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Date:      Fri, 21 Feb 2003 09:28:46 -1000 (HST)
From:      Gary Dunn <knowtree@aloha.com>
To:        John Bleichert <syborg@stny.rr.com>
Cc:        Jud <judmarc@fastmail.fm>, matrix@altima.net, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: lightweight wm
Message-ID:  <Pine.GSO.4.10.10302210918400.6487-100000@leahi>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0302210906510.21787-100000@janeway.vonbek.dhs.org>

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On Fri, 21 Feb 2003, John Bleichert wrote:

> On Thu, 20 Feb 2003, Jud wrote:
> > Subject: Re: lightweight wm
> > On Thu, 20 Feb 2003 20:38:28 -0500 (EST), John Bleichert 
> > <syborg@stny.rr.com> wrote:
> > > On Thu, 20 Feb 2003 matrix@altima.net wrote:
> > >> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
> > >>
> > >> im on a pI 233mhz mmx with 64mb of ram
> > >> what do u recommend me to install GNOME or KDE
> > >>
> > >
> > > I use Blackbox on a 166 and it runs great (Fluxbox as suggested by 
> > > somebody else is based on Blackbox I believe) - it's a great window 
> > > manager. Controlled by a simple text file, multiple desktops, nice 
> > > graphical styles, etc. mwm is nice too (very unix) but openmotif takes a 
> > > long time to build.
> > 
> > Though I have the hardware and disk space to run GNOME, KDE, or both if I 
> > wish, I gravitate to a lightweight ethic, so like John, I run Blackbox (as 
> > well as bbrun for extra convenience).  Very occasionally I also use 
> > Windowmaker for a bit of variety.
> > 
> > With a fairly lightweight GUI file manager, Rox-filer (not lightweight if 
> > built from ports, because the FreeBSD port has a bunch of GNOME 
> > dependencies; I just download it from its home page and install it, and it 
> > works fine for me - note, I do have Linux emulation installed), browser 
> > (Opera), mailer (Sylpheed), editor (nedit, though I also play with Xemacs 
> > and a couple of TeX editors), cd player (ascd or wmcdplay) and system 
> > monitor (GKrellM2), I feel pretty well set.
> > 
> > These are all GUI applications, because you asked about GNOME and KDE, 
> > which are big GUI desktop environments.  The FreeBSD base system comes with 
> > command line utilities which will take the places of several of these 
> > applications quite nicely.
> > 
> > Jud
> > 
> 
> Actually, just to be clear, I'm a KDE fan. KDE 3.1 is great, and on a 
> multi-GHz box with 6 cubic yards of RAM who cares about resources? But on 
> some of the lower-watt boxes I have (at work and at home) I need a 
> lighterweight WM. Blackbox is great, very clean. Also, the code is very 
> clean and makes an excellent X/WM tutorial.
> 
> That said, I do run Blackbox for a while every now and again for a break 

I like things simple and with clean design, and I like using old stuff --
cars, cameras, and computers. A lightweight window manager would seem
ideal for me, but I use GNOME because I like drag-n-drop (my typing sucks)
and the way copy-paste through the clipboard works, better than the
straight X method. And I like a consistent look-and-feel across
applications.

What features and benefits do you miss when you use Blackbox instead of
KDE? 

Which window managers do you think are best suited for a pen-based
system?

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