Window Managers
Introduction
Window Mangers and Desktop Environments are the primary user
interfaces into the X Window System. A window manager is a program
that controls the appearance of windows and provides the means by which
the user can interact with them. A Desktop Environment provides a more
complete interface to the operating system, and provides a range of
integrated utilities and applications.
There are many Window Mangers available. Some of the more well
known ones include fvwm2, Window
Maker, AfterStep,
Enlightenment,
Sawfish,
and Blackbox.
The Desktop Environments available for Linux are
GNOME,
KDE, and
XFce.
Choosing a Window Manager or Desktop Environment is highly
subjective. The choice depends on the look and feel of the packages, the
resources (RAM, disk space) required, and the utilities included. One web
site that provides a very good summary of what is available, screenshots,
and their respective features is Window Managers for X.
In this chapter, the installation instructions of
several Window Managers and one lightweight Desktop Environment are
presented. Later in the book, both KDE and
GNOME have their own Parts.
&sawfish;
&fluxbox;
&metacity;
&xfce;