Desktop Geography

[mockenoff]

Hey, I was just wondering, what desktop manager do you guys prefer? Pardon me if this is stupid, but I would really like to hear all of your opinions. Thanks.

[Lemming]

Well I've tried GNOME, KDE, Blackbox and Fluxbox and tbh I like KDE best, but it tends to gobble RAM ( at least it does for my bloated Linux Redhat 8 install :) )

[sharth]

I don't prefer a desktop manager. (I don't use one).

I'm going to try out E17 when that is released into Debian Testing, or when Debian (Testing or Stable) binaries are released. It seems to have something like a desktop manager.

Gnome, KDE and Rox are the Big ones.

[gkedrovs]

Hey, bud. Do a search here at JustLinux on "desktop manager" and/or "window manager." This is a big deal with a lot of the guys here (me included), so you're likely to find more stuff on a search than you will with a post.

Here are my 2 pennies, and that's really what it all amounts to. What you're going to have to end up doing is finding something YOU like and something that works for YOU, and then go with it.

KDE and GNOME are "desktop" managers. That means they provide you with a windows manager (giving you a look, feel, and utility to windows in your desktop environ), icons, a task bar, and all sorts of other hoohah that goes on behind the scenes and supposedly makes your life easier in Linux. They are memory and resource hogs in my opinion. I don't use 80% of the crap those desktop managers provide, so why eat up my resources? Don't want them. KDE is geared toward functionality and GNOME is geared toward looks, although KDE can be made to look great and GNOME is very functional. To me, KDE is Windows-like and GNOME is Mac-like. Personal opinion.

Check out window managers. I use Fluxbox. Light. Fast. Slick. Sexy. (Just check out my screenshot in the link in my sig. Check out the Screenshot thread on this forum, too. Wow!) There are zillion different windows managers out there that don't do all the neat little tricks and stuff that desktop managers do. No icons. Flux has a great menu system, so why clutter up my view of my wallpaper with that kinda crap? You know?

freshmeat.net is a good place to shop for this kinda stuff. But, like I said, search this site first. Check out what you find. Look at screenshots. Figure out what you wanna look at all day long, and get it. :-)

-greg

[gkedrovs]

Originally posted by gkedrovs
Hey, bud.

That "hey, bud" was not meant in a demeaning way. I just read my post and it sounds bad. It's just a local coloquialism for "Hi, friend." No offense...

:-) Greg

[mockenoff]

Yeah, it's cool. But I really just wanted to know what you guys liked/prefered. It was a slight inquiry for linux users such as yourselves. But hey, yeah, I didn't take offense. I was, however, thrown off by "bud". lol, I haven't heard that one in a while.

[gkedrovs]

FYI: I really (!) like Fluxbox. It's slick.

-gk

[mdwatts]

Lets not start another one of these. :rolleyes:

Window/Desktop Manager forum search results (based on subjects) for 'KDE GNOME' (http://justlinux.com/forum/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=418334&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending) of which you will find discussions of both KDE and Gnome and everything in between.

[APwrs]

There have been quite a few advancements in desktop technology for Linux, and more are being made every day. This being as it is, I was curious as to how the general landscape of usage currently looked.

[mdwatts]

I'll just post these JL Window/Desktop Manager forum search results for KDE vs. GNOME (http://justlinux.com/forum/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=418334&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending).

<edit>

And I'll merge the current 'favorite desktop' thread into this one.