I want to try some or all of them but I was just wondering what you guys like. So far, I really like the heavy Gnome, KDE and XFCE, but I want to get used to the WMs as well.

I have a real dislike for Gnome. KDE is nice but a little too heavy for me. I normally use XFCE but also keep Fluxbox and IceWM on board for occasional use. Xfce gives me a good balance.

eriefisher wrote:I have a real dislike for Gnome. KDE is nice but a little too heavy for me. I normally use XFCE but also keep Fluxbox and IceWM on board for occasional use. Xfce gives me a good balance.

I am with eriefisher, though I do not have as strong of a dislike for Gnome as he does, just a preference for other options. I use KDE as a desktop manager when I want a rich assortment of integrated applications. I particularly use it if I am going to be using K3b to burn CDs or DVDs, and then I tend to use Konqueror more, both for file and Web browsing. I will also use Kaffeine for movies, Amarok for music, Kopete for instant messaging, Konversation on those rare cases where I use a IRC form of messaging.

Most of the time, though, I use mostly Web browsing, Email, text editing, and console terminals. I do not really even need a desktop manager; a window manager is enough. Therefore, I compromise by using XFCE, which is extremely flexible, so in that regard it offers more than default window managers present. I'd say that I use it the most.

For Window Managers, I find IceWM the easiest to use from the point of view of my fingertips, and the antiX M7.5 implementation of IceWM - along with the tips to pull in all Debian programs, is outstanding. However, Fluxbox is pretty darn good, too, and I have no reservations about using it - and I do so from time to time to train my fingers.

Like eriefisher, I also cannot stand gnome and whilst I find kde far too heavy, I think it is the best of the large desktop environments, I even prefer kde to xfce. I try to like xfce, but I can't.

A great desktop environment, with lots of eye-candy is enlightenment. It is light, fast, but not very stable IMO.

Of the windows managers, fluxbox has been my favourite for a long time now. light, fast, stable and keeps out of the way. I find it easier to maintain and edit than openbox, which on my desktop (antiX-M7.5) is actually slower and uses more RAM than fluxbox and icewm.
I wasn't too keen on icewm, but OU812's work has made me appreciate this wm almost as much as fluxbox.

Another wm you might like is fvwm-crystal. I don't mind it, but it puts too much on the desktop IMO.

For real hard-core, go for ratpoison or the newer stumpwm. No mouse!

I always used a DE for a long time. I, like many, started with Ubuntu/Gnome. After a few months it crashed and it felt very bloated. I moved to Mepis and love the implementation of KDE. antiX was talked about on the MepisLovers forum so I started to check it out. I wasn't very impressed at first, but after I used it for a week or two I was sold! I prefer Fluxbox as my WM... in my opinion Openbox is a little too minimalist/harder to configure and IceWM was just ugly! (Not anymore, antiX 7.5)

Now that John has gotten a hold of it, IceWM is not ugly any more, and now that our many artists here have also contributed their fine artwork, first in wallpaper designs, then in desktop designs, we have some good alternatives for both Fluxbox and IceWM beyond just the wallpaper, really fairly complete themes for each window manager.

No reason to avoid either window manager for lack of appearances. We have that well covered in the graphics section here!

Thanks guys.

I am the original poster. There is something that I have been wondering about the Window managers. Only ICeWM has a toolbar that you can put icons on, right? As far as I am concerned trying to navigate through a menu to find something I use a lot is WORTHLESS! That is what I have not liked about Fluxbox and a few of the other window managers.

Is there a way to put icons for Firefox, email, terminal, word processer etc... on an iconized toolbar in any or all of the other WMs ?

Sure, it's basically these steps:

1. turn off the toolbar (if your wm already has it).
2. install a new toolbar (fbpanel, lxpanel, pypanel).
3. edit your startup file (usually something like"fbpanel &")
4. reboot.
5. edit your new toolbar (or it's file).

I have found pypanel to be a little buggy as well as lxpanel. fbpanel seems to be the most stable, but it requires you to edit a config file manually. Worth the effort.

As for my two cents, I started in linux with xfce and I probably like it the best. I can appreciate both gnome and kde, but they are too heavy for my needs. I really enjoy using wm's. Icewm is my favorite, but I am also keeping an eye on lxde. I am hoping it becomes the next"xfce" but without the bloat.

john

If all you want is a quick launcher for regularly used apps then wbar would be a good choice. You can get it here:


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And the graphical app to configure it is here:


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You would have to compile them yourself but if you want I have debs and can send them to you.

There is a deb for wbar.


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url was:"http://wbar.googlecode.com/files/wbar_1.3.3_i386.deb"
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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

To install, as root

dpkg -i wbar_1.3.3_i386.deb
apt-get -f install (if any unmet dependencies are needed)

Thanks guys.

I love kde, even if it is bloated because I'm used to it and can do everything easily in a gui. LOL!

However, kde doesn't run well on my PII laptop, and so I have been using fluxbox which I like pretty well.
Since OU812 has made icewm pretty, I have been using it exclusively. __{{emoticon}}__
I haven't gotten my menu / toolbar all set up yet, and so wbar with a set up gui intrigues me, so I'll start another thread.

Here is the checkinstall .deb I created when I installed wbarconf. Use it if you like.

Sorry it complains that the file is too big to upload so PM me with an email and I will send it to you.

mariel77, this post (
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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false) may be helpful to you. It is from when I installed wbar and might prove to be a good starting place/guide. Good luck.

I have used kde, gnome, icewm, fluxbox, e, fvm-crystal, openbox, xfce, mezzo (from symphony) and lxde. I didn't like e, mezzo, or fvm-crystal - it's just not how I think about a desktop. I like lxde and openbox, but they're pretty heavy for wm's and need a lot of extras to make them functional. I didn't fall in love with gnome - I do like the way the menu is set up, it seems to pick up mm keyboards nicely, and I like it's file manager. I like kde and it's integrated feel. It has a few cool features that I like and seem to be germane to kde. But it's too heavy. I really like xfce. Of all the de's, it's my favorite. However, I tried to install it on antix some time ago, but it didn't seem to add anything that I couldn't live without. Ultimately, I like fluxbox and icewm the best. Fluxbox has transparency, tabs, config options in the menu, a system tray that doesn't seem buggy, and swish themes. Icewm has tiling and cascading windows, start button, show desktop button, you can put icons on the taskbar, and cool things like hit win+space and you get a run command. But icewm doesn't have as many swish themes as fluxbox. And it's reputation isn't as good.

I really just alternate between fb and ice every few months. They're similar and each has its strengths.

john