Since the laptop has joined my world, and I have been in search of a faster distro, one of the things that I have also been investigating is lighter window managers. I have found that one of the many I have investigated is good enough to be my primary window manager, Xfce. It has the ability to be both fast and powerful.
From the Xfce web site:
"Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for unix-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and lightweight while still being visually appealing and easy to use.
Xfce 4.2 embodies the traditional UNIX philosophy of modularity and re-usability. It consists of a number of components that together provide the full functionality of the desktop environment. They are packaged separately and you can pick and choose from the available packages to create the best personal working environment.
Another priority of Xfce 4 is adherence to standards, specifically those defined at Freedesktop.org.
Xfce 4
can be installed on several UNIX platforms. It is known to
compile on Linux, NetBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris, Cygwin and MacOS X, on x86,
PPC, Sparc, Alpha..."
What it has:
Xfce has pretty much everything that the big window managers have:
-The Panel, your launching point for all your programs including the menu button, internet programs, configuration launchers and so on.
-Desktop Manager, background settings and menu system
-File Manager named xffm, light and complete
-Print Manager that can interface with Xfprint, cups and BSD-LPR
-Sound Mixer compatible with Alsa, Oss and Sun Audio
-System tray
-Calendaring
-Themes including GTK based engine
-Icon box, a nice alternative to the task bar
What works really well in Xfce is it's ability to integrate with KDE and Gnome applications. In the Xfce Settings Manager you can give Xfce the ability to load either KDE and or Gnome services. This allows nearly any of the others apps to run with very little hit on speed or resources. There are also a great deal of applets included that monitor everything from your battery to the weather. In addition, the launchers on the Panel can have a pull down menu that you can add additional launchers that match and meet your needs. In most cases there are already several configured for combinations like Firefox, Thunderbird and GAIM; or several text editors, Abiword and Bluefish (an HTML editor). This allows for a compact panel with everything you use frequently all in one place.
What it has not:
The complete simplicity of the big window managers, and a great file manager and that's about it!
The largest part is in adding new launchers to the Panel, there are a set of preselected set of applets available, but to add an application not on the list requires the user to know the command, location of the icon and name and caption the new launcher. This is not hard, but compared to Gnome or KDE, it is much more difficult than it needs to be. In both Gnome and KDE, you have the ability to chose a launcher from the main menu.
As far as the file manager goes, xffm while capable and versatile is a bit too cluttered and non-intuitive for it's own good. Interestingly, the Xfce development team knows this and understands this, from the Xfce web site:
"Xffm
(Xfce Fast File Manager) started like in Xfce 4.0 as the integration of
several tools from the 3.x series. Several people (including the lead
developer, Edscott) have pointed out that interface has been trying
hard to accommodate everyone, and has suffered as a result.
Xffm
4.4 is a major reworking of the code to address some of these issues,
as well as several common user requests. Xffm 4.4 will provide icons on
the desktop (something that Xfce, which is a spiritual descendent of
CDE, has traditionally not provided), a new, ultra slim and simple icon
view interface, a plugin system, and the ability to write new
interfaces overtop of Xffm\u2019s core.
Where
Xffm in the past has been relatively complex to use, Edscott has gone
the other direction providing a very simplistic interface built over a
core designed to support as many interfaces as the community needs. It
is very possible that Xffm interfaces will become as common as panel
plugins are now."
Conclusions:
In the end, I have found that Xfce truly is a viable alternative to the big window managers. It is full featured, powerful, complete and yet, lightweight enough to run quickly and smoothly on nearly any equipment, new and old. When was the last time you could say that about KDE? While KDE will run on the laptop, any current version is slow, bloated and overkill. Gnome is better, but still has way too much going on to be comfortable and efficient. For the older computer I can say that Xfce is the real thing and more than worth your time to investigate. On new equipment, it is downright outstanding. It is instant quick, solid reliable and is able to use any application from your favorite window manager so you don't miss anything you are used to. It looks good, you can play with themes and desktop icons to customize the look. I love the pull down launchers! They really make live convenient. I pick the most used launcher to create the launcher, and than add the others below it. It works and works well.
I have no doubt that I will continue to use Xfce on the laptop since it really needs a lightweight desktop, but at the same time I have grown very accustomed to the speed and stability of it on my main computer as well, I may never go back....
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webmaster@capnkirby.com
