From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Sep 3 01:57:38 2005 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 E5F2816A41F for ; Sat, 3 Sep 2005 01:57:37 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from leblanc@keyslapper.net) Received: from russian-caravan.cloud9.net (russian-caravan.cloud9.net [168.100.1.4]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 691E943D45 for ; Sat, 3 Sep 2005 01:57:37 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from leblanc@keyslapper.net) Received: from russian-caravan.cloud9.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by russian-caravan.cloud9.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 7B3ED15D41 for ; Fri, 2 Sep 2005 21:57:36 -0400 (EDT) Received: from keyslapper.net (250-119.customer.cloud9.net [168.100.250.119]) by russian-caravan.cloud9.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id B983115AB8 for ; Fri, 2 Sep 2005 21:57:35 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by keyslapper.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id E996E11469 for ; Fri, 2 Sep 2005 21:56:58 -0400 (EDT) Received: from keyslapper.net ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (keyslapper.net [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 99172-10 for ; Fri, 2 Sep 2005 21:56:58 -0400 (EDT) Received: by keyslapper.net (Postfix, from userid 1001) id A37A611452; Fri, 2 Sep 2005 21:56:58 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 21:56:58 -0400 From: Louis LeBlanc To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20050903015658.GB99371@keyslapper.net> Mail-Followup-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <90056E03-651E-431A-9D87-5F89C5F6CCE7@cc.usu.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="oyUTqETQ0mS9luUI" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <90056E03-651E-431A-9D87-5F89C5F6CCE7@cc.usu.edu> X-PGP-Key: http://www.keyslapper.net/~leblanc/leblanc-at-keyslapper-net.asc User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.10i X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at keyslapper.net X-AntiVirus: Checked by Vexira Antivirus v1.5 Subject: Re: FreeBSD vs. window managers X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 03 Sep 2005 01:57:38 -0000 --oyUTqETQ0mS9luUI Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable 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? >=20 > I am not trying to start a religious war here. > I am currently installing KDE from source and it > is taking forever. >=20 > #cd /usr/ports/x11/KDE3 > # make >=20 > 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 --=20 Louis LeBlanc FreeBSD-at-keyslapper-DOT-net Fully Funded Hobbyist, KeySlapper Extrordinaire :) Please send off-list email to: leblanc at keyslapper d.t net Key fingerprint =3D C5E7 4762 F071 CE3B ED51 4FB8 AF85 A2FE 80C8 D9A2 VMS, n.: The world's foremost multi-user adventure game. --oyUTqETQ0mS9luUI Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFDGQLqr4Wi/oDI2aIRAtAAAJ9mFXy5XGGL6VhBSacxKFGeqRfEbACgj6Sb w1BIbqb84fJ4wq9inbOYjR4= =WPsk -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --oyUTqETQ0mS9luUI--