Suggest a window manager + linux history sites

[Compintuit]

Hello, I plan on switching to linux from XP as my old decrepit laptop is slowly becoming, incapable of running much. However, I like screen real-estate, and have noticed GNOME's default window manager, Metacity, has two bars, which, I really find a steal of my screen real-estate. On a wide laptop screen, especially.

The distros I'm considering are Fedora and Ubunutu. I know I can get at least Fedora with KDE, and while this may just be me, I find the taskbar full of icons whose meaning I can only guess. If someone could please share the functions and screenshots of the buttons to the left of the programs, it would be appreciated. I do like the idea of KDE, with all the cool plasma widgets, and think I could grow to like it. Should I choose to use Ubuntu, though, it should not be a problem to install KDE on it, right?

However, should I end up not liking KDE, (probably because I want GNOME's larger suite of Apps) I am aware that there are other window managers. Again, wanting one with only one bar and no OS X dockish stuff, what would you suggest? And can I use Kwin on GNOME, if all I want are the apps?

The other reason I'm posting is because I feel the need to know some of the history behind commands. I'll go insane following sudo apt-get instructions if I don't know what it means and such. Any sites with history about that, or even books titles, would be appreciated.

Thanks

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Openbox would probably make a good option for you if you don't want lots of gizmos on the screen.

More info on window managers here:

Window Managers for X

[jmadero]

Just one clarification. Anything you install in Gnome can be installed in KDE (and vice a versa) you just need the libraries which most major distros will make easy to download and install. I use lots of KDE apps in my Gnome machine (Amarok, KMyMoney2, etc...). I also use several Gnome apps in my Kubuntu boot. If your machine is older I'd suggest one of the lighter distros such as xubunut which uses xfce window manager

[darkrose0510]

You can run Gnome applications on KDE, and vice versa, just because you're using gnome doesn't mean you can only use gnome apps. Likewise just because you're using KDE doesn't mean you can only use KDE apps.

If you're using gnome and don't want 2 panels, you can simply remove the one you don't want, likewise if you want 3 or 4 panels you can add more. The same is true with adding/removing panels in KDE.

[elija]

Another option might be enlightenment. It does look very good and is much lighter than XFCE. I have never gotten on with it, but other people love it. One of these days I might give it a really fair trial

[b2bwild]

You can try out IceWM, I prefer it for lightweight systems.

[Freston]

Of course the icons are abstract, nobody knows intuitively what they mean. But they are distinctive enough that you learn their meaning quickly. And most Window Managers support 'mouse-over' descriptions. Meaning that when you hold your mouse over the icon that a description pops up.


Also, I like my screen real estate as much as the next so I've got some of these panels put on 'auto-hide'. Just an example here, but when I hit the center upper edge of the screen a menu pops up.

This is what I normally see (right now in fact :



Hidden menu pops up and also the mouse-over description:


btw, this is KDE

edit: Enlightenment is pretty good as well. I've been using that one again lately. But KDE is just, just a little more flexible.

[coopstah13]

I like fvwm-crystal for a lightweight WM. It is very fast and sleek.

[jayd512]

I happen to like IceWM. It's not a resource hog, and the default is one taskbar. Also very easy to customize.

[Compintuit]

Thanks for the suggestions. The link was most helpful. I actually learned the pics I'd seen were old. I downloaded a live cd of Fedora with KDE, and tried that out on a USB. I like KDE, although the start menu is pretty clumsy, and the method for resizing the task bar downright sad. I'd like more options for editing preferences - could someone point out the files I need to modify?(For example, what would I edit to change the font size of the clock?)

I also had asked for any info about the history of the commands, do you all really not know any sites providing that info?

Thanks again.