Window Managers
One of the great joys of Linux is that there are so many window managers to choose from. If you use MS Windows or even Macintosh then you are stuck with the GUI that comes with the OS that you buy. Not so with Linux ! I've never been able to find a single page on the internet where it was possible to have an overview of all of the WMs that are available. This is an attempt to sort out that problem.
A word of warning. You are now entering
a completely endless flow of information which will more or less leave
you shivering with information overload for about six months. Just
thought I'd let you know :-) The more well known WMs are towards
the top of the list. The ones at the bottom are not so well
known.
The
KDE is probably the most popular window manager just now. It's almost
an adventure to find out how to use it. But once you understand it
then things become very easy. If you used MS Windows most of your
life you'll probably want to use this one until you begin to understand
more about simple programming methods. Click on the logo to go to
the KDE site for more info. Might take you a week or two to
get through this one.
If you don't like the KDE then you could try this one. It's a
really good window manager. Lots of features and very easy
to use. I've heard several people say that it's an intuitive WM.
There are many Gnome files that come with the SuSE distribution.
See the docs and also look in /opt/gnome for more information if you have
SuSE 6.1 or above. Click on the logo to go to the Gnome web
site.
FVWM is used extensively all over the world by system admins and engineers
who think that people shouldn't use anything else. It's a very solid
WM (not flaky) which allows for ease of use of the Linux system that is
underneath. Manlug
like to use this one and I can hardly think of a single argument to say
that they could or should use any other WM.
A lightweight WM for Unix that
is also inexpensive. May appeal to someone who doesn't want to burn
disk space on WMs and would rather use it for something else.
Enlightenment
is thought to be absolutely brilliant by its protagonists. If you've
tried the rest and you still aren't impressed then why not try this ?
Cool WM with lots of features. The Enlightenment web site is full
of all sorts of useful info so you might want to have a look anyway ?
Very
nice WM with all sorts of features. Many people have tried
it and stayed with it. I like it myself. Why not try
it if you get bored with one of the others ?
Blackbox is also a very good WM which may well become more popular
as Linux becomes more acceptable to more people as an operating system
of choice.