# FAVORITE DESKTOP ENVIROMENT



## vignesh (Aug 9, 2005)

Which is your favorite desktop enviroment ?


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## cool_dude_prav (Aug 9, 2005)

Hmm

I doubt whether any other DE's except KDE and GDE/GDM would get much votes anyways!!!

Cheers!!!

] K8)8) [


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## Vishal Gupta (Aug 9, 2005)

My vote is for *GNOME*.
I like it because of its simplicity.
The interface is simple & nice.


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## desertwind (Aug 9, 2005)

GNOME, no doubt


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## vignesh (Aug 9, 2005)

I am the only one who voted for xfce.Its a good desktop enviroment and very light on resources.But wel every has to be different.


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## QwertyManiac (Aug 9, 2005)

We got heavy machines so no XCFE only KDE or GNOME buddy...


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## ujjwal (Aug 9, 2005)

I had a poll like this sometime ago, difficult to get many votes for something other than KDE/Gnome.

Some of the options are not desktop environments, but simple window managers, so anyway I will name my favourites from both areas.

FVWM has to be the greatest, fastest, most powerful window manager in existance. Every bit of it can be customised to make it look or feel like MVM, Windows 95, Mac, or anything you can imagine. You can customise the application window buttons, hey bindings, specify powerful functions to perform complex tasks, and what not. The problem is that configuring it is not so easy, and it can take quite a while. But you do have many sample config files available, which will help get you started quickly.

IceWM follows next in line, it is not as configurable as FVWM, but it has quite a decent out of the box look and feel, it provides a nice integrated taskbar, with a windows 98 look (menu, quick launch items, taskbar, clock), so it makes it good for people migrating from windows. Currently I am back to IceWM because I am facing certain problems with getting a net monitor to work on FVWM.

Blackbox is another nice one, switching between applications may be a little awkward at first, if like me, you maximise every open window. But on undersanding the little controls on its taskbar, it can be a very efficient and fast window manager.

Coming to desktop environments,

Although KDE is quite fast, I prefer XFCE to it for its simple elegance. It looks quite nice and provides a light alternative to Gnome.

EDE (Equinox Desktop Environment) is a very fast EFLTK based desktop, it resembles windows 9x in appearance and provides many good GUI tools for frequently used purposes.


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## kartik_mistry (Aug 9, 2005)

Gnome and KDE both! You should use checkbox for poll like this! But Gnome gets somewhat more marks as I use it as develop the things for it!


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## gauravnawani (Aug 10, 2005)

Strangely enough no body talkes about enlightenment.

Its actualy one of the fastest despite the fact that it alredy have more eye candy than upcomming windows vista, and that all incredebly runs on CPU cycles, no graphics card(read opengl) needed but if you have one its is also supported.

I am actualy waiting them to complete the dr17, if they release it soon of course. Unfortunately for the uninitiated it will be tad difficult to work on it. 

For the time being Gnome take the cake for more mature UI. Thie insistense of UI guidelines make it the neatest DE.


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## SHell (Aug 10, 2005)

GNOME is good but KDE provides a lot more applications.

Anywys i like GNOME for its simple user interface.


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## ShekharPalash (Aug 10, 2005)

KDE only ... whenever... I go to zone-3 in the lab... once in a week... 
GNOME tastes me like a overfried chocolate cake... lol... don't klnow why!


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## ujjwal (Aug 10, 2005)

Enlightenment is certainly among the fastest window managers I tried. Its speed is quite amazing for the amount of eye candy it displays. But I could never feel comfortable with its interface, and plus I dislike eye candy. Which is why I never used it seriously for a long period of time.


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## vignesh (Aug 10, 2005)

@ujjwal can you give more info on FVWM.What is it actually.


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## ujjwal (Aug 10, 2005)

FVWM official website - *www.fvwm.org/
Beginners guide - *www.zensites.net/fvwm/guide/
Screenshots with sample config files - *www.fvwm.org/screenshots/desktops/


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## vignesh (Aug 10, 2005)

@ujjwal can you please guide me to install FVWM on Fedora core 3.


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## vignesh (Aug 10, 2005)

I downloaded the rpm package for FVWM and ICWM nut both seem so small only 1.8 and 1 Mb.Is that all the size of the desktop enviroment.


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## ujjwal (Aug 10, 2005)

These are not desktop environments, as I said, they are window managers, that is, they provide the tools necessary for switching and controlling open windows. Desktop environments are window managers + extra tools like desktop shortcuts, common GUI utilities, applications, and some sort of a control interface for the system. But you do have small DE's like EDE 

Anyway, after installing these, create a new user to test them out, create a file .xinitrc in the /home directory of the user, and place the following lines -


```
#!/bin/sh

exec icewm-session
```

Replace icewm-session with fvwm2 for fvwm. Read their manpages for more info. To get started with FVWM from scratch, read the second link I gave. For a jumpstart, check the third link, see a screenshot you like, and dowload the .fvwm2rc file along with any other icons or tools from the authors webpage, and follow the instructions present. If just a .fvwm2rc is provided, copy this to the .fvwm folder in the /home directory.


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## kartik_mistry (Aug 10, 2005)

Anyone using GNUstep?


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## vignesh (Aug 11, 2005)

I will let you know if it works..


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## vignesh (Aug 11, 2005)

How do I change the Gnome splash screen.I know how to do it n KDE.

@ujjwal does icwm just icewm or the filename of the rpm I installed  ?


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## Vishal Gupta (Aug 11, 2005)

Goto:
*Start ->System Tools -> More System Tools -> Configuration Editor*
Then in *Configuration Editor*, goto:
*Apps -> Gnome-sessions -> Options*
In Right-pane, change location of *Splash-image* to the location of any image that u want to set as splash screen. (U can even set a 800x600 or 1024x768 wallpaper as splash screen).

GNome Splash screen can also be changed from "*/usr/share/pixmaps/splash*".


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## sba (Aug 13, 2005)

ujjwal said:
			
		

> ...Blackbox...


Blackbox is mentioned and Fluxbox is not??? Why?

I could not choose both KDE and Fluxbox so gave my vote to the former. I stopped using Gnome when Volkerdi stopped supporting it...so its just KDE or Fluxbox for me now


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## ujjwal (Aug 13, 2005)

It would probably have been more appropriate for me to have named fluxbox and openbox along with blackbox ... actually I like them all, but as blackbox was the original one and the first I used, so I named that. But yes, fluxbox has many new features and options that makes it the best of the three.


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## sba (Aug 13, 2005)

Since you are a slackware user as well...I wanted to know that do you still have Gnome? I mean after it was dropped and all...
If yes then are you using dropline or the older version that came originally with Slackware 10.1?


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## QwertyManiac (Aug 13, 2005)

how bout changin KDE startup screen in FC4 ?
Plz tell...


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## sba (Aug 13, 2005)

*www.kde-look.org/help/index.php?type=35


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## QwertyManiac (Aug 13, 2005)

Thats K but i asked specifically FC4 mr.SBA ?
In Fc4 after u logout u r directed to the FC4 default session choosin page which sux...
Plz Hlp...


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## sba (Aug 13, 2005)

KDE startup screen is known as splash screen for which I gave you the link but now seems to me that you are talking about Display Manager.

iirc Redhat used to use GDM as display manager so may be Fedora is using that as well. To install GDM themes, you need to run gdmsetup as root. More instructions here...
*www.formorer.de/debblue/faq.php#faq4


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## QwertyManiac (Aug 13, 2005)

U sure thats right to use ?
coz GDM stands for Gnome Disp Manager i dont see y FC4 has that on default...


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## sba (Aug 13, 2005)

Well it has to be some display manager...
Either it is GDM or KDM or XDM. Redhat 9 & Fedora Core 2 (that was when I stopped trying it) used to use GDM by default. If you are not sure then just launch a konsole window and type "pgrep gdm" without quotes and see if you get any output. If you do then you have GDM running else some other display manager...


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## vignesh (Aug 13, 2005)

FC4 has GDM.


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## ujjwal (Aug 14, 2005)

sba said:
			
		

> Since you are a slackware user as well...I wanted to know that do you still have Gnome? I mean after it was dropped and all...
> If yes then are you using dropline or the older version that came originally with Slackware 10.1?



I have not used gnome for a long time ... I found current versions to slow and bloated for my taste. But yes, Dropline and Freerock are some good options for gnome on slackware.


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## vignesh (Aug 14, 2005)

What are dropline and freefrock?


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## ujjwal (Aug 14, 2005)

Implementations of gnome for slackware

*www.dropline.net/gnome
*gsb.freerock.org/


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## Aijaz Akhtar (Aug 15, 2005)

Thanks Ujjawal for clearing some confusion about the desktop environments and windows managers. But then it occurred to me what the WM syands for in FVWM and TWM - Window manager or Window maker?


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## ujjwal (Aug 15, 2005)

"WM" would always stand for "Window Manager". Window Maker is a particular window manager which was popular some time back.


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## QwertyManiac (Aug 15, 2005)

Thnx SBA , GDM it is and now i got lindsay lohan on my start up...


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## vignesh (Sep 11, 2005)

xpde is a small desktop enviroment.The latest version is not fully functional but you use the command line to use gnome and kde apps.It looks are like windows xp and its only less than 5mb

www.xpde.org


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## Satissh S (Sep 11, 2005)

Kde and GNOME ! 
Gnome :- Philosophers Delight
KDE :- Beginners Delight
 *No Offense to anyone*


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## vignesh (Sep 11, 2005)

Satissh S said:
			
		

> Kde and GNOME !
> Gnome :- Philosophers Delight
> KDE :- Beginners Delight
> *No Offense to anyone*



Well said !


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