Re: [gentoo-user] Alternative Window Managers

[Bill Roberts]

On 03:18 Fri 30 Dec     , Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. wrote:
> I'm wanting to experiment with some alternative window managers.  I've
> already emerged them, but I'd like to have them available as separate
> sessions when I log in, and possibly migrate to one of them as default (or
> only) session available.

Over the past 3 years, I have been on a quest for a minimalist and
functional window/desktop manager. It seems like I've tried everything. I
started off with kde, hated the kitchensink approach they take, so I moved
to gnome, which was, indeed, more subdued, some say boring. The standard
package fit me okay, but it was so heavyweight, I used none of the desktop
function except freecell and the weather applet. 

So I went minimalist with kahakai, interesting, but ultimately not worth
the ongoing effort, then to ratpoison. which I dumped after a week or two.
Brief visits to ion and icewm, finally settled on XFCE-4 for maybe a year
and a half. It's minimalist as a desktop manager, but again, I used almost
none of its functionality, I do everything except surfing the web from the
commandline. 

I saw a number of people who opinions I value using fluxbox, so I decided
to try that. I'm glad it came with good recommendations, because when I
opened it up in its default configuration, it was almost as butt-ugly as
ratpoison. I emerged the themes, played around with them, settled down with
one, and now feel settled. The ease of configuration, the basic simplicity,
the choice of themes, seems "just right" for me.

Good luck in finding the one that is "just right" for you.

Bill Roberts