Re: Window managers (was: Re: [PLUG] Re: PLUG digest, Vol 1 #752 - 10 msgs)

[gabriel rosenkoetter <gr@eclipsed.net>]

I missed the rest of this (because I don't so much have time for
mailing lists while studying for exams), but this:

> On Wed, Dec 13, 2000 at 09:33:40PM +0500, Rupert Heesom wrote:
> > Tell me about why you're using Windowmaker / vtwm?   I haven't used them,
> > But they might be worth a try if they're more stable.

... caught my eye.

I use (and love) vtwm, but it's definitely quirky and not exactly
bugfree (if I scroll 100% of my window, I shouldn't be able to see
any of the current frame... um, but I can). It *is* pretty speedy,
even on slow systems (like this P133 laptop, for instance), and
the scrolling desktop feel is pretty nice (similar to having X
create a virtual desktop for you, which is maybe a less buggy way
to do it, but that has fewer of the jump around features that vtwm
does). An alternative lacking the whiz-bang scrolling affect of
vtwm, but still a light-weight twm derivative, as opposed to the
bloated fvwm derivatives, is ctwm, which a lot of folks around
cs.swarthmore.edu seem to like.

WindowMaker (nee AfterStep, 'cause it looks like NeXTStep, ha ha)
is the picture of bloat, right up there with KDE, Gnome, and
Enlightenment on my scale of qualitatively hideous things that never
need to run on any of my computers. Which is to say these things are
great if you have users who need Windows-like crutch to understand
an OS, or you have a ridiculous need to feel like you're using a
NeXT or an Amiga when you're not actually. (I just go use my very
real NeXT turbocube when I have that urge, and I never much cared
for Amige.)

As regards stability, I'm not sure what you were comparing to, but
window managers are the kind of things that evil X apps can make
freak out pretty easily. But they should be kill- and restart-able
without losing your session, presuming you've got a sensible X
server (hey, this works on Slowlaris, you'd think Xfree86 could cope
by now). But I've never had problems with vtwm I couldn't directly
trace to netscape's being horribly broken (blame jwz! ;^>), and
WindowMaker seems reasonably stable for the few friends I've got who
use it. (That includes running it on RH Linux, Solaris, and NetBSD.)

Just my own opinions, save your own time and don't bother flaming.

Cheers...

       ~ g r @ eclipsed.net


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