From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Aug 1 16:27:39 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 3F51416A514 for ; Tue, 1 Aug 2006 16:27:39 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from andrewgould@yahoo.com) Received: from web35309.mail.mud.yahoo.com (web35309.mail.mud.yahoo.com [66.163.179.103]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id BC5AC43D55 for ; Tue, 1 Aug 2006 16:27:36 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from andrewgould@yahoo.com) Received: (qmail 74593 invoked by uid 60001); 1 Aug 2006 16:27:36 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:Cc:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=UYafPROBmYO9ZUAx71ueDq7oi2nNzY1VmnPTG+Q8QcCYpqGCSY1EoPRtg1eX8vhkD0OmAYm00w0X/SSABN06er10ACNkcMA/Sz2QYPmk06MV7XAuVH1uAYFjU2M5yNjve7wv89StzB7gU4q4IUPzpz3r0+mqpuYASDRrqzR76Cg= ; Message-ID: <20060801162736.74591.qmail@web35309.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Received: from [206.255.31.21] by web35309.mail.mud.yahoo.com via HTTP; Tue, 01 Aug 2006 09:27:36 PDT Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2006 09:27:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Gould To: Jerry McAllister , tech.junk@verizon.net In-Reply-To: <200608011447.k71ElSm5009515@clunix.cl.msu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailman-Approved-At: Tue, 01 Aug 2006 17:30:43 +0000 Cc: Joshua Lewis , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org 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: Tue, 01 Aug 2006 16:27:39 -0000 --- Jerry McAllister wrote: > > > > Joshua Lewis wrote: > > > > > > 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? > > > > > > > Look at them both and make a choice if you like > either. > > I tried both in the past, but found they were not > for me for various > > reasons, so I went looking, also tried Xfce as > has been mentioned, but > > I decided I wanted to try something really > different from things that > > seemed Windows like. > > > > Tried WindowMaker and have been using it now for a > long time. Here is > > the url www.windowmaker.info if you are > interested. > > As you requested lean and fast, little slow > getting started, only > > because it is very different in the approach of > say Gnome, KDE, or Xfce, > > but once you get used to it, works great. I also > like dock apps, which > > you can get more info at http://dockapps.org/ > > Gee, I just use AfterStep. Of course, that isn't > really an MS-Win > environment replacement. It doesn't even attempt to > be. But then I > really do not want to have the look and feel of > MS-Win. I want something > more straight-forward and less icky. > > ////jerry > > > Good Luck, > > Sean This is a good point here. Whereas it's good to have something familiar for immediate productivity, it's also good to explore different options to experience benefits/drawbacks that you hadn't considered before. In *nix (includind BSD's and Linux), you're not limited to one window manager. You can install several and use whichever matches your mood at the time. I used to use KDE and Gnome simply because the menus contained so many applications that were new to me. Once I knew which applications I wanted to use, I switched to XFCE because it's faster. I still use XFCE for my office productivity; but I'm still experimenting with icewm and windowmaker on an older computer because they "feel" so much faster. Definitely choose a window manager that will give you a positive experience now; but take time to browse *nix's other offerings. If you don't try new things, how can you make an informed decision? Andrew L. Gould