Hi, I'd say I'm an newb-intermediate linux user. Been using it for a few years, but not regularly. I started on Red Hat with KDE (ugh bugs, slow) and I've been using Fluxbox on Slackware recently, and I really like the speed, I hate bloated Windows etc. I'm a grad student setting up a server for my studies and a professor and I was thinking of doing Debian etch netinstall and installing a minimum of programs on it and only adding stuff when I need to with apt-get. However, I like to use some KDE and GNOME programs, and as I'm aware you can run them under any window manager, but I was wondering if someone could clarify for me how it works. I'm planning on using Xfce or IceWM for the box I'm setting up (I like speed while having a little bit of graphical interface), and while I use the command line a good bit, I confess that I like windowed programs sometimes (e.g. Rox for file manager).

To run KDE or GNOME apps on either of those WMs, are there any directions for what to do? Do I just download the Qt/GTK++ drivers? I remember having much trouble using the Firestarter firewall on Slackware, presumably for a similar reason?

Thanks for all help.

Use the package mgr. for the distro that you are running and it should install the app and resolve all dependencies. You may need to set up your repositories first. Ater you have your repositories set then use your pkg mgr to install it. Example gedit. In Fedora/Red Hat it would be
For FreeBSD it is
I don't use Debian, but it uses apt-get. So read up on it.

In short use your package mgr to install an app and resolve all dependencies. It also makes it easy to remove it if you want it gone.

For KDE apps some of KDE will be installed so that the app will run. Same with Gnome apps. QT GTK.

You should probably install kde/gnome. Most application run from other window managers too, you may have problems with applets etc.

You definitely want to have gtk and qt installed.

To install something in Debian it's:
If it's a GNOME app, then the parts of GNOME that it depends on are installed. If it's a KDE app, then the required parts of KDE are installed.

Rather than using apt-get to install programs on Debian, you should use aptitude. This is used in exactly the same way, but Aptitude is more intelligent. It keeps track of "reverse-dependencies", so when you remove a program, any packages that were installed as a dependency but not needed by any other packages are removed as well. In this way, your system stays "cleaner" over time.

--Ian

Thanks guys, these answers are awesome, exactly what I was looking for. I'll post any follow up questions if I develop any.