Window Managers and Desktops

[Dave M]

I installed Debian Sarge for the first time about a month ago, and have been
happily tinkering ever since. I want to play with customizing my
"desktop". I may be misguided here, but it seems to me that GNOME and KDE
don't offer a lot of opportunity for customization (?), and that I should
try using a window manager without a desktop environment, so that I can
have more "fiddle" room.

On the other hand, I use a few applications that seem to be built
specifically for KDE or GNOME. So I guess my questions are:

1. Will my KDE and GNOME apps work if I run X with a window manager like
fvwm or Sawfish or something, without a desktop environment? How about
openoffice?

2. Can I use other window managers with GNOME (instead of Metacity) or KDE
(instead of whatever it uses)? Can I switch them easily? Will the result
be worth working with?

3. Just what will I lose by working with a straight WM and no desktop
environment? Can you get all the same functionality by tinkering with WMs,
or do desktop environments really add functionality?

Thanks!

p.s. Oh, I'm not all that comfortable with where to ask questions aobut
Linux. Can anyone point me to good newsgroups/websites/lists/etc? Thanks
again!

Dave

[HASM]

Post by Dave M
1. Will my KDE and GNOME apps work if I run X with a window manager like
fvwm or Sawfish or something, without a desktop environment? How about
openoffice?

I've been running fvwm for a long time, probably 10 or more years when Rob
Nation was still developing it, on HP-UX, on all RedHat through 9, and all
FedoraCore through 4. OpenOffice works under fvwm, as does most other
KDE/Gnome apps I (seldom) use. Sometimes those apps need to start all
kinds of stuff underneath (mostly Corba stuff) to get some of their core
apps running.

-- HASM

[Mark Hobley]

Post by Dave M
1. Will my KDE and GNOME apps work if I run X with a window manager like
fvwm or Sawfish or something, without a desktop environment? How about
openoffice?

I use IceWM here (without a destop environment). Yes the KDE, Gnome and Open
Office suite works fine. (The relevant libraries are installed. Debian takes
care of that.)

Post by Dave M
2. Can I use other window managers with GNOME (instead of Metacity) or KDE
(instead of whatever it uses)? Can I switch them easily? Will the result
be worth working with?

I've not tried this. I presume that this is the same effect as above,
installing the relevant libraries and applications with the Window Manager.

Post by Dave M
3. Just what will I lose by working with a straight WM and no desktop
environment?

I don't use a Desktop Environment here, just a Window Mananger.

Post by Dave M
Can you get all the same functionality by tinkering with WMs,
or do desktop environments really add functionality?

You just loose the clutter really. I have no desktop icons for applications
that I don't use, and I don't have tasks running that I don't want.

I prefer it this way :)

Post by Dave M
p.s. Oh, I'm not all that comfortable with where to ask questions aobut
Linux.

Theres a whole load of comp.os.linux and alt.comp.os.linux newsgroups. Have a
look on google.

Regards,

Mark.
--
Mark Hobley
393 Quinton Road West
QUINTON
Birmingham
B32 1QE

Telephone: [phone]
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Email: markhobley at hotpop dot donottypethisbit com

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