Posts tagged window manager

I run across people that get confused as to what a GUI is.  Of course a GUI stands for Graphical User Interface and can be applied several ways and methods, but I want to focus on 3 things for this post.  I want to keep this simple so new people don’t get lost.  There is plenty of articles on the internet that can go much further into details.  The 3 I want to hit on are Xorg, Desktop Environment and Window Manager.  Some believe that KDE is an Operating System when in fact it is a Desktop Environment.

Lets Start with Xorg via gentoo documentation

The X.org project created and maintains a freely redistributable, open-source implementation of the X11 system. It is an open source X11-based desktop infrastructure.

Xorg provides an interface between your hardware and the graphical software you want to run. Besides that, Xorg is also fully network-aware, meaning you are able to run an application on one system while viewing it on a different one.  Source

So in a nutshell, it allows you to have a Desktop Environment/Window Manager.

Desktop Environment from the wiki:

A desktop environment typically consists of icons, windows, toolbars, folders, wallpapers, and desktop widgets.

Software which provides a desktop environment might also provide drag and drop functionality and other features which make the desktop metaphor more complete. On the whole, a desktop environment is to be an intuitive way for the user to interact with the computer using concepts which are similar to those used when interacting with the physical world, such as buttons and windows.

So in a nutshell it is like a complete suite of applications with all having graphical interfaces.  You are no longer stuck in a shell looking at a blinking cursor.  This is where your KDE, Gnome, and XFCE come in at.  You can find others here.  Don’t forget, these all depend on Xorg being installed.

Window Manager from wiki

is computer software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface.  Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment. They work in conjunction with the underlying windowing system which provides required functionality such as support for graphics hardware, pointing devices, and a keyboard, and are often written and created using a widget toolkit.

So in a nutshell it works with a Desktop Environment allowing you more options.  A great example of a window manager is compiz-fusion.  You can’t install compiz-fusion on top of Xorg and have a working GUI.  There is a lot more window managers than desktop environments out there, find more here.

This stuff goes way more in depth, like window managers for X and the debates of  WM vs. DE etc… but I just wanted to let the new people to linux get an understanding of this.  So to keep things straight, you have an operating system in which you install Xorg onto. You decide which Desktop Environment you want to run and install it on top of Xorg.  Than if you want, you can enhance your Desktop Environment with a Window Manager.

I myself use a Desktop Environment of Gnome with the window manager awesome.  Now you take a look at the screenshot of awesome and wonder how that can be an enhancement.  Well for me, I prefer to use commandline for a lot of stuff and use some GUI tools.  awesome allows me to do both without fully loading the Gnome Desktop Environment.  So it’s all about preferences and if you have a machine with low resources, a window manager makes a great alternative as it will eat lesser resources.

So now when someone asks you which linux distribution you are running, you know now not to say KDE.  You can state Sabayon Linux with KDE.  You may think it’s crazy that linux does this, but in reality it all applies the same with Microsoft Windows.  If you ever saw Windows 3.1 or 3.0, you would know exactly what I mean.  You can use window managers to change Microsoft desktop environment.  As you learn linux you see how it applies to Microsoft, but you just didn’t know as Microsoft is proprietary and in control, whereas with linux you have options.

So the million dollar question, which is best to use.  There is no right or wrong answer to this.  You have to try em out and decide which one works for you.  Don’t jump on a bandwagon and bash the others, respect that others have different preferences.  They all have their glitches and benefits.  New people do tend to find KDE easier to adopt to, but give them all a try.  If nothing else, it’s a great learning experience learning a new DE or WM.