Urza9814 Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 Just curious as to what the specific benifits of each DM are, or really, what YOU think the benifits of each one is. To me it seems that Gnome and KDE are slow but powerful, Windowmaker is VERY easily customized, and IceWM is fast and easy for noobs, and also easy to get around quickly...and Enlightenment is impossible for all but the super-elite to figure out...so you don't have to worry about someone messing with your stuff :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeeDubb Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 I think you pretty much said it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urza9814 Posted July 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 lol...how 'bout the other dms though? Blackbox/fluxbox, those weird ones...lol... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 fvwm is the most powerful, most configurable window manager i've ever come across. it's more complex than enlightenment, more configurable than windowmaker. i love it because configuring is nearly like writing a program. you can add scripts to do various things. as a simple example, i currently have an aterm on the left side of my screen. it autohides. it rules.... i'm ever considering trying to do something similar with my buddy list for gaim...but we'll have to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 (edited) blackbox is way easier to configure than fluxbox and it is absolutlely minimalistic, thus great if you are tired of aqua or plastic like design. if you want to play around with your settings, yes, take fluxbox, enlightenment or fvwm2 (i never really managed to get that one configured properly). and if you want the ultimate low-fi desktop, take mwm or twm. nothing that distracts you while doing your work. the plus of gnome, xfce and kde is obvioulsy that they can provide someone who switches from m$ to linux with a somehow familiar surrounding. thus they are great in order to win persons for linux-distros and they are the beginning of the exploration of the linux distro itself. the more the users get involved in linux, the more they will want to try other de's and fiddle around there. i think the normal evolutionary way for users in de-usage is kde/gnome, then xfce/windowmaker, followed by blackbox/afterstep and fluxbox/enlightenment/fvwm2 (plus some other, less known de's). Edited July 25, 2004 by arctic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiedra Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 (edited) Best way to find out is to try them all. I'm a Flux user. I find out very easy to use and configure once you get over the awkwardness. Edited July 25, 2004 by spiedra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 KDE is not slow. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 i think the normal evolutionary way for users in de-usage is kde/gnome, then xfce/windowmaker, followed by blackbox/afterstep and fluxbox/enlightenment/fvwm2 (plus some other, less known de's). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'd have to disagree. You make it sound as if people who are more advanced in Linux won't use GNOME or KDE. I don't think this is true. GNOME/KDE/XFCE have their advantages over things such as fluxbox and that ilk. Fluxbox is nice, but it lacks the unified and productivity-centered feeling of a desktop environment. Same goes for other things. Remember, many of the things you mentioned later in your "evolutionary cycle" are in fact window managers, which truly are not meant to stand on their own two feet. You have to add things to get the functionality of a DE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwiftDeath Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 /me currently using gnome and fluxbox. I find KDE way too bloated for my liking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 I'd have to disagree. You make it sound as if people who are more advanced in Linux won't use GNOME or KDE. I don't think this is true. i didn't say that they don't use gnome or kde. i only stated that advanced linux users are imho more willing to (or less afraid of) configuring the smaller desktop environments that don't have a click&violà icon-windowdeco-qt/gtk-theme support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 The theoretical advantage of KDE is the DCOP server providing very lightweight modularity. Other advantages are it resuses almost everything if you use pure KDE apps only. This is also the main disadvantge IMHO.... If you are happy with KDE apps etc. then KDE is a great DM/WM tyme has me ingrigued on fvwm tho.... Also I have yet to find a WM I dont like.... Ive tried lots and almost always they seem to have some cool feature. I think Urza9814 came up with a nice thread if we actually answer properly about what is good about a particualr WM.... Trying them is greatly encouraged of course but play with them, break them and configure them in either order is equally fun .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illogic-al Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 The theoretical advantage of KDE is the DCOP server providing very lightweight modularity. Other advantages are it resuses almost everything if you use pure KDE apps only. This is also the main disadvantge IMHO.... If you are happy with KDE apps etc. then KDE is a great DM/WM tyme has me ingrigued on fvwm tho.... Also I have yet to find a WM I dont like.... Ive tried lots and almost always they seem to have some cool feature. I think Urza9814 came up with a nice thread if we actually answer properly about what is good about a particualr WM.... Trying them is greatly encouraged of course but play with them, break them and configure them in either order is equally fun .... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> tyme has also intrigued me with fvwm2. seems like i'll be wasting another weekend instead of doing real work. Thanks tyme :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 (edited) Just curious as to what the specific benifits of each DM are, or really, what YOU think the benifits of each one is.To me it seems that Gnome and KDE are slow but powerful, Windowmaker is VERY easily customized, and IceWM is fast and easy for noobs, and also easy to get around quickly...and Enlightenment is impossible for all but the super-elite to figure out...so you don't have to worry about someone messing with your stuff :P <{POST_SNAPBACK}> umm.....DM=Display ManagerDE=Desktop Environment dm's are kdm, mdk-kdm, gdm, xdm, Xtart Gnome and kde are not slow if you have a semi-fast computer. They are only slower to start, compared to flux or any other *box, or WM (wm=window manager). Linux loves ram and those smaller wm's use the same libs and apps as gnome and kde do. Once the DE is started, it's libs are already initialized. WM's do not do this, so that first start of that gtk/qt app takes longer. So, guess what. Startup time is the same, and almost the same amount of ram is used. So wm's are really only lighter/faster til you actually do something which is gonna happen ;) ...rob peter to pay paul....it doesn't matter on faster systems. Ahh....but *box's menus are faster? You can tell gnome not to have icons in the menus. w00t....fast menus in gnome. E is not hard. I used it my first 3 months in linux. It is hard to skin/customize though and there's no standard, til E17 arrives. I run as root.....so no one can mess with my stuff ;) fvwm is the most powerful, most configurable window manager i've ever come across....... as a simple example, i currently have an aterm on the left side of my screen. it autohides. it rules.... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ooooo.....screenie? the plus of gnome, xfce and kde is obvioulsy that they can provide someone who switches from m$ to linux with a somehow familiar surrounding. thus they are great in order to win persons for linux-distros and they are the beginning of the exploration of the linux distro itself. the more the users get involved in linux, the more they will want to try other de's and fiddle around there. i think the normal evolutionary way for users in de-usage is kde/gnome, then xfce/windowmaker, followed by blackbox/afterstep and fluxbox/enlightenment/fvwm2 (plus some other, less known de's). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ...then back to gnome/kde because the others are a waste of time to have to configure and really won't get linux anywhere ;) I've always loved gnome. I went to flux because in gnome something was always crashing and I couldn't stand the look of kde. Niether are a problem anymore -see more of gui below.... KDE is not slow. :) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> true......especially 3.2 i think the normal evolutionary way for users in de-usage is kde/gnome, then xfce/windowmaker, followed by blackbox/afterstep and fluxbox/enlightenment/fvwm2 (plus some other, less known de's). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'd have to disagree. You make it sound as if people who are more advanced in Linux won't use GNOME or KDE. I don't think this is true. GNOME/KDE/XFCE have their advantages over things such as fluxbox and that ilk. Fluxbox is nice, but it lacks the unified and productivity-centered feeling of a desktop environment. Same goes for other things. Remember, many of the things you mentioned later in your "evolutionary cycle" are in fact window managers, which truly are not meant to stand on their own two feet. You have to add things to get the functionality of a DE. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> sheesh....Xfce is in there now? Why not E? it has config_tools/conveniences to.yeah....GNOME!!!! /me currently using gnome and fluxbox. I find KDE way too bloated for my liking. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> dispelled/explained above I'd have to disagree. You make it sound as if people who are more advanced in Linux won't use GNOME or KDE. I don't think this is true. i didn't say that they don't use gnome or kde. i only stated that advanced linux users are imho more willing to (or less afraid of) configuring the smaller desktop environments that don't have a click&violà icon-windowdeco-qt/gtk-theme support. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> afraid? of what?Boo! ;) My brother in-law used linux 4-5 years ago b4 I had a computer and hated computers. He was almost validictorian and was in the US Navy's nuclear engeneering. Unfortunately, he didn't have much common sense, took 10 hits of acid and overdosed. One thing he said that I've adopted into how I learn.... " there's nothing that you can break that can't be fixed....so break it!" OK, so sometimes it's easier to reinstall, but you get the idea. They had the guts to install it next to win didn't they? If they can't muster up the courage to experiment a little with an wm/app then what happened to the courage? Not like it can reck your install. I recently went back to flux after being away for over a year. I was looking to tinker.... iphitus made a coment in a thread of mine about a skin that came back to haunt me. He said it was a shame that I was skinning/spending so much time in win when I could be recoding X. Well, I don't want to recode X but it made me realize I was wasting my time tinkering with a small wm and that's not going to help linux get anywhere. I've heard people say linux is ugly and has no eyecandy compared to win, or that it's too difficult to make it look good. They're right. Linux needs major help in the 'looks' department. I'm not talking about the OS, just eyecandy, and like it or not it is important to a lot of people that are not using linux, just because. So I've been loosing sleep and slaving away the past week on porting BBX Mercury X to Gnome (this crap is addictive). http://home.houston.rr.com/bvc/mcity/bbxmercury.jpg I already ported 2 icon themes and did a Marcintesh metacity and gtk/industrial. Response has been "keep these great ports coming"...."nice to see the great themes coming to linux...keep up the good work". Sure, they're just ports, and I hope to get into some original stuff later but for now, I'm just learning 'how it all works'. Wanna tinker? Do something useful!!! Don't configure just your Desktop....configure one that you and others can use to win over more windozers ;) Even if that mean *box's and smaller wm's.....but do something......look at iphitus! Edited July 27, 2004 by bvc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 fvwm is the most powerful, most configurable window manager i've ever come across....... as a simple example, i currently have an aterm on the left side of my screen. it autohides. it rules.... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ooooo.....screenie? not yet. i'm still working on the configuration. but here's a taste sheesh....Xfce is in there now? Why not E? it has config_tools/conveniences to.yeah....GNOME!!!!: <{POST_SNAPBACK}> E's not in there because (as of this writing) it's not a complete Desktop Environment. Once E17 is out, it will be. What's my requirements for a DE? Mainly: it's own file manager. Yes, I know, "evidence" - but it's not a standard part of E16. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urza9814 Posted July 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 Linux needs major help in the 'looks' department. I'm not talking about the OS, just eyecandy, and like it or not it is important to a lot of people that are not using linux, just because. I think a major part of that is the programs...Only think I know of you can skin is Mozilla, and there are so few skins for that, and it's hard to make your own...with windoze, you've got any number of program choices (AIM, GAIM, Trillian, etc... for example) each with a whole bunch of skins, and if they don't have skins, or not one you want, there are programs like ResHacker to make it easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.