How can install light window managers on OpenSolaris?

AleLinuxBSD · 06-22-2008, 01:49 AM

I would like using Icewm and, eventually, fluxbox.

Now i have found these packages on blastwave.org.

Are they good for opensolaris?

How i must configure the system to start on icewm or fluxbox or return to the big and fat default desktop manager?

bsdunix · 06-23-2008, 08:52 AM

I found this, just in case you haven't seen it:

Window Managers
http://www.gunfleet.com/solaris/winman.htm

Disclaimer: I haven't tried any of these modifications so your milage may vary.

AleLinuxBSD · 06-24-2008, 03:15 AM

Thanks for the link.

I have read that solaris 10 use Java Desktop System while the OpenSolaris named jds it's unstable.

In the article is write:

"This is noticeably faster than Gnome 2.02 and has a polished look and feel."

But when it's light respect on Gnome?

I think that cde is more weight then gnome.

I think i will wait projects mature before tried to install a window manager (i hope that in the next update there will be news).

wrapster · 06-25-2008, 08:44 AM

Hi all,

At this juncture i would like to bring up this issues ,of what is meant by a light or heavy desktop manager?
I mean i know that KDE is pretty heavy compared to Gnome or JDE .
But on what aspects are these decided?

Reason being, i have never felt any drag when i use KDE , my system performs just as good as it would if the Desktop manager was Gnome or anything else!!!

The other point is, when we say a Desktop manager its not only about how it makes the interface look better for the user but also how it interacts to various inputs from the user, How the threads are called and so on!!(I hope so)
Does this decide if the desktop is heavy or light?
Where can i find more info on this?

Thanks

jlliagre · 06-25-2008, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrapster

I mean i know that KDE is pretty heavy compared to Gnome or JDE .

What do you mean with JDE ? JDS, CDE ?

Quote:

But on what aspects are these decided?

No one decides a graphic environment is light or not. It is simply an observation. Usual metrics are the memory footprint, the CPU used, number of processes and I/Os.

If you do not feel any lack of responsiveness with any of the environment you checks, it is just your machine has enough resources for the differences to be unnoticeable.

When CDE was introduced in the middle nineties, it was considered a bloated environment. Now its is viewed as a lightweight one ...

For a light environment easy to install on Solaris Express, have a look at Xfce:
http://opensolaris.org/os/project/xfce