It is one reason that I switched to jwm as the default, yet still resulting much protest.
Hi Robert,
I wasn't aware that there are technical issues with Fluxbox. That's very sad because it is the nicer of the two WMs available.
I don't like JWM very much either. My reasons are very superficial. I find it's presentation to be a poor copy of the classic Windows desktop (a desktop that I actually like very much).
Fluxbox has a more sophisticated appearance with it's softly gradated captions. JWM is dressed up in very crude gray boxes.
I also dislike the mini icons next to all of the commands. There's something about them that doesn't suit my taste.
I also very much like that double-clicking the caption bar in FB shades the window. This is a new feature for a guy from the Windows world, but it's sooooo much more intelligent than minimizing to a taskbar.
I know that most of these reasons are cosmetic and that someday I may find the time to dress and undress JWM to my liking, but until then I'll stick to the more refined looking FB and keep my eyes open for this memory leak problem.
Regards, John
Quote (curaga @ Nov. 27 2007,12:12)
Juanito, congrats for your 1K
and curaga... congrats on your 1111 !Window Manager features are very subjective.
Personally I don't use either fluxbox or jwm. For me fluxbox is heavy. I prefer more minimal window managers. And I have tried to open the process in 4.x to allow easier use of the other window managers
I just find it interesting that one that has a memory leak is perfered over one that happens to look and feel like windows. But so too, is the Windows look and feel for dfm. Dfm and jwm at least provide the new user a more familiar environment. That was my goal for 4.x.
I have personally seen new users struggle with fluxbox when they have accidentally minimized a window or try to use the pager. Most don't how to use the tabbing capability. Like Windows or not, the UI is the most familiar.
And then every so often DSL get a "black eye" when the memory leak is revisited and we have this discussion again.Robert,
Any chance you could share your minimal WM with me? I'd like to give it a go. Having a third metaphor to speak with would be helpful. I have a very high regard for the work that you're doing and expect that you are guiding us all in the right direction... please accept me apologies for resisting.
I'm not sure what to say about the FB / JWM debate... coming from 15 years on a Windows box *should* endear me to JWM, I agree... but the functionality that I'm seeing in FB surpasses anything the MS model offers. Like the QWERTY keyboard, and the Linux OS, majority familiarity doesn't reflect the true value of a product, only it's market / mind share. If value beat out popularity we'd all be using Dvorak keyboard layouts and Microsoft wouldn't be an empire today.
I truly believe that a Start button on FB would take away the confusion for most Windows converts. Let's remember that the people who are interested in Linux are drawn to it because it *is not* Windows. Why would anyone be tempted to leave one functioning OS for another if they superficially and immediately offer exactly the same things?... better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
I've been using Fluxbox since my first introductions to DSL two months ago. I tried to switch over to JWM, but already the advantages that I've learned to enjoy in FB make it impossible for me to do so. The default 'shading' on double-click, the clean appearance of the bottom margin and the svelt font and smooth gradations of color make me much more comfortable than what is shipped today in JWM. If I could get to liking JWM, I might be tempted to dress it up, but I reiterate that right now, it looks like a very poor clone of a Windows classic desktop. As a recent convert from the Windows camp, I can tell you first-hand that an ugly version of Windows is not an enticing reason to continue using DSL.
I read through to halfway chapter 4 in the Official DSL Book tonight and only just learned about tabbing the FB windows... now there's absolutely no way that I'll ever go back to an under-developed feeling window manager.
I can accept a memory leak under the conditions that I use my computer. I don't expect that DSL or Linux in general can offer me a Hibernate mode so my machines will be cycled off and on every 18 hours because we don't run them unattended (we almost had a house fire from a motherboard that short-circuited). How much memory can escape in 18 hours of surfing the net and building web pages?
Have the merits of JWM been listed anywhere I can look at them... I can still be convinced if I see advantages.
I bet I'm totally off-base posting this in this section of the forum... I'll gladly move it to another thread if there's an active debate happening on the subject.
With the greatest respect, johnThanks John
There are many window managers in MyDSL, you might want to give a try to each of them; I personally like Xfce from the heavier desktops, fluxbox on DSL, and for my next OS, it's so going to be Enlightenment 17 (take a look at Elive's propaganda video (36mb))Next Page...
original here.
