X Windows Desktop Environments

[t0rek]

What another xf86 cool environments like KDE, Gnome or Enlightenment do you recommend guys?

 

[Slougi]

You mean an X window manager/desktop environment. XFree86 is just an X servers - there are many others too, which will all run the same apps.

Anyway, there's a huge amount of stuff out there, a few that come to mind:

fluxbox, blackbox, openbox, kahakai, xfce, fvwm, icewm, afterstep, window maker, sawfish, ion, ratpoison

 

[sheik124]

well, i personally don't use linux (too complicated for me) my friend uses KDE and it seems pretty cool and it was fairly easy to use, go KDE!

EDIT: Gnome is pretty good too, or so i've heard

 

[t0rek]

You mean an X window manager/desktop environment.

Yes I mean that... But which of them do you recommend?

 

[Slougi]

Why not try all and pick one you like?

 

[Eagle]

Why not try all and pick one you like?

You want him to try all of them? Do you have any idea how many desktop environments there are. Knoppix comes with at least 10 of them alone.

 

[t0rek]

Well, I already tried xfce, fvwm, window maker, KDE, Gnome and enlightenment... but since I'm new to linux I just want to know what do you guys recommend or use...

 

[Eagle]

Well KDE and Gnome are definately the most popular. For the "easy" linux distro's like (ie Red Hat, Knoppix, etc.), they are the two default environments. My school uses Gnome, I prefer KDE. I would definately try both of these and choose the one you like. If you intend to use wine or one of its many clones a lot, you may want both Gnome and KDE installed as some Windows apps will run under one but not the other surprisingly enough.

 

[Slougi]

Personally I think KDE is far superior to gnome from a technology and flexibility point of view - gnome is technologically at least 2-3 years behind. Usability and looks are better for gnome though, imho. Of course all apps run in all window manager/desktop environments. I personally use kahakai.

BTW another nitpick - it's not X Windows. from the X manual page:

The X Consortium requests that the following names be used when referring to this software:

                                            X
                                     X Window System
                                       X Version 11
                               X Window System, Version 11
                                           X11

 

[t0rek]

Well, I'm actually using Enlightenment... it has cool graphic effects

 

[Slougi]

Yeah enlightenment is nice. I used to run enlightenment r17 cvs last year - was very nice, although very unstable too Looks like version 17 might actually be released in the next 5 years or so.

 

[AlphaWolf]

BTW another nitpick - it's not X Windows. from the X manual page:

Hmm...good thing I've always called it just "x"

 

[blizz]

When I used SuSE I stuck to KDE, there was this sweet sweet game back on that distro (6.something), where I commanded armies and conquered worlds

I liked KDE, Gnome I felt was a bit wishy washy at the time, but since I'm slowly gravitating back to linux I really ought to look at these things in more detail now

 

[The Khan Artist]

When I used SuSE I stuck to KDE, there was this sweet sweet game back on that distro (6.something), where I commanded armies and conquered worlds

FreeCIV?

Anyway, I recommend KDE - Gnome always felt, I dunno, horribly limited in the ways I could customize it when compared to KDE. And KDE seems to be getting better at a far faster rate than Gnome.

 

[Slougi]

KDE seems to be getting better at a far faster rate than Gnome.

Definitely, and I think this speaks worlds for ther KDE architecture, considering the fact that GNOME has almost unversal industry backing.

 

[khanmeister]

FYI: Freeciv is almost a 1:1 clone of Civilization 2, which is in my opinion one of the greatest strategy games ever made. It is probably the single oldest software still on my machine, that will not get erased until compatibility is broken in some future OS. At that point I'll use Freeciv, naturally.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I dunno about the rest of you, but the KDE task bar kinda pisses me off, not to mention its a bit fugly. I hate the way it functions, and I hate the cluttered layout. It also uses a command menu similar to windows' start menu, which I really hate.

 

[The Khan Artist]

Play around with it for a while - I spent about an hour and got something halfway between Mac OS X and Windows, which I rather liked.