ok im still pretty new to linux and im sure this is a pretty simple/stupid question, but im a little confused. i have rh9 and in my package manager it shows i have both installed. do i need both installed?

without knowing anything at all id take a guess that x windows is the foundation and kde or gnome are more precise subsets that build on x windows? or is that completely wrong?

anyway the reason i ask is because i like using linux and i know there are some cool ways to get linux to look pretty different from windows. right now my desktop looks pretty much the same as my windows desktop. any suggestions for making it look cool and different?

The X Window system has to be installed and KDE, GNOME, etc. run on top of it.

Try
http://kde-look.org/
http://gnome-look.org/
http://art.gnome.org/

You can use all the wallpaper and icons on any desktop.

Almost forgot, there are a lot of good screenshots and links available from these sights:

http://www.lynucs.org/
http://www.linuxbeta.com/

Start playing around with the desktop configurations (look and feel under KDE, for example) and you never know what you'll find

use the wiki at this site to help understand that

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/X

basically kde/gnome are a collection of various programs created around a set of specifications and libs they have ... the biggest difference being the toolkits used (gnome uses gtk, while kde uses qt)

while X is the framework for graphical windows, and leaves things like loot and such up to other programs that use it

ok cool, understand now. thanks guys

If you want to understand what a Window Manager is try this link:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...playing+with+X

You might also want to try a few other Window Managers/Desktop Environments, A few I like are Fluxbox, Blackbox and WindowMaker. Some that other people like are XFCE, OpenBox, IceWM and theres LOTS more. Most *box window managers looks fairly similer.... I am using Fluxbox right now.