From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jul 26 19:39:32 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AAF2816A4FE for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:39:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from mxout2.cac.washington.edu (mxout2.cac.washington.edu [140.142.33.4]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43E9543D46 for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:39:32 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from smtp.washington.edu (smtp.washington.edu [140.142.32.139]) by mxout2.cac.washington.edu (8.13.6+UW06.06/8.13.6+UW06.03) with ESMTP id k6QJdVgR021338 for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:39:32 -0700 X-Auth-Received: from [128.208.5.99] (nilakantha.cs.washington.edu [128.208.5.99]) (authenticated authid=youshi10) by smtp.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW06.03) with ESMTP id k6QJdVjS030360 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT) for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:39:31 -0700 Message-ID: <44C7C4F3.8080400@u.washington.edu> Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:39:31 -0700 From: Garrett Cooper User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.4 (Windows/20060516) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <20060726082333.e72c8bd2fa3c8298c4bf39a8c4c61b77.dba6f17e66.wbe@email.secureserver.net> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-PMX-Version: 5.2.0.264296, Antispam-Engine: 2.4.0.264935, Antispam-Data: 2006.7.26.121933 X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report='__CP_MEDIA_2_BODY 0, __CT 0, __CTE 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __MIME_TEXT_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __SANE_MSGID 0, __USER_AGENT 0' Subject: Re: Replacing windows XP at home. X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:39:32 -0000 jan gestre wrote: > On 7/26/06, Joshua Lewis wrote: >> >> >> I have a hard question to ask and I realize that there are a thousand >> answers to this question. >> >> >> >> I am replacing my XP system with a FreeBSD 6.1 system. I finished >> installing it last night and cvsuped. Now I need to choose a window >> manager. >> >> >> >> There are what seems like hundreds of different WM in the ports >> collection and there is no way I will be able to find the time to >> read >> them all and get any kind of good idea on what each one does. >> >> >> >> I am hoping a few people form the list could e-mail me what they like >> and for what reason. >> >> >> >> I want something lean and fast but I want to have my cake and eat it >> to because I do want something that is not strait up ugly and is >> functional. >> >> >> >> KDE seems like it is bloated so I was considering Gnome. I have also >> been reading about enlightenment and it sounds interesting. I have >> looked into Fluxbox and it also seems like it would do the trick. >> >> >> >> Would I be better off just going with Gnome or KDE? I realize once I >> start installing apps that I will probably wind up installing >> something that uses Gnome or KDE libraries so I am going to wind up >> bloating my system any ways right? >> >> >> >> gnome and kde are both bloated, why not xfce or fluxbox, they are both >> lean and fast. Performance is all relative though, based on what your machine's speed is, how much RAM it has, disk space, etc. I personally abandoned Gnome and KDE approximately 1-2 years ago because I found compiling the packages to be too much of a pain and take too much time to accomplish. I use XFCE4.2, and if I feel like it, I use fluxbox from time to time. However, functionality-wise I find XFCE4.2 to be the best thing out there right now, mostly because of the additional daemons and minor programs that run in the background for both KDE (Konqueror, kstart, etc) and Gnome (Nautilus, gnome*daemon, etc). I will say this though: if you want everything, including all the trimmings in a desktop, go for KDE. If you want hardware to just work and like a more "polished" (ie less cubic) and maybe a bit cartoony look, go for Gnome. -Garrett