Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Leon · Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 265

JWM, since I first tried it.
Simple, easy customizable, although still buggy, but predictable. Wink

I hope it will stay in Puppy.

theelf · Joined: 07 Jun 2005 Posts: 55 Location: Temperance Hall, TN

Icewm appears o be the winner so far. Maybe there will be a future release with Icewm as the only wm

guest · Guest

XFCE should also be included in the list

bombayrockers

kcin · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 101 Location: Oakland CA

I also like icewm the best - especially with the XPDE theme, which pairs up very nicely with a wallpaper I borrowed from VectorLinux called "AloneIsWhenYouAreShining.jpg." It is the desktop I use most frequently, configured this way.

But I have to say, JWM is quickly growing on me. At first I was ... "What the heck is this new desktop?" ...but the more I use it and the more I play around with customizing the config, the more I like it. I have been able to nearly duplicate the settings from my above icewm favorite in JWM - with no previous experience - so it is very easy indeed to manipulate to your satisfaction.

I think Barry made an excellent choice in selecting this (JWM) for the default WM for Puppy. It works very well, is very attractive, easy to configure, and is very small, leaving more room for other enhancements to Puppy within the 60MB framework, plus all the other choices are available via dotpup.

Now, I'm running all five (jwm, icewm, fvwm95, fluxbox, and xfce4) - it's nice to be able to compare them side-by-side like that. (I do hope someone comes out soon with a 1.05 update for fluxbox menus)

BTW, someone (Walt?) mentioned above that they were having a problem with the start menu in JWM staying open when they clicked it. That only happens when you click the start menu button - Better is to just click on the desktop anywhere with either button, both of which bring up the menu such that it stays open til another click is made. ... or so I have observed.

Best Regards

kcin

EarlSmith · Posted: Fri 14 Oct 2005, 12:37 Post subject:

IceWM - like an old suit, it just feels good.

Perrito · Joined: 05 Oct 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Caracas, Venezuela

XFCE is the best Rolling Eyes

Chuck the Plant · Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 17 Location: USA

On a HD Puppy install, I perfer XFCE for the easy configuration. For a no-frills Live CD experience, I'll take IceWM.

Flash · Posted: Fri 18 Nov 2005, 09:43 Post subject:

Lobster, may I suggest that we first need to define what a window manager is. Here's my preliminary take on it:

A window manager is a program in Linux which integrates the other programs that are necessary to make the desktop GUI you see. Some programs apparently create their own GUI independently of the window manager, which is why e.g. the fonts in Firefox are different from the system fonts.

That is based on my limited observation. Is it anywhere near right?

MU · Posted: Fri 18 Nov 2005, 10:04 Post subject:

Flash,

a WM simply adds Window-Borders and organizes the "stacking" (bring a window to front or send it to the background). It also organizes the internal logic of virtual desktops.

The stuff in the windows is independent from that.
It is organized by "widgets-sets".
Widget-engines are QT (Opera) Gtk/Gtk2 (leafpad, beaver) and XUL.

Mozilla uses a combination of Gtk2 and XUL.
It has special Widget called "Gecko", the "rendering engine to display HTML", that draws fonts like a bitmap, and does not use the Gtk-Fontsystem. So the fonts on a Webpage may look different from the same font in the Mozilla-menue.

Mark

Nathan F · Posted: Fri 18 Nov 2005, 12:06 Post subject:

I love JWM and think it's a great choice for the Puppy default. The only bug I've seen is the one mentioned above about the disappearing menu. I like icewm even more, however. I don't go crazy theming it, I just run it and it works and feels right to me. It's got all the options you really ever need but is still smaller than just about everything but JWM.

I run icewm on my Fedora server even thoough I've got KDE and Gnome available, too. Something about KDE just never clicked with me. It does too many things without your input, which is one of the reasons I left Windows. The only benefit I see to it is the integration of the applications into one whole and complete desktop environment. Once again, however, this is too 'Windowsish' for me. I like a mish mash on my desktop.

Before anyone points it out yes I know the difference between a window manager and a desktop environment. I was just pointing out that even with the option available I still choose icewm.

Nathan

peppyy · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 443 Location: VT USA

I have tried them all and keep going back to fvwm95 if for nothing else because it seems more stable to me. I also really like the monitor apps, mostly the battery one on the laptops. I think it is a good maneger for folks who are not familiar with linux too.

muskrat · Joined: 03 Jul 2005 Posts: 24 Location: Gulf Coast TX-MX

What do you know, I'm in the popular crowd on this poll. Laughing

I like IceWM, it runs fast and clean on my older systems.

Mazzo · Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 26 Location: UK - Thames Valley

I'm late to this poll, but I too really like icewm.

I'm not sure I can justify why, other than it feels right and it is comfortable.

Funny really because until I tried it, I couldn't see the point of changing from the default wm. Glad I did though.