FreeBSD vs. window managers

Louis LeBlanc FreeBSD at keyslapper.net
Fri Sep 2 18:57:38 PDT 2005


On 09/02/05 11:19 AM, hal sat at the `puter and typed:
> For FreeBSD 5.4 what is the:
>      default window manager?
>      developer recommended window manager?
>      easiest to install?
> 
> I am not trying to start a religious war here.
> I am currently installing KDE from source and it
> is taking forever.
> 
> #cd /usr/ports/x11/KDE3
> # make
> 
> Some of the packages needed cannot be found by the
> make file.  Google is great but some of the packages are
> really hard to find.

None of the window managers are difficult to install on FreeBSD, but
some may be tricky to configure.  Maybe most.

If you want a window manager, not a desktop, you don't want KDE.
That's a desktop/WM.  My personal favorite for more than 6 years now
is FVWM2.  Flexible, fast, supports all kinds of cool things, like
fancy key and mouse bindings, Xinerama, etc.

Still, lot's of people like KDE, enlightenment(?), IceWM, the Gnome
Desktop, etc.

My advice is try a few different ones before deciding.  See how
intiutive or simple you find configuration (I like FVWM2 because it's
simple text file configuration, and manpages are quite thorough).
Just remember, you will probably get a basic configuration set up the
way you want and not really touch it for a long time.  Then one day,
you'll look at it to tweak some behavior.  My config has only changed
a little over the last 6 years, and only one or two small tweaks at a
time.  Lots of times, I have to go back to reread documentation or
commentary in the config to figure out what it's doing.

So, two things that are important: ease of configuration and
flexibility.  You want those small tweaks to be painless, but you also
want the WM to be able to do what you want it to.  So far, I've not
found anything I wanted that FVWM2 couldn't do.  Documentation (man
pages) are well written enough that tweaks are pretty easy to manage
now too.

BTW, I'm fairly mouse averse, so I have my config set up to allow me
to keep my hands on the keys until I go into a browser, unless I
decide to exercise the mouse for some reason.  This includes switching
pages on the desktop, switching desktops, switching apps, etc..  If I
go to the mouse, it all works pretty much the same.  Key bindings
allow me to use the fancy buttons on my fancy keyboard to control
audio and video playback, volume - including mute, and window layering
(move to top, bottom, etc.) among many other things.

Good luck.
Lou
-- 
Louis LeBlanc                          FreeBSD-at-keyslapper-DOT-net
Fully Funded Hobbyist,                   KeySlapper Extrordinaire :)
Please send off-list email to:         leblanc at keyslapper d.t net
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VMS, n.:
  The world's foremost multi-user adventure game.
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