hi slack people

i am looking for a desktop like KDE or GNOME .... BUT .... without too much fancy stuff here and there and uber graphics & something more professional then userfriendly and takes less system resources.

thx

I currently use fluxbox, it is just a window manager though, it is very lean and easy on the system resources. Another one you might check out is xfce4, it is a desktop environment but not near as bloated as gnome or kde. Good luck.

There are several you might look at

XFCE is considered a desktop environment

The Window Managers I like are Window Maker, Fluxbox, and IceWM

An excellent source of information is:

http://xwinman.org/

I would suggest Openbox3, very light, bit more eyecandy when compared to fluxbox I think - an easy to understand config file(in xml)... Starts up in a jiffy.. Doesn't come with slack, but is easy to download and setup....

lol, I'll just suggest another thing, ICEWM, light weight, functional - horrible default skins :(

Good luck :)

Steve

I recommend WindowMaker as it runs very fast even on older hardware and it works great, you can also download different themes for it so you can make it look how you want.

I prefer xfce because:

1. You can configure it to get out of the way and use a minimal amount of desktop.
2. You can set up a launch bar to include net i/o monitors, sound, battery, memory use, cpu use and it is still small.
3. You can still use great apps like Mozilla and konqueror (without using the whole kde desktop).
4. You can switch desktops but running the mouse to the edge of the screen (this is why I no longer like kde and gnome which used to do this too). I need this feature.
5. You don't need to have a task bar; you get to use an iconbox instead.

Window maker is my choice, because of the config utility and general behavior. Not as light as fluxbox and needs libungif installed, but runs nearly as fast and much faster than most others.

twm

Fast and green and minimized windows are icons on desktop. Which is nice. XFCE is slow in comparison. twm - you better know the command line.

I can't speak for GNOME (although I'm sure its possible), but in kde you can turn this feature on in the control center under Desktop -> Window Behavior on the advanced tab under the "Active Desktop Borders" heading.

Also (completely unrelated) under that tab is a focus stealing prevention level setting; A very cool feature.

Cheers,
kM

kmeehl, thanks for pointing that out. I know it was a previous feature but good to see it is still there. Won't make me switch from xfce to kde, but thanks for clearing that up.

duplicate post, ignore.

Having recently undertaken the quest for a more "efficient" desktop (alternate favorite was KDE)- settled on XFce. Overall, it's exatly what a true Destop (not just WM) should be: flexible, functional, fast, and efficient.

Did require an adjustment in some things: excessive eye candy syndrome, Desktop Icons (possible, but not native), and a better appreciation of non-KDE based apps. For a look at the near future enhancements in Ver. 4.2, recommend you take a peek at:

http://www.xfce.org/xfce_42_info/xfce42.html

definitely some nice function/feature goodies...

I don't get why anyone needs desktop icons.... When you're running programs, they take up the screen and cover the desktop. Plus, the icons disrupt the background when you're not using programs like Firefox.

Oh, I use XFce4. There was a time when I installed the XMMS controller plugin and the clip board plugin, but I figure I don't really need those too much these days, and I'm still trying to iron out my system before I go customizing it too much more, just in case something happens.

Even though I use xfce most of the apps I use are kde apps. I also use Mozilla and OpenOffice but hardly anything from gnome (their calculator is bettern than kde's because of its multiple memory feature though).