desktop environments

joetekubi

Member
Nov 6, 2009
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It's funny how your preferences change over time.
I've always been a big fan of KDE, and ran Kubuntu for several years, until some serious instability in the Plasma window effects pushed me into Xubuntu with XFCE4 window manager. I just got a new laptop, and loaded stock Ubuntu 10.04 on it. I've been very pleasantly surprised about the new functionality of Gnome. Several things that were very difficult in XFCE are easy in Gnome.

It's not like I was saving a bunch of ram and cycles anyways. Due to the variety of applications that I like to run, it turns out that I need to install and load up both Gnome and KED libraries anyways.

-joe
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
yeah ive been hopping from gnome to kde finally just got both installed on my desktop, got xfce on the lappy. If i had to pick one to go with it would be gnome.
 

VinDSL

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2006
4,869
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www.lenon.com
I just got a new laptop, and loaded stock Ubuntu 10.04 on it. I've been very pleasantly surprised about the new functionality of Gnome. Several things that were very difficult in XFCE are easy in Gnome.[...]
Agreed!

I used to run KDE exclusively (in SuSe). I was quite militant about it, in the threads.

Then, Gnome caught my eye.

For a while, I ran KDE and Gnome both at the same time (on different consoles). LoL!

Finally, Gnome evolved to the point that I don't even think about KDE any more.

For all I know, KDE is better now, but I don't care... :awe:
 

AnonymouseUser

Diamond Member
May 14, 2003
9,943
107
106
Yep, same here. I used KDE for years, then used Gnome with Ubuntu. I loathed it at the beginning, but it eventually grew on me, though I never really loved it. Now I am back on KDE (Mandriva) and couldn't be happier.

Oh wait, that's not the same... :p
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,550
8,829
126
I like Gnome. None of the light DEs are that light when you factor in the features that get cut. I tried LXDE Mint on my Daughter's Asus. The performance increase was just about imperceptible, and it stripped out all of Gnome's useful features. Something like that might be useful on a rock bottom system(slower than 700mhz Celeron?!?!), but useless on any real machine. I Briefly booted to OpenSuSE in a VM, and KDE looked pretty sharp, but I still like Gnome better.
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
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0
I don't really like any of them, mostly because of little things like multiple desktop handling and window memory so I'm using E17 here and E16 at work because E17's multi-monitor handling was "odd" at best and I didn't wanna fuck around with fixing it.
 

cKGunslinger

Lifer
Nov 29, 1999
16,408
57
91
Gnome is pretty nice when it comes to usefulness. I really like LXDE, but simple things like dragging menu items to the taskbar were not supported last time I used it. That just becomes bothersome after a while..
 

LCTSI

Member
Aug 17, 2010
93
0
66
Gnome's not too bad, but you're tied to a taskbar and that's just a pain when you have a whole crapload of xterms up.
 

Gooberlx2

Lifer
May 4, 2001
15,381
6
91
I run opensuse and even though it's most often thought of with KDE, I use and prefer gnome.
 

LCTSI

Member
Aug 17, 2010
93
0
66
That's what screen and/or tabs are for.

but I said xterms, not Gnome-terminals

Fvwm/Twm has iconify, middle-click app-list on the desktop
Blackbox has iconify, middle-click app-list on the desktop
KDE has middle-click app-list on the desktop
Xmonad is just crazy
Gnome has the taskbar

But I will say I am interested in how GNU Screen would help manage upwards of two dozen terminals...
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
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but I said xterms, not Gnome-terminals

Fvwm/Twm has iconify, middle-click app-list on the desktop
Blackbox has iconify, middle-click app-list on the desktop
KDE has middle-click app-list on the desktop
Xmonad is just crazy
Gnome has the taskbar

But I will say I am interested in how GNU Screen would help manage upwards of two dozen terminals...

Most people these days use "xterm" as a generic term, like kleenex when people mean any brand of tissues. I usually have ~20 windows open in screen just fine. I vaguely remember an upper-limit on them but I can't remember what it was exactly.
 

LCTSI

Member
Aug 17, 2010
93
0
66
Most people these days use "xterm" as a generic term, like kleenex when people mean any brand of tissues. I usually have ~20 windows open in screen just fine. I vaguely remember an upper-limit on them but I can't remember what it was exactly.

Well, since Screen can't do xterms it is really of no use for me, unfortunately.
I absolutely require xterms.
 

LCTSI

Member
Aug 17, 2010
93
0
66
AFAIK screen runs in any terminal emulator, it's just an ncurses app.

i'm connected to 25+ servers, running their local copies of xterms with X redirection

ie
ssh -n -Y hostname -l username 'xterm'

So running screen wouldn't help.
If it were a homogeneous Linux environment I could use screen, though.
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
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0
i'm connected to 25+ servers, running their local copies of xterms with X redirection

ie
ssh -n -Y hostname -l username 'xterm'

So running screen wouldn't help.
If it were a homogeneous Linux environment I could use screen, though.

Why would you do that to yourself? Why not just use local xterms and ssh into the servers from there?
 

LCTSI

Member
Aug 17, 2010
93
0
66
Why would you do that to yourself? Why not just use local xterms and ssh into the servers from there?

Like I said, it's not a homogeneous environment. If you spawn a local Xterm and SSH into a Solaris box, then hit the up arrow, all you'll see is "^[" added to the command line.
If you use an xterm from the remote Solaris box, it behaves like it should. I can spawn more xterms on the remote box by just forking xterms on the command line. I can then skip the step of logging in multiple times. Any xterm logging to file I do on that xterm is done on the remote system, not on mine. Additionally, I can bring up any of the remote X apps immediately just by typing in their name. This is very important when dealing with SANSurfer, Qmon, Legato Networker, Veritas and etc. My local box isn't on the SAN... the remote boxes are.
I have a short script, simply `xon` that launches the xterm from the remote boxes. I do have a short script called ssh.xterm that basically launches xterm and then SSHes to the remote boxes via the -e option. I use it mainly for boxes that don't have remote X. Quite frankly when X is available it only makes sense to run everything from the remote box to begin with.
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
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0
Like I said, it's not a homogeneous environment. If you spawn a local Xterm and SSH into a Solaris box, then hit the up arrow, all you'll see is "^[" added to the command line.
If you use an xterm from the remote Solaris box, it behaves like it should. I can spawn more xterms on the remote box by just forking xterms on the command line. I can then skip the step of logging in multiple times. Any xterm logging to file I do on that xterm is done on the remote system, not on mine. Additionally, I can bring up any of the remote X apps immediately just by typing in their name. This is very important when dealing with SANSurfer, Qmon, Legato Networker, Veritas and etc. My local box isn't on the SAN... the remote boxes are.
I have a short script, simply `xon` that launches the xterm from the remote boxes. I do have a short script called ssh.xterm that basically launches xterm and then SSHes to the remote boxes via the -e option. I use it mainly for boxes that don't have remote X. Quite frankly when X is available it only makes sense to run everything from the remote box to begin with.

That really sucks, I'm so attached to screen I'd probably be looking for a new job if I were you. Or at least figuring out how to make all of that work inside of screen remotely.
 

LCTSI

Member
Aug 17, 2010
93
0
66
That really sucks, I'm so attached to screen I'd probably be looking for a new job if I were you. Or at least figuring out how to make all of that work inside of screen remotely.

It's not so bad, and I love what I do. ;)
 

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
81
I've been using a combination of LXDE and Compiz/Emerald. I also use GLX Dock. I find that the LXDE panel looks every bit as good as Gnome's, and LXDE uses less resources.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,550
8,829
126
I find that the LXDE panel looks every bit as good as Gnome's, and LXDE uses less resources.

You think so? I tried it for a brief time, and while I didn't check ram use or anything, my perception was that it was very similar to Gnome as far as speed goes, but not as fully featured.
 

TEDickey

Junior Member
Aug 19, 2010
7
0
0
Most people these days use "xterm" as a generic term, like kleenex when people mean any brand of tissues. I usually have ~20 windows open in screen just fine. I vaguely remember an upper-limit on them but I can't remember what it was exactly.
Sure, there are people who use "xterm" as a generic term, but they're rarely providing useful information on that or related topics.
 

TEDickey

Junior Member
Aug 19, 2010
7
0
0
Like I said, it's not a homogeneous environment. If you spawn a local Xterm and SSH into a Solaris box, then hit the up arrow, all you'll see is "^[" added to the command line.
If you use an xterm from the remote Solaris box, it behaves like it should. I can spawn more xterms on the remote box by just forking xterms on the command line. I can then skip the step of logging in multiple times. Any xterm logging to file I do on that xterm is done on the remote system, not on mine. Additionally, I can bring up any of the remote X apps immediately just by typing in their name. This is very important when dealing with SANSurfer, Qmon, Legato Networker, Veritas and etc. My local box isn't on the SAN... the remote boxes are.
I have a short script, simply `xon` that launches the xterm from the remote boxes. I do have a short script called ssh.xterm that basically launches xterm and then SSHes to the remote boxes via the -e option. I use it mainly for boxes that don't have remote X. Quite frankly when X is available it only makes sense to run everything from the remote box to begin with.
Your problem with xterm sounds like something that can be fixed,
with a little investigation. The usual mismatches with Linux vs Solaris
are for the backspace/delete keys, but this isn't that one. More
likely it's a mismatch for the terminal description (what TERM is set to).
Knowing that would be helpful.
 

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
81
You think so? I tried it for a brief time, and while I didn't check ram use or anything, my perception was that it was very similar to Gnome as far as speed goes, but not as fully featured.
LXDE boots up in 18 seconds on my computer compared to 30 seconds with Gnome. LXDE uses 60mb of ram at startup compared to 100mb for Gnome. I only have 512mb of ram so that 40mb is useful to me.