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The Big X Window Manager Guide [window manager screens]

internetling.com — As promised, today we’ll take a look at the various interesting window managers for the X Window System which aren’t (necessarily) a part of a certain desktop environment (that means Enlightenment DR 17 doesn’t count here people, sorry, please take a look at the desktop environment guide).

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 17, 2008

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  • sirhomer, on 07/17/2008, -0/+36Dugg for a well structured article not split into 10 different pages with two dozen ads each.
  • skyshock1, on 07/18/2008, -0/+8You really have no idea what you just said do you?
  • Acglaphotis, on 07/17/2008, -0/+7Nautilus is a file manager. Either way, when did choice became bad? We like having more than 10 different window managers. If other people don't like it, they have operating systems for them, so no harm done.
  • PainToad, on 07/17/2008, -0/+6/Sigh, of course one of the screen shots has to have a naked woman in it
  • buddyw, on 07/17/2008, -0/+6ion3
  • erlkonig, on 07/18/2008, -0/+5Although the article states that window managers are a GNU/Linux phenomenon, they're actually a more generic Unix phenomenon, even bleeding into all other OSes where X itself is supported. So the early sentence starting with "Officially, a window manager [...] is" is a bit off. Further, in X, technically the program "X" (or some variation thereof) actually draws *everything* (except for what OpenGL might draw, but that's beyond the scope of this reply). The client programs simply send requests to the X server to draw various things, move windows, get input, etc., and the window managers are just specialized client programs that focus on reparenting other applications' windows into the WM's windows, and then decorating, moving, or manipulating those.

    Desktop Environments are generally considered to be combinations of a window manager and other tools to set up a particular default environment for a user seen upon login before any specific application is run. The other tools often include special bars at the edge, clocks, email notifiers, file managers, screensavers/lockers, popup menus on the root screen, etc. Some DEs are tied only very loosely to any specific window manager, while in other cases the WM is the dominant part, or even the entirety, of the default experience.

    X's first window managers in the 1980s were things like "xwm", a truly minimalist window manager with (in X10) an odd special quirk of making iconified XTerms still have tiny active icons using the "nil2" font. Other popular ones were "uwm", "twm", "vtwm" (I think), and "tvtwm" (Tom's Virtual Tabbed Window Manager). The ones with "v" in them introduced the fantastically successful idea of a virtual desktop. A early LISP-based one was "gwm", based on a LISP dialect called Wool, although it ran too slowly on the hardware of the day to become popular. FVWM's module facility, on the other hand, was a major stride forward being both fast and becoming quite popular. Later WMs like Enlightenment started appearing with serious support for decorating window parts with images, although uptake with stalled by its initial notorious fragility: for example you could start Enlightenment without a config file, and it would simply unmap/hide all of your windows and exit - now *there* is desktop simplicity). Enlightenment was, if I remember correctly, tied in with the development of a support library for reading a much wider range of image formats with fueled creativity in other projects as well. More recent developments include virtualizing the windows themselves into 3D textures (initially usually with X servers modified to render into OpenGL textures) like XGGI, XGLTEX/XVFBTEX, and the recent and fabulously successful Compiz/Fusion.

    After decades, we have windows (including XTerm) with real translucency instead of the hack of copying the root screen into the window background. Cool. Of course, that's still just a single alpha value for the whole window, which is a bit limiting, but that'll have to do until we start seeing windows that render into RGBA OpenGL textures from the outset.

    Contrary to the article, hardly anyone calls the "*Boxes" that; simply calling them "minimalist" highlights their true commonality better. Normal, non-tiled window managers *could* be called "floating", but to most people who've never even *heard* of a tiled WM (or a tiled dev environment like Oberon or something), using the extra adjective would just be superfluous.

    The article mentions SawMill, but leaves out the heart-wrenching loss of SawMill from Redhat Linux, as all of its rich features were steadily discarded on RedHat's warpath to make Gnome and KDE both have the same basic UI, and same least-common-denominator inflexibility. Seeing WMs caged down to the level of Microsoft products has not been all the pleasant to watch, although it does, perhaps, prevent people like my Mom from setting their entire window environment to using dark purple text on a black background, which *might* be a good thing. For them.

    NextStep was awesome - we were completely blown away during the NeXT cube demo at MCC in Austin in 1990. Although we didn't get good answers to what happened when a dictionary search popped up too many (more than 127ish) windows, and had to raise a fuss about the permissions UI labelling the "user" part of the file mode bits as "me" - regardless of files' real ownership. Still, such a gorgeous system, built on Unix and Open Software, was a jewel. Small wonder Id Software loved them. :-)

    The real question in window managers now is how to handle 3D. Face it, for the most part Compiz is still fundamentally managing 2D windows from the 1980s. When do we start seeing *native* OpenGL terminals with RGBA to just make the *background* translucent instead of the text. And the long-term question is when do we start seeing true 3D applications in a *shared* space, instead of each one being caged in a little 2D window?

  • ctnd, on 07/18/2008, -0/+5If you like the sound of tiling window managers, I suggest: XMonad http://www.xmonad.org/

    It's configurable (and scriptable) as hell and stable with an active community.

    I use it inside GNOME. I'll take a screenshot: http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/4873/xmonadef7. ...

    In there you can see I have my gnome-panel at the bottom. You can have it fully stretched, I just don't. Taskbar works infe, but that kind of thing isn't necessary because all your windows are always displayed on your workspace. See at the bottom, I have 9 workspaces and 6 of them in use? I've got my editor, IRC, GIMP, a touch type program, and Pidgin. You can see how also the icon tray works perfectly fine. It's just GNOME but the actual managing of windows is done by XMonad which gives the best of both worlds. Sorry, I am kind of proud of getting my desktop exactly the way I like it.

    Glad to help anyone who found this useful (I've been looking for this a LONG time...).
  • Acglaphotis, on 07/17/2008, -0/+4It has a ***** of plugins which really add useful stuff. Like a file manager :p.
  • kungfuice, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3Not bad, it's a larget topic to cover and I think the author did a good job covering the basic wms out there.
  • inactive, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3Fluxbox is my absolute favorite window manager and I also have fond memories of Afterstep and IceWM.
  • JoMaclein, on 07/17/2008, -2/+5cool
  • Ademan, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3If you had asked me whether e17 was a window manager or a DE a week ago I would have said a WM without a doubt. However, usually how I draw the line between window manager and desktop environment is whether the project encompases other utilities to provide other functionality. Like fluxbox is a window manager, there's no fluxbox-keyring-manager, or fluxbox-file-manager or anything, wheras there IS a gnome-keyring-manager and a nautilus and a whole host of programs that makes Gnome a complete desktop environment and fluxbox *not* a DE. However e17 is really blurring the line, as there are currently several e17 applications, including a file browser. I don't know if that's enough to qualify it as a DE, but it's getting there.

    my two cents on the matter.
  • LocDawg, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3TIDUS.JPG
  • Acglaphotis, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3Cheap shot.
  • inactive, on 07/17/2008, -5/+7Interestingly Useful. So much info to absorb
  • earlycj5, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Kinda confused how e17 is a a DE while IceWM is a WM. Looks like the author used openGEU and decided E17 + Gnome was a DE?

    From http://www.enlightenment.org/

    And I quote: What is Enlightenment?
    Enlightenment is a window manager. Enlightenment is a desktop shell. Enlightenment is the building blocks to create beautiful applications. Enlightenment, or simply e, is a group of people trying to make a new generation of software.

    First line on their page says it's a WM. Still an interesting and useful read if not entirely accurate.
  • hadak, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2I kinda like E17. Too bad it doesn't really apply.
  • PainToad, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2mmm you're a naughty bracket and comma aren't you

    (,)(,)
  • ZaZ2137, on 07/17/2008, -5/+7How else are *nix nerds going to see one?
  • svensko, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2Been using Fluxbox but I'm thinking about switching to Blackbox or Openbox since I don't use any of the things that make Fluxbox worth it. Good article, dugg!
  • inactive, on 07/17/2008, -3/+5Not much, actually. A lot of managers is omitted and screenshots are really crappy. AwesomeWM is only one that I never heard of. Maybe it would be nice alternative to wmii2.
    http://www.suckless.org/wmii
    WM's list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager
  • inactive, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2lol so much fail in so little words

    Thanks for sharing XD
  • yahoofrom, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Every screen shot should.
  • neko, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Ah, good ol WindowMaker. I loved it back in the Comp Sci days (when using KDE would get the sysadmins annoyed at you), and even now it's breathing new life into my aging laptop.
  • sirhomer, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2I'll go ahead and recommend tiling window managers as well, like awesomewm, especially for people with big monitors. They are very different from the other WMs and I think by far they are the most usable. It's great for development especially, I like it with API docs open on one frame, a terminal on another an IDE on another.

    Don't be afraid to experiment though. I've installed almost all these WMs at one point or another.
  • inactive, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1That was, hands down, the most thought out comment I have ever read on Digg. Well done. =)
  • MrTea, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1interesting
  • Calibur, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1ASCII porn?
  • wallish, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1That's why I use utbox when I go to windows. Explorer sucks as a both a WM and DE.
  • Ademan, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Unfortunately Xmonad (while awesome simply by written in haskell) doesn't implement tags, which is one of the best features of dwm (and therefore it's child, awesomewm), and one of the things that make dwm better than the rest of the tiling wms.
  • ratsg, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1OpenWin/OpenLook FTW.
  • alexforcefive, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1It's not a bad thing, but it is freaking hard to get your head around. I mean if you come from a practically un-themeable windows or mac environment, and then you're confronted with fifteen bajillion options for just your window manager.

    By the way, shouldn't this list include compiz? I thought it replaced metacity... does it run alongside it?
  • xiangxianni, on 02/16/2009, -0/+1Very interesting and useful.Thanks very much
    http://www.registrycleanersreviews.info
  • inactive, on 12/12/2008, -0/+0ic ic, very informative

    http://www.toenail-fungus-treatment.net
    http://www.internal-hemorrhoid-treatment.com
    http://www.maquisuperberryreview.com
    http://www.squidoo.com/Glycogone
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  • PainToad, on 07/17/2008, -3/+3AWN looks like OS X Docks but it certainly doesn't "provides the same full functionality as its Apple counterpart"...It's great but different.
  • Commodore13, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1>AwesomeWM is only one that I never heard of.
    That's a good thing. It means that the article achieved the goal of educating you in the area that it was intending to. Sometimes I even find that the most enjoyable Digg articles, are the ones that teach me something I didn't previously know.
  • nurriz, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Educating.
  • inactive, on 07/18/2008, -0/+0go widescreen
  • MattBD, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1I love IceWM for a basic desktop. I'm currently trying to create my own distro for my Eee PC, based on Ubuntu but using IceWM. It's not going too great as I still have a lot to learn about Linux, but it's usable.
  • patm1987, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Hmm, it's a nice list, but I'd have to say:
    KDE is a good all-around desktop environment (KWin is the window manager) for when I'm lazy
    Fluxbox is usually my first choice of WM, if you set it up right it's very nice
    E17 I dabble in, but it has its quirks
    IonWM I use whenever I get in one of those moods when I only program with Emacs and Gcc and tend to loose the mouse behind my computer
    FVWM, though, is the best WM I've ever used. I only once set it up the way I liked it (it took me all afternoon of editing .fvwmconfig) but is very nice if you spend the time to set it up (and have gentoo's auto menu generator). But, it takes awhile to setup, and if you loose your favorite config you may never use this wm again just due to the prospect of having to make up your new config.
  • cepiloth, on 12/12/2008, -0/+0hahaha.. lol .. *naked woman*

    http://www.yogaexercisesgeartour.com/
    http://www.osteoporosis-treatment.biz/
    http://www.naturalcuresforcanineheartworms.com/
    http://www.squidoo.com/phix
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  • pagno, on 07/18/2008, -1/+1Now I want to play with linux again. Ive just never had any luck with wireless, on 2 different laptops. Its been love/hate for 6years :(
  • anon748296, on 07/17/2008, -11/+5believe it or not, this is a primary reason that desktop linux does not catch on - more than 10 different window managers, some sitting on top of kde, some on top of gnome, etc., and none of them is standard.

    ubuntu is starting to catch onto this concept with a standard environment (nautilus). linux needs one standard desktop environment that everyone can use and can rely on to be the standard when they sit down at a desktop linux system.
  • khuang2006, on 07/17/2008, -29/+0WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

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