If I should move this to another forum, please let me know. After reading the "what not to post here" stuff, I am not sure if anything belongs here :-)

I use OS/2. I totally abhore the idea of a start button, and a task bar across the bottom of my screen. Every day, millions of people go to work, plop down in front of their PC, and press that dopey start button. How terribly pavlovian.......

I also think icons scattered across the desktop is distracting, and totally useless once you open a few apps. Even clicking on the desktop to get a menu that you have to work through to find an app is getting old, if you ask me.

I have relied on the Launchpad in OS/2 since its inception and find that I get honest headaches when I have to use windows because of that start button/task bar mentality. Although I do use Win2K for CAD work, I use Object Desktop and it lets me turn off the start menu/task bar and gives me a launchpad type of feature that makes it easier to get around in there.

I try different linux distros several times a year to see what's new and who has made strides in making desktops more functional. Since there is so much linux software out there, it is wrong to say that what I want does not exist, but I sure have not found it yet.

If you don't know what the launchpad is in OS/2, you cannot see what I am looking for, but I seek the ability to put major program icons on a tab or bar, and have "sub icons" in drawers that open from the main tool. My internet dialer is on the bar, and when I open the drawer attached to that bar/icon, I get all the internet apps. Same with system tools, photo software, and whatever.

Anyway, I am looking for a desktop that works more like OS/2 than windows. I realize the power and functionality cannot be quite the same, but there must be at least one Linux programmer out there making a desktop that is not a microsoft clone with a button on the bottom left corner of the screen, and exploding menus from there.

I won't list all the ones I have tried, but blackbox/fluxbox type applications that open up and are totally non functional without text editing tend to turn me off. KDE and Gnome don't seem to know exactly what they want to look like :-) and so I am still searching for something else. Even tho OS/2 is now defunct, it was once rather popular and I am surprised that there does not seem to be any attempt to emulate its interface which won awards, and satisfied a lot of users.

Anyway, that's what I am hoping to find. If there are suggestions, or maybe a "wasting your time" comment, I am up for it :-)

At the moment, I have Mandrake 10 installed and am getting around in it when I can, to learn what the fuss is all about. What goes on under the hood matters of course, but we all like to drive cars that fit the way we think and drive. Same with a desktop.

Thanks for any advice.

John

Anything like this;
http://icculus.org/openbox/2/shots/full/shit1k.jpg

Great temporary file name :-)

I guess I ought to have provided a sample of what I mean in the first place....

Its not so much as to say what I don't like about the desktops I have found so far, as it is to say that for nearly ten years I have become so accustomed to never being more than two clicks away from an application that I get frustrated with clutter, and going through menus to get where I want to go. Too many years doing it one way is hard to relearn I guess <shrug> Linux would be easier to get used to and digest if I could find a way to keep the interface familiar, and easy to use based on my experience over the years.

Anyway, just holding out hope, not trying to be critical of any other desktop package or user.

http://www.aros.net/~jbrush/WarpDeskTop.jpg

The launchpad at the bottom holds every application I use. Its either right there on the launchpad, or I just open one of the drawers with the small button above each icon. Normally, the drawers are closed, and they can close back up after I select the application from within them if I choose. Keeps everything neat and tidy, not like my real life desk top, which is just the opposite <g>

I can pop the launchpad into focus when I run the mouse off a designated part of the screen, so no matter what is running, and how much is on the desktop, I can get to any app just by pushing the mouse off the lower left corner, and raising the focus on the launchpad. (some folks call it the tool bar)

The KDE and Gnome style desktops have a bar with icons, but there is a limit to how many things can fit there, and its hard to group things together, like internet, photo apps, utilities, etc. (hard being from my point of view, of course)

I sure didn't invent the method, but I am amazed that so far, I have found nothing like it in the world of Linux. Is there a place I should be visiting to bring up design ideas to people who have the knowledge to create destops in the first place? :-)

Much obliged for comments or ideas.

John

I think you should use XFCE. But in truth, what you want is just common with both KDE's and Gnome's side-panels.
If you want a window-manager-independant solution, I used to use an X application called xap, that is bundled with a file manager called xfm. You could also use Window Maker, or Fluxbox, with wmdrawers.

Yves.

OOOOO OOOOOO THAT'S XFCE, and if you hate icons I don't even think XFCE uses them by default (requires tweaking).

I use FVWM, with no taskbar and no screen icons. Everything is launched from the main menu, opened by mouse or keyboard, or CLI.

The opening screen:
http://blog.oneandoneis2.com/ss1.jpg

The menu:
http://blog.oneandoneis2.com/ss5.jpg

There are several windows managers that will do exactly what you're after, but they mostly depend on you configuring them in a text file.

FVWM might be the window manager you're looking for as it is fully customable (through a txt file).

What do you think about this screenshot from official website:
http://www.fvwm.org/screenshots/desk...screenshot.gif

it shows the taskbar with the "icons you can develop" stuff!

XFCE provide this kind of "icons you can develop" stuff.

cheers

Great! XFCE and/or FVWM look something like what I am hoping to find.

I will take a shot at them and at least it will keep me busy over the holiday! :-)

"There are several windows managers that will do exactly what you're after, but they mostly depend on you configuring them in a text file."

I am listening, as I have a notion of what I want, so if I have to go through a text file, I would like to check it out.

Thanks very much for the comments and the pointers.

John

I agree. Another option you could do is in KDE all you have to hit is ALT- F2, which gives you a launch application window, and then just type the name of the app you want, hit enter, and it loads. You could at least keep this as a backup plan incase you can't find a window manager suited to you.