What's what

[APwrs]

As may come as no suprise (especially after reading this post) *stands up*, my name's APwrs, and I'm a Linux newbie.

Anyhow, there's a small bit I'm currently confused with (don't worry, there will probably be more later). Here is my understanding of the windowing system currently. XFree86 is the base, and atop that is built either Gnome or KDE, and atop that are further look and feel customizations. My questions are, I assume that you have to install XFree86 in order to have KDE or Gnome work, is that correct? Also, I've heard about window managers, and themes, and styles, and window decorations. Would someone care to explain what these things are in the grand world of the Linux windowing system? Thank you :).

[scanez]

Welcome :)

Okay, first off, yes, you need XFree86 for any kind of a GUI (well actually you just need some windowing system but others are expensive/not fully developed, so most people use XFree86). Now, to do anything with that, you need a window manager to run on top of it. A window manager is the most basic GUI you can have. It does what it sounds like, just managers windows, window placement, resizing, etc...Window managers (WM) include enlightenment (my personnal favorite ;)), blackbox, fluxbox, window maker, fvwm, twm, icewm, etc...A lot of people run just a window manager because they are smaller/faster. Now, if you want things like icons on the desktop, and menus/panels and stuff, you would want a desktop manager, such as KDE or GNOME. Desktop managers (DE) also do what the name suggests, manage desktop stuff like icons, menus, menubars, panels, buttons...But even so, DE's need WM's to manage their windows (KDE has its own WM called kwin, GNOME can use enlightenment, sawfish, and others). So there you have it, the basics of WMs and DEs. Look at screenshots of WMs and DEs to see visually what the differences are :)

[APwrs]

Is there any real difference in window managers other than their look and feel? And if you have only a window manager, does that mean you cannot have desktop icons, or perhaps that you have very limited GUI controls?

[z0mbix]

Originally posted by APwrs:
<STRONG>Is there any real difference in window managers other than their look and feel? And if you have only a window manager, does that mean you cannot have desktop icons, or perhaps that you have very limited GUI controls?</STRONG>

Only really the look and some have more features than others. Have a read of http://www.xwinman.org/ to find out more info.

[APwrs]

"Another visitor..."


Thanks Cheeky :)

[z0mbix]

Originally posted by APwrs:
<STRONG>"Another visitor..."


Thanks Cheeky :)</STRONG>

lol - I was wondering how long it would take before someone recognised my sig!!! :D