From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jul 26 19:56:55 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 B6CAE16A4DA for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:56:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from petermatulis@yahoo.ca) Received: from web60017.mail.yahoo.com (web60017.mail.yahoo.com [209.73.178.65]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 8236743D7B for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:56:37 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from petermatulis@yahoo.ca) Received: (qmail 68074 invoked by uid 60001); 26 Jul 2006 19:56:36 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.ca; h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=DqynD4qA5nB4C74KbOzRdjaFlbVPQPkzfFyulPCFnsOT+ws0ovLHREKp4zhqb9sDR0CpjMNFs3NRWx3wwkSJT3/yam4OqY6QC6Y0z1uBZlrJFHaN3RCsXRwkgmjTDq2VJJaJ6YKP2L7bHDtkRLUgQCwKsWvql8Srm1lJ5ZU/wsQ= ; Message-ID: <20060726195636.68072.qmail@web60017.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [66.131.121.105] by web60017.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:56:36 EDT Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:56:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Peter To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <20060726082333.e72c8bd2fa3c8298c4bf39a8c4c61b77.dba6f17e66.wbe@email.secureserver.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit 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 19:56:55 -0000 --- 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? I know both KDE and fluxbox quite well. They provide two entirely different experiences. Installing KDE will give you applications and a heavy desktop environment (with menus everywhere) while fluxbox will just give you a light window manager. I suggest you go for KDE first just to convince yourself that it is possible to have a Microsoft-like experience within an Open Source OS and then go for fluxbox. If you want something in between KDE and fluxbox then you may want to try XFCE. Of course, there are many more alternatives but these are the ones I have used a fair amount. Peter __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com