On Wed, Apr 28, 2004 at 09:28:48PM -0300, Marcelus G. Zalotti wrote: > And... what about WindowMaker , AfterStep and GNUStep?
This part of the interface is typically divided into the window manager and the desktop manager. Desktop managers are things like CDE, KDE, XFCE, and Gnome. XFCE may run at an acceptable speed on an older PowerMac, the others won't (because they need globs and globs of RAM). I'm not exactly certain what a desktop manager is supposed to do, except be rich in features and use lots of RAM. These things usually provide a common set of applications which will do everything from manage your files, to manage your system, to simple applications, to simple games. They all use the same underlying widget library (qt for KDE, gtk+ for Gnome and XFCE, and *probably* Motif for CDE), so that everything has a consistent look and feel, and so that interapplication communnication (eg. drag and drop) works reasonably well. Even though you are running a desktop manager, you will require a window manager (unless you are a masochist, like me :-). A window manager typically does the window decorations, allows you to move and resize windows, it may provide multiple desktops and ways to manage minimised windows. The latter fits into the domain of process management, which most window managers will supplement by allowing you to launch applications as well. They typically don't provide file managers and control panels to manage the system (let alone itself). For an older system I suggest a minimalist window manager, like BlackBox or IceWM. FVWM2 and MWM will probably work well too. WindowMaker is a NeXT Step style window manager (I think AfterStep is too). GNUstep is something similar to Cocoa: it is a set of libraries to develop software. I think GNUstep incorporates a few applications too. Some people like it and these people tend to be experienced programmer types. Personally, I don't see the fuss. You can learn about your options at www.xwinman.org Byron. -- MaX-list is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... / Buy books, CDs, videos, and more from Amazon.com \ / <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/lowendmac> \ Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> MaX-list info: <http://lowendmac.com/linux/max.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/max-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
