Linux Desktop Environment

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I have a headache! Too many times I've got confused by Desktop Environment metaphor that describes a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system, which share a common graphical user interface (GUI). Please find my mitigation list of software that stopped me taking pills:

Desktop Environment

  • KDE
  • GNOME
  • Cinnamon — Cinnamon is a fork of GNOME 3. Cinnamon strives to provide a traditional user experience, similar to GNOME 2
  • LXDE — The "Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment"
  • MATE — MATE is a fork of GNOME 2
  • Xfce — Xfce embodies the traditional UNIX philosophy of modularity and re-usability
  • Unity is a shell for GNOME designed by Canonical for Ubuntu

Continue reading on Archlinux Desktop Comparision Table.

Display Manager

A display manager, or login manager, is typically a graphical user interface that is displayed at the end of the boot process in place of the default shell. Display managers provide X Window System users with a graphical login prompt.

  • GDM - GNOME display manager
  • KDM - KDE display manager
  • LightDM — Cross-desktop display manager
  • LXDM — LXDE display manager. Can be used independent of the LXDE desktop environment
  • MDM — MDM display manager, used in Linux Mint, a fork of GDM 2
  • XDM — X display manager with support for XDMCP, host chooser. Xdm manages a collection of X displays, which may be on the local host or remote servers. The design of xdm was guided by the needs of X terminals as well as The Open Group standard XDMCP, the X Display Manager Control Protocol. Xdm provides services similar to those provided by init, getty and login on character terminals: prompting for login name and password, authenticating the user, and running a "session."

Continue reading on Archlinux Display manager

Windows Manager

Window managers (WMs) are X clients that provide the border around a window. A window manager (WM) is one component of a system's graphical user interface (GUI).The window manager controls the appearance of an application and how it is managed: the border, titlebar, size, and ability to resize a window are handled by window managers.

  • Metacity — This window manager strives to be quiet, small, stable, get on with its job, and stay out of your attention.
  • Compiz — OpenGL compositing manager
  • Openbox — Highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support
  • Fluxbox — Window manager for X that was based on the Blackbox 0.61.1 code.
  • IceWM — Window manager for the X Window System
  • Xfwm — The Xfce window manager manages the placement of application windows on the screen, provides beautiful window decorations, manages workspaces or virtual desktops and natively supports multiscreen mode.

Continue reading on Archlinux Window manager