If you’re in a dilemma, just use this post which quickly describes some of the most popular (though not all) desktop environments and window managers. The desktop environments and WMs listed here can easily be downloaded from your distribution’s respective package management system (type “apt-get fluxbox” in your terminal to get fluxbox with apt, for instance).
GNOME
Simple and polished, a bit slower than you’d expect, fairly customizable. GTK!
KDE 3
More windows-like, lower learning curve, lacks cool themeing. Extremenly customizable. Qt.
KDE 4
“Awesome” factor, lacks cool themeing although the default one looks very nice, a bit unstable, faster than you’d expect.
XFCE
GNOME-like, much faster, good GTK integration, nice themeing, simplistic
Enlightenment
Low system requirements, dock, a bit strange (higher learning curve).
IceWM
Very low system requirements, Windows-like, simple, fast, soe me nice themes out there
Openbox
The “geeky” Blackbox-inspiredWM. Right click, menu. Extreme keybinding support. XML configuration files.
Fluxbox
Blackbox fork (thanks guys). More themes!
Links
- http://xwinman.org/
- http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/639/
April 29th, 2008 at 08:09
[...] Choosing the Right Desktop Environment (or Window Manager) [...]
April 29th, 2008 at 19:40
Fluxbox is a blackbox (not openbox) fork.
April 30th, 2008 at 21:07
Fluxbox is not an Openbox fork it is a fork of Blackbox.
Openbox was originally based on Blackbox but is in fact a complete rewrite of the Blackbox C++ code in C.
April 30th, 2008 at 21:18
KDE3 “lacks cool theming”. You must be joking. http://kde-look.org/index.php?xsortmode=high&xcontentmode=8×9x10×11x12×13x14×15x16
April 30th, 2008 at 21:34
Yes, I was a bit puzzled about the KDE themeing thing. I am not sure that the description “a bit strange” is a useful approach to Enlightenment.
Your examples are well-chosen, but they only seem to point to the fact that these options exist, not actually give any guidance regarding what to choose.
April 30th, 2008 at 21:51
Thanks for your replies. This guide is not really aimed at newbie users, it’s just a quick writeup of the stuff that instantly come to my mind when I’m choosing between different window managers and DEs, so you don’t have to research - do apply your own knowledge too, of course. These descriptions are oformed by my opinion, hence the KDE themeing and Enlightenment comment.
May 4th, 2008 at 20:35
Nice article, mate! well done
June 11th, 2008 at 06:23
I’ve been using linux flavors for a few years now and I have tried gnome, kde and enlightenment. I love the looks of enlightenment. Thats not important though.
This list doesnt really give the pros and cons of each. Even though I’ve been using some distro or another for years, doesn’t mean I know beans about the features of any of these UI’s. So, maybe a little more information about them please? I’d like to know about installed sizes, CPU, graphics card issues, I love my short cuts, does one have better support than another?
Thanks,
June 13th, 2008 at 03:00
sudo apt-get install fluxbox
June 21st, 2008 at 19:16
KDE + Compiz Fusion = my choice
June 24th, 2008 at 19:33
Been running Windowmaker for seemingly ages now (10 years or so)… No Love??? or am I missing a fork???
Considering I don’t do much other than tail -f logfiles on multiple terms (and do maintenance and programming via ssh locally), I don’t need much horsepower, and it’s always been fast and stable IMHO.
June 24th, 2008 at 19:36
I’m going to make a follow-up post to this one, dn’t worry, I hope you’ll like it!
July 4th, 2008 at 16:20
[...] hadn’t expected such a response to my article about choosing the right desktop environment when I was writing it, but as most commenters noted, it was a really quick write-up, a kind of a [...]