Openbox v Enlightenment v Fluxbox
 

I used to use Dropline Gnome, before moving to Fluxbox. What I liked about fluxbox, was how simple it was to configure, and how it made it easier to use my computer. I think the rest of the fluxbox users out there can attest to how it has enhanced their use.

I have considered switching to something a little prettier maybe. I have thought about xfce, but it seems to heavy. Enlightenment and openbox offer a lot of options, but I am not sure of their ease of use.

Are they any fluxbox (or former fluxbox) users who have made, or have attempted to make, the switch to openbox or enlightenment, or a similar window manager?

If you want something prettier I don't think you can do things in OpenBox that you couldn't with Fluxbox, the first is actually only a Window Manager, it doesn't provide you a taskbar or something similar. You have to "complete" it with external programs like PyPanel.

Enlightenment is nice, I've never could get used to it, but I liked it a lot when I used it. Some things are easy to configure, some don't. You may want to try the e17 version that's currently on development.

I think the best you can do is to try them all, I've tried at least 20 Window Managers before I stayed with one.

By all means try OpenBox3
I used to use fluxbox, but made the switch and am very happy with the result.

A very functional desktop can be achieved with OpenBox, pypanle/fbpanel, feh, and obconf
I'll also point you to the link in my sig, a new project with some IMO needed tools for Openbox

I have used gnome, Xfce, Openbox and Fluxbox.
Am pretty happy with fluxbox.
I used the images from the xfce themes ( found in folder /usr/share/themes ) to write themes for fluxbox :P
I haven't tried Enlightenment e17 , and think it is better to wait till it is completed.

What do you people think about fvwm? i heard it is highly configurable. What are its advantages?

gtgoku, I've used fvwm in the past and I think it's great. It's very configurable be warned, it's VERY configurable, that means you've to read a lot to get things done like you want. What's great about it, it's that you can make it look different in every aspect, here are some screenshots, all from fvwm: http://fvwm.math.uh.edu/screenshots/

Edit: I was visiting fvwm page now that you brought it to my mind again and here's the screenshot section: http://www.fvwm.org/screenshots/desktops/

Oh and by the way.. the default theme and usability of fvwm is not nice :)

i've just started using afterstep 2, fvwm just seemed to ugly for a first impression lol. And its quite a joy to use and work with, that and i love the default theme and background :).

OpenBox3 is excellent. It
- integrates well with just about everything (KDE, Gnome, etc)
- is easy to configure
- superfast
- looks good out-of-the-(open)-box ;-)
- is pretty stable
- has the lowest footprint since Oroborus (a *VERY* small wm)
- teams up with many existing panel and taskbar programs almost seamlessly
- and so on.

The roots of Fluxbox and Openbox are the same, BTW. Both were based on Blackbox originally. While Fluxbox still is, Openbox3 seems to be written completely from scratch.

On Slackware Fluxbox is the easier to use of the two, because it comes with useful defaults. In Openbox3 you have to create a useful setup, first.

I subscribe to everything said on FVWM. Extremely powerful and also very fast. Too powerful for me... ;-)

If you are interested in a real simplistic, but unique wm, take a look at wm2. It is, well, different... ;-)

Have fun!

gargamel

I have been using Enlightenment DR 17 for awhile now and I would have to say its pretty stable. Its CVS code so some of it doesn't work. For the most part its pretty cool. I used to use Fluxbox or Enlightenment DR 16. I never liked Gnome or KDE too Windows for me. Its not like I don't have a good enough machine either just look at my specs. Conclusion, E17 is pretty stable for now the gui for the menu editor doesn't work when trying to remove things so you will have to hand edit basically everything. If you want a screenshot of what mine looks like goto Desktop It can be a pain to edit everything but all for all its worth it in the end. I just can't get my gdesklets or adesklets to work with it and thats my only complaint. You can make E17 look really really cool. Oh theres also a link if you decide to test it out and here it is http://get-e.org/


-Sovietpower

sovietpower your desktop sure looks cool (especially the zelda wallpaper :D ) .
I will get E17 tonight.
I also got fvwm and checking it out right now. It sure does't look good the first time you start it.

...never understood why the defaults of FVWM are so ugly...
FVWM can look so *cool*...

gargamel

Enlightenment D16 is really cool, but it's a VERY different paradigm than any other WM I've ever used. The first time I used it I hated it so much! Then after I started using the Gnome/KDE alternatives Blackbox, Fluxbox, etc I came to understand the concepts more and more. I've been using fluxbox since around March of this year and just now started evaluating E DR 16. It seems to run faster than fluxbox, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm still getting used to it as it's pretty different than anything else I've ever seen or used.