Looking for new desktop environment. Tried several but...

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ajnabi · Post by **ajnabi** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:34 pm

I have been using KDE for about 5 years now. It seems that it always has some annoying bug such as the keyboard freezing up (fixed now), or the latest issue I've been experiencing - the taskbar at the bottom of the screen disappearing. At first, only the desktops and open programs wouldn't display (I think that's the pager?). Now the whole taskbar is gone.

I thought I would ask what others have used, that would meet my needs as encapsulated below:
1. I am command-line driven. I hate the mouse unless it is of obvious need (there is a place for mice - just not as the only option for making a menu/decision choice ...).
2. I like to be able to get anywhere fast (No several clicks to open and search google for something). The kio-server bit where I can type "gg:gentoo" and it opens a browser and searches for Gentoo is a nice feature. I would think this is doable in another venue than KDE.
3. Bloat is bad. I prefer lean, mean, and effective - customizable.
4. While I don't mind "reading the manual" so to speak, I am a busy middleaged person who only has so much time to devote to getting things up and running.

xfce4 looked good but there seems to be a number of flaky problems.

I know there are a lot of similarly asked questions, but I was hoping to get some specific Q&A going - to try and narrow down something for my specific needs. I have read and tried a number of options such as openbox, fluxbox, icewm... Maybe I am missing something that someone can help with.

Thanks in advance,
ajnabi

nixnut · Post by **nixnut** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:53 pm

try ion3 or even ratpoison

Janne Pikkarainen · Post by **Janne Pikkarainen** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:59 pm

Five years of KDE experience has probably teached you to rely on all kind of advanced functionality (Konqueror, KIO-slaves) not found on more light WM's. So as a foreword, you most likely will have some mental training to do. Whatever WM you choose to pick up, beginning will not be easy and certain tasks - such as transparent handling files over almost any protocol imaginable - might feel a bit painful at first.

Personally I like to fiddle around with different WM's a lot. Most of the time I'm also a KDE user, but every now and then I purposely choose some other WM for particular task.

If I need to

use some general-purpose desktop on a modern computer

KDE will be it.

use some general-purpose desktop on an older computer

Xfce will be it.

use shell a lot

I'll pick ion. It is very minimalistic and tedious at first, but after you grow up to its keyboard shortcuts, it'll became a vim of WM's. Very configurable, very much integrated with shells, very fast when you'll have to switch from one window to other.

Also if I'm using some laptop without a good mouse I might turn to ion as well.

use a lighter WM on, say, some older computer

I'll choose IceWM or flux/open/blackbox. In fact I'm typing this from Fluxbox.

Especially the capability to put EVERYTHING to tabs is awesome after you get used to it.

demonstrate visual effects

Gnome with Beryl + emerald will do it for me.

Also e17 is very nice, even if it's in alpha/beta stage

Hope this helps you!

Ejunkie · Post by **Ejunkie** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:26 pm

what about fvwm ?

Earthwings · Post by **Earthwings** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:39 pm

Moved from Desktop Environments to Duplicate Threads. [topic=240154]Common Threads[/topic]