kde, and gnome. It's in the portage tree.

I would like to make an ebuild for the latest beta. Anyone have some tips?

Ari Rahikkala · Post by **Ari Rahikkala** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 7:35 am

H0bb3z wrote:Here's my recommendation:

Boot your box with a Knoppix CD (http://www.knoppix.com) and use a kernel cheat code (http://download.linuxtag.org/knoppix/kn ... tcodes.txt) to try the various different window managers out there and decide which one you like.

When you've decided, emerge the wm of choice on your Gentoo box.

This way, you don't screw up anything on your harddrive while testing out the different window manglers.

Hm... that's a rather paranoid way of testing window managers, IMO. I mean, I don't think any WM is coded purposefully so that it will mangle data on your HD if you aren't entirely aware of what you're doing. You can always emerge -C the stuff you don't need...

H0bb3z · Post by **H0bb3z** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 1:45 pm

I guess I just don't like installing unnecessary code on my boxen -- even if you emerge -C what you don't want, sometimes there are some file-turds that get left over that don't get removed (like all the personal settings that get created in your home dir, etc.).

Paranoid is probably a good description of this philosophy, too...

jaska · Post by **jaska** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:11 pm

I like pekwm quite a lot, yes it is minimal wm, however it does everything i need from it and rather well i might add. But that is just my opinion and shouldnt be taken seriously

Old Gentooman · Post by **Old Gentooman** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 10:34 pm

st. anger wrote: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

IceWM serves me well. It's relatively easy to configure and customize and I particullarly like the net and cpu resource displays in it's toolbar. Being new to Gentoo, I have yet to figure out how to stop emerge from auto-compiling the source, so I simply download the tarball, configure with guievents and sound support, and then manually compile. But I must say... it's lightweight! Thumbs up for IceWM.

boroshan · Post by **boroshan** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 10:51 pm

Since no one else seem to have mentioned it, let me wave the flag for Afterstep

Its not to everyone's taste, perhaps, but it does me. Small footprint, and ultra configurable. The next version is just released in beta I believe.

On the down side, the default theme is ug-leee! there are some nice themes on freshmeat, whoch helps. The config app is currently broke as well, which ups the learning curve a little. You have enjoy getting your hands a bit dirty to get the best out of it

digicosm · Post by **digicosm** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 12:50 am

Ari Rahikkala wrote:
H0bb3z wrote:Here's my recommendation:

Boot your box with a Knoppix CD (http://www.knoppix.com) and use a kernel cheat code (http://download.linuxtag.org/knoppix/kn ... tcodes.txt) to try the various different window managers out there and decide which one you like.

When you've decided, emerge the wm of choice on your Gentoo box.

This way, you don't screw up anything on your harddrive while testing out the different window manglers.
Hm... that's a rather paranoid way of testing window managers, IMO. I mean, I don't think any WM is coded purposefully so that it will mangle data on your HD if you aren't entirely aware of what you're doing. You can always emerge -C the stuff you don't need...

Well, one advantage is that you don't have to sit through a potentially long compile process before you can test it out.

Clete2 · Post by **Clete2** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 1:04 am

H0bb3z wrote:I guess I just don't like installing unnecessary code on my boxen -- even if you emerge -C what you don't want, sometimes there are some file-turds that get left over that don't get removed (like all the personal settings that get created in your home dir, etc.).

Paranoid is probably a good description of this philosophy, too...

You are opposite of me, I will add anything, and leave everything behind... I still have my image that first got my Gentoo box started on the / portion of the harddrive...

hewbert · Post by **hewbert** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 1:12 am

Pekwm roxx0rz my boxx0rz. 'Tis minimal, lightweight, themable, extremely configurable....

Toth · Post by **Toth** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 1:16 pm

ghetto wrote:I have to take exception to what you just said, but I should first say that I use a DE not just a WM, but I know people who prefer to run only in terminal mode on their brand spanking new computers.. and I am sure there are LOTS of people that are incredibly productive using nothing but a flux(black)box and terminal because they have spent the time to become thouroughly faminliar with those environments.... and if you put those people behind the wheel of a GNOME/KDE desktop environment they would probably feel cluttered and claustrophobic. So in a lot of cases I think hardware has nothing to do with the style of a persons desktop.

I completely agree.

ghetto wrote:I think the idea is not to have the flashiest desktop imaginable, but simply to have an environment that allows YOU personally to be maximumly productive. Exactly what the environment happens to be is very individual.

This I must disagree with. Alot of people have different reasons for using lightweight window managers a la flux, pekwm, etc. Some because they provide an environment in which they are more productive, true. However, alot of people tend to use it because of looks. Look at how many people use *box with gkrellm, several borderless, transparent [ae]terms, etc. That is eye candy and certainly not saving you any resources

For some people it's all about the flashy desktop, and that group is certainly not limited to Gnome and KDE users.

aLEczapKA · Post by **aLEczapKA** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 5:04 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.

Current development version has all the features you mentioned... icons on taskbar (clickable), tray icon, alt+tab and tabs on titile bar

http://fluxbox.org/version-0.9.php

screenshot:
http://fluxbox.org/zoom.php?shots-dev/a ... uxbox3.jpg

ah did I mention rounded corners?

supernovus · Post by **supernovus** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 9:50 pm

Not that my opinion matters much, but since everyone else is posting, I may as well too. I use Fluxbox 0.9.5 and have a full ROX Desktop set up (rox.sf.net) with a pinboard and bottom panel. The 0.9 series of Fluxbox while still being a bit unstable is way nicer than the older versions. Plus, my desktop comes up almost instantly - unlike Gnome or KDE.

Just for further information, I have almost every single WM and DE in the portage tree installed on my home computer, and have tried them all. I still come back to Fluxbox w/ ROX, as I find it to be the perfect combination of speed and features.

If you like the NeXTSTEP environment, you can use WindowMaker with the GWorkspace file manager (both are in portage). That's my second choice, as it's also very fast. Gnome 2.2 is third, and KDE, XFCE4 and Enlightenment E16 are tied at fourth.

Actually, I kinda like all of the desktops for different things, they all have pros and cons. The only way to find out what works for you: Try out everything then make your own choice.

shm · Post by **shm** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 7:28 am

My favorite minimalist WM is fvwm. In terms of configurabilty, it absolutely kicks the shit out of fluxbox-cvs, pekwm, kahakai, openbox-cvs, in terms of configurability. However, it is NOT quick and easy to configure, so that's a plus for things like fluxbox and pekwm.

Although, these days, I only use minimalist WM's when I manage to break KDE.

McFly0 · Post by **McFly0** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 8:20 am

Can anyone give me real important differences between these two wm's?

idoneus · Post by **idoneus** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 10:22 am

as others have posted before ratpoison is the perfect "Lightweight window manager". I started off with kde, then went to fluxbox, which I still like, and finally found ratpoison, the Antidesktop

gsfgf · Post by **gsfgf** » Sat Sep 06, 2003 10:46 pm

A vote for enlightenment here. Its a middle ground between a *box and a de. It has tons of features and eye candy, but is light compared to kde or gnome

MechanicalTurk · Post by **MechanicalTurk** » Sun Sep 07, 2003 5:30 am

My vote goes to kahakai.
It continues where waimea left off, since the waimea project doesn't seem to be seeing much action lately:

Features include:-

Great customizability/scriptability
Lightweight
Surfing of virtual screens (e.g. when holding alt, and move mouse to edge of screen, the desktop changes to the next screen (default 3x3 =9 screens))
Support for dockapps
Fluxstyle rootmenu
Definable keyboard shortcuts for things like Maximise, minimise, fullscreen, decor On/Off

I'm very hooked after using it for the last two days. I've been using flux for the last 6 months or so, but now, I'm definately a kahakai user.

njcwotx · Post by **njcwotx** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 3:57 am

I know this is an old thread, but...

I didnt see it here so I thought I'd throw it in..I use a combo of evilwm, idesk, adesklets and gmrun

Its definitely minimalistic and not everyone's favorite but its functional and small.

GWilliam · Post by **GWilliam** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 4:20 am

#NULL

swimmer · Post by **swimmer** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:07 am

After using fluxbox for long years I recently discovered fvwm and I'll never look back

Configurability, usability and eye-candy meet in a perfect way.

Look at http://fvwm.lair.be/viewtopic.php?t=1700 to see what is possible ... personally I'm using this config and am more than happy with it

I even migrated my wifes PC from Windows XP to Gentoo/fvwm and she just loves it because the only gets what she wants and needs

Greetz
swimmer

Avenger902 · Post by **Avenger902** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 6:13 pm

I've started my gentoo experience with XFCE4.2+ Rox Filer and then tried KDE for a short while and then moved back to XFCE again... And now that XFCE 4.4, I couldn't be happier with it... It's easy to use and configure, and its fast and light opposed to KDE and Gnome... and also goes nicely with Beryl for some nice eye candy... but if you have an older machine, XFCE4.4 by itself is quick.

96140 · Post by **96140** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:01 pm

Avenger902 · Post by **Avenger902** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:09 pm

nightmorph wrote:Xfce doesn't qualify as a window manager though; it is in fact a complete desktop environment, even though it's lighter than all the other DEs out there (such as KDE and Gnome).

True, but since some of the other posts were mentioning KDE, Gnome, among others, I just wanted to throw in xfce 4.4 since this thread has been resurrected...

adekoba · Post by **adekoba** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:01 pm

wmii/dwm

unbloatedness meets extreme functionality

smonijhay1 · Post by **smonijhay1** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:31 pm

still stuck on enlightenment. think i just got used to it at this point

Lightweight window managers

FluxROX

Fluxbox vs. Blackbox

kahakai