From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 23 14:02:39 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8ED6F106566C for ; Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:02:39 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5256C8FC1A for ; Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:02:39 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-195-219-100.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.219.100]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8F1C61E60D; Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:02:37 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id o8NE2ajN001498; Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:02:37 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:02:36 +0200 From: Polytropon To: Jorge Biquez Message-Id: <20100923160236.dbd09e57.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <3368057398-783131724@intranet.com.mx> References: <3368057398-783131724@intranet.com.mx> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: GUI Suggested? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:02:39 -0000 On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:29:38 -0500, Jorge Biquez wrote: > I was wondering if you can tell suggest me based on yoru experience > on what path to follow? KDE? any other? For many years now, I am happily using WindowMaker as my main desktop. It can be configured easily and does STAY OUT OF YOUR WAY, means it SUPPORTS you with the actions you intendedly want to take, so you can do whatever you want instead of messing with the window manager. It's also very lightweight. I've also tried tiling window managers, but their magic sadly didn't open up to me. Another lightweight, allthough "obsolete" (but still powerful) GUI is XFCE. When I write XFCE, I mean XFCE version 3. If I would mean Xfce 4, I would write Xfce. :-) A highly customizable and "still" quite professional environment is fvwm2. You can add as much stuff as you like, but you can also switch off all annoying things. > I would like to test what you suggest is the best for you and if > possible that it is not TOO complicated to setup. The idea is to use > it as my desktop plattfor (documents, browser, email, etc) I still have a 300 MHz P2 with XFCE 3 that does *ALL* you just mentioned, and it does it fine. Keep in mind that your choice of window manager (or even full desktop environment) may depend on which applications you're using. For example, if you find KDE's applications best, you will probably want to use them with KDE, allthough you could also use them with Gnome, or even with WindowMaker (as I sometimes do for the two KDE programs I occassionally have to use). On the other hand, if the Gnome set of applications fits your needs better, go with Gnome. Internationalisation and language support can also be a thing to consider. In the past, I was often disappointed with KDE's sloppy and missing translations; as a German, I tried the german variant, but found that it is not very well supported - that was in KDE 3, maybe KDE 4 is better. Gnome in fact *had* a much better german language support. Finally, I switched all back to english (except OpenOffice) because the NATIVE language of the system and the applications is better than anything else. Finally, choosing a GUI may really be a "trial & error" path. And if your need change, your choice may change, too. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...