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Date:      Mon, 29 Dec 2014 23:50:45 +0100
From:      Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de>
To:        galtsev@kicp.uchicago.edu
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Xwindow advise needed
Message-ID:  <20141229235045.b8156cdf.freebsd@edvax.de>
In-Reply-To: <55358.128.135.70.2.1419874589.squirrel@cosmo.uchicago.edu>
References:  <55358.128.135.70.2.1419874589.squirrel@cosmo.uchicago.edu>

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On Mon, 29 Dec 2014 11:36:29 -0600 (CST), Valeri Galtsev wrote:
> Dear All,
> 
> I just upgraded my workstation from 10.0 to 10.1. Which made me to make
> "step up" from Gnome 2 to Gnome 3. And after a few days of frustration
> (which was just trying to do the work on workstation as usually) I
> realized that I'm not ready to join ipad generation yet.

Wait, you do _not_ want fat sausage finger prints from
tapping on your screen? ;-)



> Any suggestion anybody? To prolong my not joining ipad generation for just
> a bit longer.

It depends on how much of a "desktop environment" you need.
What comes closest to Gnome 3 is Gnome 2, and therefore,
Mate, derived from Gnome 2. An alternative is Cinnamon.
But I can't make a statement about how functional those
are when running on FreeBSD.

Is KDE an option for you?

For a long time, Xfce has been considered the "less fatty
desktop" in comparison to the "big players" Gnome and KDE.
But with the growing incompatibilities btweeen FreeBSD and
Linux (the system Xfce is primarily being developed on and
for), you might experience missing functionality.

The last statement probably is also true for LXDE.

If you're comfortable with a powerful window manager, why
not try something "lower level", which means: faster, less
dependencies, higher productivity? Personally I'm using
WindowMaker on my workstation for more than 10 years now.
I've tried a lot of alternatives, but WindowMaker has the
best integration of mouse and (programmable) keyboard from
my experience. It's fast and versatile, and pleasant to
the eyes, once configured to the user's delight.

But if you want something even faster, FVWM is a good choice.

As it has been mentioned, tiling window managers are even
more professional. Sadly, their magic didn't open up to me
yet. It's a very powerful paradigm of managing your screen
content, but I don't get it. Maybe too much "passive smoking"
of the iStuff pollution floating into my direction... ;-)

Basically, it will be a "trial & error" for you, because
you'll have to actually _use_ the different desktop environments
and window managers to form an opinion about if they are
good _for you_ or not.


-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...



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