Hi,
I've always used KDE since I started using Linux but am getting tired of it. It has too many bells & whistles I don't need.I would like to migrate to a lighter window manager say window maker.Is that a good choice? I'm going to do this on my Debian (Lenny) system so anyone think window maker is the way to go?

Thanks jonycat

I've used windowmaker and thought it was fine. I think I prefer icewm or fluxbox though. icewm was the most intuitive for me right away. The others I had to do some tweaking to get them setup the way I wanted them. But they're all fast and highly configurable to your liking.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I've heard good things about Enlightenment too, but I've never tried it.

Also, here's a list of lightweight WM's.

Enlightenment is OK, but I'm waiting till E17 is no longer beta. Personally, Fluxbox (and variations) and Fvwm-Crystal are my favorites.

I love enlightenment. It is running fine even with a 800Mhz CPU. A few hints:
- menu configuration is under "~/.e16/menus/"
- Keyboard shortcut configuration is (at least in my Gentoo distribution) under "/usr/share/e16/config/bindings.cfg"
- Session config file is "/etc/X11/Sessions/enlightenment".
I had troubles finding the docs and needed some time in order to find this files... .

You can insert the following line into the session config file (before the last line which starts up e16) if you have a 3D card and want to make the root window look differently: "/usr/lib/misc/xscreensaver/fireflies -root -minflies 1 -maxflies 5 -fps 28 &" (you'll have of course to first install fireflies). Uses 1%CPU on my notebook.

Hi,

My vote goes to fluxbox, lightweight and highly customizable which is the primary reason why I like it the most, but that's just me of course




Regards

I use fluxbox here on one of my boxes as well. It's fine over the LAN for the users and is simple enough that nobody had any problems understanding its config.

I recommend IceWM for people who want a WM that does it's job in a civil manner. No fireworks, but no fighting or drama either

I like the bells & whistles in KDE, but when h/w constraints mandate, I have used Xfce, Ice, & Flux. I haven't got enough experience (w/ them) to make a strong recommendation; but, w/in the context of antiX (i.e. "diet MEPIS"), I prefer Flux because Ice seems too gaudy, while Flux is easy to adapt to.

I quite like JWM. It is light, easy to configure (has one simple config file for setting the colouring or title bars etc, the menu structure). It includes a nice simple task bar with a applications menu, system tray and pager. It doesnt look too bad, sure you cannot theme it in the same way as say fluxbox or something, you are limited to just altering the colouring and gradiants. But it still doesnt look all that bad.

I would say give JWM a try, I think it is what DSL uses.

Michael.

Fluxbox would be my vote, I have been using it for a few years now and have never been disappointed with it. One of the great features is that all the config files are in one place, ~./fluxbox . That is where you can find the menu, key bindings, look and fell. That and there is a great community with a choice for the bells and whistles you want. I have to have conky personally. Its always a tough choice, their are so many environments out there to choice from. I say try a few and make a decision based on what you like.

Guess I've tried about 6-7 different ones but keep coming back to fluxbox. After the initial learning curve it is very easy to use and extremely light weight. Icewm works just fine as well and can be made to match a bunch of different styles.

fluxbox and xfce4 are my main choices. But coming from kde, you might like IceWM better. Try a few and see what you like.

xfce4, and window-maker , windown-maker is better one,i think~~

otherwise, fvwm, if you want to know how the window manager works~~

Another vote for Enlightenment. I've been using enlightenment since redhat 5.0. I found the other window managers a bit ugly for my tastes but E can be turned into something easier on the eyes. I run plain E on my desktop and E+Gnome on my laptop.