1 | <chapter id="x-wm">
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2 | <?dbhtml filename="wm.html" ?>
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3 | <title>Window Managers</title>
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4 |
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5 | <sect1 id="Introduction">
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6 | <title>Introduction</title>
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7 |
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8 | <para>Window Mangers and Desktop Environments are the primary user
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9 | interfaces into the <application>X</application> Window System. A window manager is a program
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10 | that controls the appearance of windows and provides the means by which
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11 | the user can interact with them. A Desktop Environment provides a more
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12 | complete interface to the operating system, and provides a range of
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13 | integrated utilities and applications.</para>
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14 |
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15 | <para>There are many Window Mangers available. Some of the more well
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16 | known ones include <application>fvwm2</application>, <application>Window
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17 | Maker</application>, <application>AfterStep</application>,
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18 | <application>Enlightenment</application>,
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19 | <application>Sawfish</application>,
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20 | and <application>Blackbox</application>.</para>
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21 |
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22 | <para>The Desktop Environments available for Linux are
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23 | <application><acronym>GNOME</acronym></application>,
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24 | <application><acronym>KDE</acronym></application>, and
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25 | <application>XFce</application>.</para>
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26 |
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27 | <para>Choosing a Window Manager or Desktop Environment is highly
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28 | subjective. The choice depends on the look and feel of the packages, the
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29 | resources (<acronym>RAM</acronym>, disk space) required, and the utilities included. One web
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30 | site that provides a very good summary of what is available, screenshots,
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31 | and their respective features is <ulink url="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/">Window Managers for X</ulink>.</para>
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32 |
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33 | <para>In this chapter, the installation instructions of
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34 | several Window Managers and one lightweight Desktop Environment are
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35 | presented. Later in the book, both <application><acronym>KDE</acronym></application> and
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36 | <application><acronym>GNOME</acronym></application> have their own Parts.</para>
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37 | </sect1>
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38 |
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39 | &sawfish;
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40 | &fluxbox;
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41 | &metacity;
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42 | &xfce;
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43 |
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44 | </chapter>
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