The Perfect Window Manager / Desktop Environment

[bigtomrodney]

I am far more of a DE guy that WM. I played around a lot in the earlier days of using Linux but I always came back to KDE. It just seemed to offer more and look better. As of late I'm using Gnome. Okay, it doesn't have all of the super servicemenus which were so helpful but it looks and feels so uniform.

I remember one of the earlier KDE4 brainstorms on kde-look.org had a look somewhere between Gnome and KDE and I hoped that was the direction it was going. Instead of Applications/Places/System it had Create/Communicate/Configure.

*Kde4 Mockup KDE-Look.org

If that's how KDE4 turns out I'll be very happy. At the moment though Gnome+Beryl keeps my system running well and is very intuitive. I don't have it overdone but people constantly comment on how well it looks and personally I have found that running Beryl makes a big difference to system behaviour. It's nice having the desktop handled on the GPU. Recently Nautilus went bananas and started hogging 99% CPU. The amazing thing is that it took a while to notice because Beryl didn't show any sign of slowing. Makes a big difference to the old frozen windows and items not repainting. Definitely recommended if you haven't already tried it.

[oz]

Yeah, Juan Pablo & MikeTbob... I didn't mention it in my initial post but I've tried WindowMaker and Afterstep, although it was very briefly and a long time ago. I didn't give either of them a fair trial, so I should probably try them again.

Hey there, BigTomRodney... one of the best things about KDE for me is that all of the K* applications are of high quality. The K* naming scheme bothers some, but it's not bothered me. Oh yeah, I certainly agree that Gnome is kicking some serious anal cavity these days.

[budman7]

If it ain't bust, don't fix it and be content.

A very good reason to go hunting for another distro.
It's no fun when everything just works. Boooorrrrring.

[fingal]

A very good reason to go hunting for another distro.
It's no fun when everything just works. Boooorrrrring.

I know that feeling. I've stopped learning much now: everything just ... works!

[oz]

A very good reason to go hunting for another distro.
It's no fun when everything just works. Boooorrrrring.

Exactly! It's fun for a little while but quickly becomes boring. I think those with an inquisitive nature tend to stay on the hunt.

[Ozzi]

Yep that's exactly how I feel. It's the reason why I ditched Ubuntu for Debian. Took me shorter than I taught to set it up properly, though. Now I'm moving on to Slackware. I heard it's going to be real fun, that one.

[bigtomrodney]

I had been wondering whether it was distros getting better at just working or it was me knowing everything. Thanks for killing my delusions of grandeur!

I though I knew everything.

[bidi]

I use GNOME on my laptop, which is my main computer, and GNUstep + WindowMaker on my "playtime" computer (a 500MHz P2). I like GNUstep and wish it was more widespread and easier to install current versions (I make Slackware packages and make it available, which is what I use on the P2).

The only project I know that tries to integrate it is MidnightBSD, but it's still in very early stages. There's also a GNUSTEP LiveCD out there, but it's built off Debian Sid packages and is not always up-to-date.

You said you want something completely different, so I'd say GNUstep definately falls in that criteria. NOTE: GNUstep is officially a set of libraries/frameworks + development environment, not a desktop.

[oz]

I'm really liking Gnome quite well as far as full desktop environments go, but three things continue to bother me about it.

First off, the menu editing is not as easily done as it should be. KDE's menu editing is far easier, and better.

Secondly, I don't like the way Gnome (metacity) tries to open most windows right in the middle of the screen.

Thirdly, I'm not a big fan of the nautilus file manager. It's not terrible by any means, but it's not yet as good as konqueror, at least in my opinion.

Still, I'm finding myself spending more time in Gnome these days, than in KDE.

[budman7]

Have you tried dwm?
I am emerging this as I type.
I have never heard of the dynamic window manager.
I love to try new stuff out.