Sfvlug - User contributions [en]

Window Management

2010-12-24T02:17:57Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project Introduction==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your level of experience.''

<disclaimer>
Be warned, I am not by any means an expert in window managers, programming or much of anything for that matter, I am merely a dabbler. I'm doing my best to put together a good resource page. For me it is a learn as I go kind of thing and I can't promise anything. While I seem to be doing most of the early work on this page it is, after all, a group project and hosted on a public site that anyone can edit. If you decide to start playing around with window managers on a system with data that is important to you, don't do it, and if you must make sure any data you ever hope to see again is safely backed up first. Many, if not most, of these window manager projects are to be considered experimental and could easily take your arm off at the elbow or worse. If you think about using any information you have found here, don't! Do your own research first.
</ disclaimer>

Even though I am doing most of the groundwork here in getting this started it is not '''my''' project, this is a SFVLUG project which means it can be your project too. You don't even need to be living in Southern California to participate, our membership consists of anyone interested in free open source software and wants to hang out with other like minded folks. You don't even need to write one single line of code to become involved, contributions can come in many other forms. If you do live in the Southern California area we hope to see you at one of our meetings. Check the [http://www.sfvlug.org SFVLUG] website for up to date announcements for time and venue. --[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 02:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.

==Resources - Existing Window Managers and Desktop Environments==

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

*[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

*[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

*[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

*[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===Existing Window Managers===

====Wikipedia's List of Window Managers====
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Please fee free to jump in and help check, add to and otherwise cleanup the list and the links.

*2wm
*3dwm
*4Dwm
*5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
*9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html 9wm link] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
*aegis (window manager)
*aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/ aewm link]
*aewm++
*AfterStep
*ahwm
*alloywm
*alptwm
*amaterus
*amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html amiwm link] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
*anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
*antiwm
*asclassic
*awesome (window manager)|awesome
*awm
*badwm
*Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
*Blackbox (minimalist)
*bluetile
*blwm
*clfswm
*Compiz
*CTWM
*cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm cwm link]
*evilwm
*Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
*EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home EvilPoison link] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
*Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
*FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
*FVWM95
*hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html hackedbox link]
*HaZe
*IceWM
*Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
*JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
*Kahakai
*KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
*luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
*Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html LWM link]
*Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/ Matchbox link]
*Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
*GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
*MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
*olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/ olwm link] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
*Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
*Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki Orion link]
*Oroborus
*PekWM
*PLWM
*PWM (window manager)|PWM
*Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/ Qvwm link] (list of forks)
*Ratpoison
*Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
*Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
*SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
*Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
*swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
*Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject Toy'd link] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
*TrsWM
*twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
*UWM (computing)|uwm
*vtwm
*Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea Waimea link]
*WindowLab
*Window Maker
*wm2
*wmii
*wmx
*Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
*Xmonad
*XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
*xwm

====Debian/Ubuntu WM Package List====
This list was obtained by using apt-cache search and grep for window and manager. Some packages in this list are forks, variations or different versions of what are basically the same program. The comments are those returned from Apt. At some point we are probably going to want to combine the different lists into a spreadsheet and/or chart.

*9wm - emulation of the Plan 9 window manager 8-1/2
*aewm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*aewm++ - minimal window manager written in C++
*afterstep - window manager with the NEXTSTEP look and feel
*amiwm - The Amiga look alike window manager
*awesome - highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X
*blackbox - Window manager for X
*compiz - OpenGL window and compositing manager
*ctwm - Claude's Tab window manager
*dvtm - Tiling window management for the console
*dwm - dynamic window manager
*dwm-tools - dynamic window manager (tools)
*e16 - the Enlightenment Window Manager DR16
*evilwm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*fluxbox - Highly configurable and low resource X11 Window manager
*flwm - Fast Light Window Manager
*fvwm - F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*fvwm1 - Old version of the F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*i3 - metapackage (i3 window manager, screen locker, menu, statusbar)
*i3-wm - an improved dynamic tiling window manager
*icewm - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-experimental - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-lite - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*ion3 - tiling tabbed window manager designed for keyboard users
*jwm - Very small lightweight pure X11 window manager with tray and menus
*kwin - the KDE 4 window manager (KWin)
*larswm - Lars Window Manager with tiled windows
*lwm - Lightweight Window Manager
*matchbox-window-manager - window manager for resource-limited systems
*maximus - A window management tool
*metacity - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*miwm - minimalist window manager with virtual workspaces
*mutter - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*olvwm - OpenLook virtual window manager
*olwm - Open Look Window Manager
*openbox - standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager
*oroborus - A lightweight themeable windowmanager for X
*parti - Parti window manager
*pekwm - Fast & Light Window Manager
*python-plwm - Pointless Window Manager - Python libraries for creating Window Managers
*ratpoison - keyboard-only window manager
*sapphire - A minimal but configurable X11R6 window manager
*sawfish - a window manager for X11
*scrotwm - dynamic tiling window manager
*stumpwm - a Common Lisp window manager
*sugar-session-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*sugar-tools-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*tinywm - tiny window manager
*twm - Tab window manager
*uwm - The ultimate window manager for UDE
*vtwm - Virtual Tab Window Manager
*w9wm - enhanced window manager based on 9wm
*wdm - WINGs Display Manager - an xdm replacement with a WindowMaker look
*windowlab - small and simple Amiga-like window manager
*windows-el - window manager for GNU Emacs
*wm2 - small, unconfigurable window manager
*wmaker - NeXTSTEP-like window manager for X
*wmii - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 3
*wmii2 - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 2
*xfwm4 - window manager of the Xfce project
*xmonad - A lightweight X11 window manager

[[wmlists]] Place for compiling lists of window manager capabilities for comparison

==X and Other Resources==

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

*[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

*[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

*[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

*[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

*[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

*[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====ICCCM & EWMH====
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

=====ICCCM Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

=====EWMH Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===Python Stuff===

By some standards Python would not be the first language of choice for writing a window manager but there is a good chance that our project will either be done in Python or done in a combination of lower level language like C and Python. The main reason is that many of our members are already at least somewhat proficient in Python. With no desire to get into a religious debate over the relative merits and failings of anyone's personal bias Python makes more sense to us for a group project. This section includes some additional information on existing Python libraries and some projects in pure Python or wrapped in Python.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

*[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

*[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

*[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===Toolkits===
GUI toolkits such as GTK+, Qt, FLTK, wxWindows and other less known toolkits are also very important in how desktop applications are displayed. They provide fonts, icons and widgets. When using a minimalistic window manager without an associated desktop environment the user may need to make adjustments for applications using different GUI toolkits. This can be essential to functionality and not just style when using screen resolutions that are significantly smaller or greater than common standards.

At least for now I'm going to stick to covering mostly just GTK+ and Qt4 since at this point in time they are the most popular and there are some fairly good tools to help configure them. GTK+ is the toolkit used with Gnome and Xfce while Qt4 is used with KDE4. For a long time it was not always easy to use applications designed for one environment on another. However, these days Gnome, XFCE and KDE desktop environments include tools for dealing with applications designed for another.

====Settings====
Most desktop application will let the user to configure fonts and other settings for the main window and any dialogs. If there are problems with settings it usually involves the widgets and fonts of the application's window and decorations. The most important setting when dealing with GUI applications from different toolkits would be setting font size for the window itself and its menus. A good test to see if this is a potential problem is in whether or not you needed to adjust the font size of your original desktop settings. If the standard default size for one desktop was OK chances are good that it will also be OK using applications developed with other toolkits.

For now I'm going to follow up on GTK+ and Qt since they are the most popular. These are GUI tools that can be used for configuring font size and widget settings:

===== qtconfig =====
With this configuration tool you can set how any application using the Qt toolkit is displayed. Currently available with the qt3-qtconfig and qt4-qtconfig packages.

===== GTK+ 2.0 theme manager =====
Is available for setting GTK+ 2.X fonts and themes in the gtk-chtheme package.

In addition to configuring the GUI toolkit's settings it is also possible to make some adjustments with some of the X server's config files and tools.

==Design Considerations==

===Target Audience===
One of the first things we need to discuss when it comes to creating our own window manager or desktop environment is to create a list of design goals, what are the specific and general itches that we want to scratch. One thing I've noticed myself in trying out and testing the various ways to manage a work environment is that most designs are either geared toward solving a limited domain of problems, often creating a development platform by developers and for other developers. These tend to be minimalistic window managers with an eye towards either C or C++ development. Another approach is to try to be all things to all people in one huge, bloated, monolithic structure. These are less focused on system level development and more towards a wider range of user application development but also tend to favor developers.

===Modular Design===
I have seen very little in the way of modular design that gives the user fine grained control of their work environment. The environment is either minimalistic and limited or fully featured and bloated, only suited for high horsepower hardware. I'd personally like to see something that is more in line with the *nix philosophy of small tools that can pipe data from and to other small tools. For this to work properly there needs to be adherence to standards that may not even be well understood and/or adequately defined. For example session management (Basically what specific applications and data should be opened at login or for specific tasks) should be easily separated from window management to the point that if the user doesn't need session management it shouldn't be forced on the user and everything else not specifically requiring session management should still work just fine. If the user later discovers a need for session management it should be possible to easily install a pluggable session manager.

===Alternative Metaphors===
I'd like to be able to find other ways of dealing with traditional windows. There already exist some interesting mechanisms for manipulating windows that are little known to most users. As an example, while I was using Fluxbox on a daily basis I noticed that to resize a window using the left click drag method there are only two handles that can be grabbed and moved with a left click and they are on the lower left and right corners of the window's border. It became a bother especially when enlarging a window who's bottom edge was near the bottom edge of the screen. Using the left click you need to first reposition the window by dragging the titlebar to the top of the screen to get the lower edge of the window enough screen real estate to drag it down, and if it still needed more adjustment you may need to repeat that maneuver until you get it right. I did that for a few days until I discovered an alternative way to resize a window with an <ALT> right click and drag from anywhere within the window proper. After returning to using KDE I discovered using the <ALT> key in KDE worked the same; you just hold down the <ALT> key and click within the window and the corner closest to the cursor position will move to resize the window. If I hadn't been pushed to find another method of resizing a window I may never have discovered the <ALT> <right click> <drag> method. I'm sure there are a whole bunch of similar undocumented and under-documented methods of interaction with windows.

Screen real estate is very valuable even on a system with multiple monitors. I completely understand the allure of tiling window managers, but for me, at least, the deal breaker is the loss of goodies normally kept visible in a panel. I'd like to develop new ways of taking advantage of screen real estate while still having quick access to ancillary data and tasks. One thing I really loved about Fluxbox that could potentially help out a lot is the use of shortcut keys. KDE4 does some cool things with 3D compositing, as does Compiz, that are beneficial to work flow that go beyond mere eye candy. I don't know how difficult it would be to include compositing but perhaps we could find easier alternatives to accomplish similar ends. I particularly like the ability to zoom in and out. That feature has sort of been possible for a long time with virtual desktops being larger than the screen but zooming in and out was too slow and distracting.

The new KDE4 desktop had/has some promising new features that were designed to address the real estate problem but unfortunately they were confusing, buggy and some were even broken to the point of being unusable. With 4.5 they fixed a lot of the problems by removing a lot of the features. At least that brought back stability and reminded us of the lesson of Icarus, don't over extend your capabilities by trying to do too much too fast.

Window Management

2010-11-27T12:44:55Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-11-27T12:43:12Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project Introduction==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your level of experience.''

<disclaimer>
Be warned, I am not by any means an expert in window managers, programming or much of anything for that matter, I am merely a dabbler. I'm doing my best to put together a good resource page. For me it is a learn as I go kind of thing and I can't promise anything. While I seem to be doing most of the early work on this page it is, after all, a group project and hosted on a public site that anyone can edit. If you decide to start playing around with window managers on a system with data that is important to you, don't do it, and if you must make sure any data you ever hope to see again is safely backed up first. Many, if not most, of these window manager projects are to be considered experimental and could easily take your arm off at the elbow or worse. If you think about using any information you have found here, don't! Do your own research first.
</ disclaimer>

Even though I am doing most of the groundwork here in getting this started it is not '''my''' project, this is a SFVLUG project which means it can be your project too. You don't even need to be living in Southern California to participate, our membership consists of anyone interested in free open source software and wants to hang out with other like minded folks. You don't even need to write one single line of code to become involved, contributions can come in many other forms. If you do live in the Southern California area we hope to see you at one of our meetings. Check the [http://www.sfvlug.org SFVLUG] website for up to date announcements for time and venue. --[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 02:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.

==Resources - Existing Window Managers and Desktop Environments==

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

*[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

*[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

*[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

*[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===Existing Window Managers===

====Wikipedia's List of Window Managers====
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Please fee free to jump in and help check, add to and otherwise cleanup the list and the links.

*2wm
*3dwm
*4Dwm
*5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
*9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html 9wm link] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
*aegis (window manager)
*aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/ aewm link]
*aewm++
*AfterStep
*ahwm
*alloywm
*alptwm
*amaterus
*amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html amiwm link] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
*anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
*antiwm
*asclassic
*awesome (window manager)|awesome
*awm
*badwm
*Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
*Blackbox (minimalist)
*bluetile
*blwm
*clfswm
*Compiz
*CTWM
*cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm cwm link]
*evilwm
*Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
*EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home EvilPoison link] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
*Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
*FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
*FVWM95
*hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html hackedbox link]
*HaZe
*IceWM
*Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
*JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
*Kahakai
*KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
*luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
*Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html LWM link]
*Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/ Matchbox link]
*Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
*GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
*MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
*olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/ olwm link] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
*Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
*Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki Orion link]
*Oroborus
*PekWM
*PLWM
*PWM (window manager)|PWM
*Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/ Qvwm link] (list of forks)
*Ratpoison
*Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
*Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
*SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
*Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
*swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
*Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject Toy'd link] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
*TrsWM
*twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
*UWM (computing)|uwm
*vtwm
*Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea Waimea link]
*WindowLab
*Window Maker
*wm2
*wmii
*wmx
*Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
*Xmonad
*XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
*xwm

====Debian/Ubuntu WM Package List====
This list was obtained by using apt-cache search and grep for window and manager. Some packages in this list are forks, variations or different versions of what are basically the same program. The comments are those returned from Apt. At some point we are probably going to want to combine the different lists into a spreadsheet and/or chart.

*9wm - emulation of the Plan 9 window manager 8-1/2
*aewm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*aewm++ - minimal window manager written in C++
*afterstep - window manager with the NEXTSTEP look and feel
*amiwm - The Amiga look alike window manager
*awesome - highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X
*blackbox - Window manager for X
*compiz - OpenGL window and compositing manager
*ctwm - Claude's Tab window manager
*dvtm - Tiling window management for the console
*dwm - dynamic window manager
*dwm-tools - dynamic window manager (tools)
*e16 - the Enlightenment Window Manager DR16
*evilwm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*fluxbox - Highly configurable and low resource X11 Window manager
*flwm - Fast Light Window Manager
*fvwm - F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*fvwm1 - Old version of the F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*i3 - metapackage (i3 window manager, screen locker, menu, statusbar)
*i3-wm - an improved dynamic tiling window manager
*icewm - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-experimental - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-lite - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*ion3 - tiling tabbed window manager designed for keyboard users
*jwm - Very small lightweight pure X11 window manager with tray and menus
*kwin - the KDE 4 window manager (KWin)
*larswm - Lars Window Manager with tiled windows
*lwm - Lightweight Window Manager
*matchbox-window-manager - window manager for resource-limited systems
*maximus - A window management tool
*metacity - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*miwm - minimalist window manager with virtual workspaces
*mutter - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*olvwm - OpenLook virtual window manager
*olwm - Open Look Window Manager
*openbox - standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager
*oroborus - A lightweight themeable windowmanager for X
*parti - Parti window manager
*pekwm - Fast & Light Window Manager
*python-plwm - Pointless Window Manager - Python libraries for creating Window Managers
*ratpoison - keyboard-only window manager
*sapphire - A minimal but configurable X11R6 window manager
*sawfish - a window manager for X11
*scrotwm - dynamic tiling window manager
*stumpwm - a Common Lisp window manager
*sugar-session-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*sugar-tools-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*tinywm - tiny window manager
*twm - Tab window manager
*uwm - The ultimate window manager for UDE
*vtwm - Virtual Tab Window Manager
*w9wm - enhanced window manager based on 9wm
*wdm - WINGs Display Manager - an xdm replacement with a WindowMaker look
*windowlab - small and simple Amiga-like window manager
*windows-el - window manager for GNU Emacs
*wm2 - small, unconfigurable window manager
*wmaker - NeXTSTEP-like window manager for X
*wmii - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 3
*wmii2 - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 2
*xfwm4 - window manager of the Xfce project
*xmonad - A lightweight X11 window manager

[[wmlists]] Place for compiling lists of window manager capabilities for comparison

==X and Other Resources==

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

*[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

*[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

*[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

*[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

*[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

*[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====ICCCM & EWMH====
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

=====ICCCM Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

=====EWMH Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===Python Stuff===

By some standards Python would not be the first language of choice for writing a window manager but there is a good chance that our project will either be done in Python or done in a combination of lower level language like C and Python. The main reason is that many of our members are already at least somewhat proficient in Python. With no desire to get into a religious debate over the relative merits and failings of anyone's personal bias Python makes more sense to us for a group project. This section includes some additional information on existing Python libraries and some projects in pure Python or wrapped in Python.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

*[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

*[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

*[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===Toolkits===
GUI toolkits such as GTK+, Qt, FLTK, wxWindows and other less known toolkits are also very important in how desktop applications are displayed. They provide fonts, icons and widgets. When using a minimalistic window manager without an associated desktop environment the user may need to make adjustments for applications using different GUI toolkits. This can be essential to functionality and not just style when using screen resolutions that are significantly smaller or greater than common standards.

At least for now I'm going to stick to covering mostly just GTK+ and Qt4 since at this point in time they are the most popular and there are some fairly good tools to help configure them. GTK+ is the toolkit used with Gnome and Xfce while Qt4 is used with KDE4. For a long time it was not always easy to use applications designed for one environment on another. However, these days Gnome, XFCE and KDE desktop environments include tools for dealing with applications designed for another.

====Settings====
Most desktop application will let the user to configure fonts and other settings for the main window and any dialogs. If there are problems with settings it usually involves the widgets and fonts of the application's window and decorations. The most important setting when dealing with GUI applications from different toolkits would be setting font size for the window itself and its menus. A good test to see if this is a potential problem is in whether or not you needed to adjust the font size of your original desktop settings. If the standard default size for one desktop was OK chances are good that it will also be OK using applications developed with other toolkits.

For now I'm going to follow up on GTK+ and Qt since they are the most popular. These are GUI tools that can be used for configuring font size and widget settings:

===== qtconfig =====
With this configuration tool you can set how any application using the Qt toolkit is displayed. Currently available with the qt3-qtconfig and qt4-qtconfig packages.

===== GTK+ 2.0 theme manager =====
Is available for setting GTK+ 2.X fonts and themes in the gtk-chtheme package.

In addition to configuring the GUI toolkit's settings it is also possible to make some adjustments with some of the X server's config files and tools.

===Design Considerations===

====Target Audience====
One of the first things we need to discuss when it comes to creating our own window manager or desktop environment is to create a list of design goals, what are the specific and general itches that we want to scratch. One thing I've noticed myself in trying out and testing the various ways to manage a work environment is that most designs are either geared toward solving a limited domain of problems, often creating a development platform by developers and for other developers. These tend to be minimalistic window managers with an eye towards either C or C++ development. Another approach is to try to be all things to all people in one huge, bloated, monolithic structure. These are less focused on system level development and more towards a wider range of user application development but also tend to favor developers.

====Modular Design====
I have seen very little in the way of modular design that gives the user fine grained control of their work environment. The environment is either minimalistic and limited or fully featured and bloated, only suited for high horsepower hardware. I'd personally like to see something that is more in line with the *nix philosophy of small tools that can pipe data from and to other small tools. For this to work properly there needs to be adherence to standards that may not even be well understood and/or adequately defined. For example session management (Basically what specific applications and data should be opened at login or for specific tasks) should be easily separated from window management to the point that if the user doesn't need session management it shouldn't be forced on the user and everything else not specifically requiring session management should still work just fine. If the user later discovers a need for session management it should be possible to easily install a pluggable session manager.

Window Management

2010-11-16T04:34:43Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-11-16T04:07:35Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project Introduction==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your level of experience.''

<disclaimer>
Be warned, I am not by any means an expert in window managers, programming or much of anything for that matter, I am merely a dabbler. I'm doing my best to put together a good resource page. For me it is a learn as I go kind of thing and I can't promise anything. While I seem to be doing most of the early work on this page it is, after all, a group project and hosted on a public site that anyone can edit. If you decide to start playing around with window managers on a system with data that is important to you, don't do it, and if you must make sure any data you ever hope to see again is safely backed up first. Many, if not most, of these window manager projects are to be considered experimental and could easily take your arm off at the elbow or worse. If you think about using any information you have found here, don't! Do your own research first.
</ disclaimer>

Even though I am doing most of the groundwork here in getting this started it is not '''my''' project, this is a SFVLUG project which means it can be your project too. You don't even need to be living in Southern California to participate, our membership consists of anyone interested in free open source software and wants to hang out with other like minded folks. You don't even need to write one single line of code to become involved, contributions can come in many other forms. If you do live in the Southern California area we hope to see you at one of our meetings. Check the [http://www.sfvlug.org SFVLUG] website for up to date announcements for time and venue. --[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 02:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.

==Resources - Existing Window Managers and Desktop Environments==

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

*[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

*[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

*[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

*[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===Existing Window Managers===

====Wikipedia's List of Window Managers====
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Please fee free to jump in and help check, add to and otherwise cleanup the list and the links.

*2wm
*3dwm
*4Dwm
*5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
*9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html 9wm link] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
*aegis (window manager)
*aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/ aewm link]
*aewm++
*AfterStep
*ahwm
*alloywm
*alptwm
*amaterus
*amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html amiwm link] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
*anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
*antiwm
*asclassic
*awesome (window manager)|awesome
*awm
*badwm
*Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
*Blackbox (minimalist)
*bluetile
*blwm
*clfswm
*Compiz
*CTWM
*cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm cwm link]
*evilwm
*Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
*EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home EvilPoison link] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
*Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
*FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
*FVWM95
*hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html hackedbox link]
*HaZe
*IceWM
*Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
*JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
*Kahakai
*KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
*luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
*Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html LWM link]
*Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/ Matchbox link]
*Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
*GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
*MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
*olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/ olwm link] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
*Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
*Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki Orion link]
*Oroborus
*PekWM
*PLWM
*PWM (window manager)|PWM
*Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/ Qvwm link] (list of forks)
*Ratpoison
*Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
*Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
*SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
*Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
*swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
*Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject Toy'd link] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
*TrsWM
*twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
*UWM (computing)|uwm
*vtwm
*Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea Waimea link]
*WindowLab
*Window Maker
*wm2
*wmii
*wmx
*Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
*Xmonad
*XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
*xwm

====Debian/Ubuntu WM Package List====
This list was obtained by using apt-cache search and grep for window and manager. Some packages in this list are forks, variations or different versions of what are basically the same program. The comments are those returned from Apt. At some point we are probably going to want to combine the different lists into a spreadsheet and/or chart.

*9wm - emulation of the Plan 9 window manager 8-1/2
*aewm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*aewm++ - minimal window manager written in C++
*afterstep - window manager with the NEXTSTEP look and feel
*amiwm - The Amiga look alike window manager
*awesome - highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X
*blackbox - Window manager for X
*compiz - OpenGL window and compositing manager
*ctwm - Claude's Tab window manager
*dvtm - Tiling window management for the console
*dwm - dynamic window manager
*dwm-tools - dynamic window manager (tools)
*e16 - the Enlightenment Window Manager DR16
*evilwm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*fluxbox - Highly configurable and low resource X11 Window manager
*flwm - Fast Light Window Manager
*fvwm - F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*fvwm1 - Old version of the F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*i3 - metapackage (i3 window manager, screen locker, menu, statusbar)
*i3-wm - an improved dynamic tiling window manager
*icewm - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-experimental - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-lite - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*ion3 - tiling tabbed window manager designed for keyboard users
*jwm - Very small lightweight pure X11 window manager with tray and menus
*kwin - the KDE 4 window manager (KWin)
*larswm - Lars Window Manager with tiled windows
*lwm - Lightweight Window Manager
*matchbox-window-manager - window manager for resource-limited systems
*maximus - A window management tool
*metacity - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*miwm - minimalist window manager with virtual workspaces
*mutter - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*olvwm - OpenLook virtual window manager
*olwm - Open Look Window Manager
*openbox - standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager
*oroborus - A lightweight themeable windowmanager for X
*parti - Parti window manager
*pekwm - Fast & Light Window Manager
*python-plwm - Pointless Window Manager - Python libraries for creating Window Managers
*ratpoison - keyboard-only window manager
*sapphire - A minimal but configurable X11R6 window manager
*sawfish - a window manager for X11
*scrotwm - dynamic tiling window manager
*stumpwm - a Common Lisp window manager
*sugar-session-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*sugar-tools-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*tinywm - tiny window manager
*twm - Tab window manager
*uwm - The ultimate window manager for UDE
*vtwm - Virtual Tab Window Manager
*w9wm - enhanced window manager based on 9wm
*wdm - WINGs Display Manager - an xdm replacement with a WindowMaker look
*windowlab - small and simple Amiga-like window manager
*windows-el - window manager for GNU Emacs
*wm2 - small, unconfigurable window manager
*wmaker - NeXTSTEP-like window manager for X
*wmii - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 3
*wmii2 - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 2
*xfwm4 - window manager of the Xfce project
*xmonad - A lightweight X11 window manager

[[wmlists]] Place for compiling lists of window manager capabilities for comparison

==X and Other Resources==

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

*[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

*[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

*[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

*[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

*[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

*[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====ICCCM & EWMH====
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

=====ICCCM Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

=====EWMH Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===Python Stuff===

By some standards Python would not be the first language of choice for writing a window manager but there is a good chance that our project will either be done in Python or done in a combination of lower level language like C and Python. The main reason is that many of our members are already at least somewhat proficient in Python. With no desire to get into a religious debate over the relative merits and failings of anyone's personal bias Python makes more sense to us for a group project. This section includes some additional information on existing Python libraries and some projects in pure Python or wrapped in Python.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

*[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

*[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

*[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===Toolkits===
GUI toolkits such as GTK+, Qt, FLTK, wxWindows and other less known toolkits are also very important in how desktop applications are displayed. They provide fonts, icons and widgets. When using a minimalistic window manager without an associated desktop environment the user may need to make adjustments for applications using different GUI toolkits. This can be essential to functionality and not just style when using screen resolutions that are significantly smaller or greater than common standards.

====Settings & Configuration====
At least for now I'm going to stick to covering mostly just GTK+ and Qt4 since at this point in time they are the most popular and there are some fairly good tools to help configure them. GTK+ is the toolkit used with Gnome and Xfce while Qt4 is used with KDE4. For a long time it was not always easy to use applications designed for one environment on another. However, these days Gnome, XFCE and KDE desktop environments include tools for dealing with applications designed for another.

Most desktop application will let the user to configure fonts and other settings for the main window and any dialogs. If there are problems with settings it usually involves the widgets and fonts of the application's window and decorations. The most important setting when dealing with GUI applications from different toolkits would be setting font size for the window itself and its menus. A good test to see if this is a potential problem is in whether or not you needed to adjust the font size of your original desktop settings. If the standard default size for one desktop was OK chances are good that it will also be OK using applications developed with other toolkits.

For now I'm going to follow up on GTK+ and Qt since they are the most popular. These are GUI tools that can be used for configuring font size and widget settings:

=====qtconfig===== - With this configuration tool you can set how any application using the Qt toolkit is displayed. Currently available with the qt3-qtconfig and qt4-qtconfig packages.

=====GTK+ 2.0 theme manager===== - Is available for setting GTK+ 2.X fonts and themes in the gtk-chtheme package.

In addition to configuring the GUI toolkit's settings it is also possible to make some adjustments with some of the X server's config files and tools.

Window Management

2010-11-16T04:06:31Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project Introduction==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your level of experience.''

<disclaimer>
Be warned, I am not by any means an expert in window managers, programming or much of anything for that matter, I am merely a dabbler. I'm doing my best to put together a good resource page. For me it is a learn as I go kind of thing and I can't promise anything. While I seem to be doing most of the early work on this page it is, after all, a group project and hosted on a public site that anyone can edit. If you decide to start playing around with window managers on a system with data that is important to you, don't do it, and if you must make sure any data you ever hope to see again is safely backed up first. Many, if not most, of these window manager projects are to be considered experimental and could easily take your arm off at the elbow or worse. If you think about using any information you have found here, don't! Do your own research first.
</ disclaimer>

Even though I am doing most of the groundwork here in getting this started it is not '''my''' project, this is a SFVLUG project which means it can be your project too. You don't even need to be living in Southern California to participate, our membership consists of anyone interested in free open source software and wants to hang out with other like minded folks. You don't even need to write one single line of code to become involved, contributions can come in many other forms. If you do live in the Southern California area we hope to see you at one of our meetings. Check the [http://www.sfvlug.org SFVLUG] website for up to date announcements for time and venue. --[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 02:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.

==Resources - Existing Window Managers and Desktop Environments==

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

*[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

*[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

*[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

*[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===Existing Window Managers===

====Wikipedia's List of Window Managers====
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Please fee free to jump in and help check, add to and otherwise cleanup the list and the links.

*2wm
*3dwm
*4Dwm
*5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
*9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html 9wm link] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
*aegis (window manager)
*aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/ aewm link]
*aewm++
*AfterStep
*ahwm
*alloywm
*alptwm
*amaterus
*amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html amiwm link] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
*anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
*antiwm
*asclassic
*awesome (window manager)|awesome
*awm
*badwm
*Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
*Blackbox (minimalist)
*bluetile
*blwm
*clfswm
*Compiz
*CTWM
*cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm cwm link]
*evilwm
*Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
*EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home EvilPoison link] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
*Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
*FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
*FVWM95
*hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html hackedbox link]
*HaZe
*IceWM
*Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
*JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
*Kahakai
*KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
*luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
*Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html LWM link]
*Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/ Matchbox link]
*Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
*GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
*MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
*olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/ olwm link] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
*Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
*Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki Orion link]
*Oroborus
*PekWM
*PLWM
*PWM (window manager)|PWM
*Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/ Qvwm link] (list of forks)
*Ratpoison
*Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
*Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
*SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
*Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
*swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
*Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject Toy'd link] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
*TrsWM
*twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
*UWM (computing)|uwm
*vtwm
*Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea Waimea link]
*WindowLab
*Window Maker
*wm2
*wmii
*wmx
*Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
*Xmonad
*XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
*xwm

====Debian/Ubuntu WM Package List====
This list was obtained by using apt-cache search and grep for window and manager. Some packages in this list are forks, variations or different versions of what are basically the same program. The comments are those returned from Apt. At some point we are probably going to want to combine the different lists into a spreadsheet and/or chart.

*9wm - emulation of the Plan 9 window manager 8-1/2
*aewm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*aewm++ - minimal window manager written in C++
*afterstep - window manager with the NEXTSTEP look and feel
*amiwm - The Amiga look alike window manager
*awesome - highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X
*blackbox - Window manager for X
*compiz - OpenGL window and compositing manager
*ctwm - Claude's Tab window manager
*dvtm - Tiling window management for the console
*dwm - dynamic window manager
*dwm-tools - dynamic window manager (tools)
*e16 - the Enlightenment Window Manager DR16
*evilwm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*fluxbox - Highly configurable and low resource X11 Window manager
*flwm - Fast Light Window Manager
*fvwm - F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*fvwm1 - Old version of the F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*i3 - metapackage (i3 window manager, screen locker, menu, statusbar)
*i3-wm - an improved dynamic tiling window manager
*icewm - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-experimental - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-lite - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*ion3 - tiling tabbed window manager designed for keyboard users
*jwm - Very small lightweight pure X11 window manager with tray and menus
*kwin - the KDE 4 window manager (KWin)
*larswm - Lars Window Manager with tiled windows
*lwm - Lightweight Window Manager
*matchbox-window-manager - window manager for resource-limited systems
*maximus - A window management tool
*metacity - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*miwm - minimalist window manager with virtual workspaces
*mutter - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*olvwm - OpenLook virtual window manager
*olwm - Open Look Window Manager
*openbox - standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager
*oroborus - A lightweight themeable windowmanager for X
*parti - Parti window manager
*pekwm - Fast & Light Window Manager
*python-plwm - Pointless Window Manager - Python libraries for creating Window Managers
*ratpoison - keyboard-only window manager
*sapphire - A minimal but configurable X11R6 window manager
*sawfish - a window manager for X11
*scrotwm - dynamic tiling window manager
*stumpwm - a Common Lisp window manager
*sugar-session-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*sugar-tools-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*tinywm - tiny window manager
*twm - Tab window manager
*uwm - The ultimate window manager for UDE
*vtwm - Virtual Tab Window Manager
*w9wm - enhanced window manager based on 9wm
*wdm - WINGs Display Manager - an xdm replacement with a WindowMaker look
*windowlab - small and simple Amiga-like window manager
*windows-el - window manager for GNU Emacs
*wm2 - small, unconfigurable window manager
*wmaker - NeXTSTEP-like window manager for X
*wmii - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 3
*wmii2 - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 2
*xfwm4 - window manager of the Xfce project
*xmonad - A lightweight X11 window manager

[[wmlists]] Place for compiling lists of window manager capabilities for comparison

==X and Other Resources==

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

*[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

*[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

*[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

*[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

*[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

*[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====ICCCM & EWMH====
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

=====ICCCM Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

=====EWMH Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===Python Stuff===

By some standards Python would not be the first language of choice for writing a window manager but there is a good chance that our project will either be done in Python or done in a combination of lower level language like C and Python. The main reason is that many of our members are already at least somewhat proficient in Python. With no desire to get into a religious debate over the relative merits and failings of anyone's personal bias Python makes more sense to us for a group project. This section includes some additional information on existing Python libraries and some projects in pure Python or wrapped in Python.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

*[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

*[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

*[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===Toolkits===
GUI toolkits such as GTK+, Qt, FLTK, wxWindows and other less known toolkits are also very important in how desktop applications are displayed. They provide fonts, icons and widgets. When using a minimalistic window manager without an associated desktop environment the user may need to make adjustments for applications using different GUI toolkits. This can be essential to functionality and not just style when using screen resolutions that are significantly smaller or greater than common standards.

====Settings & Configuration====
At least for now I'm going to stick to covering mostly just GTK+ and Qt4 since at this point in time they are the most popular and there are some fairly good tools to help configure them. GTK+ is the toolkit used with Gnome and Xfce while Qt4 is used with KDE4. For a long time it was not always easy to use applications designed for one environment on another. However, these days Gnome, XFCE and KDE desktop environments include tools for dealing with applications designed for another.

Most desktop application will let the user to configure fonts and other settings for the main window and any dialogs. If there are problems with settings it usually involves the widgets and fonts of the application's window and decorations. The most important setting when dealing with GUI applications from different toolkits would be setting font size for the window itself and its menus. A good test to see if this is a potential problem is in whether or not you needed to adjust the font size of your original desktop settings. If the standard default size for one desktop was OK chances are good that it will also be OK using applications developed with other toolkits.

For now I'm going to follow up on GTK+ and Qt since they are the most popular. These are GUI tools that can be used for configuring font size and widget settings:

qtconfig - With this configuration tool you can set how any application using the Qt toolkit is displayed. Currently available with the qt3-qtconfig and qt4-qtconfig packages.

GTK+ 2.0 theme manager - Is available for setting GTK+ 2.X fonts and themes in the gtk-chtheme package.

In addition to configuring the GUI toolkit's settings it is also possible to make some adjustments with some of the X server's config files and tools.

Window Management

2010-11-16T02:55:54Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project Introduction==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your level of experience.''

<disclaimer>
Be warned, I am not by any means an expert in window managers, programming or much of anything for that matter, I am merely a dabbler. I'm doing my best to put together a good resource page. For me it is a learn as I go kind of thing and I can't promise anything. While I seem to be doing most of the early work on this page it is, after all, a group project and hosted on a public site that anyone can edit. If you decide to start playing around with window managers on a system with data that is important to you, don't do it, and if you must make sure any data you ever hope to see again is safely backed up first. Many, if not most, of these window manager projects are to be considered experimental and could easily take your arm off at the elbow or worse. If you think about using any information you have found here, don't! Do your own research first.
</ disclaimer>

Even though I am doing most of the groundwork here in getting this started it is not '''my''' project, this is a SFVLUG project which means it can be your project too. You don't even need to be living in Southern California to participate, our membership consists of anyone interested in free open source software and wants to hang out with other like minded folks. You don't even need to write one single line of code to become involved, contributions can come in many other forms. If you do live in the Southern California area we hope to see you at one of our meetings. Check the [http://www.sfvlug.org SFVLUG] website for up to date announcements for time and venue. --[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 02:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.

==Resources - Existing Window Managers and Desktop Environments==

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

*[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

*[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

*[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

*[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===Existing Window Managers===

====Wikipedia's List of Window Managers====
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Please fee free to jump in and help check, add to and otherwise cleanup the list and the links.

*2wm
*3dwm
*4Dwm
*5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
*9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html 9wm link] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
*aegis (window manager)
*aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/ aewm link]
*aewm++
*AfterStep
*ahwm
*alloywm
*alptwm
*amaterus
*amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html amiwm link] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
*anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
*antiwm
*asclassic
*awesome (window manager)|awesome
*awm
*badwm
*Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
*Blackbox (minimalist)
*bluetile
*blwm
*clfswm
*Compiz
*CTWM
*cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm cwm link]
*evilwm
*Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
*EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home EvilPoison link] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
*Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
*FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
*FVWM95
*hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html hackedbox link]
*HaZe
*IceWM
*Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
*JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
*Kahakai
*KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
*luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
*Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html LWM link]
*Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/ Matchbox link]
*Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
*GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
*MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
*olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/ olwm link] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
*Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
*Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki Orion link]
*Oroborus
*PekWM
*PLWM
*PWM (window manager)|PWM
*Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/ Qvwm link] (list of forks)
*Ratpoison
*Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
*Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
*SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
*Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
*swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
*Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject Toy'd link] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
*TrsWM
*twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
*UWM (computing)|uwm
*vtwm
*Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea Waimea link]
*WindowLab
*Window Maker
*wm2
*wmii
*wmx
*Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
*Xmonad
*XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
*xwm

====Debian/Ubuntu WM Package List====
This list was obtained by using apt-cache search and grep for window and manager. Some packages in this list are forks, variations or different versions of what are basically the same program. The comments are those returned from Apt. At some point we are probably going to want to combine the different lists into a spreadsheet and/or chart.

*9wm - emulation of the Plan 9 window manager 8-1/2
*aewm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*aewm++ - minimal window manager written in C++
*afterstep - window manager with the NEXTSTEP look and feel
*amiwm - The Amiga look alike window manager
*awesome - highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X
*blackbox - Window manager for X
*compiz - OpenGL window and compositing manager
*ctwm - Claude's Tab window manager
*dvtm - Tiling window management for the console
*dwm - dynamic window manager
*dwm-tools - dynamic window manager (tools)
*e16 - the Enlightenment Window Manager DR16
*evilwm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*fluxbox - Highly configurable and low resource X11 Window manager
*flwm - Fast Light Window Manager
*fvwm - F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*fvwm1 - Old version of the F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*i3 - metapackage (i3 window manager, screen locker, menu, statusbar)
*i3-wm - an improved dynamic tiling window manager
*icewm - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-experimental - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-lite - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*ion3 - tiling tabbed window manager designed for keyboard users
*jwm - Very small lightweight pure X11 window manager with tray and menus
*kwin - the KDE 4 window manager (KWin)
*larswm - Lars Window Manager with tiled windows
*lwm - Lightweight Window Manager
*matchbox-window-manager - window manager for resource-limited systems
*maximus - A window management tool
*metacity - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*miwm - minimalist window manager with virtual workspaces
*mutter - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*olvwm - OpenLook virtual window manager
*olwm - Open Look Window Manager
*openbox - standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager
*oroborus - A lightweight themeable windowmanager for X
*parti - Parti window manager
*pekwm - Fast & Light Window Manager
*python-plwm - Pointless Window Manager - Python libraries for creating Window Managers
*ratpoison - keyboard-only window manager
*sapphire - A minimal but configurable X11R6 window manager
*sawfish - a window manager for X11
*scrotwm - dynamic tiling window manager
*stumpwm - a Common Lisp window manager
*sugar-session-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*sugar-tools-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*tinywm - tiny window manager
*twm - Tab window manager
*uwm - The ultimate window manager for UDE
*vtwm - Virtual Tab Window Manager
*w9wm - enhanced window manager based on 9wm
*wdm - WINGs Display Manager - an xdm replacement with a WindowMaker look
*windowlab - small and simple Amiga-like window manager
*windows-el - window manager for GNU Emacs
*wm2 - small, unconfigurable window manager
*wmaker - NeXTSTEP-like window manager for X
*wmii - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 3
*wmii2 - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 2
*xfwm4 - window manager of the Xfce project
*xmonad - A lightweight X11 window manager

[[wmlists]] Place for compiling lists of window manager capabilities for comparison

==X and Other Resources==

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

*[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

*[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

*[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

*[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

*[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

*[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====ICCCM & EWMH====
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

=====ICCCM Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

=====EWMH Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===Python Stuff===

By some standards Python would not be the first language of choice for writing a window manager but there is a good chance that our project will either be done in Python or done in a combination of lower level language like C and Python. The main reason is that many of our members are already at least somewhat proficient in Python. With no desire to get into a religious debate over the relative merits and failings of anyone's personal bias Python makes more sense to us for a group project. This section includes some additional information on existing Python libraries and some projects in pure Python or wrapped in Python.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

*[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

*[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

*[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===Toolkits===
GUI toolkits such as GTK+, Qt, FLTK, etc. are also very important in how desktop applications are displayed. They provide fonts, icons and widgets. When using a minimalistic window manager without an associated desktop environment the user may need to make adjustments for applications using different toolkits. This can be essential to functionality and not just style when using screen resolutions that are significantly smaller or greater than common standards.

====Settings & Configuration====
Perhaps the most important settings when dealing with GUI applications from different toolkits would be setting font size. Here are some tools that can be used for configuring font size along with other settings:

qtconfig - With this configuration tool you can set how any application using the Qt toolkit is displayed. Currently available with the qt3-qtconfig and qt4-qtconfig packages.

GTK+ 2.0 theme manager - Is available for setting GTK+ 2.X fonts and themes in the gtk-chtheme package.

Talk:Window Management

2010-10-27T16:58:34Z

Miasma:

If you have something to add, subtract or discuss and are not sure about posting it on the article page itself you can put it here.

=Considerations When Choosing a Window Manager=

The proper choice for a window manager depends on both the hardware, the task and the human. Older hardware can easily bog down to a crawl when attempting to use modern feature rich tools. The task one is attempting to perform also has a big influence and should always be considered. The personal style of the user also comes to bear in the selection process.

==Hardware==
It is fairly straight forward in picking a window manager for older hardware, with the speed of the processor, the amount of available RAM and the size and speed of persistent storage directly dictating requirements for the size and speed of the window manager. The slower the processor the slower the response of the window manager. With a relatively high horsepower CPU the delays caused by the window manager become less significant and more easily tolerated. The older the hardware the more weight is placed on selecting a lean and fast window manager with little room for advanced features.

==Software==
The types of tasks as well as the specific tasks required from a system also should be considered. Is the system to be used for graphically intensive tasks, or will the majority of work be done on text or numbers? Using graphically intensive applications like Gimp, Inkscape, Audacity, Firefox or Totem can have very different requirements from text based applications like Vim, Emacs, irssi, lynx or ffmpeg. While usually not as important as the hardware requirements the types of tasks expected from a system can also influence the choice of window manager or even if a window manager is required at all. Ideally this should be the first consideration for all our software and hardware requirements but unfortunately we are often tied down in not only the selection of the window manager but with many other choices by the cost of new hardware and software on which to do our required tasks. (Note: rewrite previous sentence and/or paragraph.)

==Human==
Another huge factor is the human factor. We often think of others in terms of ourselves forgetting that not everyone functions the same way that we do. If everyone was the same Baskin Robins would only have one flavor of ice cream, not thirty one flavors. We also tend to keep to the well worn ruts even if a better trail is discovered. Ultimately, the human factor may be both the least rational and the most heavily weighted consideration. Even in the face of obviously better ways of doing things if we just don't like doing it that way we are going to resist. A good example of the factor that human inertia plays in resisting change would be in how few people have actually switched from Qwerty to Dvorak keyboard layouts in the face of much better speed and efficiency.

=Specific Choices=

==Configurability & Familiar Defaults==

Most of what I'm about to write is based on personal experience and personal opinion. One thing I've learned in doing research on window managers and desktop environments is that everyone does things differently. A feature considered by some to be essential is considered to be unnecessary rubbish by others. Many developers feel that they have the perfect solution and that if people just put a little effort into learning their way of doing things all will become clear and they will see the light of pure reason and divine intent. The problem is that even if they have designed the perfect desktop environment for best accomplishing any and all tasks, if there is a steep learning curve or poor default settings people are going to shy away from it.

Like it or not most Linux newcomers are accustomed to the way the commercial proprietary operating system ways of doing things that they have originally learned. They want to be able to step right in and start doing things the way they expect them to work. For a long time I kept shying away from minimalistic window managers like Blackbox and its *box descendants.

While testing existing window managers for this project I decided that I'd give them all a more thorough try than I had done in the past. Since Blackbox is no longer under active development I decided to use Fluxbox since it still has and active community and it uses tabbed application windows in a manner similar to how Firefox manages tabbed browser windows. A more thorough examination gave me better insight on the benefits of human readable and editable configuration files and keybindings.

==Some Thoughts on Fluxbox==

If we decide we want to build on an existing window manager project Fluxbox may be a good choice. It is EWMH compliant, lightweight, fast, stable, extensive and easy customization, can use many features from other Blackbox derived window managers as well as Window Maker's dock applications, and it has a large and active community. While Fluxbox does not natively provide tiling, it can be accomplished with additional tools like [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Tile-windows Tile-Windows].

Talk:Window Management

2010-10-02T18:37:52Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-21T12:05:27Z

Miasma: /* Resources - Existing Window Managers and Desktop Environments:= */

Window Management

2010-09-21T12:04:50Z

Miasma: /* Resources Existing Window Managers and Desktop Environments:= */

== SFVLUG Window Management Project Introduction==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your level of experience.''

<disclaimer>
Be warned, I am not by any means an expert in window managers, programming or much of anything for that matter, I am merely a dabbler. I'm doing my best to put together a good resource page. For me it is a learn as I go kind of thing and I can't promise anything. While I seem to be doing most of the early work on this page it is, after all, a group project and hosted on a public site that anyone can edit. If you decide to start playing around with window managers on a system with data that is important to you, don't do it, and if you must make sure any data you ever hope to see again is safely backed up first. Many, if not most, of these window manager projects are to be considered experimental and could easily take your arm off at the elbow or worse. If you think about using any information you have found here, don't! Do your own research first.
</ disclaimer>

Even though I am doing most of the groundwork here in getting this started it is not '''my''' project, this is a SFVLUG project which means it can be your project too. You don't even need to be living in Southern California to participate, our membership consists of anyone interested in free open source software and wants to hang out with other like minded folks. You don't even need to write one single line of code to become involved, contributions can come in many other forms. If you do live in the Southern California area we hope to see you at one of our meetings. Check the [http://www.sfvlug.org SFVLUG] website for up to date announcements for time and venue. --[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 02:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.

==Resources - Existing Window Managers and Desktop Environments:===

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

*[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

*[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

*[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

*[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===Existing Window Managers===

====Wikipedia's List of Window Managers====
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Please fee free to jump in and help check, add to and otherwise cleanup the list and the links.

*2wm
*3dwm
*4Dwm
*5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
*9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html 9wm link] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
*aegis (window manager)
*aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/ aewm link]
*aewm++
*AfterStep
*ahwm
*alloywm
*alptwm
*amaterus
*amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html amiwm link] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
*anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
*antiwm
*asclassic
*awesome (window manager)|awesome
*awm
*badwm
*Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
*Blackbox (minimalist)
*bluetile
*blwm
*clfswm
*Compiz
*CTWM
*cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm cwm link]
*evilwm
*Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
*EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home EvilPoison link] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
*Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
*FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
*FVWM95
*hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html hackedbox link]
*HaZe
*IceWM
*Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
*JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
*Kahakai
*KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
*luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
*Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html LWM link]
*Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/ Matchbox link]
*Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
*GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
*MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
*olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/ olwm link] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
*Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
*Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki Orion link]
*Oroborus
*PekWM
*PLWM
*PWM (window manager)|PWM
*Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/ Qvwm link] (list of forks)
*Ratpoison
*Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
*Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
*SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
*Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
*swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
*Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject Toy'd link] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
*TrsWM
*twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
*UWM (computing)|uwm
*vtwm
*Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea Waimea link]
*WindowLab
*Window Maker
*wm2
*wmii
*wmx
*Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
*Xmonad
*XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
*xwm

====Debian/Ubuntu WM Package List====
This list was obtained by using apt-cache search and grep for window and manager. Some packages in this list are forks, variations or different versions of what are basically the same program. The comments are those returned from Apt. At some point we are probably going to want to combine the different lists into a spreadsheet and/or chart.

*9wm - emulation of the Plan 9 window manager 8-1/2
*aewm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*aewm++ - minimal window manager written in C++
*afterstep - window manager with the NEXTSTEP look and feel
*amiwm - The Amiga look alike window manager
*awesome - highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X
*blackbox - Window manager for X
*compiz - OpenGL window and compositing manager
*ctwm - Claude's Tab window manager
*dvtm - Tiling window management for the console
*dwm - dynamic window manager
*dwm-tools - dynamic window manager (tools)
*e16 - the Enlightenment Window Manager DR16
*evilwm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*fluxbox - Highly configurable and low resource X11 Window manager
*flwm - Fast Light Window Manager
*fvwm - F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*fvwm1 - Old version of the F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*i3 - metapackage (i3 window manager, screen locker, menu, statusbar)
*i3-wm - an improved dynamic tiling window manager
*icewm - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-experimental - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-lite - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*ion3 - tiling tabbed window manager designed for keyboard users
*jwm - Very small lightweight pure X11 window manager with tray and menus
*kwin - the KDE 4 window manager (KWin)
*larswm - Lars Window Manager with tiled windows
*lwm - Lightweight Window Manager
*matchbox-window-manager - window manager for resource-limited systems
*maximus - A window management tool
*metacity - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*miwm - minimalist window manager with virtual workspaces
*mutter - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*olvwm - OpenLook virtual window manager
*olwm - Open Look Window Manager
*openbox - standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager
*oroborus - A lightweight themeable windowmanager for X
*parti - Parti window manager
*pekwm - Fast & Light Window Manager
*python-plwm - Pointless Window Manager - Python libraries for creating Window Managers
*ratpoison - keyboard-only window manager
*sapphire - A minimal but configurable X11R6 window manager
*sawfish - a window manager for X11
*scrotwm - dynamic tiling window manager
*stumpwm - a Common Lisp window manager
*sugar-session-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*sugar-tools-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*tinywm - tiny window manager
*twm - Tab window manager
*uwm - The ultimate window manager for UDE
*vtwm - Virtual Tab Window Manager
*w9wm - enhanced window manager based on 9wm
*wdm - WINGs Display Manager - an xdm replacement with a WindowMaker look
*windowlab - small and simple Amiga-like window manager
*windows-el - window manager for GNU Emacs
*wm2 - small, unconfigurable window manager
*wmaker - NeXTSTEP-like window manager for X
*wmii - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 3
*wmii2 - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 2
*xfwm4 - window manager of the Xfce project
*xmonad - A lightweight X11 window manager

[[wmlists]] Place for compiling lists of window manager capabilities for comparison

==X and Other Resources==

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

*[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

*[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

*[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

*[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

*[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

*[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====ICCCM & EWMH====
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

=====ICCCM Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

=====EWMH Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===Python Stuff===

By some standards Python would not be the first language of choice for writing a window manager but there is a good chance that our project will either be done in Python or done in a combination of lower level language like C and Python. The main reason is that many of our members are already at least somewhat proficient in Python. With no desire to get into a religious debate over the relative merits and failings of anyone's personal bias Python makes more sense to us for a group project. This section includes some additional information on existing Python libraries and some projects in pure Python or wrapped in Python.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

*[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

*[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

*[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

Window Management

2010-09-21T00:28:05Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project Introduction==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your level of experience.''

<disclaimer>
Be warned, I am not by any means an expert in window managers, programming or much of anything for that matter, I am merely a dabbler. I'm doing my best to put together a good resource page. For me it is a learn as I go kind of thing and I can't promise anything. While I seem to be doing most of the early work on this page it is, after all, a group project and hosted on a public site that anyone can edit. If you decide to start playing around with window managers on a system with data that is important to you, don't do it, and if you must make sure any data you ever hope to see again is safely backed up first. Many, if not most, of these window manager projects are to be considered experimental and could easily take your arm off at the elbow or worse. If you think about using any information you have found here, don't! Do your own research first.
</ disclaimer>

Even though I am doing most of the groundwork here in getting this started it is not '''my''' project, this is a SFVLUG project which means it can be your project too. You don't even need to be living in Southern California to participate, our membership consists of anyone interested in free open source software and wants to hang out with other like minded folks. You don't even need to write one single line of code to become involved, contributions can come in many other forms. If you do live in the Southern California area we hope to see you at one of our meetings. Check the [http://www.sfvlug.org SFVLUG] website for up to date announcements for time and venue. --[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 02:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.

==Resources Existing Window Managers and Desktop Environments:===

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

*[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

*[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

*[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

*[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===Existing Window Managers===

====Wikipedia's List of Window Managers====
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Please fee free to jump in and help check, add to and otherwise cleanup the list and the links.

*2wm
*3dwm
*4Dwm
*5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
*9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html 9wm link] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
*aegis (window manager)
*aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/ aewm link]
*aewm++
*AfterStep
*ahwm
*alloywm
*alptwm
*amaterus
*amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html amiwm link] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
*anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
*antiwm
*asclassic
*awesome (window manager)|awesome
*awm
*badwm
*Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
*Blackbox (minimalist)
*bluetile
*blwm
*clfswm
*Compiz
*CTWM
*cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm cwm link]
*evilwm
*Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
*EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home EvilPoison link] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
*Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
*FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
*FVWM95
*hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html hackedbox link]
*HaZe
*IceWM
*Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
*JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
*Kahakai
*KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
*luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
*Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html LWM link]
*Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/ Matchbox link]
*Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
*GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
*MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
*olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/ olwm link] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
*Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
*Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki Orion link]
*Oroborus
*PekWM
*PLWM
*PWM (window manager)|PWM
*Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/ Qvwm link] (list of forks)
*Ratpoison
*Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
*Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
*SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
*Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
*swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
*Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject Toy'd link] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
*TrsWM
*twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
*UWM (computing)|uwm
*vtwm
*Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea Waimea link]
*WindowLab
*Window Maker
*wm2
*wmii
*wmx
*Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
*Xmonad
*XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
*xwm

====Debian/Ubuntu WM Package List====
This list was obtained by using apt-cache search and grep for window and manager. Some packages in this list are forks, variations or different versions of what are basically the same program. The comments are those returned from Apt. At some point we are probably going to want to combine the different lists into a spreadsheet and/or chart.

*9wm - emulation of the Plan 9 window manager 8-1/2
*aewm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*aewm++ - minimal window manager written in C++
*afterstep - window manager with the NEXTSTEP look and feel
*amiwm - The Amiga look alike window manager
*awesome - highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X
*blackbox - Window manager for X
*compiz - OpenGL window and compositing manager
*ctwm - Claude's Tab window manager
*dvtm - Tiling window management for the console
*dwm - dynamic window manager
*dwm-tools - dynamic window manager (tools)
*e16 - the Enlightenment Window Manager DR16
*evilwm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*fluxbox - Highly configurable and low resource X11 Window manager
*flwm - Fast Light Window Manager
*fvwm - F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*fvwm1 - Old version of the F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*i3 - metapackage (i3 window manager, screen locker, menu, statusbar)
*i3-wm - an improved dynamic tiling window manager
*icewm - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-experimental - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-lite - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*ion3 - tiling tabbed window manager designed for keyboard users
*jwm - Very small lightweight pure X11 window manager with tray and menus
*kwin - the KDE 4 window manager (KWin)
*larswm - Lars Window Manager with tiled windows
*lwm - Lightweight Window Manager
*matchbox-window-manager - window manager for resource-limited systems
*maximus - A window management tool
*metacity - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*miwm - minimalist window manager with virtual workspaces
*mutter - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*olvwm - OpenLook virtual window manager
*olwm - Open Look Window Manager
*openbox - standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager
*oroborus - A lightweight themeable windowmanager for X
*parti - Parti window manager
*pekwm - Fast & Light Window Manager
*python-plwm - Pointless Window Manager - Python libraries for creating Window Managers
*ratpoison - keyboard-only window manager
*sapphire - A minimal but configurable X11R6 window manager
*sawfish - a window manager for X11
*scrotwm - dynamic tiling window manager
*stumpwm - a Common Lisp window manager
*sugar-session-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*sugar-tools-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*tinywm - tiny window manager
*twm - Tab window manager
*uwm - The ultimate window manager for UDE
*vtwm - Virtual Tab Window Manager
*w9wm - enhanced window manager based on 9wm
*wdm - WINGs Display Manager - an xdm replacement with a WindowMaker look
*windowlab - small and simple Amiga-like window manager
*windows-el - window manager for GNU Emacs
*wm2 - small, unconfigurable window manager
*wmaker - NeXTSTEP-like window manager for X
*wmii - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 3
*wmii2 - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 2
*xfwm4 - window manager of the Xfce project
*xmonad - A lightweight X11 window manager

[[wmlists]] Place for compiling lists of window manager capabilities for comparison

==X and Other Resources==

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

*[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

*[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

*[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

*[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

*[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

*[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====ICCCM & EWMH====
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

=====ICCCM Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

=====EWMH Compliant Window Managers=====
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===Python Stuff===

By some standards Python would not be the first language of choice for writing a window manager but there is a good chance that our project will either be done in Python or done in a combination of lower level language like C and Python. The main reason is that many of our members are already at least somewhat proficient in Python. With no desire to get into a religious debate over the relative merits and failings of anyone's personal bias Python makes more sense to us for a group project. This section includes some additional information on existing Python libraries and some projects in pure Python or wrapped in Python.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

*[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

*[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

*[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

Window Management

2010-09-20T23:51:55Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-20T23:37:10Z

Miasma:

Wmlists

2010-09-17T18:01:10Z

Miasma: Created page with 'Just a scratch area for working on lists of window managers Currently this list is in lowercase even when the official name is supposed to be capitalized; it was a side effect o…'

Just a scratch area for working on lists of window managers

Currently this list is in lowercase even when the official name is supposed to be capitalized; it was a side effect of filtering the names. It is probably better to keep them this way. Any corrections in capitalization should take place outside of lists to make life easier when and if we need to manipulate these lists in the future.

Master set of all known window managers from various sources. If an addition is required please make it in lowercase.

*2wm
*3dwm
*4dwm
*5dwm
*9wm
*aegis
*aewm
*aewm++
*afterstep
*ahwm
*alloywm
*alptwm
*amaterus
*amiwm
*anarchy
*antiwm
*asclassic
*awesome
*awm
*badwm
*beryl
*blackbox
*bluetile
*blwm
*clfswm
*compiz
*ctwm
*cwm
*dvtm
*dwm
*dwm-tools
*e16
*edewm
*enlightenment
*evilpoison
*evilwm
*fluxbox
*flwm
*fvwm
*fvwm1
*fvwm95
*fwm
*gnome
*hackedbox
*haze
*i3
*i3-wm
*icewm
*icewm-experimental
*icewm-lite
*interfacewm
*ion
*ion3
*jwm
*kahakai
*kwin
*larswm
*lightweight
*luminocity
*lwm
*matchbox
*matchbox-window-manager
*maximus
*metacity
*miwm
*musca
*mutter
*mwm
*olvwm
*olwm
*openbox
*orion
*oroborus
*parti
*pekwm
*plwm
*pwm
*python-plwm
*qvwm
*ratpoison
*sapphire
*sawfish
*scrotwm
*scwm
*sithwm
*stumpwm
*sugar-session-0.88
*sugar-tools-0.88
*swm
*tinywm
*toy'd
*trswm
*twm
*uwm
*vtwm
*w9wm
*waimea
*wdm
*window
*windowlab
*windows-el
*wm2
*wmaker
*wmfs
*wmii
*wmii2
*wmx
*xfwm
*xfwm4
*xmonad
*xpde|xpwm
*xwm

Window Management

2010-09-17T17:22:01Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your level of experience.''

<disclaimer>
Be warned, I am not by any means an expert in window managers, programming or much of anything for that matter, I am merely a dabbler. I'm doing my best to put together a good resource page but for me it is a learn as I go kind of thing and I can't promise anything. If you decide to start playing around with window managers on a system with data that is important to you, don't do it, and if you must make sure any data you ever hope to see again is safely backed up first. Most of these window manager projects are to be considered experimental and could easily take your arm off at the elbow or worse if you even think of installing them based on any information you have found here.
</ disclaimer>

Even though I am doing most of the groundwork here in getting this started it is not '''my''' project, this is a SFVLUG project which means it can be your project too. You don't even need to be living in Southern California to participate, our membership consists of anyone interested in free open source software and wants to hang out with other like minded folks. You don't even need to write one single line of code to become involved, contributions can come in many other forms. If you do live in the Southern California area we hope to see you at one of our meetings. Check the [http://www.sfvlug.org SFVLUG] website for up to date announcements for time and venue. --[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 02:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

*[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

*[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

*[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

*[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

*[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

*[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

*[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

*[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

*[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

*[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

*[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

*[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

*[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===ICCCM & EWMH===
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===Wikipedia's List of Window Managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Please fee free to jump in and help check, add to and otherwise cleanup the list and the links.

*2wm
*3dwm
*4Dwm
*5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
*9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html 9wm link] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
*aegis (window manager)
*aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/ aewm link]
*aewm++
*AfterStep
*ahwm
*alloywm
*alptwm
*amaterus
*amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html amiwm link] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
*anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
*antiwm
*asclassic
*awesome (window manager)|awesome
*awm
*badwm
*Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
*Blackbox (minimalist)
*bluetile
*blwm
*clfswm
*Compiz
*CTWM
*cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm cwm link]
*evilwm
*Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
*EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home EvilPoison link] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
*Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
*FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
*FVWM95
*hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html hackedbox link]
*HaZe
*IceWM
*Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
*JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
*Kahakai
*KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
*luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
*Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html LWM link]
*Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/ Matchbox link]
*Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
*GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
*MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
*olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/ olwm link] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
*Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
*Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki Orion link]
*Oroborus
*PekWM
*PLWM
*PWM (window manager)|PWM
*Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/ Qvwm link] (list of forks)
*Ratpoison
*Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
*Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
*SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
*Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
*swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
*Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject Toy'd link] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
*TrsWM
*twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
*UWM (computing)|uwm
*vtwm
*Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea Waimea link]
*WindowLab
*Window Maker
*wm2
*wmii
*wmx
*Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
*Xmonad
*XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
*xwm

===Debian/Ubuntu WM Package List===
This list was obtained by using apt-cache search and grep for window and manager. Some packages in this list are forks, variations or different versions of what are basically the same program. The comments are those returned from Apt. At some point we are probably going to want to combine the different lists into a spreadsheet and/or chart.

*9wm - emulation of the Plan 9 window manager 8-1/2
*aewm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*aewm++ - minimal window manager written in C++
*afterstep - window manager with the NEXTSTEP look and feel
*amiwm - The Amiga look alike window manager
*awesome - highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X
*blackbox - Window manager for X
*compiz - OpenGL window and compositing manager
*ctwm - Claude's Tab window manager
*dvtm - Tiling window management for the console
*dwm - dynamic window manager
*dwm-tools - dynamic window manager (tools)
*e16 - the Enlightenment Window Manager DR16
*evilwm - a minimalist window manager for X11
*fluxbox - Highly configurable and low resource X11 Window manager
*flwm - Fast Light Window Manager
*fvwm - F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*fvwm1 - Old version of the F(?) Virtual Window Manager
*i3 - metapackage (i3 window manager, screen locker, menu, statusbar)
*i3-wm - an improved dynamic tiling window manager
*icewm - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-experimental - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*icewm-lite - wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
*ion3 - tiling tabbed window manager designed for keyboard users
*jwm - Very small lightweight pure X11 window manager with tray and menus
*kwin - the KDE 4 window manager (KWin)
*larswm - Lars Window Manager with tiled windows
*lwm - Lightweight Window Manager
*matchbox-window-manager - window manager for resource-limited systems
*maximus - A window management tool
*metacity - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*miwm - minimalist window manager with virtual workspaces
*mutter - lightweight GTK+ window manager
*olvwm - OpenLook virtual window manager
*olwm - Open Look Window Manager
*openbox - standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager
*oroborus - A lightweight themeable windowmanager for X
*parti - Parti window manager
*pekwm - Fast & Light Window Manager
*python-plwm - Pointless Window Manager - Python libraries for creating Window Managers
*ratpoison - keyboard-only window manager
*sapphire - A minimal but configurable X11R6 window manager
*sawfish - a window manager for X11
*scrotwm - dynamic tiling window manager
*stumpwm - a Common Lisp window manager
*sugar-session-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*sugar-tools-0.88 - Sugar graphical shell - window manager
*tinywm - tiny window manager
*twm - Tab window manager
*uwm - The ultimate window manager for UDE
*vtwm - Virtual Tab Window Manager
*w9wm - enhanced window manager based on 9wm
*wdm - WINGs Display Manager - an xdm replacement with a WindowMaker look
*windowlab - small and simple Amiga-like window manager
*windows-el - window manager for GNU Emacs
*wm2 - small, unconfigurable window manager
*wmaker - NeXTSTEP-like window manager for X
*wmii - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 3
*wmii2 - lightweight tabbed and tiled X11 window manager, version 2
*xfwm4 - window manager of the Xfce project
*xmonad - A lightweight X11 window manager

[[wmlists]]

Window Management

2010-09-17T04:05:33Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-17T03:22:26Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-17T03:08:06Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your level of experience.''

<disclaimer>
Be warned, I am not by any means an expert in window managers, programming or much of anything for that matter, I am merely a dabbler. I'm doing my best to put together a good resource page but for me it is a learn as I go kind of thing and I can't promise anything. If you decide to start playing around with window managers on a system with data that is important to you, don't do it, and if you must make sure any data you ever hope to see again is safely backed up first. Most of these window manager projects are to be considered experimental and could easily take your arm off at the elbow or worse if you even think of installing them based on any information you have found here.
</ disclaimer>

Even though I am doing most of the groundwork here in getting this started it is not '''my''' project, this is a SFVLUG project which means it can be your project too. You don't even need to be living in Southern California to participate, our membership consists of anyone interested in free open source software and wants to hang out with other like minded folks. You don't even need to write one single line of code to become involved, contributions can come in many other forms. If you do live in the Southern California area we hope to see you at one of our meetings. Check the [http://www.sfvlug.org SFVLUG] website for up to date announcements for time and venue. --[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 02:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

*[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

*[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

*[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

*[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

*[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

*[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

*[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

*[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

*[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

*[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

*[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

*[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

*[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===ICCCM & EWMH===
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.

----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Talk:Window Management

2010-09-17T02:58:38Z

Miasma: Created page with 'If you have something to add, subtract or discuss and are not sure about posting it on the article page itself you can put it here.'

If you have something to add, subtract or discuss and are not sure about posting it on the article page itself you can put it here.

Window Management

2010-09-17T02:53:23Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your level of experience.''

<disclaimer>
Be warned, I am not by any means an expert in window managers, programming or much of anything for that matter, I am merely a dabbler. I'm doing my best to put together a good resource page but for me it is a learn as I go kind of thing and I can't promise anything. If you decide to start playing around with window managers on a system with data that is important to you, don't do it, and if you must make sure any data you ever hope to see again is safely backed up first. Most of these window manager projects are to be considered experimental and could easily take your arm off at the elbow or worse if you even think of installing them based on any information you have found here.
</ disclaimer>

Even though I am doing most of the groundwork here in getting this started it is not '''my''' project, this is a SFVLUG project which means it can be your project too. You don't even need to be living in Southern California to participate, our membership consists of anyone interested in free open source software and wants to hang out with other like minded folks. You don't even need to write one single line of code to become involved, contributions can come in many other forms. If you do live in the Southern California area we hope to see you at one of our meetings. Check the [http://www.sfvlug.org SFVLUG] website for up to date announcements for time and venue. --[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 02:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===ICCCM & EWMH===
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.

----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Window Management

2010-09-17T02:19:40Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience level.''

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Caution:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing it up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===ICCCM & EWMH===
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 23:54, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Window Management

2010-09-16T22:40:05Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience level.''

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Handy hint:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the
man page or other documentation before firing on up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus and may
use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you
can afford to have out of commission for a while. It helps to have a print out of the instructions when
faced with a blank screen and nothing to click on and no command line is sight.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===ICCCM & EWMH===
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 23:54, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Window Management

2010-09-16T22:35:17Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience level.''

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Handy hint:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read
the man page or other documentation before firing on up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus
and may use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine
that you can afford to have out of commission for a while.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===ICCCM & EWMH===
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 23:54, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Window Management

2010-09-16T22:34:42Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience level.''

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Handy hint:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read
the man page or other documentation before firing on up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus
and may use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine
that you can afford to have out of commission for a while.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===ICCCM & EWMH===
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 23:54, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Window Management

2010-09-16T22:33:05Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience level.''

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

'''Handy hint:''' If you are going to try out some of the minimalist window managers be sure to read the man page or other documentation before firing on up. Many of them don't include toolbars or menus an may use unfamiliar key and/or mouse bindings. You may even want to try them out on a spare machine that you can afford to have out of commission for a while.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===ICCCM & EWMH===
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 23:54, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Window Management

2010-09-16T20:15:12Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience level.''

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===ICCCM & EWMH===
The X server itself only specifies the mechanism for drawing windows and is not involved with implementation policy. To help create standards for implementation the ICCCM was created. The first version came out in 1989 and the second in 1994. It is considered to be very difficult to understand when it came out and as time went on some parts are no longer relevant. The EWMH was created in an attempt to clear up the difficulties with the ICCCM. If a window manager is compliant with EWMH it should also be compliant with the ICCCM. Both the ICCCM and EWMH operate on the level of widget toolkits and desktop environments are most application developers just assume that the widget toolkit will take care of those details for them.

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 23:54, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Window Management

2010-09-16T19:52:36Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience level.''

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm
*awesome
*Blackbox
*edewm
*Enlightenment e16
*fwm (via a plugin)
*fvwm (via a plugin)
*interfacewm
*kwin
*matchbox
*metacity
*openbox
*Sawfish (not completely)
*wmii
*xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

*aewm - basic implementation
*alloywm - partial compliance
*awesome
*blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
*dwm - can be configured for compliance
*enlightenment (window manager)
*evilwm - partial compliance
*fvwm
*icewm
*kwin
*metacity
*musca
*mutter
*openbox
*wmfs
*xfwm
*xmonad

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 23:54, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Window Management

2010-09-16T19:44:38Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience level.''

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===EWMH Compliant Window Managers===
This list is from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints Extended Window Manager Hints] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

aewm
awesome
Blackbox
edewm
Enlightenment e16
fwm (via a plugin)
fvwm (via a plugin)
interfacewm
kwin
matchbox
metacity
openbox
Sawfish (not completely)
wmii
xmonad (needs to be turned on in the config)

===ICCCM Compliant Window Managers===
This list is also from Wikipedia on their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Client_Communication_Conventions_Manual Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual] article and may not be up to date or completely accurate.

aewm - basic implementation
alloywm - partial compliance
awesome
blackbox - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
dwm - can be configured for compliance
enlightenment (window manager)
evilwm - partial compliance
fvwm
icewm
kwin
metacity
musca
mutter
openbox
wmfs
xfwm
xmonad

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 23:54, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Window Management

2010-09-15T23:54:01Z

Miasma:

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience level.''

'''Q:''' Why a project on window managers, aren't there already a whole lot of window managers already available?

'''A:''' While there are already many window managers already available we have found all of them lacking in one way or another. Finding the right window manager for your needs is a little like the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some are too big and some are too small. This project is an attempt to find the right balance between the two. The opening between the two extremes provides an opportunity for exploration in an interesting area where the ways that people do things meets the capabilities and limitations of the machine.

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.
===Here are some resources with information on existing window managers and desktop environments:===

Right now these resources are in no particular order, but until I get around to categorizing them and putting them in a better order myself please feel free to do so yourself.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Comparison of X Window System desktop environments] a Wikipedia article

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_window_managers Comparison of X window managers] a chart comparing features

[http://xwinman.org/ Window Managers for X] an independent guide by Matt Chapman with help from the community

[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=126618 Ubuntu Forum] a 4 year old Ubuntu forum thread with community discussion

[http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Comparison_of_Tiling_Window_Managers Arch Linux wiki article] chart and text comparing just the tiling window managers

[http://linuxgazette.net/100/adam.html Fvwm and Session Management] a Linuxgazette article circa 2004 about session management in general and Fvwm specifically

====Desktop Environments====
More than just window managers these systems also provide tools and applications in a unified environment.

[http://www.kde.org/ KDE 4.x Desktop Environment] Currently both the most advanced and the most broken. A good experience with KDE 4 requires capable hardware to run on.

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome 2.x Desktop Environment] Currently more stable but less features than KDE 4 but still demands a fair amount of horsepower for decent performance.

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE 4.x Desktop Environment] The lightweight member of the big 3 desktop environments strives to provide compatibility to Gnome and KDE while sticking closely to the Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability. A better choice for older and less capable hardware but still requires more power than light weight window managers.

[http://www.lxde.org/ LXDE] a newcomer to desktop environments is lightweight and fast but is less mature and may not perform well on systems that have requirements outside the main stream, but this should improve with maturity. For old hardware this is probably worth a try before deciding on a feather weight window manager.

===X Window System===
The layer close to the metal upon which most window management is built.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System X Window System Wikipedia Article] Includes technical and political history. You might want to read this before heading to the XFree86 or X.org sites.

[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Project] Established in 1992 to provide UNIX windowing for Intel X86 architecture, replaced for most distributions a few years back in favor of X.org but still available.

[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org Foundation] Relatively inactive fork of XFree86 until split in XFree86 brought it new life. Currently used by most current GNU/Linux distributions.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Home freedesktop.org] In their own words, "freedesktop.org is open source / open discussion software projects working on interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops."
They make particular note that these are specifications and *not* standards. A good place to go for info on EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints) and ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects. [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications Specifications page at freedesktop], it is the place to go to find info on [http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html EWMH] (Extended Window Manager Hints) and [http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ ICCCM] (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software Software hosted on or related to freedesktop.org] Open to any on topic projects.

===Python Stuff===

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLWM PLWM] is the Pointless Window Manager as well as a Python package containing classes capable of use in rolling your own Pythonic window manager. Absolutely worth a look. It is currently still available as a Debian package. The [http://plwm.sourceforge.net/ PLWM] homepage at Sourceforge, has nothing much to see but there is a download for the source code and some long in the tooth documentation.

[http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] is another Python based window manager, also getting long in the tooth but still alive. It is based on [http://flwm.sourceforge.net/ FLWM] which was in turn based on [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] which were extremely light weight window managers written in C++ with an aversion to customization.

[http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/ Parti] is a tabbing, tiling window manager written in Python using GTK+. You should be careful if searching for it that Google doesn't change it to "party" so it helps to enclose it in quotes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra Xpra] written in Python allows for viewing remote X applications on their local machine, unlike VNC the applications are "rootless" and appear as individual windows inside your window manager and not contained in a single window. The project is hosted at [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xpra freshmeat.net].

[http://openpeta.com/index.php/2010/08/an-awesome-alternate-python-docky-to-awn/ python-docky] is an enhanced application launcher, manager and dock for the Gnome desktop.

===arbitrary list of window managers===
This is just a list of known window managers that may or may not be currently available. At some point soon I'd like for us to start sorting them into piles of those worth a look and those that aren't. Since this can be very subjective I don't want to include or exclude any of these based just on my impression. There are so many of them that it would be very difficult to make a thorough and fair evaluation of all of them, but this is not intended to be a review of window managers, it is to give us an indication of what features to incorporate into our own project.

Currently this list is displayed with no delimiter other than whitespace but in the Wikimedia source code each wm is displayed as a new line delimited list. I started this list with those wms at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager Wikipedia]'x X Window Manager article. I/we can add to, organize and arrange this list as we go.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 23:54, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
----

2wm
3dwm
4Dwm
5Dwm (derived from mwm, true SGI look and feel)
9wm [http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm.html] (clone of the original windowing system of Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9)
aegis (window manager)
aewm [http://www.red-bean.com/~decklin/software/aewm/]
aewm++
AfterStep
ahwm
alloywm
alptwm
amaterus
amiwm [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~marcus/amiwm.html] Amiga Workbench (AmigaOS)|workbench unix clone.
anarchy (window manager)|anarchy
antiwm
asclassic
awesome (window manager)|awesome
awm
badwm
Beryl (window manager)|Beryl
Blackbox (minimalist)
bluetile
blwm
clfswm
Compiz
CTWM
cwm [http://monkey.org/~marius/pages/?page=cwm]
evilwm
Enlightenment (window manager)|Enlightenment
EvilPoison [http://clivecrous.lighthouseapp.com/projects/11269/home] (a fork of evilwm with Ratpoison-like keybindings)
Fluxbox (lightweight, based on Blackbox)
FVWM (a virtual window manager, derived from twm)
FVWM95
hackedbox [http://www.scrudgeware.org/projects/Hackedbox/index.html]
HaZe
IceWM
Ion (window manager)|Ion (a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind)
JWM (Joe's Window Manager)
Kahakai
KWin (originally called KWM, default for KDE)
luminocity (window manager) (experimentation in compositing)
Lightweight window manager|LWM [http://www.jfc.org.uk/software/lwm.html]
Matchbox (window manager)|Matchbox [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/]
Metacity (the current default for the GNOME desktop environment)
GNOME Shell|Mutter (GNOME Shell)
MWM (Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif Window Manager), Motif Window Manager
olwm (and olvwm [http://home.nyc.rr.com/twopks/olvwm/] with virtual desktops, OPEN LOOK window managers)
Openbox (based on Blackbox, default for the LXDE desktop environment)
Orion A nested (tiled or floating) window manager written in Scheme and scsh [http://orion.antidesktop.net/cgi-bin/wiki]
Oroborus
PekWM
PLWM
PWM (window manager)|PWM
Qvwm (Windows 95/98 look-alike) [http://freshmeat.net/projects/qvwm/] (list of forks)
Ratpoison
Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish (a past default for GNOME, originally called Sawmill)
Scwm (the Scheme constraints window manager)
SithWM evilwm-based, virtual window manager:de:SithWM|(german page)
Stumpwm A tiling window manager written in Lisp
swm (the original virtual desktop implementation)
Toy'd ([http://www.toyd.org/ HomePage] [http://code.google.com/p/toyd GoogleProject] a portable window manager for MS-Windows & UNIX / Linux platforms)
TrsWM
twm (default for the X Window System since version X11R4)
UWM (computing)|uwm
vtwm
Waimea [http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/waimea]
WindowLab
Window Maker
wm2
wmii
wmx
Xfwm4 (a window manager for the Xfce desktop environment)
Xmonad
XPde|XPwm (for XPde, Windows XP Look alike) - now defunct
xwm

Window Management

2010-09-15T03:17:45Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-15T02:48:02Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-15T02:08:54Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-14T22:07:21Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-14T22:06:07Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-14T22:04:26Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-14T22:01:17Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-14T21:55:24Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-14T19:03:40Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-14T18:45:24Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-14T18:44:44Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-14T16:14:53Z

Miasma:

Window Management

2010-09-13T17:59:15Z

Miasma: Created page with '== SFVLUG Window Management Project == ''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience …'

== SFVLUG Window Management Project ==

''This project is still at a very early stage so nothing is yet written in stone and your input is welcome no matter what your experience level.''

===Here are some initial guidelines currently under consideration:===
The project is to be primarily written in Python 2.x but with future use of Python 3.x to be used in the future.

It is currently proposed to be based initially on the [http://pywm.sourceforge.net/ PyWM] window manager.

It is to be positioned somewhere between the huge KDE and Gnome desktop environments and the extremely light weight window managers like [http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2] or [http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/ ratpoison].

It should be easy to use with input from both a keyboard and/or a mouse.

It should have easy and intuitive defaults that can be customized by the user without the need to reprogram any source code.

Project Page

2010-09-13T17:27:47Z

Miasma:

=Welcome to the SFVLUG project page.=

=Projects=

== Existing ==

===[[user:dualdflipflop|DualDFlipFlop's]] [[Hardware Hacking]] Page===
Projects I've worked on, some of you helped. Feel free to add.

===[[user:dualdflipflop|DualDFlipFlop's]] [[Urban Exploration]] Page===
Some places we've been, feel free to add.

==[[Psyche Project]]== - go there right away for info on our golden oldie hit at previous SCALE events. Currently there are several projects and proposed projects. All recent efforts involve either Asterisk, the open source telephony solution or our [[Psyche Project]] for SCALE.

== Current ==

== Proposed ==
=== [[Window Management]] ===
Many of us find the existing window and desktop management systems lacking in some way. Some are very heavy and bloated and some are very minimalistic and too lean. The goal is to find a good middle ground with some good basic defaults but with customization and extensibility built into the basic design. This project is still at a very early stage, so if you would like to get involved and have a say in this project from the very start, click on the link, roll up your sleeves and have a go at it. Users and developers of all skill levels are welcome.
=== [[Meta Programming]] ===
Basically just code reuse. You are already meta programming on a low level if you use more than one tool for a given task. It is the kind of problem that is best done by a community with no profit motives. Not to say that some of the parts couldn't provide a revenue stream, but it requires bringing many different preexisting tools, utilities, suites and other components together in a manner that can only be done in an open environment without the licensing issues of a corporate project of similar scope. Got your attention? Check it out, not as daunting a task as it might seem, let's be a part of open source history!

Newbie Command Line Essentials

2010-09-03T19:12:37Z

Miasma:

If you don't know your commandline very well you should, at the least, know enough about some basic tools that you have at your disposal to do some basic tasks and find the necessary additional information you may need. This section will contain only the basics to enable you to get done what you need to do at the command line.

Search and documentation tools are some of the most important tools you can learn. They can help you get past some hurdles you may encounter. Here is a brief list of a few of the most popular, all of which can be accessed through your command line terminal (xterm, rxvt, etc...) or console. You can access a terminal from your desktop menu where specific instructions vary with different desktop environments such as Gnome, KDE, Xfce or any number of those less known. You can access a console by entering (<ctrl><alt>Fn) Where 'Fn' is a function key from F1 through F6. Note: These commands are in no particular order and some examples may not be applicable in all distributions or setups.

The king of all the command line commands is 'man' because with it you can access information on just about all standard commands as well as many configuration files and other miscellany. It provides you with the manual often referred to in 'RTFM' and should be the first place to look for answers. You may not find the all the information you need in a feature's man page, but if it is there and you have gone straight to a knowledgeable human instead, you may not get the pleasant and informative response you would like. The standard procedure for finding needed information should be to first check local documentation already on your computer or if you have one in a reference book or manual made from dead trees. Failing to find local information, the next step is to do a search on the Internet using Google or your own favorite search engine. If you still don't have an answer go and read [http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric Raymond] before asking a stranger. Not every answer can be found by "RTFM" but when someone responds "RTFM" you can answer that you already have along with the reason why you were unable to find what you needed.

'''Info'''

man - an interface to the on-line reference manuals (ex: man hier)
find - search the manual page names and descriptions (ex: find ~ -name '*.mp3')
locate - security Enhanced version of the GNU Locate (ex: locate hosts)
updatedb - update the slocate database (ex: updatedb&)
which - locate a command (ex: which ifconfig)
whereis - locate the binary, source, and manual page files for a command (ex. whereis ifconfig)
hier - description of the file system hierarchy (ex. man hier)
apropos - search the manual page names and descriptions (ex. apropos <keyword>)
less - page through text one screenful at a time allowing for forward and backward movement in the file (ex. less
/usr/share/doc/debian/debian-manifesto)
su - change user ID or become super-user (ex. su - <passwd>)
sudo - execute a command as another user (ex. sudo /etc/init.d/networking)
history - display the list of commands previously typed (ex. history)

'''Keystrokes'''

<ctrl>r - reverse keyword search of the command history (ex. <ctrl>r<keyword>
/ - search forward for occurance of keyword in a manpage, many editors and pagers (ex. /<keyword>)
? - search backward for occurance of keyword in a manpage, many editors and pagers (ex. ?<keyword>)
n - continue to the next occurance of the keyword searches listed above (ex. n)

'''Network'''
ifconfig - configure a network interface (ex. ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2)
route - show / manipulate the IP routing table (ex. route add -net default gw 192.168.0.1)
iwconfig - configure a wireless network interface (ex. iwconfig eth2 essid GaylesPerk channel 11 mode auto)
iwlist - get more detailed wireless information from a wireless interface (ex. iwlist eth2 scan)
ifup - bring a network interface up (ex. ifup eth0)
ifdown - take a network interface down (ex. ifdown eth0)

'''Paths'''

/usr/share/doc, /usr/local/doc - documentation paths
/var/log - path of all your log files
/etc - most of your config files
/etc/init.d - system service control scripts
~ - an abbreviation of your home directory (long form: /home/user)
/ - root path, the base/parent path of all paths
. - current working directory
./ - path based off of the current working directory
../ - parent path

'''Special Characters'''

Note: not all essential but all worth learning early
| - pipeline command, the standard output of one command is connected to the standard input of another command
(ie take the output of one command and send it to another)
\\ - preserves the literal value of the command that follows, except newline
(takes any special characters and turns them into something akin to text characters)
& - if a command is terminated by the control operator &, the shell executes the command in the background in a subshell
&& and || - the control operators && and ││ denote AND lists and OR lists, respectively. An AND list has the form:
command1 && command2 (Note: command2 is executed if, and only if, command1 returns an exit status of zero)
; - commands separated by a ; are executed sequentially

==Useful Info (Optional but worth learning as you go!)==

Note: These your should pursue in your own time using the commands listed above for additional information!

General: alias, free, jobs, fg, dmesg, uname, xargs
Pattern Matching: grep, rgrep, egrep, fgrep
Process: top, ps, pgrep, nice, renice, kill, pkill, killall
Network: route, traceroute, arp, netstat, ping
File and Filesystem: cp, mv, rm, ls, cd, chmod, chown, cat, du, df, lsof, touch
Conveniences: ssh-agent, keychains, screen
Debian Package Manager: apt-get, dpkg, apt-cache, apt-file (Note: Debian based distribution specific)
Files and File Locations: /etc/passwd, /etc/hosts, /etc/hosts.allow, /etc/hosts.deny, /etc/hostname, /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/groups,
/etc/fstab, /etc/modules, ~/.bashrc, ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_aliases

Newbie Command Line Essentials

2010-09-03T18:19:42Z

Miasma:

If you don't know your commandline very well you should, at the least, know enough about some basic tools that you have at your disposal to do some basic tasks and find the necessary additional information you may need. This section will contain only the basics to enable you to get done what you need to do at the command line.

Search and documentation tools are some of the most important tools you can learn. They can help you get past some hurdles you may encounter. Here is a brief list of a few of the most popular, all of which can be accessed through your command line terminal (xterm, rxvt, etc...) or console. You can access a terminal from your desktop menu where specific instructions vary with different desktop environments such as Gnome, KDE, Xfce or any number of those less known. You can access a console by entering (<ctrl><alt>Fn) Where 'Fn' is a function key from F1 through F6. Note: These commands are in no particular order and some examples may not be applicable in all distributions or setups.

'''Info'''

man - an interface to the on-line reference manuals (ex: man hier)
find - search the manual page names and descriptions (ex: find ~ -name '*.mp3')
locate - security Enhanced version of the GNU Locate (ex: locate hosts)
updatedb - update the slocate database (ex: updatedb&)
which - locate a command (ex: which ifconfig)
whereis - locate the binary, source, and manual page files for a command (ex. whereis ifconfig)
hier - description of the file system hierarchy (ex. man hier)
apropos - search the manual page names and descriptions (ex. apropos <keyword>)
less - page through text one screenful at a time allowing for forward and backward movement in the file (ex. less
/usr/share/doc/debian/debian-manifesto)
su - change user ID or become super-user (ex. su - <passwd>)
sudo - execute a command as another user (ex. sudo /etc/init.d/networking)
history - display the list of commands previously typed (ex. history)

'''Keystrokes'''

<ctrl>r - reverse keyword search of the command history (ex. <ctrl>r<keyword>
/ - search forward for occurance of keyword in a manpage, many editors and pagers (ex. /<keyword>)
? - search backward for occurance of keyword in a manpage, many editors and pagers (ex. ?<keyword>)
n - continue to the next occurance of the keyword searches listed above (ex. n)

'''Network'''
ifconfig - configure a network interface (ex. ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2)
route - show / manipulate the IP routing table (ex. route add -net default gw 192.168.0.1)
iwconfig - configure a wireless network interface (ex. iwconfig eth2 essid GaylesPerk channel 11 mode auto)
iwlist - get more detailed wireless information from a wireless interface (ex. iwlist eth2 scan)
ifup - bring a network interface up (ex. ifup eth0)
ifdown - take a network interface down (ex. ifdown eth0)

'''Paths'''

/usr/share/doc, /usr/local/doc - documentation paths
/var/log - path of all your log files
/etc - most of your config files
/etc/init.d - system service control scripts
~ - an abbreviation of your home directory (long form: /home/user)
/ - root path, the base/parent path of all paths
. - current working directory
./ - path based off of the current working directory
../ - parent path

'''Special Characters'''

Note: not all essential but all worth learning early
| - pipeline command, the standard output of one command is connected to the standard input of another command
(ie take the output of one command and send it to another)
\\ - preserves the literal value of the command that follows, except newline
(takes any special characters and turns them into something akin to text characters)
& - if a command is terminated by the control operator &, the shell executes the command in the background in a subshell
&& and || - the control operators && and ││ denote AND lists and OR lists, respectively. An AND list has the form:
command1 && command2 (Note: command2 is executed if, and only if, command1 returns an exit status of zero)
; - commands separated by a ; are executed sequentially

==Useful Info (Optional but worth learning as you go!)==

Note: These your should pursue in your own time using the commands listed above for additional information!

General: alias, free, jobs, fg, dmesg, uname, xargs
Pattern Matching: grep, rgrep, egrep, fgrep
Process: top, ps, pgrep, nice, renice, kill, pkill, killall
Network: route, traceroute, arp, netstat, ping
File and Filesystem: cp, mv, rm, ls, cd, chmod, chown, cat, du, df, lsof, touch
Conveniences: ssh-agent, keychains, screen
Debian Package Manager: apt-get, dpkg, apt-cache, apt-file (Note: Debian based distribution specific)
Files and File Locations: /etc/passwd, /etc/hosts, /etc/hosts.allow, /etc/hosts.deny, /etc/hostname, /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/groups,
/etc/fstab, /etc/modules, ~/.bashrc, ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_aliases

Newbie Command Line Essentials

2010-09-03T18:06:11Z

Miasma:

If you don't know your commandline very well you should, at the least, know enough about some basic tools that you have at your disposal to do some basic tasks and find the necessary additional information you may need. This section will contain only the basics to enable you to get done what you need to do at the command line.

Search and documentation tools are some of the most important tools you can learn on your box heres a brief list of a few of the most popular, all of which can be accessed through your terminal (xterm, rxvt, etc...) or console (<ctrl><alt>F1...F6). Note: Commands in no particular order examples not applicable in all distributions or setups.

'''Info'''

man - an interface to the on-line reference manuals (ex: man hier)
find - search the manual page names and descriptions (ex: find ~ -name '*.mp3')
locate - security Enhanced version of the GNU Locate (ex: locate hosts)
updatedb - update the slocate database (ex: updatedb&)
which - locate a command (ex: which ifconfig)
whereis - locate the binary, source, and manual page files for a command (ex. whereis ifconfig)
hier - description of the file system hierarchy (ex. man hier)
apropos - search the manual page names and descriptions (ex. apropos <keyword>)
less - page through text one screenful at a time allowing for forward and backward movement in the file (ex. less
/usr/share/doc/debian/debian-manifesto)
su - change user ID or become super-user (ex. su - <passwd>)
sudo - execute a command as another user (ex. sudo /etc/init.d/networking)
history - display the list of commands previously typed (ex. history)

'''Keystrokes'''

<ctrl>r - reverse keyword search of the command history (ex. <ctrl>r<keyword>
/ - search forward for occurance of keyword in a manpage, many editors and pagers (ex. /<keyword>)
? - search backward for occurance of keyword in a manpage, many editors and pagers (ex. ?<keyword>)
n - continue to the next occurance of the keyword searches listed above (ex. n)

'''Network'''
ifconfig - configure a network interface (ex. ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2)
route - show / manipulate the IP routing table (ex. route add -net default gw 192.168.0.1)
iwconfig - configure a wireless network interface (ex. iwconfig eth2 essid GaylesPerk channel 11 mode auto)
iwlist - get more detailed wireless information from a wireless interface (ex. iwlist eth2 scan)
ifup - bring a network interface up (ex. ifup eth0)
ifdown - take a network interface down (ex. ifdown eth0)

'''Paths'''

/usr/share/doc, /usr/local/doc - documentation paths
/var/log - path of all your log files
/etc - most of your config files
/etc/init.d - system service control scripts
~ - an abbreviation of your home directory (long form: /home/user)
/ - root path, the base/parent path of all paths
. - current working directory
./ - path based off of the current working directory
../ - parent path

'''Special Characters'''

Note: not all essential but all worth learning early
| - pipeline command, the standard output of one command is connected to the standard input of another command
(ie take the output of one command and send it to another)
\\ - preserves the literal value of the command that follows, except newline
(takes any special characters and turns them into something akin to text characters)
& - if a command is terminated by the control operator &, the shell executes the command in the background in a subshell
&& and || - the control operators && and ││ denote AND lists and OR lists, respectively. An AND list has the form:
command1 && command2 (Note: command2 is executed if, and only if, command1 returns an exit status of zero)
; - commands separated by a ; are executed sequentially

==Useful Info (Optional but worth learning as you go!)==

Note: These your should pursue in your own time using the commands listed above for additional information!

General: alias, free, jobs, fg, dmesg, uname, xargs
Pattern Matching: grep, rgrep, egrep, fgrep
Process: top, ps, pgrep, nice, renice, kill, pkill, killall
Network: route, traceroute, arp, netstat, ping
File and Filesystem: cp, mv, rm, ls, cd, chmod, chown, cat, du, df, lsof, touch
Conveniences: ssh-agent, keychains, screen
Debian Package Manager: apt-get, dpkg, apt-cache, apt-file (Note: Debian based distribution specific)
Files and File Locations: /etc/passwd, /etc/hosts, /etc/hosts.allow, /etc/hosts.deny, /etc/hostname, /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/groups,
/etc/fstab, /etc/modules, ~/.bashrc, ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_aliases

Linux 101

2009-03-05T03:06:14Z

Miasma: /* Brief History of GNU/Linux */

'''Welcome To GNU/Linux 101 - An Introduction'''

=Up Front=

This is a work in progress, an attempt to make amends for a bad presentation. I've
started with the original outline for my presentation but after getting a better idea
of the types of solutions people new to Linux are looking for I'm in the process of
revision and improvement. I will also add links to help make it a better resource.
Many of the links point to Wikipedia articles that use the same Mediawiki software
that is used for this wiki. The links are '''not''' designed to open in a new browser
window so be sure to bookmark this site to make sure you can easily get back if you
get lost surfing.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 20:23, 23 February 2009 (PST)

This document is designed to help Linux newbies that are new to Linux but may not
otherwise be computer wizards. An attempt has been made to avoid using technical
terms without a proper explanation. Many terms such as '''''keyboard''''' and '''''mouse''''' were
once considered technical jargon but have now been accepted as terms understandable
by almost everyone. Today almost everyone that has been using a computer is also
somewhat familiar with even more technical terms like '''''RAM''''', '''''CPU''''' or '''''software'''''.
For terms that require more of an explanation there will be a link to a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia]
article or other resource with further explanation. If you find a technical term
that is not properly explained, doesn't have a link to an explanation or is
otherwise difficult to understand please let us know.

=What Is GNU/Linux?=

What has become known to most people as "Linux" is actually made up of many component
parts created by many different people for many different reasons. On this wiki you
may see the terms "Linux" and "GNU/Linux" used interchangeably to reference the entire
system. The term "GNU/Linux" is more correct when speaking of the entire system both
in technical and political terms. The term "Linux" was created to make a nod to both
Linus Torvalds, the original developer and to UNIX the operating system that served
as a major inspiration and model for Linux. The term "GNU" is an acronym of
"'''G'''NU is '''N'''ot '''U'''nix" where the '''G''' in GNU makes a reference to itself,
which is a common bit of developer humor based on the programming technique of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion_(computer_science) recursion].

Both
[http://www.gnu.org/ GNU], and
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux Linux]
are made up of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLOSS FLOSS]
also known as F/OSS or FOSS which is an acronym for
'''F'''ree '''L'''ibre '''O'''pen '''S'''ource '''S'''oftware.
Using the term "FLOSS" intended to demonstrate that it is not just free as in free
beer but also free as in freedom. While everyone can easily understand why free
as in free beer is desirable the understanding of why free as in freedom is even
more important is more difficult. To understand why freedom to inspect a program's
source code is important you really need to have a decent understanding of just what
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code source code] is, and the understanding
should go deeper than reading the article in the previous link.

==Brief History of Computing==

The following history is not comprehensive and is included to give some background
for understanding why open source software is important even to people that have no
intention of learning how to program. If you already have a good understanding of
computer history and are anxious to get going you can skip the history sections.

=== manual & mechanical calculating devices ===

The earliest computational devices were our own fingers, it is not a coincidence that
word digit is used to describe both the appendages at the end of our limbs and the basic unit
for numbers. Our fingers were supplemented early on by notches made in a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_stick stick]
or other handy object, most likely to record the passage of the seasons to help know when animals
would migrate or when berries would be ripe. With the invention of agriculture our need to
mark the passage of time became even more crucial. We needed to know when to plant seeds and
when to harvest. Fingers and other counting schemes were supplemented with other devices and
methods which used principles similar to an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus abacus],
which is still in use today. These systems often involve some sort of grid where objects were
manipulated according to a set of rules. Today's computers operate in a similar manner though
much more sophisticated where the grid and pebbles have been replaced by banks of electronic
switches and the rules for manipulating the objects have been replaced by computer programs
stored in electronic and electro mechanical devices.

===WWII code breaking machines, Alan Turing===

Most of the mathematical counting and calculating systems reached a level where we could accurately
predict all sorts of phenomena relating to the passage of time and the ebb and flow of natural
processes. There were many advancements in mechanics and electronics in the last century. The
second world war provided several important problems requiring fast and accurate calculations, but
the problem that contributed most to help fuel the development of modern computers was the system
of ciphers used by the Germans based on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine Enigma] the
electro mechanical device used to encode and decode highly sensitive communications. The British
mathematician [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing] who is considered by many to
be the father of modern computer science, was set to work to crack the German code.

===analog vs digital===

Early modern computers were designed based on either
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_circuits analog]
or
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital digital]
circuits. Early on the analog devices had a big
advantage in that complex problems could be modeled more easily and accurately than with digital
devices. The biggest problems with
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer analog computers]
involve difficulties in modeling problems that vary over a wide range and with inaccuracies caused
by noise and other factors. Early
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_computer digital computers]
used circuits that were either on or off eliminating many of the problems of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer analog computers]
but introducing problems of their own. Early digital computers used
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tube vacuum tubes]
that in turn used a whole lot of electricity and had a high failure rate. Improvements in design
and the later invention of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor transistors]
overcame their limitations.

===development of software===

Early computers and computational devices had their functionality built into the design of the
device itself and were often difficult to adapt to solving new problems. The goal was to develop
devices that could easily be changed to solve new and different problems and not just the ones they were originally designed to solve. Clouded in secrecy well into the 1970's the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer Colossus] computers designed and used by the British to crack the German
ciphers was the first electronic digital machine with programmability which was achieved through
the use of holes punched in paper tape. The tape represented
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_code_(computing) binary]
machine instructions through on/off switches representing ones and zeros. Those ones and zeros
were used to represent not just the data that was being processed but also the instructions on
what to do with the data. 

===development of programming languages===

While effective in instructing the machine to do particular tasks those instructions were difficult for humans to read and understand. The early programming instructions were those binary
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_language machine level instructions]
mentioned above. It is
difficult for humans to deal with data or instructions composed of binary numbers. Just what does
100 1000 1111 10000 10111 101010 mean?

What was needed were higher level instructions that could be
easily understood both by humans and still effectively instruct the machine. Modern
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programming computer programming]
developed out of that need and brought about the development of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language programming languages].
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_Language Assembly language]
was the first language to abstract programming instructions above the machine level but is still
considered to be a low level language difficult for humans to understand and work with.

We needed a better way to deal with programming instructions than just machine or assembly
language, it was still too difficult for humans to deal with. Computers from different
manufacturers do not necessarily use the same binary instructions to perform the same tasks
which even further complicates things. What was needed was a higher level of abstraction
where an instruction given by a human to one computer had the same result when given to
another computer which may not even have been built by the same manufacturer.

===higher level languages ( assemblers, interpreters, compilers, bytecode)===

Having identified the problem of humans needing an easier way to give instructions to a
computer we realize this now creates a new problem. How do we get the computer to understand
humans when all they speak is a series of ones and zeros. We need to translate the human
instructions into instructions the computer can understand. We do this by taking the
document written by the human and transform it into instructions the machine can deal with.
Currently there are basically four ways to turn a human understandable program into a
machine understandable program.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language#Assembler '''assemblers'''] 
The first method is by using what is known as an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language#Assembler assembler] which uses
mnemonic abbreviations for machine level instructions. This is still very close to the
metal and is considered to be a low level language. A programmer can do some amazing
things using assembly language especially in regard to doing things very quickly. The
problem is that it is still relatively difficult to understand and that it is not very
portable and code written for one machine may not work at all on a comparable machine
that uses different hardware.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpreter_(computing) '''interpreters'''] 
The second method is by writing a special program that is
designed to convert human instructions into machine instructions and to execute
those instructions immediately. This type of special program is called an interpreter
because it interprets the instructions written by humans and turns them into instructions
that the machine can understand and carries them out right then and there. This helps solve
the problem of human's not easily reading and understanding machine level instructions but
with this method each and every time the machine needs to execute the human's instructions
it needs to reinterpret them. This wastes all the time it takes to convert human readable
instructions to machine readable instructions as unproductive overhead.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiler '''compilers'''] 
The third method helps to reduce that wasted overhead by using a special program called a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiler compiler] to take the human's instructions and
convert them into binary instructions that are not executed immediately but are saved
to a binary file known as
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_code object code]
that can be directly executed by the computer without needing to go through
another process of interpretation. The human understandable document is called the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code source code]
and the compiler turns it into a binary form is called
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_code object code].
This eliminates all the overhead of interpreting the source code each time it needs to run that
program. The problem with this method is that it is more difficult to find some kinds of errors
in the source code and each time you make even a small change to the source code the entire
program needs to be recompiled.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_code '''bytecode'''] 
The method of using bytecode is somewhat of a compromise of getting high level human
understandable instructions into low level machine understandable instructions. Using
bytecode can be looked at as type of a hybrid designed to get the benefits of using
both interpreters and compilers where a high level language is compiled into bytecode
which can be more quickly and easily be translated into machine level instructions but
still remains portable across machines with different hardware architecture.

==Brief History of GNU/Linux==

===History Of GNU===

[http://www.gnu.org GNU] was created as free alternative to UNIX. The early days
of creativity, exploration and discovery were special times where there was little
or no thought of the commoditization of software. After all, the biggest cost was
with the hardware itself and the software came with the hardware. Those were heady
times where bold new thoughts and ideas were shared in a true spirit of creativity
and innovation. Even though
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix UNIX]
was a proprietary operating system it was openly
shared at Universities all around the country. Since UNIX was written using the
new high level
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_programing_language C programming language]
instead of a machine language it was highly portable and much easier to adapt to
new hardware.

As with free beer a no or low cost operating system helped establish a base of
customers. Remember that in earlier time the big cost of a computer system was
the hardware itself, some of which could actually fill an entire building and
require a small army to run giving away an operating system to help build a
user base was not a silly idea. As corporations started wanting to commoditize
operating systems there was a natural resistance from academic communities that
had become accustomed to sharing ideas, after all that is what universities do,
they disseminate knowledge.

In the early to mid nineteen eighties one of the people who had been very involved
with such a community at MIT decided that being able to freely share information
was crucial to a society and started the GNU project which in 1985 evolved into
[http://www.fsf.org/ The Free Software Foundation] and the
[http://www.gnu.org GNU Operating System].

[http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-history.html]

===History Of Linux===

Linux started by student as a hobby
[http://www.linux.org/people/linus_post.html]
[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html]
[http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/11/complete-concise-history-of-gnulinux.html]

----

'''more on source code''' 

open source vs proprietary 

operating systems [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_operating_systems] 

single task, single user 

multiuser multi-task 

'''common uses of computers '''
server 
scientific educational 
personal (desktop) computing 
----

==Advantages==

'''free as in no or low cost '''
'''free as in freedom '''
can be modified easily by user 
projects need not die with original author 
options, customizable workspace 
designed for usability not profitability 

==Disadvantages==

'''incompatible with some proprietary software, mostly games '''
'''drivers for new hardware can be delayed and may lack features '''

=Common Uses of GNU/Linux=

==Server==

'''file server '''
'''web server '''
'''firewall/router '''

==Desktop==

'''workstation '''
'''application server '''
'''kiosk '''
'''development (traditional programming) '''
'''user - system administrator - developer '''
'''Common User Applications '''
'''Linux Alternatives To Popular Windows Applications '''
http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20070701111340544/Equivalents.html 
http://goldgod.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/windows-equivalent-to-linux/ 
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software_equivalent_to_Windows_software 
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html 
http://www.linuxalt.com/ 

==Cross Platform Applications Available For Windows And Linux==

These are applications that are available on both Windows and Linux. You
can install them and try them out on your Windows system without even
needing to install Linux. For the most part they behave identically as
they will when running on a GNU/Linux system.

===Web===

'''SeaMonkey''' Web Suite (Browser, E-mail, HTML Editor, Chat Client) http://www.seamonkey-project.org/ 
'''Firefox''' Web Browser http://www.mozilla.com 
'''Amaya''' Web Browser http://www.w3.org/Amaya/ 
'''Thunderbird''' E-mail http://www.mozilla.com 
'''X-Chat''' IRC Client http://www.xchat.org/ 
'''Pidgin''' Instant Messaging http://www.pidgin.im/ 
'''RSSOwl''' RSS Client http://www.rssowl.org/ 
'''Azureus''' P2P File Sharing http://azureus.sourceforge.net/ 
'''Filezilla''' FTP Client http://filezilla-project.org/ 

===Office===

'''OpenOffice.org''' Office Suite http://www.openoffice.org/ 
'''Abiword''' Word Processor http://www.abisource.com/ 
'''Scribus''' Desktop Publishing http://www.scribus.net/ 

===Media Tools===

'''VLC''' Media Player http://www.videolan.org/ 
'''MPlayer''' Media Player http://www.mplayerhq.hu 
'''Handbrake''' DVD DVD to MPEG-4 Converter http://handbrake.fr/ 
'''Juice''' Podcast Manager http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php 
'''Audacity''' Audio Authoring http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ 

===Graphic Tools===

'''Gimp''' Graphic Tools http://www.gimp.org/ 
'''Inkscape''' Vector Graphic Tools http://inkscape.org/ 
'''Blender''' 3D Graphic Tools http://www.blender.org/ 

===File Tools===

'''PeaZip''' Archive Manager http://peazip.sourceforge.net/ 

===Educational===

'''Celestia''' Digital Planetarium http://www.shatters.net/celestia/index.html 
'''Stellarium''' Digital Planetarium http://www.stellarium.org/ 

===Fun===

'''BZFlag''' Game http://bzflag.org/ 
'''Battle For Wesnoth''' Game http://www.wesnoth.org/ 

===Development Tools===

'''XEmacs''' Editor http://www.xemacs.org/index.html 
'''SciTE''' Editor http://scintilla.sourceforge.net/SciTEDownload.html 
'''Eclipse''' Extensible Platform & Java IDE http://www.eclipse.org/ 
'''Wget''' Web Download Tool http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/ 
'''cURL''' Web File Transfer Tool http://curl.haxx.se/ 
'''TightVNC''' Control Remote Computer http://www.tightvnc.com/ 

=Transitioning To GNU/Linux=

Transitioning to GNU/Linux should be done using a strategy that will provide the least
difficulties to you. It may require having two systems running concurrently. Each
person's path will be different depending on many factors including those that do not
involve technical issues. No matter what your individual strategy there are some things you can do to make things easier on yourself and this section will try to cover some of
those things as well as covering some of the more common issues common to all.

'''WARNING!''' Any change you make to your computer (especially installing any new software)
has the potential of causing damage to your computer and all your data. We can't take any
responsibility for any damages to your data or to your computer or anything else resulting
from trying to follow any advice or information posted here in this document.
You must take full responsibility yourself and be sure to read and follow any documentation
provided with any software you install on your computer. Even following instructions to the
letter has the potential to cause damages, you should make sure to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup backup]
all data you can not afford to lose before attempting to make any changes to your computer.
This is good advice in normal day to day use, but is especially important when installing any
new software, repartitioning your hard disk or making any changes to your computer.

==Document What You Do==

Documenting everything you do is advice that not everyone (including myself) always follows,
but doing it can save a lot of grief in the future if you document as much as you can and save
your notes in a separate place other than on the system you are working on. If your system
becomes inoperable and you have stored your notes on that same system then you won't have
access to notes that may be a big help in figuring out what went wrong and how to fix it.
Be especially sure to document any entries and configuration choices you make when installing
new software. This is a good habit no matter what system you are using. Your choices may
seem obvious at the time but weeks, months or even years later it might not be so obvious.

==Test Before You Commit==

This may seem obvious, but you should make sure you spend some time with GNU/Linux
and make sure you know it will do all of what you need it to do before an attempt to
switch to it as your everyday operating system. Operating systems are just like any
other tool and the biggest, best, most expensive tool in the world is worthless to
you if it doesn't do what you need it to do.

Put it on an old spare computer first. While it won't give you the same snappy experience
as you would get on your latest and greatest system it should still give you a better
idea of whether or not a GNU/Linux or a specific flavor of GNU/Linux is going to work
for you. You may also be pleasantly surprised to find out that old dog may still have
some life left in it. Any 450MHz Pentium II or better system should do just fine with
a standard
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution Linux distribution].
Anything 486 to Pentium II should also work but may require a distribution designed to
work well on older gear like
[http://www.puppylinux.org/ Puppy Linux] or
[http://damnsmalllinux.org/ Damn Small Linux]
to get good results.

The safest and easiest way to try out
GNU/LInux before making a commitment is to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting boot]
your system up using a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_cd live CD]
or some other removable media. At the time of this writing most
computers up to ten years old are capable of booting from a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_ROM CD ROM]
drive. For machines
older than ten years it may also be possible to boot without installing but it may
involve using a floppy to start the boot process and finishing booting using a
CD ROM. Most modern machines less than two or three years old will probably have the
capability of booting from a CD, thumb drive or almost any removable media.

Depending on the capabilities of your system and the particular GNU/Linux distribution
you use you may not get a satisfactory experience compared to what you get from a full installation.
When booting from a live CD as much of the distribution as is practical will be loaded into
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM RAM]
and if you have a large amount of RAM compared to the size of the Linux distribution
you are testing, you may actually experience some faster performance than running from
a Linux distribution installed to your hard disk. However, even if programs load faster
when run from memory you may have problems when reading large files or running several
programs at the same time.

==Keep As Much Of Your Old System As Practical==
I spend over 90% of my time on a computer using GNU/Linux but I still keep one computer
that is capable of booting Windows NT. I rarely need to use it and I have even made
that into a dual boot system with half of the hard drive devoted to GNU/Linux and set
as the default system to use unless I switch to Windows at boot up. Because I still
occasionally have need to have access to data and specific programs that only work
under Windows I keep that available. What you should be of keeping Windows, OSX or any other legacy operating system will depend entirely on your specific situation, but you
should plan on keeping as much as you can as long as you can.

==Install Without Repartitioning==
It is now possible to install a Linux distribution to a file in your Windows file system.
Not every Linux distribution is designed for this but if you insert a Linux distribution
disk in your drive while running Windows any distribution designed to be installed in
this manner should open a window with information on how to do it. Follow those instructions
and you should have a more or less working Linux system. Installing Linux in this manner is
more for trying out than anything else, but installing this way should be relatively safe
and won't require [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitioning repartitioning] your drive.

=Using The Command Line Shell=

Before today's modern GIU (Graphical User Interface) in order to use a computer the user needed to
type in commands on a keyboard, there was no point and click. Most of the information the computer
gave in response to a command was printed out as text on a monitor or printer. While many people
are intimidated by a blank line with a blinking cursor it is not really all that difficult to use
once you learn some of the basic commands. You don't need to learn how to become a professional programmer or system administrator to get the benefits.

This section is still under development. Until it is finished you may want to visit some of these
links:

[http://linuxcommand.org/index.php LinuxCommand.org] This nice looking site is not cluttered with
advertisements and hosts a work-along tutorial. I haven't gone through all of the tutorial but it
looks like a good introduction for beginners that are not already system administrators,
developers or power users.

[http://www.scottklarr.com/topic/115/linux-unix-cheat-sheets---the-ultimate-collection/ ]
This is a collection of command line cheat sheets good for quick handy reference, but NOT good as
a tutorial or introduction.

[http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/ Command Directory] A directory of Linux commands freely available from the publisher of O'Reilly's ''Linux In A Nutshell, 5th Edition'' organized
alphabetically. Use this for reference with or without owning the book.

=Selecting A Distribution=

The selection of a distribution depends on several factors but the two most
important are the type(s) of work you intend to do and what type of support
you will need. While it is possible to modify any distribution to accomplish
virtually any task you could expect from any other distribution it is a good
idea to start off with something already close to what you need.
In selecting a distribution you should consider which desktop environment comes
standard as well as what applications are provided. While it is possible to
install virtually any desktop environment and any applications on any distribution
it is quicker and easier to start out with a distribution already configured close
to what you expect you will be using.

The selection of a distribution also depends on what type of support you expect you
will need. If you are still a bit shaky with your computer skills support should be
one of your major considerations Ubuntu and its siblings should be on your short list
but, having a friend that is familiar with a particular distribution is a big help and
can be more important than some of the other considerations.

When I was starting out in Linux I was lucky to have a couple of older computers that
I could use for experimentation. I must have tried every major distribution available
and continued to experiment ever since. If you don't have the time or inclination for
experimentation and aren't sure which distribution to choose take as much time as you
have available and do some research. Lacking time for research just go with the current
most popular distribution which at the time of this writing is [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu].

Here are some sites with information useful in comparing distributions:

DistroWatch.com [http://distrowatch.com/ http://distrowatch.com/] 
Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions] 
ibiblio [http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/ http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/] 

=Selecting A Desktop Environment=

Unlike a commercial proprietary operating system GNU/Linux has more than one way to do just about
anything and the desktop environment is no different with many choices.

A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment desktop environment]
is the workspace in which you run GUI (Graphic User Interface) applications. It provides a
consistent look and feel to applications that may not have been designed to work in the same
environment. It accomplishes this by providing basic standards and libraries (prewritten code
designed to be used by other applications) that help make it easier for developers to write
programs that need a GUI. This also helps developers to write applications that can more easily
share data with other programs.

The basis of most current GNU/Linux distribution desktop environments is the X Window System which
like many open source projects has split into two forks, [http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86] and
[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org]
, with most recent distribution releases using X.org. The X Window System needs a [http://xwinman.org/index.php window manager]
to help complete the proper display of a GUI application. The window manager draws the frames
around the application's window and controls the window's placement. Some of the lines between
the components that make up the total desktop environment are not distinct.

There are nearly unlimited variations possible for configuring the desktop environment, but many
of the available choices and configurations should be left to experienced user. For beginners
I suggest going with one of the following three choices. Then after gaining more experience you
may then want to experiment.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Desktops More On Desktops]

==Gnome==

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome] is one of the oldest and most popular desktop environments for
the GNU/Linux desktop. The current philosophy of Gnome is minimalistic and basic. It is fairly
easy to learn and master but lags in the capacity for easy customization, especially if you
stick to the default [http://blogs.gnome.org/metacity/ Metacity] window manager. If you have
a fairly modern computer with a decent 3D graphic card and you want to jazz up Gnome you may
want to give [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz Compiz] a try. Some distributions include
Compiz but it will not work properly if you don't have a 3D graphic card with appropriate
drivers installed. Since many graphic card vendors do not provide open source drivers you may
need to install them yourself. Many distributions include tools that make it fairly easy to
download and install the necessary drivers.

==KDE==

[http://kde.org/ KDE] is also one of the oldest and most popular desktop environments. The
philosophy of KDE encourages the inclusion of many features and customizability. Unfortunately,
the new KDE 4 release is still not stable and is lacking many features found in the older 3.5
version. This is due to some major changes in architecture designed to make it easier for
developers and users to allow applications to share information. As of this writing the current
release is 4.2 and while it may be stable enough for some users and for some purposes I'd
recommend staying away from using it for any serious work until they get more of the kinks
worked out.

==XFCE4==

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE] is a lightweight desktop environment that works well with older
systems. Since the release of XFCE4 it has become much more of a contender. It still has fewer
applications that were written specifically to run under it than Gnome or KDE but it does a
good job at running applications designed to be run under Gnome or KDE.

=How To Get Help=

==Beginners Only==

'''Here is a good newbie starter guide''' with current (Feb. 20th 2009) information. I'm not
sure how long this will be available so I'm putting a special mention and link here.
[http://www.tuxradar.com/linuxstarterpack Linux Starter Pack] is a free download of a recent
(Feb. 20th 2009) special publication designed specifically for Linux newbies that are not
necessarily already computer wizards. It originally came with a DVD with Ubuntu but the
step by step instructions should be good for any recent Ubuntu installation disks. There
is also much good info that can be applied to any recent Linux distribution but not as a
step by step guide.

----

Some of the other subsections in this his ''How To Get Help'' section may contain material that
was designed specifically for people that already have a strong background in system dministration
or development using other operating systems but have little or no experience with GNU/Linux.
This Beginners Only section is designed to contain only information and links for beginners with more modest computer skills, people that are NOT already power users, system administrators or
developers. Some of the information and links located here, however, may also be found in other
sections.

There are two pieces of advice I have seen given to GNU/Linux newbies quite often, they are
"Google is your friend" and "RTFM" ('''R'''ead '''T'''he '''F'''ine '''M'''anual) and if possible
you should try to avoid being reminded of them. Chances are good that you are already familiar
with Google but did you know that there is a special page at Google devoted to [http://www.google.com/linux Linux searches] at [http://www.google.com/linux http://www.google.com/linux .] When someone tells you to RTFM the manual they mean is the [http://editthis.info/sfvlug/Linux_101#manuals_.28man_pages.29 man page]
that comes with your distribution or with the application you have a question about. Many times a
newbie will jump into a forum or chat and ask a question that could easily be answered by doing a
quick Google search or reading the manual that came with feature under question. Please make an
attempt to find an answer to your question yourself before asking a stranger to give it to you.

One thing that many GNU/Linux newbies don't seem to understand is GNU/Linux community is very
different from those that surround the proprietary commercial operating systems, it is entirely a different way of doing things. GNU/Linux was written by developers for their own personal use and made available without cost to anyone else with no strings other than to make any improvements
they might make available to everyone else under the same conditions. This creates a very different culture than that surrounding any commercial operating system. It should not be
surprising that those who have already paid their dues and gained knowledge might have little
tolerance of newbies that are looking for instant gratification and to be spoon fed information
easily found by themselves. Even if you bought a GNU/Linux distribution from a commercial vendor
don't treat the surrounding community as if they were paid customer support. Unless you are contacting someone at an official support site as part of a paid customer support contract it is
likely that the person you are asking a question of is just another user like you.

This doesn't mean that you should be afraid of asking questions of anyone, most people that hang
out in forums and chat channels are there because they enjoy talking about GNU/Linux and are
quite willing to help people with less knowledge than themselves. Just make sure that you are
polite and have already put in some effort to find the answer to your question on your own first.
I also recommend reading Eric Raymond's essay,
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How To Ask Questions The Smart Way]
before asking help from a stranger.

No one, not even Linus Torvalds himself, has perfect knowledge of all the parts and pieces that
make up a GNU/Linux system. Maybe some day there will be a single repository of all information
necessary for anyone to understand anything they might want to know about GNU/Linux but that day
has yet to come. The first order of business for anyone desiring to know more about a particular
subject is to clearly define their objectives. What is it you want to do? Do you just want to be
able to browse the Internet, send and receive email, listen to some tunes and play a game of
solitaire? Maybe you have been thinking about learning how to write your own programs or host your
own website. The better you can define just what it is you want to do the better you can start
finding the right information you need to do it.

The first order of business in making a journey of discovery on the Internet is to learn how to use a search engine. At the time of this writing Google is the single best search tool and anyone
reading this is probably quite familiar with it already.

==How To Ask Questions==

In the early days of Linux's development it was often necessary to go directly to a high level
developer to find information necessary for accomplishing a particular task. When walking into
a dragon's lair looking for a favor from the dragon one must display courtesy and respect.
Eric Raymond first published
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html this advice]
eight years ago, designed to be read by users wanting to get knowledge that was only available
from serious developers and hackers with little tolerance for spoon feeding newbies. Conditions
have since improved for newbies with improved access to knowledge that do not require asking
questions of the original developer, but these are still excellent guidelines when asking for
help from any stranger no matter what their sill level.

==manuals (aka man pages)==

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_page_(Unix) Man pages]
are documents found in most UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems that display information about
commands, configuration files and other documented features. They are available on all major Linux
distributions. They can be very terse and difficult to understand, but are an essential read
before asking help from a stranger. In asking a question in a public forum about a subject
covered by a man page but for one reason or another did not answer your question you may want to
mention that you have already read the manual but need additional help. But, don't fib and say you
read the man page if you haven't, if you are asking a question from an experienced user the
chances are good that they are familiar with what is and what isn't covered in the man page.

To use them open a terminal window and type: "man" (without the quotes) followed by the name of
the command for which you need information. The following should open a manual page for the
'''''man''''' command itself. On most systems you can navigate through a man page using <Page Up>,
<Page Down> or the up and down arrow keys and you can quit by pressing the <q> or <Q> quit key.
Press <h> or <H> for help and other key bindings.

username@deepthought:~$ man man

After pressing <Enter> you should see a screen like this:

MAN(1) Manual pager utils MAN(1)

NAME
man - an interface to the on-line reference manuals

SYNOPSIS
man [-c|-w|-tZ] [-H[browser]] [-T[device]] [-X[dpi]] [-adhu7V] [-i|-I]
[-m system[,...]] [-L locale] [-p string] [-C file] [-M path] [-P
pager] [-r prompt] [-S list] [-e extension] [--warnings [warnings]]
[[section] page ...] ...
man -l [-7] [-tZ] [-H[browser]] [-T[device]] [-X[dpi]] [-p string] [-P
pager] [-r prompt] [--warnings[warnings]] file ...
man -k [apropos options] regexp ...
man -f [whatis options] page ...

DESCRIPTION
man is the system's manual pager. Each page argument given to man is
normally the name of a program, utility or function. The manual page
associated with each of these arguments is then found and displayed. A
section, if provided, will direct man to look only in that section of
the manual. The default action is to search in all of the available
sections, following a pre-defined order and to show only the first page
found, even if page exists in several sections.

The table below shows the section numbers of the manual followed by the...

== Books ==

(printed or electronic) 

===free electronic books===

The books in this section are available online to read online and/or download and are on
various subjects related to GNU/Linux. This list currently favors books suitable to people
new to Linux, some may be designed power users, developers or system administrators.

[http://www.tuxradar.com/linuxstarterpack Linux Starter Pack]
is a 130 page PDF version of a recent Linux Format publication.
[http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/ Linux Format] is a magazine published in the UK but also
available here in the USA. This was posted Feb. 20th 2009 as a guide for Linux newbies
needing a jump start into the Linux world. The original publication included a DVD with
Ubuntu and while much of the step by step instructions are Ubuntu specific there is
still a lot of good information that can be applied to other distributions.

[http://debian.org/doc/ Debian Documentation]
There are several book length documents here available to read online or for downloading.
These documents are written specifically for the Debian distribution, but have much good
information that also applies to other Debian based distributions like Ubuntu, Mepis,
Mint Linux and others. Aside from package management issues much of this information
can be applied to other modern distributions not based on Debian. A good site for all,
beginner and expert alike.

[http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ The Art Of UNIX Programming]
This book on UNIX is available in print, but you can read it for free online. This book is
of value to anyone using or planning to use UNIX and all UNIX based operating systems
including Linux. It is not a step by step guide or How-To, but cuts to the core of the
philosophy and culture of UNIX like operating systems giving valuable insight to the how
and why things are done. [http://www.catb.org/~esr/ Eric Raymond] is one of the pillars
of GNU/Linux and the open source movement. Be sure to read his essay on
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How To Ask Questions The Smart Way]

[http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html Knowing Knoppix]
beginner-friendly book designed to help with the rescue of crashed Windows computers or just to learn
more about Knoppix and Linux. (3.8MB download only) 

[http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/sg246380.html Linux Client Migration Cookbook, Version 2: A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux]
The goal of this IBM Redbook is to provide a technical planning reference for IT organizations large or small that are now considering a migration to Linux-based personal computers. (5.8MB read or download)

[http://www.informit.com/content/downloads/perens/0130091154.pdf The Linux Development Platform]
Direct download of 317 page book in PDF format on "Configuring, Using, and Maintaining a
Complete Programming Environment." (3.6MB download only)

[http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/emacs.html GNU Emacs manual]
A 561 page manual for the Emacs editor used for editing programs and doing everything short of taking out
the trash. Worth at least a look if you are or plan to become a programmer. This editor is used
from a command line but also has a GUI version. (3.2MB read or download)

[ http://ivan.tubert.org/doc/vimbook.pdf Vi iMproved (Vim)]
A 572 page manual for Vim a rival of the Emacs editor favored by some and comes standard on most
Linux distributions. This editor is used from a command line but also has a GUI version.
(3.7MB download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0003.php Introduction To Linux: A Beginner's Guide]
A 249 page book good for beginning level system administrators, developers and power users.
Written in 2002 it is a bit dated but still contains some useful information. (1.3MB zip file, download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0001.php Bash Guide For Beginners]
A 124.6KB single page HTML beginners book written for system administrators, developers and
power users, those who need to use the command line shell. Bash is the default shell for
most Linux distributions. This version last updated in 2006

[http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/ GNU Bash Manual]
This 156 page guide is available in several formats and was last updated in 2007 (read online or download)

[http://www.network-theory.co.uk/docs/bashref/ GNU Bash Reference Manual]
Online version of 204 page reference book on the Bash Shell. More for system administrators and developers
than end users. (read online only)

[http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ Linux From Scratch] is a 316 page book designed to help someone
build their own custom Linux system from scratch rather than using a community or commercial based
distribution. (read online or download)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0009.php Teach Yourslef Linux In 24 Hours]
400 page book circa 1998 is way out of date since it was written around installing an old version of Red Hat
that came with the book. Some information is still valid but the book no longer works as the work along guide
it was intended to be. (3.8MB download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0013.php Self Service Linux]
Mastering The Art Of Problem Solving, a 456 page book geared more for Linux professionals and power users
as an aid to diagnosing and solving problems. (3.8MB download only)

== Periodicals ==

(printed or electronic) 

== Online Message Boards ==

(wikis, forums, newsgroups, blogs) 

== Google ==

Google has a couple of handy specialty search pages, there is one for
[http://www.google.com/linux Linux]
and one for
[http://www.google.com/bsd BSD]
that are designed to return results specific to Linux or BSD. Bookmark them and use them when
searching for info on your favorite operating system.

== Online Chat ==

===IRC===

(how to ask a question (favor) from a stranger) 

== Schools ==

== People ==

===friend===

Having a friend, relative, co-worker or any familiar and friendly face that is already an
experienced GNU/Linux user is a huge plus. It can make all the difference in the world especially
if they are both knowledgeable and willing to help others. Your choice of which distribution or
which desktop environment to use should make a knowledgeable friend a significant factor in your
decision.

For example, currently Ubuntu is the most popular distribution, especially with beginners,
but you have a friend that is quite knowledgeable with using the KDE disktop on Slackware, a
distribution more suited for advanced users. In such a situation you may actually be better off
using Slackware than Ubuntu, but that depends a lot on just how much help your friend is willing to give you the time and effort required.

===paid consultant===

At times even a knowledgeable and willing friend can't provide you with the support you need.
Depending on your specific situation you may benefit from hiring a professional consultant. When
hiring a paid consultant be sure to do your homework first and check references. If you have
valuable and/or sensitive information on your computer all the more reason to insure that you are
dealing with a trustworthy as well as knowledgeable person. A good consultant should have good
communication skills as well as good technical knowledge.

There is a guide by Joshua Drake that can be found on several sites but
[http://www.linux.sgi.com/LDP/LDP/lcg/html/index.html this one]
at SGI seems to be the original since it is the link found at
[http://tldp.org/ The Linux Documentation Project].

Most major distribution either provide consulting services themselves or will refer you to a
business partner that does. If you think you may need a paid professional consultant or developer
you should factor that in you decision on which flavor of GNU/Linux you want to select, so check
out what is available carefully before you make a choice you may have to live with for years to
come.

== LUGs ==
Linux user groups provide an excellent opportunity for people to meet other people who live near
them that share an interest in GNU/Linux. Linux user groups are like many other social groups
formed around common interests and are very dependent on the efforts of individual members and
what types of venues are available locally.

Some groups hold what is known as an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_User_Group#Installfests installfest]
where people bring their computers and have experienced users help install GNU/Linux on them. With
modern distributions and live-CDs this is not as necessary as it once was but some groups continue
with the installfest tradition. AT [http://sfvlug.org/ SFVLUG] we rarely have a formal installfest
but our current venue allows us to bring hardware to most regular meetings. If you need hands on
assistance go to an installfest or ask someone in the know if it is OK to bring your hardware to a
regular meeting.

You might also want to take a look at the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_User_Group Wikipedia article]
about Linux user groups.

Here is a
[http://www.linux.org/groups/ list of Linux User Groups]
from around the world.

[http://www.lalugs.org/ Los Angeles Linux User Groups]
website has information about many groups in the Los Angeles area and not just in Los Angeles proper.

If there is no current local group you may think of starting one yourself. There is information
[http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/User-Group-HOWTO.html here]
on how to start one.

Linux 101

2009-03-05T02:14:24Z

Miasma: /* Cross Platform Applications Available For Windows And Linux */

'''Welcome To GNU/Linux 101 - An Introduction'''

=Up Front=

This is a work in progress, an attempt to make amends for a bad presentation. I've
started with the original outline for my presentation but after getting a better idea
of the types of solutions people new to Linux are looking for I'm in the process of
revision and improvement. I will also add links to help make it a better resource.
Many of the links point to Wikipedia articles that use the same Mediawiki software
that is used for this wiki. The links are '''not''' designed to open in a new browser
window so be sure to bookmark this site to make sure you can easily get back if you
get lost surfing.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 20:23, 23 February 2009 (PST)

This document is designed to help Linux newbies that are new to Linux but may not
otherwise be computer wizards. An attempt has been made to avoid using technical
terms without a proper explanation. Many terms such as '''''keyboard''''' and '''''mouse''''' were
once considered technical jargon but have now been accepted as terms understandable
by almost everyone. Today almost everyone that has been using a computer is also
somewhat familiar with even more technical terms like '''''RAM''''', '''''CPU''''' or '''''software'''''.
For terms that require more of an explanation there will be a link to a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia]
article or other resource with further explanation. If you find a technical term
that is not properly explained, doesn't have a link to an explanation or is
otherwise difficult to understand please let us know.

=What Is GNU/Linux?=

What has become known to most people as "Linux" is actually made up of many component
parts created by many different people for many different reasons. On this wiki you
may see the terms "Linux" and "GNU/Linux" used interchangeably to reference the entire
system. The term "GNU/Linux" is more correct when speaking of the entire system both
in technical and political terms. The term "Linux" was created to make a nod to both
Linus Torvalds, the original developer and to UNIX the operating system that served
as a major inspiration and model for Linux. The term "GNU" is an acronym of
"'''G'''NU is '''N'''ot '''U'''nix" where the '''G''' in GNU makes a reference to itself,
which is a common bit of developer humor based on the programming technique of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion_(computer_science) recursion].

Both
[http://www.gnu.org/ GNU], and
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux Linux]
are made up of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLOSS FLOSS]
also known as F/OSS or FOSS which is an acronym for
'''F'''ree '''L'''ibre '''O'''pen '''S'''ource '''S'''oftware.
Using the term "FLOSS" intended to demonstrate that it is not just free as in free
beer but also free as in freedom. While everyone can easily understand why free
as in free beer is desirable the understanding of why free as in freedom is even
more important is more difficult. To understand why freedom to inspect a program's
source code is important you really need to have a decent understanding of just what
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code source code] is, and the understanding
should go deeper than reading the article in the previous link.

==Brief History of Computing==

The following history is not comprehensive and is included to give some background
for understanding why open source software is important even to people that have no
intention of learning how to program. If you already have a good understanding of
computer history and are anxious to get going you can skip the history sections.

=== manual & mechanical calculating devices ===

The earliest computational devices were our own fingers, it is not a coincidence that
word digit is used to describe both the appendages at the end of our limbs and the basic unit
for numbers. Our fingers were supplemented early on by notches made in a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_stick stick]
or other handy object, most likely to record the passage of the seasons to help know when animals
would migrate or when berries would be ripe. With the invention of agriculture our need to
mark the passage of time became even more crucial. We needed to know when to plant seeds and
when to harvest. Fingers and other counting schemes were supplemented with other devices and
methods which used principles similar to an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus abacus],
which is still in use today. These systems often involve some sort of grid where objects were
manipulated according to a set of rules. Today's computers operate in a similar manner though
much more sophisticated where the grid and pebbles have been replaced by banks of electronic
switches and the rules for manipulating the objects have been replaced by computer programs
stored in electronic and electro mechanical devices.

===WWII code breaking machines, Alan Turing===

Most of the mathematical counting and calculating systems reached a level where we could accurately
predict all sorts of phenomena relating to the passage of time and the ebb and flow of natural
processes. There were many advancements in mechanics and electronics in the last century. The
second world war provided several important problems requiring fast and accurate calculations, but
the problem that contributed most to help fuel the development of modern computers was the system
of ciphers used by the Germans based on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine Enigma] the
electro mechanical device used to encode and decode highly sensitive communications. The British
mathematician [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing] who is considered by many to
be the father of modern computer science, was set to work to crack the German code.

===analog vs digital===

Early modern computers were designed based on either
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_circuits analog]
or
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital digital]
circuits. Early on the analog devices had a big
advantage in that complex problems could be modeled more easily and accurately than with digital
devices. The biggest problems with
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer analog computers]
involve difficulties in modeling problems that vary over a wide range and with inaccuracies caused
by noise and other factors. Early
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_computer digital computers]
used circuits that were either on or off eliminating many of the problems of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer analog computers]
but introducing problems of their own. Early digital computers used
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tube vacuum tubes]
that in turn used a whole lot of electricity and had a high failure rate. Improvements in design
and the later invention of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor transistors]
overcame their limitations.

===development of software===

Early computers and computational devices had their functionality built into the design of the
device itself and were often difficult to adapt to solving new problems. The goal was to develop
devices that could easily be changed to solve new and different problems and not just the ones they were originally designed to solve. Clouded in secrecy well into the 1970's the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer Colossus] computers designed and used by the British to crack the German
ciphers was the first electronic digital machine with programmability which was achieved through
the use of holes punched in paper tape. The tape represented
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_code_(computing) binary]
machine instructions through on/off switches representing ones and zeros. Those ones and zeros
were used to represent not just the data that was being processed but also the instructions on
what to do with the data. 

===development of programming languages===

While effective in instructing the machine to do particular tasks those instructions were difficult for humans to read and understand. The early programming instructions were those binary
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_language machine level instructions]
mentioned above. It is
difficult for humans to deal with data or instructions composed of binary numbers. Just what does
100 1000 1111 10000 10111 101010 mean?

What was needed were higher level instructions that could be
easily understood both by humans and still effectively instruct the machine. Modern
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programming computer programming]
developed out of that need and brought about the development of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language programming languages].
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_Language Assembly language]
was the first language to abstract programming instructions above the machine level but is still
considered to be a low level language difficult for humans to understand and work with.

We needed a better way to deal with programming instructions than just machine or assembly
language, it was still too difficult for humans to deal with. Computers from different
manufacturers do not necessarily use the same binary instructions to perform the same tasks
which even further complicates things. What was needed was a higher level of abstraction
where an instruction given by a human to one computer had the same result when given to
another computer which may not even have been built by the same manufacturer.

===higher level languages ( assemblers, interpreters, compilers, bytecode)===

Having identified the problem of humans needing an easier way to give instructions to a
computer we realize this now creates a new problem. How do we get the computer to understand
humans when all they speak is a series of ones and zeros. We need to translate the human
instructions into instructions the computer can understand. We do this by taking the
document written by the human and transform it into instructions the machine can deal with.
Currently there are basically four ways to turn a human understandable program into a
machine understandable program.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language#Assembler '''assemblers'''] 
The first method is by using what is known as an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language#Assembler assembler] which uses
mnemonic abbreviations for machine level instructions. This is still very close to the
metal and is considered to be a low level language. A programmer can do some amazing
things using assembly language especially in regard to doing things very quickly. The
problem is that it is still relatively difficult to understand and that it is not very
portable and code written for one machine may not work at all on a comparable machine
that uses different hardware.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpreter_(computing) '''interpreters'''] 
The second method is by writing a special program that is
designed to convert human instructions into machine instructions and to execute
those instructions immediately. This type of special program is called an interpreter
because it interprets the instructions written by humans and turns them into instructions
that the machine can understand and carries them out right then and there. This helps solve
the problem of human's not easily reading and understanding machine level instructions but
with this method each and every time the machine needs to execute the human's instructions
it needs to reinterpret them. This wastes all the time it takes to convert human readable
instructions to machine readable instructions as unproductive overhead.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiler '''compilers'''] 
The third method helps to reduce that wasted overhead by using a special program called a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiler compiler] to take the human's instructions and
convert them into binary instructions that are not executed immediately but are saved
to a binary file known as
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_code object code]
that can be directly executed by the computer without needing to go through
another process of interpretation. The human understandable document is called the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code source code]
and the compiler turns it into a binary form is called
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_code object code].
This eliminates all the overhead of interpreting the source code each time it needs to run that
program. The problem with this method is that it is more difficult to find some kinds of errors
in the source code and each time you make even a small change to the source code the entire
program needs to be recompiled.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_code '''bytecode'''] 
The method of using bytecode is somewhat of a compromise of getting high level human
understandable instructions into low level machine understandable instructions. Using
bytecode can be looked at as type of a hybrid designed to get the benefits of using
both interpreters and compilers where a high level language is compiled into bytecode
which can be more quickly and easily be translated into machine level instructions but
still remains portable across machines with different hardware architecture.

==Brief History of GNU/Linux==

===History Of GNU===

GNU created as free alternative to UNIX
[http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-history.html]

===History Of Linux===

Linux started by student as a hobby
[http://www.linux.org/people/linus_post.html]
[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html]
[http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/11/complete-concise-history-of-gnulinux.html]

----

'''more on source code''' 

open source vs proprietary 

operating systems [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_operating_systems] 

single task, single user 

multiuser multi-task 

'''common uses of computers '''
server 
scientific educational 
personal (desktop) computing 
----

==Advantages==

'''free as in no or low cost '''
'''free as in freedom '''
can be modified easily by user 
projects need not die with original author 
options, customizable workspace 
designed for usability not profitability 

==Disadvantages==

'''incompatible with some proprietary software, mostly games '''
'''drivers for new hardware can be delayed and may lack features '''

=Common Uses of GNU/Linux=

==Server==

'''file server '''
'''web server '''
'''firewall/router '''

==Desktop==

'''workstation '''
'''application server '''
'''kiosk '''
'''development (traditional programming) '''
'''user - system administrator - developer '''
'''Common User Applications '''
'''Linux Alternatives To Popular Windows Applications '''
http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20070701111340544/Equivalents.html 
http://goldgod.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/windows-equivalent-to-linux/ 
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software_equivalent_to_Windows_software 
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html 
http://www.linuxalt.com/ 

==Cross Platform Applications Available For Windows And Linux==

These are applications that are available on both Windows and Linux. You
can install them and try them out on your Windows system without even
needing to install Linux. For the most part they behave identically as
they will when running on a GNU/Linux system.

===Web===

'''SeaMonkey''' Web Suite (Browser, E-mail, HTML Editor, Chat Client) http://www.seamonkey-project.org/ 
'''Firefox''' Web Browser http://www.mozilla.com 
'''Amaya''' Web Browser http://www.w3.org/Amaya/ 
'''Thunderbird''' E-mail http://www.mozilla.com 
'''X-Chat''' IRC Client http://www.xchat.org/ 
'''Pidgin''' Instant Messaging http://www.pidgin.im/ 
'''RSSOwl''' RSS Client http://www.rssowl.org/ 
'''Azureus''' P2P File Sharing http://azureus.sourceforge.net/ 
'''Filezilla''' FTP Client http://filezilla-project.org/ 

===Office===

'''OpenOffice.org''' Office Suite http://www.openoffice.org/ 
'''Abiword''' Word Processor http://www.abisource.com/ 
'''Scribus''' Desktop Publishing http://www.scribus.net/ 

===Media Tools===

'''VLC''' Media Player http://www.videolan.org/ 
'''MPlayer''' Media Player http://www.mplayerhq.hu 
'''Handbrake''' DVD DVD to MPEG-4 Converter http://handbrake.fr/ 
'''Juice''' Podcast Manager http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php 
'''Audacity''' Audio Authoring http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ 

===Graphic Tools===

'''Gimp''' Graphic Tools http://www.gimp.org/ 
'''Inkscape''' Vector Graphic Tools http://inkscape.org/ 
'''Blender''' 3D Graphic Tools http://www.blender.org/ 

===File Tools===

'''PeaZip''' Archive Manager http://peazip.sourceforge.net/ 

===Educational===

'''Celestia''' Digital Planetarium http://www.shatters.net/celestia/index.html 
'''Stellarium''' Digital Planetarium http://www.stellarium.org/ 

===Fun===

'''BZFlag''' Game http://bzflag.org/ 
'''Battle For Wesnoth''' Game http://www.wesnoth.org/ 

===Development Tools===

'''XEmacs''' Editor http://www.xemacs.org/index.html 
'''SciTE''' Editor http://scintilla.sourceforge.net/SciTEDownload.html 
'''Eclipse''' Extensible Platform & Java IDE http://www.eclipse.org/ 
'''Wget''' Web Download Tool http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/ 
'''cURL''' Web File Transfer Tool http://curl.haxx.se/ 
'''TightVNC''' Control Remote Computer http://www.tightvnc.com/ 

=Transitioning To GNU/Linux=

Transitioning to GNU/Linux should be done using a strategy that will provide the least
difficulties to you. It may require having two systems running concurrently. Each
person's path will be different depending on many factors including those that do not
involve technical issues. No matter what your individual strategy there are some things you can do to make things easier on yourself and this section will try to cover some of
those things as well as covering some of the more common issues common to all.

'''WARNING!''' Any change you make to your computer (especially installing any new software)
has the potential of causing damage to your computer and all your data. We can't take any
responsibility for any damages to your data or to your computer or anything else resulting
from trying to follow any advice or information posted here in this document.
You must take full responsibility yourself and be sure to read and follow any documentation
provided with any software you install on your computer. Even following instructions to the
letter has the potential to cause damages, you should make sure to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup backup]
all data you can not afford to lose before attempting to make any changes to your computer.
This is good advice in normal day to day use, but is especially important when installing any
new software, repartitioning your hard disk or making any changes to your computer.

==Document What You Do==

Documenting everything you do is advice that not everyone (including myself) always follows,
but doing it can save a lot of grief in the future if you document as much as you can and save
your notes in a separate place other than on the system you are working on. If your system
becomes inoperable and you have stored your notes on that same system then you won't have
access to notes that may be a big help in figuring out what went wrong and how to fix it.
Be especially sure to document any entries and configuration choices you make when installing
new software. This is a good habit no matter what system you are using. Your choices may
seem obvious at the time but weeks, months or even years later it might not be so obvious.

==Test Before You Commit==

This may seem obvious, but you should make sure you spend some time with GNU/Linux
and make sure you know it will do all of what you need it to do before an attempt to
switch to it as your everyday operating system. Operating systems are just like any
other tool and the biggest, best, most expensive tool in the world is worthless to
you if it doesn't do what you need it to do.

Put it on an old spare computer first. While it won't give you the same snappy experience
as you would get on your latest and greatest system it should still give you a better
idea of whether or not a GNU/Linux or a specific flavor of GNU/Linux is going to work
for you. You may also be pleasantly surprised to find out that old dog may still have
some life left in it. Any 450MHz Pentium II or better system should do just fine with
a standard
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution Linux distribution].
Anything 486 to Pentium II should also work but may require a distribution designed to
work well on older gear like
[http://www.puppylinux.org/ Puppy Linux] or
[http://damnsmalllinux.org/ Damn Small Linux]
to get good results.

The safest and easiest way to try out
GNU/LInux before making a commitment is to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting boot]
your system up using a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_cd live CD]
or some other removable media. At the time of this writing most
computers up to ten years old are capable of booting from a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_ROM CD ROM]
drive. For machines
older than ten years it may also be possible to boot without installing but it may
involve using a floppy to start the boot process and finishing booting using a
CD ROM. Most modern machines less than two or three years old will probably have the
capability of booting from a CD, thumb drive or almost any removable media.

Depending on the capabilities of your system and the particular GNU/Linux distribution
you use you may not get a satisfactory experience compared to what you get from a full installation.
When booting from a live CD as much of the distribution as is practical will be loaded into
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM RAM]
and if you have a large amount of RAM compared to the size of the Linux distribution
you are testing, you may actually experience some faster performance than running from
a Linux distribution installed to your hard disk. However, even if programs load faster
when run from memory you may have problems when reading large files or running several
programs at the same time.

==Keep As Much Of Your Old System As Practical==
I spend over 90% of my time on a computer using GNU/Linux but I still keep one computer
that is capable of booting Windows NT. I rarely need to use it and I have even made
that into a dual boot system with half of the hard drive devoted to GNU/Linux and set
as the default system to use unless I switch to Windows at boot up. Because I still
occasionally have need to have access to data and specific programs that only work
under Windows I keep that available. What you should be of keeping Windows, OSX or any other legacy operating system will depend entirely on your specific situation, but you
should plan on keeping as much as you can as long as you can.

==Install Without Repartitioning==
It is now possible to install a Linux distribution to a file in your Windows file system.
Not every Linux distribution is designed for this but if you insert a Linux distribution
disk in your drive while running Windows any distribution designed to be installed in
this manner should open a window with information on how to do it. Follow those instructions
and you should have a more or less working Linux system. Installing Linux in this manner is
more for trying out than anything else, but installing this way should be relatively safe
and won't require [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitioning repartitioning] your drive.

=Using The Command Line Shell=

Before today's modern GIU (Graphical User Interface) in order to use a computer the user needed to
type in commands on a keyboard, there was no point and click. Most of the information the computer
gave in response to a command was printed out as text on a monitor or printer. While many people
are intimidated by a blank line with a blinking cursor it is not really all that difficult to use
once you learn some of the basic commands. You don't need to learn how to become a professional programmer or system administrator to get the benefits.

This section is still under development. Until it is finished you may want to visit some of these
links:

[http://linuxcommand.org/index.php LinuxCommand.org] This nice looking site is not cluttered with
advertisements and hosts a work-along tutorial. I haven't gone through all of the tutorial but it
looks like a good introduction for beginners that are not already system administrators,
developers or power users.

[http://www.scottklarr.com/topic/115/linux-unix-cheat-sheets---the-ultimate-collection/ ]
This is a collection of command line cheat sheets good for quick handy reference, but NOT good as
a tutorial or introduction.

[http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/ Command Directory] A directory of Linux commands freely available from the publisher of O'Reilly's ''Linux In A Nutshell, 5th Edition'' organized
alphabetically. Use this for reference with or without owning the book.

=Selecting A Distribution=

The selection of a distribution depends on several factors but the two most
important are the type(s) of work you intend to do and what type of support
you will need. While it is possible to modify any distribution to accomplish
virtually any task you could expect from any other distribution it is a good
idea to start off with something already close to what you need.
In selecting a distribution you should consider which desktop environment comes
standard as well as what applications are provided. While it is possible to
install virtually any desktop environment and any applications on any distribution
it is quicker and easier to start out with a distribution already configured close
to what you expect you will be using.

The selection of a distribution also depends on what type of support you expect you
will need. If you are still a bit shaky with your computer skills support should be
one of your major considerations Ubuntu and its siblings should be on your short list
but, having a friend that is familiar with a particular distribution is a big help and
can be more important than some of the other considerations.

When I was starting out in Linux I was lucky to have a couple of older computers that
I could use for experimentation. I must have tried every major distribution available
and continued to experiment ever since. If you don't have the time or inclination for
experimentation and aren't sure which distribution to choose take as much time as you
have available and do some research. Lacking time for research just go with the current
most popular distribution which at the time of this writing is [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu].

Here are some sites with information useful in comparing distributions:

DistroWatch.com [http://distrowatch.com/ http://distrowatch.com/] 
Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions] 
ibiblio [http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/ http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/] 

=Selecting A Desktop Environment=

Unlike a commercial proprietary operating system GNU/Linux has more than one way to do just about
anything and the desktop environment is no different with many choices.

A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment desktop environment]
is the workspace in which you run GUI (Graphic User Interface) applications. It provides a
consistent look and feel to applications that may not have been designed to work in the same
environment. It accomplishes this by providing basic standards and libraries (prewritten code
designed to be used by other applications) that help make it easier for developers to write
programs that need a GUI. This also helps developers to write applications that can more easily
share data with other programs.

The basis of most current GNU/Linux distribution desktop environments is the X Window System which
like many open source projects has split into two forks, [http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86] and
[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org]
, with most recent distribution releases using X.org. The X Window System needs a [http://xwinman.org/index.php window manager]
to help complete the proper display of a GUI application. The window manager draws the frames
around the application's window and controls the window's placement. Some of the lines between
the components that make up the total desktop environment are not distinct.

There are nearly unlimited variations possible for configuring the desktop environment, but many
of the available choices and configurations should be left to experienced user. For beginners
I suggest going with one of the following three choices. Then after gaining more experience you
may then want to experiment.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Desktops More On Desktops]

==Gnome==

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome] is one of the oldest and most popular desktop environments for
the GNU/Linux desktop. The current philosophy of Gnome is minimalistic and basic. It is fairly
easy to learn and master but lags in the capacity for easy customization, especially if you
stick to the default [http://blogs.gnome.org/metacity/ Metacity] window manager. If you have
a fairly modern computer with a decent 3D graphic card and you want to jazz up Gnome you may
want to give [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz Compiz] a try. Some distributions include
Compiz but it will not work properly if you don't have a 3D graphic card with appropriate
drivers installed. Since many graphic card vendors do not provide open source drivers you may
need to install them yourself. Many distributions include tools that make it fairly easy to
download and install the necessary drivers.

==KDE==

[http://kde.org/ KDE] is also one of the oldest and most popular desktop environments. The
philosophy of KDE encourages the inclusion of many features and customizability. Unfortunately,
the new KDE 4 release is still not stable and is lacking many features found in the older 3.5
version. This is due to some major changes in architecture designed to make it easier for
developers and users to allow applications to share information. As of this writing the current
release is 4.2 and while it may be stable enough for some users and for some purposes I'd
recommend staying away from using it for any serious work until they get more of the kinks
worked out.

==XFCE4==

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE] is a lightweight desktop environment that works well with older
systems. Since the release of XFCE4 it has become much more of a contender. It still has fewer
applications that were written specifically to run under it than Gnome or KDE but it does a
good job at running applications designed to be run under Gnome or KDE.

=How To Get Help=

==Beginners Only==

'''Here is a good newbie starter guide''' with current (Feb. 20th 2009) information. I'm not
sure how long this will be available so I'm putting a special mention and link here.
[http://www.tuxradar.com/linuxstarterpack Linux Starter Pack] is a free download of a recent
(Feb. 20th 2009) special publication designed specifically for Linux newbies that are not
necessarily already computer wizards. It originally came with a DVD with Ubuntu but the
step by step instructions should be good for any recent Ubuntu installation disks. There
is also much good info that can be applied to any recent Linux distribution but not as a
step by step guide.

----

Some of the other subsections in this his ''How To Get Help'' section may contain material that
was designed specifically for people that already have a strong background in system dministration
or development using other operating systems but have little or no experience with GNU/Linux.
This Beginners Only section is designed to contain only information and links for beginners with more modest computer skills, people that are NOT already power users, system administrators or
developers. Some of the information and links located here, however, may also be found in other
sections.

There are two pieces of advice I have seen given to GNU/Linux newbies quite often, they are
"Google is your friend" and "RTFM" ('''R'''ead '''T'''he '''F'''ine '''M'''anual) and if possible
you should try to avoid being reminded of them. Chances are good that you are already familiar
with Google but did you know that there is a special page at Google devoted to [http://www.google.com/linux Linux searches] at [http://www.google.com/linux http://www.google.com/linux .] When someone tells you to RTFM the manual they mean is the [http://editthis.info/sfvlug/Linux_101#manuals_.28man_pages.29 man page]
that comes with your distribution or with the application you have a question about. Many times a
newbie will jump into a forum or chat and ask a question that could easily be answered by doing a
quick Google search or reading the manual that came with feature under question. Please make an
attempt to find an answer to your question yourself before asking a stranger to give it to you.

One thing that many GNU/Linux newbies don't seem to understand is GNU/Linux community is very
different from those that surround the proprietary commercial operating systems, it is entirely a different way of doing things. GNU/Linux was written by developers for their own personal use and made available without cost to anyone else with no strings other than to make any improvements
they might make available to everyone else under the same conditions. This creates a very different culture than that surrounding any commercial operating system. It should not be
surprising that those who have already paid their dues and gained knowledge might have little
tolerance of newbies that are looking for instant gratification and to be spoon fed information
easily found by themselves. Even if you bought a GNU/Linux distribution from a commercial vendor
don't treat the surrounding community as if they were paid customer support. Unless you are contacting someone at an official support site as part of a paid customer support contract it is
likely that the person you are asking a question of is just another user like you.

This doesn't mean that you should be afraid of asking questions of anyone, most people that hang
out in forums and chat channels are there because they enjoy talking about GNU/Linux and are
quite willing to help people with less knowledge than themselves. Just make sure that you are
polite and have already put in some effort to find the answer to your question on your own first.
I also recommend reading Eric Raymond's essay,
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How To Ask Questions The Smart Way]
before asking help from a stranger.

No one, not even Linus Torvalds himself, has perfect knowledge of all the parts and pieces that
make up a GNU/Linux system. Maybe some day there will be a single repository of all information
necessary for anyone to understand anything they might want to know about GNU/Linux but that day
has yet to come. The first order of business for anyone desiring to know more about a particular
subject is to clearly define their objectives. What is it you want to do? Do you just want to be
able to browse the Internet, send and receive email, listen to some tunes and play a game of
solitaire? Maybe you have been thinking about learning how to write your own programs or host your
own website. The better you can define just what it is you want to do the better you can start
finding the right information you need to do it.

The first order of business in making a journey of discovery on the Internet is to learn how to use a search engine. At the time of this writing Google is the single best search tool and anyone
reading this is probably quite familiar with it already.

==How To Ask Questions==

In the early days of Linux's development it was often necessary to go directly to a high level
developer to find information necessary for accomplishing a particular task. When walking into
a dragon's lair looking for a favor from the dragon one must display courtesy and respect.
Eric Raymond first published
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html this advice]
eight years ago, designed to be read by users wanting to get knowledge that was only available
from serious developers and hackers with little tolerance for spoon feeding newbies. Conditions
have since improved for newbies with improved access to knowledge that do not require asking
questions of the original developer, but these are still excellent guidelines when asking for
help from any stranger no matter what their sill level.

==manuals (aka man pages)==

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_page_(Unix) Man pages]
are documents found in most UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems that display information about
commands, configuration files and other documented features. They are available on all major Linux
distributions. They can be very terse and difficult to understand, but are an essential read
before asking help from a stranger. In asking a question in a public forum about a subject
covered by a man page but for one reason or another did not answer your question you may want to
mention that you have already read the manual but need additional help. But, don't fib and say you
read the man page if you haven't, if you are asking a question from an experienced user the
chances are good that they are familiar with what is and what isn't covered in the man page.

To use them open a terminal window and type: "man" (without the quotes) followed by the name of
the command for which you need information. The following should open a manual page for the
'''''man''''' command itself. On most systems you can navigate through a man page using <Page Up>,
<Page Down> or the up and down arrow keys and you can quit by pressing the <q> or <Q> quit key.
Press <h> or <H> for help and other key bindings.

username@deepthought:~$ man man

After pressing <Enter> you should see a screen like this:

MAN(1) Manual pager utils MAN(1)

NAME
man - an interface to the on-line reference manuals

SYNOPSIS
man [-c|-w|-tZ] [-H[browser]] [-T[device]] [-X[dpi]] [-adhu7V] [-i|-I]
[-m system[,...]] [-L locale] [-p string] [-C file] [-M path] [-P
pager] [-r prompt] [-S list] [-e extension] [--warnings [warnings]]
[[section] page ...] ...
man -l [-7] [-tZ] [-H[browser]] [-T[device]] [-X[dpi]] [-p string] [-P
pager] [-r prompt] [--warnings[warnings]] file ...
man -k [apropos options] regexp ...
man -f [whatis options] page ...

DESCRIPTION
man is the system's manual pager. Each page argument given to man is
normally the name of a program, utility or function. The manual page
associated with each of these arguments is then found and displayed. A
section, if provided, will direct man to look only in that section of
the manual. The default action is to search in all of the available
sections, following a pre-defined order and to show only the first page
found, even if page exists in several sections.

The table below shows the section numbers of the manual followed by the...

== Books ==

(printed or electronic) 

===free electronic books===

The books in this section are available online to read online and/or download and are on
various subjects related to GNU/Linux. This list currently favors books suitable to people
new to Linux, some may be designed power users, developers or system administrators.

[http://www.tuxradar.com/linuxstarterpack Linux Starter Pack]
is a 130 page PDF version of a recent Linux Format publication.
[http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/ Linux Format] is a magazine published in the UK but also
available here in the USA. This was posted Feb. 20th 2009 as a guide for Linux newbies
needing a jump start into the Linux world. The original publication included a DVD with
Ubuntu and while much of the step by step instructions are Ubuntu specific there is
still a lot of good information that can be applied to other distributions.

[http://debian.org/doc/ Debian Documentation]
There are several book length documents here available to read online or for downloading.
These documents are written specifically for the Debian distribution, but have much good
information that also applies to other Debian based distributions like Ubuntu, Mepis,
Mint Linux and others. Aside from package management issues much of this information
can be applied to other modern distributions not based on Debian. A good site for all,
beginner and expert alike.

[http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ The Art Of UNIX Programming]
This book on UNIX is available in print, but you can read it for free online. This book is
of value to anyone using or planning to use UNIX and all UNIX based operating systems
including Linux. It is not a step by step guide or How-To, but cuts to the core of the
philosophy and culture of UNIX like operating systems giving valuable insight to the how
and why things are done. [http://www.catb.org/~esr/ Eric Raymond] is one of the pillars
of GNU/Linux and the open source movement. Be sure to read his essay on
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How To Ask Questions The Smart Way]

[http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html Knowing Knoppix]
beginner-friendly book designed to help with the rescue of crashed Windows computers or just to learn
more about Knoppix and Linux. (3.8MB download only) 

[http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/sg246380.html Linux Client Migration Cookbook, Version 2: A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux]
The goal of this IBM Redbook is to provide a technical planning reference for IT organizations large or small that are now considering a migration to Linux-based personal computers. (5.8MB read or download)

[http://www.informit.com/content/downloads/perens/0130091154.pdf The Linux Development Platform]
Direct download of 317 page book in PDF format on "Configuring, Using, and Maintaining a
Complete Programming Environment." (3.6MB download only)

[http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/emacs.html GNU Emacs manual]
A 561 page manual for the Emacs editor used for editing programs and doing everything short of taking out
the trash. Worth at least a look if you are or plan to become a programmer. This editor is used
from a command line but also has a GUI version. (3.2MB read or download)

[ http://ivan.tubert.org/doc/vimbook.pdf Vi iMproved (Vim)]
A 572 page manual for Vim a rival of the Emacs editor favored by some and comes standard on most
Linux distributions. This editor is used from a command line but also has a GUI version.
(3.7MB download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0003.php Introduction To Linux: A Beginner's Guide]
A 249 page book good for beginning level system administrators, developers and power users.
Written in 2002 it is a bit dated but still contains some useful information. (1.3MB zip file, download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0001.php Bash Guide For Beginners]
A 124.6KB single page HTML beginners book written for system administrators, developers and
power users, those who need to use the command line shell. Bash is the default shell for
most Linux distributions. This version last updated in 2006

[http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/ GNU Bash Manual]
This 156 page guide is available in several formats and was last updated in 2007 (read online or download)

[http://www.network-theory.co.uk/docs/bashref/ GNU Bash Reference Manual]
Online version of 204 page reference book on the Bash Shell. More for system administrators and developers
than end users. (read online only)

[http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ Linux From Scratch] is a 316 page book designed to help someone
build their own custom Linux system from scratch rather than using a community or commercial based
distribution. (read online or download)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0009.php Teach Yourslef Linux In 24 Hours]
400 page book circa 1998 is way out of date since it was written around installing an old version of Red Hat
that came with the book. Some information is still valid but the book no longer works as the work along guide
it was intended to be. (3.8MB download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0013.php Self Service Linux]
Mastering The Art Of Problem Solving, a 456 page book geared more for Linux professionals and power users
as an aid to diagnosing and solving problems. (3.8MB download only)

== Periodicals ==

(printed or electronic) 

== Online Message Boards ==

(wikis, forums, newsgroups, blogs) 

== Google ==

Google has a couple of handy specialty search pages, there is one for
[http://www.google.com/linux Linux]
and one for
[http://www.google.com/bsd BSD]
that are designed to return results specific to Linux or BSD. Bookmark them and use them when
searching for info on your favorite operating system.

== Online Chat ==

===IRC===

(how to ask a question (favor) from a stranger) 

== Schools ==

== People ==

===friend===

Having a friend, relative, co-worker or any familiar and friendly face that is already an
experienced GNU/Linux user is a huge plus. It can make all the difference in the world especially
if they are both knowledgeable and willing to help others. Your choice of which distribution or
which desktop environment to use should make a knowledgeable friend a significant factor in your
decision.

For example, currently Ubuntu is the most popular distribution, especially with beginners,
but you have a friend that is quite knowledgeable with using the KDE disktop on Slackware, a
distribution more suited for advanced users. In such a situation you may actually be better off
using Slackware than Ubuntu, but that depends a lot on just how much help your friend is willing to give you the time and effort required.

===paid consultant===

At times even a knowledgeable and willing friend can't provide you with the support you need.
Depending on your specific situation you may benefit from hiring a professional consultant. When
hiring a paid consultant be sure to do your homework first and check references. If you have
valuable and/or sensitive information on your computer all the more reason to insure that you are
dealing with a trustworthy as well as knowledgeable person. A good consultant should have good
communication skills as well as good technical knowledge.

There is a guide by Joshua Drake that can be found on several sites but
[http://www.linux.sgi.com/LDP/LDP/lcg/html/index.html this one]
at SGI seems to be the original since it is the link found at
[http://tldp.org/ The Linux Documentation Project].

Most major distribution either provide consulting services themselves or will refer you to a
business partner that does. If you think you may need a paid professional consultant or developer
you should factor that in you decision on which flavor of GNU/Linux you want to select, so check
out what is available carefully before you make a choice you may have to live with for years to
come.

== LUGs ==
Linux user groups provide an excellent opportunity for people to meet other people who live near
them that share an interest in GNU/Linux. Linux user groups are like many other social groups
formed around common interests and are very dependent on the efforts of individual members and
what types of venues are available locally.

Some groups hold what is known as an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_User_Group#Installfests installfest]
where people bring their computers and have experienced users help install GNU/Linux on them. With
modern distributions and live-CDs this is not as necessary as it once was but some groups continue
with the installfest tradition. AT [http://sfvlug.org/ SFVLUG] we rarely have a formal installfest
but our current venue allows us to bring hardware to most regular meetings. If you need hands on
assistance go to an installfest or ask someone in the know if it is OK to bring your hardware to a
regular meeting.

You might also want to take a look at the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_User_Group Wikipedia article]
about Linux user groups.

Here is a
[http://www.linux.org/groups/ list of Linux User Groups]
from around the world.

[http://www.lalugs.org/ Los Angeles Linux User Groups]
website has information about many groups in the Los Angeles area and not just in Los Angeles proper.

If there is no current local group you may think of starting one yourself. There is information
[http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/User-Group-HOWTO.html here]
on how to start one.

Linux 101

2009-03-05T02:13:08Z

Miasma: /* Cross Platform Applications Available For Windows And Linux */

'''Welcome To GNU/Linux 101 - An Introduction'''

=Up Front=

This is a work in progress, an attempt to make amends for a bad presentation. I've
started with the original outline for my presentation but after getting a better idea
of the types of solutions people new to Linux are looking for I'm in the process of
revision and improvement. I will also add links to help make it a better resource.
Many of the links point to Wikipedia articles that use the same Mediawiki software
that is used for this wiki. The links are '''not''' designed to open in a new browser
window so be sure to bookmark this site to make sure you can easily get back if you
get lost surfing.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 20:23, 23 February 2009 (PST)

This document is designed to help Linux newbies that are new to Linux but may not
otherwise be computer wizards. An attempt has been made to avoid using technical
terms without a proper explanation. Many terms such as '''''keyboard''''' and '''''mouse''''' were
once considered technical jargon but have now been accepted as terms understandable
by almost everyone. Today almost everyone that has been using a computer is also
somewhat familiar with even more technical terms like '''''RAM''''', '''''CPU''''' or '''''software'''''.
For terms that require more of an explanation there will be a link to a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia]
article or other resource with further explanation. If you find a technical term
that is not properly explained, doesn't have a link to an explanation or is
otherwise difficult to understand please let us know.

=What Is GNU/Linux?=

What has become known to most people as "Linux" is actually made up of many component
parts created by many different people for many different reasons. On this wiki you
may see the terms "Linux" and "GNU/Linux" used interchangeably to reference the entire
system. The term "GNU/Linux" is more correct when speaking of the entire system both
in technical and political terms. The term "Linux" was created to make a nod to both
Linus Torvalds, the original developer and to UNIX the operating system that served
as a major inspiration and model for Linux. The term "GNU" is an acronym of
"'''G'''NU is '''N'''ot '''U'''nix" where the '''G''' in GNU makes a reference to itself,
which is a common bit of developer humor based on the programming technique of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion_(computer_science) recursion].

Both
[http://www.gnu.org/ GNU], and
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux Linux]
are made up of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLOSS FLOSS]
also known as F/OSS or FOSS which is an acronym for
'''F'''ree '''L'''ibre '''O'''pen '''S'''ource '''S'''oftware.
Using the term "FLOSS" intended to demonstrate that it is not just free as in free
beer but also free as in freedom. While everyone can easily understand why free
as in free beer is desirable the understanding of why free as in freedom is even
more important is more difficult. To understand why freedom to inspect a program's
source code is important you really need to have a decent understanding of just what
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code source code] is, and the understanding
should go deeper than reading the article in the previous link.

==Brief History of Computing==

The following history is not comprehensive and is included to give some background
for understanding why open source software is important even to people that have no
intention of learning how to program. If you already have a good understanding of
computer history and are anxious to get going you can skip the history sections.

=== manual & mechanical calculating devices ===

The earliest computational devices were our own fingers, it is not a coincidence that
word digit is used to describe both the appendages at the end of our limbs and the basic unit
for numbers. Our fingers were supplemented early on by notches made in a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_stick stick]
or other handy object, most likely to record the passage of the seasons to help know when animals
would migrate or when berries would be ripe. With the invention of agriculture our need to
mark the passage of time became even more crucial. We needed to know when to plant seeds and
when to harvest. Fingers and other counting schemes were supplemented with other devices and
methods which used principles similar to an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus abacus],
which is still in use today. These systems often involve some sort of grid where objects were
manipulated according to a set of rules. Today's computers operate in a similar manner though
much more sophisticated where the grid and pebbles have been replaced by banks of electronic
switches and the rules for manipulating the objects have been replaced by computer programs
stored in electronic and electro mechanical devices.

===WWII code breaking machines, Alan Turing===

Most of the mathematical counting and calculating systems reached a level where we could accurately
predict all sorts of phenomena relating to the passage of time and the ebb and flow of natural
processes. There were many advancements in mechanics and electronics in the last century. The
second world war provided several important problems requiring fast and accurate calculations, but
the problem that contributed most to help fuel the development of modern computers was the system
of ciphers used by the Germans based on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine Enigma] the
electro mechanical device used to encode and decode highly sensitive communications. The British
mathematician [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing] who is considered by many to
be the father of modern computer science, was set to work to crack the German code.

===analog vs digital===

Early modern computers were designed based on either
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_circuits analog]
or
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital digital]
circuits. Early on the analog devices had a big
advantage in that complex problems could be modeled more easily and accurately than with digital
devices. The biggest problems with
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer analog computers]
involve difficulties in modeling problems that vary over a wide range and with inaccuracies caused
by noise and other factors. Early
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_computer digital computers]
used circuits that were either on or off eliminating many of the problems of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer analog computers]
but introducing problems of their own. Early digital computers used
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tube vacuum tubes]
that in turn used a whole lot of electricity and had a high failure rate. Improvements in design
and the later invention of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor transistors]
overcame their limitations.

===development of software===

Early computers and computational devices had their functionality built into the design of the
device itself and were often difficult to adapt to solving new problems. The goal was to develop
devices that could easily be changed to solve new and different problems and not just the ones they were originally designed to solve. Clouded in secrecy well into the 1970's the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer Colossus] computers designed and used by the British to crack the German
ciphers was the first electronic digital machine with programmability which was achieved through
the use of holes punched in paper tape. The tape represented
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_code_(computing) binary]
machine instructions through on/off switches representing ones and zeros. Those ones and zeros
were used to represent not just the data that was being processed but also the instructions on
what to do with the data. 

===development of programming languages===

While effective in instructing the machine to do particular tasks those instructions were difficult for humans to read and understand. The early programming instructions were those binary
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_language machine level instructions]
mentioned above. It is
difficult for humans to deal with data or instructions composed of binary numbers. Just what does
100 1000 1111 10000 10111 101010 mean?

What was needed were higher level instructions that could be
easily understood both by humans and still effectively instruct the machine. Modern
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programming computer programming]
developed out of that need and brought about the development of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language programming languages].
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_Language Assembly language]
was the first language to abstract programming instructions above the machine level but is still
considered to be a low level language difficult for humans to understand and work with.

We needed a better way to deal with programming instructions than just machine or assembly
language, it was still too difficult for humans to deal with. Computers from different
manufacturers do not necessarily use the same binary instructions to perform the same tasks
which even further complicates things. What was needed was a higher level of abstraction
where an instruction given by a human to one computer had the same result when given to
another computer which may not even have been built by the same manufacturer.

===higher level languages ( assemblers, interpreters, compilers, bytecode)===

Having identified the problem of humans needing an easier way to give instructions to a
computer we realize this now creates a new problem. How do we get the computer to understand
humans when all they speak is a series of ones and zeros. We need to translate the human
instructions into instructions the computer can understand. We do this by taking the
document written by the human and transform it into instructions the machine can deal with.
Currently there are basically four ways to turn a human understandable program into a
machine understandable program.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language#Assembler '''assemblers'''] 
The first method is by using what is known as an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language#Assembler assembler] which uses
mnemonic abbreviations for machine level instructions. This is still very close to the
metal and is considered to be a low level language. A programmer can do some amazing
things using assembly language especially in regard to doing things very quickly. The
problem is that it is still relatively difficult to understand and that it is not very
portable and code written for one machine may not work at all on a comparable machine
that uses different hardware.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpreter_(computing) '''interpreters'''] 
The second method is by writing a special program that is
designed to convert human instructions into machine instructions and to execute
those instructions immediately. This type of special program is called an interpreter
because it interprets the instructions written by humans and turns them into instructions
that the machine can understand and carries them out right then and there. This helps solve
the problem of human's not easily reading and understanding machine level instructions but
with this method each and every time the machine needs to execute the human's instructions
it needs to reinterpret them. This wastes all the time it takes to convert human readable
instructions to machine readable instructions as unproductive overhead.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiler '''compilers'''] 
The third method helps to reduce that wasted overhead by using a special program called a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiler compiler] to take the human's instructions and
convert them into binary instructions that are not executed immediately but are saved
to a binary file known as
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_code object code]
that can be directly executed by the computer without needing to go through
another process of interpretation. The human understandable document is called the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code source code]
and the compiler turns it into a binary form is called
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_code object code].
This eliminates all the overhead of interpreting the source code each time it needs to run that
program. The problem with this method is that it is more difficult to find some kinds of errors
in the source code and each time you make even a small change to the source code the entire
program needs to be recompiled.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_code '''bytecode'''] 
The method of using bytecode is somewhat of a compromise of getting high level human
understandable instructions into low level machine understandable instructions. Using
bytecode can be looked at as type of a hybrid designed to get the benefits of using
both interpreters and compilers where a high level language is compiled into bytecode
which can be more quickly and easily be translated into machine level instructions but
still remains portable across machines with different hardware architecture.

==Brief History of GNU/Linux==

===History Of GNU===

GNU created as free alternative to UNIX
[http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-history.html]

===History Of Linux===

Linux started by student as a hobby
[http://www.linux.org/people/linus_post.html]
[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html]
[http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/11/complete-concise-history-of-gnulinux.html]

----

'''more on source code''' 

open source vs proprietary 

operating systems [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_operating_systems] 

single task, single user 

multiuser multi-task 

'''common uses of computers '''
server 
scientific educational 
personal (desktop) computing 
----

==Advantages==

'''free as in no or low cost '''
'''free as in freedom '''
can be modified easily by user 
projects need not die with original author 
options, customizable workspace 
designed for usability not profitability 

==Disadvantages==

'''incompatible with some proprietary software, mostly games '''
'''drivers for new hardware can be delayed and may lack features '''

=Common Uses of GNU/Linux=

==Server==

'''file server '''
'''web server '''
'''firewall/router '''

==Desktop==

'''workstation '''
'''application server '''
'''kiosk '''
'''development (traditional programming) '''
'''user - system administrator - developer '''
'''Common User Applications '''
'''Linux Alternatives To Popular Windows Applications '''
http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20070701111340544/Equivalents.html 
http://goldgod.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/windows-equivalent-to-linux/ 
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software_equivalent_to_Windows_software 
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html 
http://www.linuxalt.com/ 

==Cross Platform Applications Available For Windows And Linux==

These are applications that are available on both Windows and Linux. You
can install them and try them out on your Windows system without even
needing to install Linux. For the most part they behave identically as
they will when running on a GNU/Linux system.

===Web===

'''SeaMonkey''' Web Suite (Browser, E-mail, HTML Editor, Chat Client) http://www.seamonkey-project.org/ 
'''Firefox''' Web Browser http://www.mozilla.com 
'''Amaya''' Web Browser http://www.w3.org/Amaya/ 
'''Thunderbird''' E-mail http://www.mozilla.com 
'''X-Chat''' IRC Client http://www.xchat.org/ 
'''Pidgin''' Instant Messaging http://www.pidgin.im/ 
'''RSSOwl''' RSS Client http://www.rssowl.org/ 
'''Azureus''' P2P File Sharing http://azureus.sourceforge.net/ 
'''Filezilla''' FTP Client http://filezilla-project.org/ 

===Office===

'''OpenOffice.org''' Office Suite http://www.openoffice.org/ 
'''Abiword''' Word Processor http://www.abisource.com/ 
'''Scribus''' Desktop Publishing http://www.scribus.net/ 

===Media Tools===

'''VLC''' Media Player http://www.videolan.org/ 
'''MPlayer''' Media Player http://www.mplayerhq.hu 
'''Handbrake''' DVD DVD to MPEG-4 Converter http://handbrake.fr/ 
'''Juice''' Podcast Manager http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php 
'''Audacity''' Audio Authoring http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ 

===Graphic Tools===

'''Gimp''' Graphic Tools http://www.gimp.org/ 
'''Inkscape''' Vector Graphic Tools http://inkscape.org/ 
'''Blender''' 3D Graphic Tools http://www.blender.org/ 
 

===File Tools===

'''PeaZip''' Archive Manager http://peazip.sourceforge.net/ 

===Educational===

'''Celestia''' Digital Planetarium http://www.shatters.net/celestia/index.html 
'''Stellarium''' Digital Planetarium http://www.stellarium.org/ 

===Fun===

'''BZFlag''' Game http://bzflag.org/ 
'''Battle For Wesnoth''' Game http://www.wesnoth.org/ 

===Development Tools===

'''XEmacs''' Editor http://www.xemacs.org/index.html 
'''SciTE''' Editor http://scintilla.sourceforge.net/SciTEDownload.html 
'''Eclipse''' Extensible Platform & Java IDE http://www.eclipse.org/ 
'''Wget''' Web Download Tool http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/ 
'''cURL''' Web File Transfer Tool http://curl.haxx.se/ 
'''TightVNC''' Control Remote Computer http://www.tightvnc.com/ 

=Transitioning To GNU/Linux=

Transitioning to GNU/Linux should be done using a strategy that will provide the least
difficulties to you. It may require having two systems running concurrently. Each
person's path will be different depending on many factors including those that do not
involve technical issues. No matter what your individual strategy there are some things you can do to make things easier on yourself and this section will try to cover some of
those things as well as covering some of the more common issues common to all.

'''WARNING!''' Any change you make to your computer (especially installing any new software)
has the potential of causing damage to your computer and all your data. We can't take any
responsibility for any damages to your data or to your computer or anything else resulting
from trying to follow any advice or information posted here in this document.
You must take full responsibility yourself and be sure to read and follow any documentation
provided with any software you install on your computer. Even following instructions to the
letter has the potential to cause damages, you should make sure to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup backup]
all data you can not afford to lose before attempting to make any changes to your computer.
This is good advice in normal day to day use, but is especially important when installing any
new software, repartitioning your hard disk or making any changes to your computer.

==Document What You Do==

Documenting everything you do is advice that not everyone (including myself) always follows,
but doing it can save a lot of grief in the future if you document as much as you can and save
your notes in a separate place other than on the system you are working on. If your system
becomes inoperable and you have stored your notes on that same system then you won't have
access to notes that may be a big help in figuring out what went wrong and how to fix it.
Be especially sure to document any entries and configuration choices you make when installing
new software. This is a good habit no matter what system you are using. Your choices may
seem obvious at the time but weeks, months or even years later it might not be so obvious.

==Test Before You Commit==

This may seem obvious, but you should make sure you spend some time with GNU/Linux
and make sure you know it will do all of what you need it to do before an attempt to
switch to it as your everyday operating system. Operating systems are just like any
other tool and the biggest, best, most expensive tool in the world is worthless to
you if it doesn't do what you need it to do.

Put it on an old spare computer first. While it won't give you the same snappy experience
as you would get on your latest and greatest system it should still give you a better
idea of whether or not a GNU/Linux or a specific flavor of GNU/Linux is going to work
for you. You may also be pleasantly surprised to find out that old dog may still have
some life left in it. Any 450MHz Pentium II or better system should do just fine with
a standard
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution Linux distribution].
Anything 486 to Pentium II should also work but may require a distribution designed to
work well on older gear like
[http://www.puppylinux.org/ Puppy Linux] or
[http://damnsmalllinux.org/ Damn Small Linux]
to get good results.

The safest and easiest way to try out
GNU/LInux before making a commitment is to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting boot]
your system up using a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_cd live CD]
or some other removable media. At the time of this writing most
computers up to ten years old are capable of booting from a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_ROM CD ROM]
drive. For machines
older than ten years it may also be possible to boot without installing but it may
involve using a floppy to start the boot process and finishing booting using a
CD ROM. Most modern machines less than two or three years old will probably have the
capability of booting from a CD, thumb drive or almost any removable media.

Depending on the capabilities of your system and the particular GNU/Linux distribution
you use you may not get a satisfactory experience compared to what you get from a full installation.
When booting from a live CD as much of the distribution as is practical will be loaded into
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM RAM]
and if you have a large amount of RAM compared to the size of the Linux distribution
you are testing, you may actually experience some faster performance than running from
a Linux distribution installed to your hard disk. However, even if programs load faster
when run from memory you may have problems when reading large files or running several
programs at the same time.

==Keep As Much Of Your Old System As Practical==
I spend over 90% of my time on a computer using GNU/Linux but I still keep one computer
that is capable of booting Windows NT. I rarely need to use it and I have even made
that into a dual boot system with half of the hard drive devoted to GNU/Linux and set
as the default system to use unless I switch to Windows at boot up. Because I still
occasionally have need to have access to data and specific programs that only work
under Windows I keep that available. What you should be of keeping Windows, OSX or any other legacy operating system will depend entirely on your specific situation, but you
should plan on keeping as much as you can as long as you can.

==Install Without Repartitioning==
It is now possible to install a Linux distribution to a file in your Windows file system.
Not every Linux distribution is designed for this but if you insert a Linux distribution
disk in your drive while running Windows any distribution designed to be installed in
this manner should open a window with information on how to do it. Follow those instructions
and you should have a more or less working Linux system. Installing Linux in this manner is
more for trying out than anything else, but installing this way should be relatively safe
and won't require [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitioning repartitioning] your drive.

=Using The Command Line Shell=

Before today's modern GIU (Graphical User Interface) in order to use a computer the user needed to
type in commands on a keyboard, there was no point and click. Most of the information the computer
gave in response to a command was printed out as text on a monitor or printer. While many people
are intimidated by a blank line with a blinking cursor it is not really all that difficult to use
once you learn some of the basic commands. You don't need to learn how to become a professional programmer or system administrator to get the benefits.

This section is still under development. Until it is finished you may want to visit some of these
links:

[http://linuxcommand.org/index.php LinuxCommand.org] This nice looking site is not cluttered with
advertisements and hosts a work-along tutorial. I haven't gone through all of the tutorial but it
looks like a good introduction for beginners that are not already system administrators,
developers or power users.

[http://www.scottklarr.com/topic/115/linux-unix-cheat-sheets---the-ultimate-collection/ ]
This is a collection of command line cheat sheets good for quick handy reference, but NOT good as
a tutorial or introduction.

[http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/ Command Directory] A directory of Linux commands freely available from the publisher of O'Reilly's ''Linux In A Nutshell, 5th Edition'' organized
alphabetically. Use this for reference with or without owning the book.

=Selecting A Distribution=

The selection of a distribution depends on several factors but the two most
important are the type(s) of work you intend to do and what type of support
you will need. While it is possible to modify any distribution to accomplish
virtually any task you could expect from any other distribution it is a good
idea to start off with something already close to what you need.
In selecting a distribution you should consider which desktop environment comes
standard as well as what applications are provided. While it is possible to
install virtually any desktop environment and any applications on any distribution
it is quicker and easier to start out with a distribution already configured close
to what you expect you will be using.

The selection of a distribution also depends on what type of support you expect you
will need. If you are still a bit shaky with your computer skills support should be
one of your major considerations Ubuntu and its siblings should be on your short list
but, having a friend that is familiar with a particular distribution is a big help and
can be more important than some of the other considerations.

When I was starting out in Linux I was lucky to have a couple of older computers that
I could use for experimentation. I must have tried every major distribution available
and continued to experiment ever since. If you don't have the time or inclination for
experimentation and aren't sure which distribution to choose take as much time as you
have available and do some research. Lacking time for research just go with the current
most popular distribution which at the time of this writing is [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu].

Here are some sites with information useful in comparing distributions:

DistroWatch.com [http://distrowatch.com/ http://distrowatch.com/] 
Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions] 
ibiblio [http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/ http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/] 

=Selecting A Desktop Environment=

Unlike a commercial proprietary operating system GNU/Linux has more than one way to do just about
anything and the desktop environment is no different with many choices.

A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment desktop environment]
is the workspace in which you run GUI (Graphic User Interface) applications. It provides a
consistent look and feel to applications that may not have been designed to work in the same
environment. It accomplishes this by providing basic standards and libraries (prewritten code
designed to be used by other applications) that help make it easier for developers to write
programs that need a GUI. This also helps developers to write applications that can more easily
share data with other programs.

The basis of most current GNU/Linux distribution desktop environments is the X Window System which
like many open source projects has split into two forks, [http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86] and
[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org]
, with most recent distribution releases using X.org. The X Window System needs a [http://xwinman.org/index.php window manager]
to help complete the proper display of a GUI application. The window manager draws the frames
around the application's window and controls the window's placement. Some of the lines between
the components that make up the total desktop environment are not distinct.

There are nearly unlimited variations possible for configuring the desktop environment, but many
of the available choices and configurations should be left to experienced user. For beginners
I suggest going with one of the following three choices. Then after gaining more experience you
may then want to experiment.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Desktops More On Desktops]

==Gnome==

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome] is one of the oldest and most popular desktop environments for
the GNU/Linux desktop. The current philosophy of Gnome is minimalistic and basic. It is fairly
easy to learn and master but lags in the capacity for easy customization, especially if you
stick to the default [http://blogs.gnome.org/metacity/ Metacity] window manager. If you have
a fairly modern computer with a decent 3D graphic card and you want to jazz up Gnome you may
want to give [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz Compiz] a try. Some distributions include
Compiz but it will not work properly if you don't have a 3D graphic card with appropriate
drivers installed. Since many graphic card vendors do not provide open source drivers you may
need to install them yourself. Many distributions include tools that make it fairly easy to
download and install the necessary drivers.

==KDE==

[http://kde.org/ KDE] is also one of the oldest and most popular desktop environments. The
philosophy of KDE encourages the inclusion of many features and customizability. Unfortunately,
the new KDE 4 release is still not stable and is lacking many features found in the older 3.5
version. This is due to some major changes in architecture designed to make it easier for
developers and users to allow applications to share information. As of this writing the current
release is 4.2 and while it may be stable enough for some users and for some purposes I'd
recommend staying away from using it for any serious work until they get more of the kinks
worked out.

==XFCE4==

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE] is a lightweight desktop environment that works well with older
systems. Since the release of XFCE4 it has become much more of a contender. It still has fewer
applications that were written specifically to run under it than Gnome or KDE but it does a
good job at running applications designed to be run under Gnome or KDE.

=How To Get Help=

==Beginners Only==

'''Here is a good newbie starter guide''' with current (Feb. 20th 2009) information. I'm not
sure how long this will be available so I'm putting a special mention and link here.
[http://www.tuxradar.com/linuxstarterpack Linux Starter Pack] is a free download of a recent
(Feb. 20th 2009) special publication designed specifically for Linux newbies that are not
necessarily already computer wizards. It originally came with a DVD with Ubuntu but the
step by step instructions should be good for any recent Ubuntu installation disks. There
is also much good info that can be applied to any recent Linux distribution but not as a
step by step guide.

----

Some of the other subsections in this his ''How To Get Help'' section may contain material that
was designed specifically for people that already have a strong background in system dministration
or development using other operating systems but have little or no experience with GNU/Linux.
This Beginners Only section is designed to contain only information and links for beginners with more modest computer skills, people that are NOT already power users, system administrators or
developers. Some of the information and links located here, however, may also be found in other
sections.

There are two pieces of advice I have seen given to GNU/Linux newbies quite often, they are
"Google is your friend" and "RTFM" ('''R'''ead '''T'''he '''F'''ine '''M'''anual) and if possible
you should try to avoid being reminded of them. Chances are good that you are already familiar
with Google but did you know that there is a special page at Google devoted to [http://www.google.com/linux Linux searches] at [http://www.google.com/linux http://www.google.com/linux .] When someone tells you to RTFM the manual they mean is the [http://editthis.info/sfvlug/Linux_101#manuals_.28man_pages.29 man page]
that comes with your distribution or with the application you have a question about. Many times a
newbie will jump into a forum or chat and ask a question that could easily be answered by doing a
quick Google search or reading the manual that came with feature under question. Please make an
attempt to find an answer to your question yourself before asking a stranger to give it to you.

One thing that many GNU/Linux newbies don't seem to understand is GNU/Linux community is very
different from those that surround the proprietary commercial operating systems, it is entirely a different way of doing things. GNU/Linux was written by developers for their own personal use and made available without cost to anyone else with no strings other than to make any improvements
they might make available to everyone else under the same conditions. This creates a very different culture than that surrounding any commercial operating system. It should not be
surprising that those who have already paid their dues and gained knowledge might have little
tolerance of newbies that are looking for instant gratification and to be spoon fed information
easily found by themselves. Even if you bought a GNU/Linux distribution from a commercial vendor
don't treat the surrounding community as if they were paid customer support. Unless you are contacting someone at an official support site as part of a paid customer support contract it is
likely that the person you are asking a question of is just another user like you.

This doesn't mean that you should be afraid of asking questions of anyone, most people that hang
out in forums and chat channels are there because they enjoy talking about GNU/Linux and are
quite willing to help people with less knowledge than themselves. Just make sure that you are
polite and have already put in some effort to find the answer to your question on your own first.
I also recommend reading Eric Raymond's essay,
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How To Ask Questions The Smart Way]
before asking help from a stranger.

No one, not even Linus Torvalds himself, has perfect knowledge of all the parts and pieces that
make up a GNU/Linux system. Maybe some day there will be a single repository of all information
necessary for anyone to understand anything they might want to know about GNU/Linux but that day
has yet to come. The first order of business for anyone desiring to know more about a particular
subject is to clearly define their objectives. What is it you want to do? Do you just want to be
able to browse the Internet, send and receive email, listen to some tunes and play a game of
solitaire? Maybe you have been thinking about learning how to write your own programs or host your
own website. The better you can define just what it is you want to do the better you can start
finding the right information you need to do it.

The first order of business in making a journey of discovery on the Internet is to learn how to use a search engine. At the time of this writing Google is the single best search tool and anyone
reading this is probably quite familiar with it already.

==How To Ask Questions==

In the early days of Linux's development it was often necessary to go directly to a high level
developer to find information necessary for accomplishing a particular task. When walking into
a dragon's lair looking for a favor from the dragon one must display courtesy and respect.
Eric Raymond first published
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html this advice]
eight years ago, designed to be read by users wanting to get knowledge that was only available
from serious developers and hackers with little tolerance for spoon feeding newbies. Conditions
have since improved for newbies with improved access to knowledge that do not require asking
questions of the original developer, but these are still excellent guidelines when asking for
help from any stranger no matter what their sill level.

==manuals (aka man pages)==

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_page_(Unix) Man pages]
are documents found in most UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems that display information about
commands, configuration files and other documented features. They are available on all major Linux
distributions. They can be very terse and difficult to understand, but are an essential read
before asking help from a stranger. In asking a question in a public forum about a subject
covered by a man page but for one reason or another did not answer your question you may want to
mention that you have already read the manual but need additional help. But, don't fib and say you
read the man page if you haven't, if you are asking a question from an experienced user the
chances are good that they are familiar with what is and what isn't covered in the man page.

To use them open a terminal window and type: "man" (without the quotes) followed by the name of
the command for which you need information. The following should open a manual page for the
'''''man''''' command itself. On most systems you can navigate through a man page using <Page Up>,
<Page Down> or the up and down arrow keys and you can quit by pressing the <q> or <Q> quit key.
Press <h> or <H> for help and other key bindings.

username@deepthought:~$ man man

After pressing <Enter> you should see a screen like this:

MAN(1) Manual pager utils MAN(1)

NAME
man - an interface to the on-line reference manuals

SYNOPSIS
man [-c|-w|-tZ] [-H[browser]] [-T[device]] [-X[dpi]] [-adhu7V] [-i|-I]
[-m system[,...]] [-L locale] [-p string] [-C file] [-M path] [-P
pager] [-r prompt] [-S list] [-e extension] [--warnings [warnings]]
[[section] page ...] ...
man -l [-7] [-tZ] [-H[browser]] [-T[device]] [-X[dpi]] [-p string] [-P
pager] [-r prompt] [--warnings[warnings]] file ...
man -k [apropos options] regexp ...
man -f [whatis options] page ...

DESCRIPTION
man is the system's manual pager. Each page argument given to man is
normally the name of a program, utility or function. The manual page
associated with each of these arguments is then found and displayed. A
section, if provided, will direct man to look only in that section of
the manual. The default action is to search in all of the available
sections, following a pre-defined order and to show only the first page
found, even if page exists in several sections.

The table below shows the section numbers of the manual followed by the...

== Books ==

(printed or electronic) 

===free electronic books===

The books in this section are available online to read online and/or download and are on
various subjects related to GNU/Linux. This list currently favors books suitable to people
new to Linux, some may be designed power users, developers or system administrators.

[http://www.tuxradar.com/linuxstarterpack Linux Starter Pack]
is a 130 page PDF version of a recent Linux Format publication.
[http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/ Linux Format] is a magazine published in the UK but also
available here in the USA. This was posted Feb. 20th 2009 as a guide for Linux newbies
needing a jump start into the Linux world. The original publication included a DVD with
Ubuntu and while much of the step by step instructions are Ubuntu specific there is
still a lot of good information that can be applied to other distributions.

[http://debian.org/doc/ Debian Documentation]
There are several book length documents here available to read online or for downloading.
These documents are written specifically for the Debian distribution, but have much good
information that also applies to other Debian based distributions like Ubuntu, Mepis,
Mint Linux and others. Aside from package management issues much of this information
can be applied to other modern distributions not based on Debian. A good site for all,
beginner and expert alike.

[http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ The Art Of UNIX Programming]
This book on UNIX is available in print, but you can read it for free online. This book is
of value to anyone using or planning to use UNIX and all UNIX based operating systems
including Linux. It is not a step by step guide or How-To, but cuts to the core of the
philosophy and culture of UNIX like operating systems giving valuable insight to the how
and why things are done. [http://www.catb.org/~esr/ Eric Raymond] is one of the pillars
of GNU/Linux and the open source movement. Be sure to read his essay on
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How To Ask Questions The Smart Way]

[http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html Knowing Knoppix]
beginner-friendly book designed to help with the rescue of crashed Windows computers or just to learn
more about Knoppix and Linux. (3.8MB download only) 

[http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/sg246380.html Linux Client Migration Cookbook, Version 2: A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux]
The goal of this IBM Redbook is to provide a technical planning reference for IT organizations large or small that are now considering a migration to Linux-based personal computers. (5.8MB read or download)

[http://www.informit.com/content/downloads/perens/0130091154.pdf The Linux Development Platform]
Direct download of 317 page book in PDF format on "Configuring, Using, and Maintaining a
Complete Programming Environment." (3.6MB download only)

[http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/emacs.html GNU Emacs manual]
A 561 page manual for the Emacs editor used for editing programs and doing everything short of taking out
the trash. Worth at least a look if you are or plan to become a programmer. This editor is used
from a command line but also has a GUI version. (3.2MB read or download)

[ http://ivan.tubert.org/doc/vimbook.pdf Vi iMproved (Vim)]
A 572 page manual for Vim a rival of the Emacs editor favored by some and comes standard on most
Linux distributions. This editor is used from a command line but also has a GUI version.
(3.7MB download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0003.php Introduction To Linux: A Beginner's Guide]
A 249 page book good for beginning level system administrators, developers and power users.
Written in 2002 it is a bit dated but still contains some useful information. (1.3MB zip file, download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0001.php Bash Guide For Beginners]
A 124.6KB single page HTML beginners book written for system administrators, developers and
power users, those who need to use the command line shell. Bash is the default shell for
most Linux distributions. This version last updated in 2006

[http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/ GNU Bash Manual]
This 156 page guide is available in several formats and was last updated in 2007 (read online or download)

[http://www.network-theory.co.uk/docs/bashref/ GNU Bash Reference Manual]
Online version of 204 page reference book on the Bash Shell. More for system administrators and developers
than end users. (read online only)

[http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ Linux From Scratch] is a 316 page book designed to help someone
build their own custom Linux system from scratch rather than using a community or commercial based
distribution. (read online or download)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0009.php Teach Yourslef Linux In 24 Hours]
400 page book circa 1998 is way out of date since it was written around installing an old version of Red Hat
that came with the book. Some information is still valid but the book no longer works as the work along guide
it was intended to be. (3.8MB download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0013.php Self Service Linux]
Mastering The Art Of Problem Solving, a 456 page book geared more for Linux professionals and power users
as an aid to diagnosing and solving problems. (3.8MB download only)

== Periodicals ==

(printed or electronic) 

== Online Message Boards ==

(wikis, forums, newsgroups, blogs) 

== Google ==

Google has a couple of handy specialty search pages, there is one for
[http://www.google.com/linux Linux]
and one for
[http://www.google.com/bsd BSD]
that are designed to return results specific to Linux or BSD. Bookmark them and use them when
searching for info on your favorite operating system.

== Online Chat ==

===IRC===

(how to ask a question (favor) from a stranger) 

== Schools ==

== People ==

===friend===

Having a friend, relative, co-worker or any familiar and friendly face that is already an
experienced GNU/Linux user is a huge plus. It can make all the difference in the world especially
if they are both knowledgeable and willing to help others. Your choice of which distribution or
which desktop environment to use should make a knowledgeable friend a significant factor in your
decision.

For example, currently Ubuntu is the most popular distribution, especially with beginners,
but you have a friend that is quite knowledgeable with using the KDE disktop on Slackware, a
distribution more suited for advanced users. In such a situation you may actually be better off
using Slackware than Ubuntu, but that depends a lot on just how much help your friend is willing to give you the time and effort required.

===paid consultant===

At times even a knowledgeable and willing friend can't provide you with the support you need.
Depending on your specific situation you may benefit from hiring a professional consultant. When
hiring a paid consultant be sure to do your homework first and check references. If you have
valuable and/or sensitive information on your computer all the more reason to insure that you are
dealing with a trustworthy as well as knowledgeable person. A good consultant should have good
communication skills as well as good technical knowledge.

There is a guide by Joshua Drake that can be found on several sites but
[http://www.linux.sgi.com/LDP/LDP/lcg/html/index.html this one]
at SGI seems to be the original since it is the link found at
[http://tldp.org/ The Linux Documentation Project].

Most major distribution either provide consulting services themselves or will refer you to a
business partner that does. If you think you may need a paid professional consultant or developer
you should factor that in you decision on which flavor of GNU/Linux you want to select, so check
out what is available carefully before you make a choice you may have to live with for years to
come.

== LUGs ==
Linux user groups provide an excellent opportunity for people to meet other people who live near
them that share an interest in GNU/Linux. Linux user groups are like many other social groups
formed around common interests and are very dependent on the efforts of individual members and
what types of venues are available locally.

Some groups hold what is known as an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_User_Group#Installfests installfest]
where people bring their computers and have experienced users help install GNU/Linux on them. With
modern distributions and live-CDs this is not as necessary as it once was but some groups continue
with the installfest tradition. AT [http://sfvlug.org/ SFVLUG] we rarely have a formal installfest
but our current venue allows us to bring hardware to most regular meetings. If you need hands on
assistance go to an installfest or ask someone in the know if it is OK to bring your hardware to a
regular meeting.

You might also want to take a look at the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_User_Group Wikipedia article]
about Linux user groups.

Here is a
[http://www.linux.org/groups/ list of Linux User Groups]
from around the world.

[http://www.lalugs.org/ Los Angeles Linux User Groups]
website has information about many groups in the Los Angeles area and not just in Los Angeles proper.

If there is no current local group you may think of starting one yourself. There is information
[http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/User-Group-HOWTO.html here]
on how to start one.

Linux 101

2009-03-05T00:47:51Z

Miasma: /* What Is GNU/Linux? */

'''Welcome To GNU/Linux 101 - An Introduction'''

=Up Front=

This is a work in progress, an attempt to make amends for a bad presentation. I've
started with the original outline for my presentation but after getting a better idea
of the types of solutions people new to Linux are looking for I'm in the process of
revision and improvement. I will also add links to help make it a better resource.
Many of the links point to Wikipedia articles that use the same Mediawiki software
that is used for this wiki. The links are '''not''' designed to open in a new browser
window so be sure to bookmark this site to make sure you can easily get back if you
get lost surfing.
--[[User:Miasma|Miasma]] 20:23, 23 February 2009 (PST)

This document is designed to help Linux newbies that are new to Linux but may not
otherwise be computer wizards. An attempt has been made to avoid using technical
terms without a proper explanation. Many terms such as '''''keyboard''''' and '''''mouse''''' were
once considered technical jargon but have now been accepted as terms understandable
by almost everyone. Today almost everyone that has been using a computer is also
somewhat familiar with even more technical terms like '''''RAM''''', '''''CPU''''' or '''''software'''''.
For terms that require more of an explanation there will be a link to a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia]
article or other resource with further explanation. If you find a technical term
that is not properly explained, doesn't have a link to an explanation or is
otherwise difficult to understand please let us know.

=What Is GNU/Linux?=

What has become known to most people as "Linux" is actually made up of many component
parts created by many different people for many different reasons. On this wiki you
may see the terms "Linux" and "GNU/Linux" used interchangeably to reference the entire
system. The term "GNU/Linux" is more correct when speaking of the entire system both
in technical and political terms. The term "Linux" was created to make a nod to both
Linus Torvalds, the original developer and to UNIX the operating system that served
as a major inspiration and model for Linux. The term "GNU" is an acronym of
"'''G'''NU is '''N'''ot '''U'''nix" where the '''G''' in GNU makes a reference to itself,
which is a common bit of developer humor based on the programming technique of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion_(computer_science) recursion].

Both
[http://www.gnu.org/ GNU], and
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux Linux]
are made up of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLOSS FLOSS]
also known as F/OSS or FOSS which is an acronym for
'''F'''ree '''L'''ibre '''O'''pen '''S'''ource '''S'''oftware.
Using the term "FLOSS" intended to demonstrate that it is not just free as in free
beer but also free as in freedom. While everyone can easily understand why free
as in free beer is desirable the understanding of why free as in freedom is even
more important is more difficult. To understand why freedom to inspect a program's
source code is important you really need to have a decent understanding of just what
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code source code] is, and the understanding
should go deeper than reading the article in the previous link.

==Brief History of Computing==

The following history is not comprehensive and is included to give some background
for understanding why open source software is important even to people that have no
intention of learning how to program. If you already have a good understanding of
computer history and are anxious to get going you can skip the history sections.

=== manual & mechanical calculating devices ===

The earliest computational devices were our own fingers, it is not a coincidence that
word digit is used to describe both the appendages at the end of our limbs and the basic unit
for numbers. Our fingers were supplemented early on by notches made in a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_stick stick]
or other handy object, most likely to record the passage of the seasons to help know when animals
would migrate or when berries would be ripe. With the invention of agriculture our need to
mark the passage of time became even more crucial. We needed to know when to plant seeds and
when to harvest. Fingers and other counting schemes were supplemented with other devices and
methods which used principles similar to an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus abacus],
which is still in use today. These systems often involve some sort of grid where objects were
manipulated according to a set of rules. Today's computers operate in a similar manner though
much more sophisticated where the grid and pebbles have been replaced by banks of electronic
switches and the rules for manipulating the objects have been replaced by computer programs
stored in electronic and electro mechanical devices.

===WWII code breaking machines, Alan Turing===

Most of the mathematical counting and calculating systems reached a level where we could accurately
predict all sorts of phenomena relating to the passage of time and the ebb and flow of natural
processes. There were many advancements in mechanics and electronics in the last century. The
second world war provided several important problems requiring fast and accurate calculations, but
the problem that contributed most to help fuel the development of modern computers was the system
of ciphers used by the Germans based on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine Enigma] the
electro mechanical device used to encode and decode highly sensitive communications. The British
mathematician [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing] who is considered by many to
be the father of modern computer science, was set to work to crack the German code.

===analog vs digital===

Early modern computers were designed based on either
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_circuits analog]
or
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital digital]
circuits. Early on the analog devices had a big
advantage in that complex problems could be modeled more easily and accurately than with digital
devices. The biggest problems with
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer analog computers]
involve difficulties in modeling problems that vary over a wide range and with inaccuracies caused
by noise and other factors. Early
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_computer digital computers]
used circuits that were either on or off eliminating many of the problems of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer analog computers]
but introducing problems of their own. Early digital computers used
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tube vacuum tubes]
that in turn used a whole lot of electricity and had a high failure rate. Improvements in design
and the later invention of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor transistors]
overcame their limitations.

===development of software===

Early computers and computational devices had their functionality built into the design of the
device itself and were often difficult to adapt to solving new problems. The goal was to develop
devices that could easily be changed to solve new and different problems and not just the ones they were originally designed to solve. Clouded in secrecy well into the 1970's the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer Colossus] computers designed and used by the British to crack the German
ciphers was the first electronic digital machine with programmability which was achieved through
the use of holes punched in paper tape. The tape represented
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_code_(computing) binary]
machine instructions through on/off switches representing ones and zeros. Those ones and zeros
were used to represent not just the data that was being processed but also the instructions on
what to do with the data. 

===development of programming languages===

While effective in instructing the machine to do particular tasks those instructions were difficult for humans to read and understand. The early programming instructions were those binary
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_language machine level instructions]
mentioned above. It is
difficult for humans to deal with data or instructions composed of binary numbers. Just what does
100 1000 1111 10000 10111 101010 mean?

What was needed were higher level instructions that could be
easily understood both by humans and still effectively instruct the machine. Modern
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programming computer programming]
developed out of that need and brought about the development of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language programming languages].
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_Language Assembly language]
was the first language to abstract programming instructions above the machine level but is still
considered to be a low level language difficult for humans to understand and work with.

We needed a better way to deal with programming instructions than just machine or assembly
language, it was still too difficult for humans to deal with. Computers from different
manufacturers do not necessarily use the same binary instructions to perform the same tasks
which even further complicates things. What was needed was a higher level of abstraction
where an instruction given by a human to one computer had the same result when given to
another computer which may not even have been built by the same manufacturer.

===higher level languages ( assemblers, interpreters, compilers, bytecode)===

Having identified the problem of humans needing an easier way to give instructions to a
computer we realize this now creates a new problem. How do we get the computer to understand
humans when all they speak is a series of ones and zeros. We need to translate the human
instructions into instructions the computer can understand. We do this by taking the
document written by the human and transform it into instructions the machine can deal with.
Currently there are basically four ways to turn a human understandable program into a
machine understandable program.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language#Assembler '''assemblers'''] 
The first method is by using what is known as an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language#Assembler assembler] which uses
mnemonic abbreviations for machine level instructions. This is still very close to the
metal and is considered to be a low level language. A programmer can do some amazing
things using assembly language especially in regard to doing things very quickly. The
problem is that it is still relatively difficult to understand and that it is not very
portable and code written for one machine may not work at all on a comparable machine
that uses different hardware.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpreter_(computing) '''interpreters'''] 
The second method is by writing a special program that is
designed to convert human instructions into machine instructions and to execute
those instructions immediately. This type of special program is called an interpreter
because it interprets the instructions written by humans and turns them into instructions
that the machine can understand and carries them out right then and there. This helps solve
the problem of human's not easily reading and understanding machine level instructions but
with this method each and every time the machine needs to execute the human's instructions
it needs to reinterpret them. This wastes all the time it takes to convert human readable
instructions to machine readable instructions as unproductive overhead.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiler '''compilers'''] 
The third method helps to reduce that wasted overhead by using a special program called a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiler compiler] to take the human's instructions and
convert them into binary instructions that are not executed immediately but are saved
to a binary file known as
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_code object code]
that can be directly executed by the computer without needing to go through
another process of interpretation. The human understandable document is called the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code source code]
and the compiler turns it into a binary form is called
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_code object code].
This eliminates all the overhead of interpreting the source code each time it needs to run that
program. The problem with this method is that it is more difficult to find some kinds of errors
in the source code and each time you make even a small change to the source code the entire
program needs to be recompiled.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_code '''bytecode'''] 
The method of using bytecode is somewhat of a compromise of getting high level human
understandable instructions into low level machine understandable instructions. Using
bytecode can be looked at as type of a hybrid designed to get the benefits of using
both interpreters and compilers where a high level language is compiled into bytecode
which can be more quickly and easily be translated into machine level instructions but
still remains portable across machines with different hardware architecture.

==Brief History of GNU/Linux==

===History Of GNU===

GNU created as free alternative to UNIX
[http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-history.html]

===History Of Linux===

Linux started by student as a hobby
[http://www.linux.org/people/linus_post.html]
[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html]
[http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/11/complete-concise-history-of-gnulinux.html]

----

'''more on source code''' 

open source vs proprietary 

operating systems [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_operating_systems] 

single task, single user 

multiuser multi-task 

'''common uses of computers '''
server 
scientific educational 
personal (desktop) computing 
----

==Advantages==

'''free as in no or low cost '''
'''free as in freedom '''
can be modified easily by user 
projects need not die with original author 
options, customizable workspace 
designed for usability not profitability 

==Disadvantages==

'''incompatible with some proprietary software, mostly games '''
'''drivers for new hardware can be delayed and may lack features '''

=Common Uses of GNU/Linux=

==Server==

'''file server '''
'''web server '''
'''firewall/router '''

==Desktop==

'''workstation '''
'''application server '''
'''kiosk '''
'''development (traditional programming) '''
'''user - system administrator - developer '''
'''Common User Applications '''
'''Linux Alternatives To Popular Windows Applications '''
http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20070701111340544/Equivalents.html 
http://goldgod.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/windows-equivalent-to-linux/ 
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software_equivalent_to_Windows_software 
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html 
http://www.linuxalt.com/ 

==Cross Platform Applications Available For Windows And Linux==

===Web===

'''SeaMonkey''' Web Suite (Browser, E-mail, HTML Editor, Chat Client) http://www.seamonkey-project.org/ 
'''Firefox''' Web Browser http://www.mozilla.com 
'''Amaya''' Web Browser http://www.w3.org/Amaya/ 
'''Thunderbird''' E-mail http://www.mozilla.com 
'''X-Chat''' IRC Client http://www.xchat.org/ 
'''Pidgin''' Instant Messaging http://www.pidgin.im/ 
'''RSSOwl''' RSS Client http://www.rssowl.org/ 
'''Azureus''' P2P File Sharing http://azureus.sourceforge.net/ 
'''Filezilla''' FTP Client http://filezilla-project.org/ 

===Office===

'''OpenOffice.org''' Office Suite http://www.openoffice.org/ 
'''Abiword''' Word Processor http://www.abisource.com/ 
'''Scribus''' Desktop Publishing http://www.scribus.net/ 
'''Media Tools''' 
'''VLC''' Media Player http://www.videolan.org/ 
'''MPlayer''' Media Player http://www.mplayerhq.hu 
'''Handbrake''' DVD DVD to MPEG-4 Converter http://handbrake.fr/ 
'''Juice''' Podcast Manager http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php 
'''Audacity''' Audio Authoring http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ 

===Graphic Tools===

'''Gimp''' Graphic Tools http://www.gimp.org/ 
'''Inkscape''' Vector Graphic Tools http://inkscape.org/ 
'''Blender''' 3D Graphic Tools http://www.blender.org/ 
 

===File Tools===

'''PeaZip''' Archive Manager http://peazip.sourceforge.net/ 

===Educational===

'''Celestia''' Digital Planetarium http://www.shatters.net/celestia/index.html 
'''Stellarium''' Digital Planetarium http://www.stellarium.org/ 

===Fun===

'''BZFlag''' Game http://bzflag.org/ 
'''Battle For Wesnoth''' Game http://www.wesnoth.org/ 

===Development Tools===

'''XEmacs''' Editor http://www.xemacs.org/index.html 
'''SciTE''' Editor http://scintilla.sourceforge.net/SciTEDownload.html 
'''Eclipse''' Extensible Platform & Java IDE http://www.eclipse.org/ 
'''Wget''' Web Download Tool http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/ 
'''cURL''' Web File Transfer Tool http://curl.haxx.se/ 
'''TightVNC''' Control Remote Computer http://www.tightvnc.com/ 

=Transitioning To GNU/Linux=

Transitioning to GNU/Linux should be done using a strategy that will provide the least
difficulties to you. It may require having two systems running concurrently. Each
person's path will be different depending on many factors including those that do not
involve technical issues. No matter what your individual strategy there are some things you can do to make things easier on yourself and this section will try to cover some of
those things as well as covering some of the more common issues common to all.

'''WARNING!''' Any change you make to your computer (especially installing any new software)
has the potential of causing damage to your computer and all your data. We can't take any
responsibility for any damages to your data or to your computer or anything else resulting
from trying to follow any advice or information posted here in this document.
You must take full responsibility yourself and be sure to read and follow any documentation
provided with any software you install on your computer. Even following instructions to the
letter has the potential to cause damages, you should make sure to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup backup]
all data you can not afford to lose before attempting to make any changes to your computer.
This is good advice in normal day to day use, but is especially important when installing any
new software, repartitioning your hard disk or making any changes to your computer.

==Document What You Do==

Documenting everything you do is advice that not everyone (including myself) always follows,
but doing it can save a lot of grief in the future if you document as much as you can and save
your notes in a separate place other than on the system you are working on. If your system
becomes inoperable and you have stored your notes on that same system then you won't have
access to notes that may be a big help in figuring out what went wrong and how to fix it.
Be especially sure to document any entries and configuration choices you make when installing
new software. This is a good habit no matter what system you are using. Your choices may
seem obvious at the time but weeks, months or even years later it might not be so obvious.

==Test Before You Commit==

This may seem obvious, but you should make sure you spend some time with GNU/Linux
and make sure you know it will do all of what you need it to do before an attempt to
switch to it as your everyday operating system. Operating systems are just like any
other tool and the biggest, best, most expensive tool in the world is worthless to
you if it doesn't do what you need it to do.

Put it on an old spare computer first. While it won't give you the same snappy experience
as you would get on your latest and greatest system it should still give you a better
idea of whether or not a GNU/Linux or a specific flavor of GNU/Linux is going to work
for you. You may also be pleasantly surprised to find out that old dog may still have
some life left in it. Any 450MHz Pentium II or better system should do just fine with
a standard
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution Linux distribution].
Anything 486 to Pentium II should also work but may require a distribution designed to
work well on older gear like
[http://www.puppylinux.org/ Puppy Linux] or
[http://damnsmalllinux.org/ Damn Small Linux]
to get good results.

The safest and easiest way to try out
GNU/LInux before making a commitment is to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting boot]
your system up using a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_cd live CD]
or some other removable media. At the time of this writing most
computers up to ten years old are capable of booting from a
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_ROM CD ROM]
drive. For machines
older than ten years it may also be possible to boot without installing but it may
involve using a floppy to start the boot process and finishing booting using a
CD ROM. Most modern machines less than two or three years old will probably have the
capability of booting from a CD, thumb drive or almost any removable media.

Depending on the capabilities of your system and the particular GNU/Linux distribution
you use you may not get a satisfactory experience compared to what you get from a full installation.
When booting from a live CD as much of the distribution as is practical will be loaded into
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM RAM]
and if you have a large amount of RAM compared to the size of the Linux distribution
you are testing, you may actually experience some faster performance than running from
a Linux distribution installed to your hard disk. However, even if programs load faster
when run from memory you may have problems when reading large files or running several
programs at the same time.

==Keep As Much Of Your Old System As Practical==
I spend over 90% of my time on a computer using GNU/Linux but I still keep one computer
that is capable of booting Windows NT. I rarely need to use it and I have even made
that into a dual boot system with half of the hard drive devoted to GNU/Linux and set
as the default system to use unless I switch to Windows at boot up. Because I still
occasionally have need to have access to data and specific programs that only work
under Windows I keep that available. What you should be of keeping Windows, OSX or any other legacy operating system will depend entirely on your specific situation, but you
should plan on keeping as much as you can as long as you can.

==Install Without Repartitioning==
It is now possible to install a Linux distribution to a file in your Windows file system.
Not every Linux distribution is designed for this but if you insert a Linux distribution
disk in your drive while running Windows any distribution designed to be installed in
this manner should open a window with information on how to do it. Follow those instructions
and you should have a more or less working Linux system. Installing Linux in this manner is
more for trying out than anything else, but installing this way should be relatively safe
and won't require [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitioning repartitioning] your drive.

=Using The Command Line Shell=

Before today's modern GIU (Graphical User Interface) in order to use a computer the user needed to
type in commands on a keyboard, there was no point and click. Most of the information the computer
gave in response to a command was printed out as text on a monitor or printer. While many people
are intimidated by a blank line with a blinking cursor it is not really all that difficult to use
once you learn some of the basic commands. You don't need to learn how to become a professional programmer or system administrator to get the benefits.

This section is still under development. Until it is finished you may want to visit some of these
links:

[http://linuxcommand.org/index.php LinuxCommand.org] This nice looking site is not cluttered with
advertisements and hosts a work-along tutorial. I haven't gone through all of the tutorial but it
looks like a good introduction for beginners that are not already system administrators,
developers or power users.

[http://www.scottklarr.com/topic/115/linux-unix-cheat-sheets---the-ultimate-collection/ ]
This is a collection of command line cheat sheets good for quick handy reference, but NOT good as
a tutorial or introduction.

[http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/ Command Directory] A directory of Linux commands freely available from the publisher of O'Reilly's ''Linux In A Nutshell, 5th Edition'' organized
alphabetically. Use this for reference with or without owning the book.

=Selecting A Distribution=

The selection of a distribution depends on several factors but the two most
important are the type(s) of work you intend to do and what type of support
you will need. While it is possible to modify any distribution to accomplish
virtually any task you could expect from any other distribution it is a good
idea to start off with something already close to what you need.
In selecting a distribution you should consider which desktop environment comes
standard as well as what applications are provided. While it is possible to
install virtually any desktop environment and any applications on any distribution
it is quicker and easier to start out with a distribution already configured close
to what you expect you will be using.

The selection of a distribution also depends on what type of support you expect you
will need. If you are still a bit shaky with your computer skills support should be
one of your major considerations Ubuntu and its siblings should be on your short list
but, having a friend that is familiar with a particular distribution is a big help and
can be more important than some of the other considerations.

When I was starting out in Linux I was lucky to have a couple of older computers that
I could use for experimentation. I must have tried every major distribution available
and continued to experiment ever since. If you don't have the time or inclination for
experimentation and aren't sure which distribution to choose take as much time as you
have available and do some research. Lacking time for research just go with the current
most popular distribution which at the time of this writing is [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu].

Here are some sites with information useful in comparing distributions:

DistroWatch.com [http://distrowatch.com/ http://distrowatch.com/] 
Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions] 
ibiblio [http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/ http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/] 

=Selecting A Desktop Environment=

Unlike a commercial proprietary operating system GNU/Linux has more than one way to do just about
anything and the desktop environment is no different with many choices.

A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment desktop environment]
is the workspace in which you run GUI (Graphic User Interface) applications. It provides a
consistent look and feel to applications that may not have been designed to work in the same
environment. It accomplishes this by providing basic standards and libraries (prewritten code
designed to be used by other applications) that help make it easier for developers to write
programs that need a GUI. This also helps developers to write applications that can more easily
share data with other programs.

The basis of most current GNU/Linux distribution desktop environments is the X Window System which
like many open source projects has split into two forks, [http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86] and
[http://www.x.org/wiki/ X.org]
, with most recent distribution releases using X.org. The X Window System needs a [http://xwinman.org/index.php window manager]
to help complete the proper display of a GUI application. The window manager draws the frames
around the application's window and controls the window's placement. Some of the lines between
the components that make up the total desktop environment are not distinct.

There are nearly unlimited variations possible for configuring the desktop environment, but many
of the available choices and configurations should be left to experienced user. For beginners
I suggest going with one of the following three choices. Then after gaining more experience you
may then want to experiment.

[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Desktops More On Desktops]

==Gnome==

[http://www.gnome.org/ Gnome] is one of the oldest and most popular desktop environments for
the GNU/Linux desktop. The current philosophy of Gnome is minimalistic and basic. It is fairly
easy to learn and master but lags in the capacity for easy customization, especially if you
stick to the default [http://blogs.gnome.org/metacity/ Metacity] window manager. If you have
a fairly modern computer with a decent 3D graphic card and you want to jazz up Gnome you may
want to give [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz Compiz] a try. Some distributions include
Compiz but it will not work properly if you don't have a 3D graphic card with appropriate
drivers installed. Since many graphic card vendors do not provide open source drivers you may
need to install them yourself. Many distributions include tools that make it fairly easy to
download and install the necessary drivers.

==KDE==

[http://kde.org/ KDE] is also one of the oldest and most popular desktop environments. The
philosophy of KDE encourages the inclusion of many features and customizability. Unfortunately,
the new KDE 4 release is still not stable and is lacking many features found in the older 3.5
version. This is due to some major changes in architecture designed to make it easier for
developers and users to allow applications to share information. As of this writing the current
release is 4.2 and while it may be stable enough for some users and for some purposes I'd
recommend staying away from using it for any serious work until they get more of the kinks
worked out.

==XFCE4==

[http://www.xfce.org/ XFCE] is a lightweight desktop environment that works well with older
systems. Since the release of XFCE4 it has become much more of a contender. It still has fewer
applications that were written specifically to run under it than Gnome or KDE but it does a
good job at running applications designed to be run under Gnome or KDE.

=How To Get Help=

==Beginners Only==

'''Here is a good newbie starter guide''' with current (Feb. 20th 2009) information. I'm not
sure how long this will be available so I'm putting a special mention and link here.
[http://www.tuxradar.com/linuxstarterpack Linux Starter Pack] is a free download of a recent
(Feb. 20th 2009) special publication designed specifically for Linux newbies that are not
necessarily already computer wizards. It originally came with a DVD with Ubuntu but the
step by step instructions should be good for any recent Ubuntu installation disks. There
is also much good info that can be applied to any recent Linux distribution but not as a
step by step guide.

----

Some of the other subsections in this his ''How To Get Help'' section may contain material that
was designed specifically for people that already have a strong background in system dministration
or development using other operating systems but have little or no experience with GNU/Linux.
This Beginners Only section is designed to contain only information and links for beginners with more modest computer skills, people that are NOT already power users, system administrators or
developers. Some of the information and links located here, however, may also be found in other
sections.

There are two pieces of advice I have seen given to GNU/Linux newbies quite often, they are
"Google is your friend" and "RTFM" ('''R'''ead '''T'''he '''F'''ine '''M'''anual) and if possible
you should try to avoid being reminded of them. Chances are good that you are already familiar
with Google but did you know that there is a special page at Google devoted to [http://www.google.com/linux Linux searches] at [http://www.google.com/linux http://www.google.com/linux .] When someone tells you to RTFM the manual they mean is the [http://editthis.info/sfvlug/Linux_101#manuals_.28man_pages.29 man page]
that comes with your distribution or with the application you have a question about. Many times a
newbie will jump into a forum or chat and ask a question that could easily be answered by doing a
quick Google search or reading the manual that came with feature under question. Please make an
attempt to find an answer to your question yourself before asking a stranger to give it to you.

One thing that many GNU/Linux newbies don't seem to understand is GNU/Linux community is very
different from those that surround the proprietary commercial operating systems, it is entirely a different way of doing things. GNU/Linux was written by developers for their own personal use and made available without cost to anyone else with no strings other than to make any improvements
they might make available to everyone else under the same conditions. This creates a very different culture than that surrounding any commercial operating system. It should not be
surprising that those who have already paid their dues and gained knowledge might have little
tolerance of newbies that are looking for instant gratification and to be spoon fed information
easily found by themselves. Even if you bought a GNU/Linux distribution from a commercial vendor
don't treat the surrounding community as if they were paid customer support. Unless you are contacting someone at an official support site as part of a paid customer support contract it is
likely that the person you are asking a question of is just another user like you.

This doesn't mean that you should be afraid of asking questions of anyone, most people that hang
out in forums and chat channels are there because they enjoy talking about GNU/Linux and are
quite willing to help people with less knowledge than themselves. Just make sure that you are
polite and have already put in some effort to find the answer to your question on your own first.
I also recommend reading Eric Raymond's essay,
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How To Ask Questions The Smart Way]
before asking help from a stranger.

No one, not even Linus Torvalds himself, has perfect knowledge of all the parts and pieces that
make up a GNU/Linux system. Maybe some day there will be a single repository of all information
necessary for anyone to understand anything they might want to know about GNU/Linux but that day
has yet to come. The first order of business for anyone desiring to know more about a particular
subject is to clearly define their objectives. What is it you want to do? Do you just want to be
able to browse the Internet, send and receive email, listen to some tunes and play a game of
solitaire? Maybe you have been thinking about learning how to write your own programs or host your
own website. The better you can define just what it is you want to do the better you can start
finding the right information you need to do it.

The first order of business in making a journey of discovery on the Internet is to learn how to use a search engine. At the time of this writing Google is the single best search tool and anyone
reading this is probably quite familiar with it already.

==How To Ask Questions==

In the early days of Linux's development it was often necessary to go directly to a high level
developer to find information necessary for accomplishing a particular task. When walking into
a dragon's lair looking for a favor from the dragon one must display courtesy and respect.
Eric Raymond first published
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html this advice]
eight years ago, designed to be read by users wanting to get knowledge that was only available
from serious developers and hackers with little tolerance for spoon feeding newbies. Conditions
have since improved for newbies with improved access to knowledge that do not require asking
questions of the original developer, but these are still excellent guidelines when asking for
help from any stranger no matter what their sill level.

==manuals (aka man pages)==

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_page_(Unix) Man pages]
are documents found in most UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems that display information about
commands, configuration files and other documented features. They are available on all major Linux
distributions. They can be very terse and difficult to understand, but are an essential read
before asking help from a stranger. In asking a question in a public forum about a subject
covered by a man page but for one reason or another did not answer your question you may want to
mention that you have already read the manual but need additional help. But, don't fib and say you
read the man page if you haven't, if you are asking a question from an experienced user the
chances are good that they are familiar with what is and what isn't covered in the man page.

To use them open a terminal window and type: "man" (without the quotes) followed by the name of
the command for which you need information. The following should open a manual page for the
'''''man''''' command itself. On most systems you can navigate through a man page using <Page Up>,
<Page Down> or the up and down arrow keys and you can quit by pressing the <q> or <Q> quit key.
Press <h> or <H> for help and other key bindings.

username@deepthought:~$ man man

After pressing <Enter> you should see a screen like this:

MAN(1) Manual pager utils MAN(1)

NAME
man - an interface to the on-line reference manuals

SYNOPSIS
man [-c|-w|-tZ] [-H[browser]] [-T[device]] [-X[dpi]] [-adhu7V] [-i|-I]
[-m system[,...]] [-L locale] [-p string] [-C file] [-M path] [-P
pager] [-r prompt] [-S list] [-e extension] [--warnings [warnings]]
[[section] page ...] ...
man -l [-7] [-tZ] [-H[browser]] [-T[device]] [-X[dpi]] [-p string] [-P
pager] [-r prompt] [--warnings[warnings]] file ...
man -k [apropos options] regexp ...
man -f [whatis options] page ...

DESCRIPTION
man is the system's manual pager. Each page argument given to man is
normally the name of a program, utility or function. The manual page
associated with each of these arguments is then found and displayed. A
section, if provided, will direct man to look only in that section of
the manual. The default action is to search in all of the available
sections, following a pre-defined order and to show only the first page
found, even if page exists in several sections.

The table below shows the section numbers of the manual followed by the...

== Books ==

(printed or electronic) 

===free electronic books===

The books in this section are available online to read online and/or download and are on
various subjects related to GNU/Linux. This list currently favors books suitable to people
new to Linux, some may be designed power users, developers or system administrators.

[http://www.tuxradar.com/linuxstarterpack Linux Starter Pack]
is a 130 page PDF version of a recent Linux Format publication.
[http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/ Linux Format] is a magazine published in the UK but also
available here in the USA. This was posted Feb. 20th 2009 as a guide for Linux newbies
needing a jump start into the Linux world. The original publication included a DVD with
Ubuntu and while much of the step by step instructions are Ubuntu specific there is
still a lot of good information that can be applied to other distributions.

[http://debian.org/doc/ Debian Documentation]
There are several book length documents here available to read online or for downloading.
These documents are written specifically for the Debian distribution, but have much good
information that also applies to other Debian based distributions like Ubuntu, Mepis,
Mint Linux and others. Aside from package management issues much of this information
can be applied to other modern distributions not based on Debian. A good site for all,
beginner and expert alike.

[http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ The Art Of UNIX Programming]
This book on UNIX is available in print, but you can read it for free online. This book is
of value to anyone using or planning to use UNIX and all UNIX based operating systems
including Linux. It is not a step by step guide or How-To, but cuts to the core of the
philosophy and culture of UNIX like operating systems giving valuable insight to the how
and why things are done. [http://www.catb.org/~esr/ Eric Raymond] is one of the pillars
of GNU/Linux and the open source movement. Be sure to read his essay on
[http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How To Ask Questions The Smart Way]

[http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html Knowing Knoppix]
beginner-friendly book designed to help with the rescue of crashed Windows computers or just to learn
more about Knoppix and Linux. (3.8MB download only) 

[http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/sg246380.html Linux Client Migration Cookbook, Version 2: A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux]
The goal of this IBM Redbook is to provide a technical planning reference for IT organizations large or small that are now considering a migration to Linux-based personal computers. (5.8MB read or download)

[http://www.informit.com/content/downloads/perens/0130091154.pdf The Linux Development Platform]
Direct download of 317 page book in PDF format on "Configuring, Using, and Maintaining a
Complete Programming Environment." (3.6MB download only)

[http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/emacs.html GNU Emacs manual]
A 561 page manual for the Emacs editor used for editing programs and doing everything short of taking out
the trash. Worth at least a look if you are or plan to become a programmer. This editor is used
from a command line but also has a GUI version. (3.2MB read or download)

[ http://ivan.tubert.org/doc/vimbook.pdf Vi iMproved (Vim)]
A 572 page manual for Vim a rival of the Emacs editor favored by some and comes standard on most
Linux distributions. This editor is used from a command line but also has a GUI version.
(3.7MB download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0003.php Introduction To Linux: A Beginner's Guide]
A 249 page book good for beginning level system administrators, developers and power users.
Written in 2002 it is a bit dated but still contains some useful information. (1.3MB zip file, download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0001.php Bash Guide For Beginners]
A 124.6KB single page HTML beginners book written for system administrators, developers and
power users, those who need to use the command line shell. Bash is the default shell for
most Linux distributions. This version last updated in 2006

[http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/ GNU Bash Manual]
This 156 page guide is available in several formats and was last updated in 2007 (read online or download)

[http://www.network-theory.co.uk/docs/bashref/ GNU Bash Reference Manual]
Online version of 204 page reference book on the Bash Shell. More for system administrators and developers
than end users. (read online only)

[http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ Linux From Scratch] is a 316 page book designed to help someone
build their own custom Linux system from scratch rather than using a community or commercial based
distribution. (read online or download)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0009.php Teach Yourslef Linux In 24 Hours]
400 page book circa 1998 is way out of date since it was written around installing an old version of Red Hat
that came with the book. Some information is still valid but the book no longer works as the work along guide
it was intended to be. (3.8MB download only)

[http://www.linux-books.us/linux_general_0013.php Self Service Linux]
Mastering The Art Of Problem Solving, a 456 page book geared more for Linux professionals and power users
as an aid to diagnosing and solving problems. (3.8MB download only)

== Periodicals ==

(printed or electronic) 

== Online Message Boards ==

(wikis, forums, newsgroups, blogs) 

== Google ==

Google has a couple of handy specialty search pages, there is one for
[http://www.google.com/linux Linux]
and one for
[http://www.google.com/bsd BSD]
that are designed to return results specific to Linux or BSD. Bookmark them and use them when
searching for info on your favorite operating system.

== Online Chat ==

===IRC===

(how to ask a question (favor) from a stranger) 

== Schools ==

== People ==

===friend===

Having a friend, relative, co-worker or any familiar and friendly face that is already an
experienced GNU/Linux user is a huge plus. It can make all the difference in the world especially
if they are both knowledgeable and willing to help others. Your choice of which distribution or
which desktop environment to use should make a knowledgeable friend a significant factor in your
decision.

For example, currently Ubuntu is the most popular distribution, especially with beginners,
but you have a friend that is quite knowledgeable with using the KDE disktop on Slackware, a
distribution more suited for advanced users. In such a situation you may actually be better off
using Slackware than Ubuntu, but that depends a lot on just how much help your friend is willing to give you the time and effort required.

===paid consultant===

At times even a knowledgeable and willing friend can't provide you with the support you need.
Depending on your specific situation you may benefit from hiring a professional consultant. When
hiring a paid consultant be sure to do your homework first and check references. If you have
valuable and/or sensitive information on your computer all the more reason to insure that you are
dealing with a trustworthy as well as knowledgeable person. A good consultant should have good
communication skills as well as good technical knowledge.

There is a guide by Joshua Drake that can be found on several sites but
[http://www.linux.sgi.com/LDP/LDP/lcg/html/index.html this one]
at SGI seems to be the original since it is the link found at
[http://tldp.org/ The Linux Documentation Project].

Most major distribution either provide consulting services themselves or will refer you to a
business partner that does. If you think you may need a paid professional consultant or developer
you should factor that in you decision on which flavor of GNU/Linux you want to select, so check
out what is available carefully before you make a choice you may have to live with for years to
come.

== LUGs ==
Linux user groups provide an excellent opportunity for people to meet other people who live near
them that share an interest in GNU/Linux. Linux user groups are like many other social groups
formed around common interests and are very dependent on the efforts of individual members and
what types of venues are available locally.

Some groups hold what is known as an
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_User_Group#Installfests installfest]
where people bring their computers and have experienced users help install GNU/Linux on them. With
modern distributions and live-CDs this is not as necessary as it once was but some groups continue
with the installfest tradition. AT [http://sfvlug.org/ SFVLUG] we rarely have a formal installfest
but our current venue allows us to bring hardware to most regular meetings. If you need hands on
assistance go to an installfest or ask someone in the know if it is OK to bring your hardware to a
regular meeting.

You might also want to take a look at the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_User_Group Wikipedia article]
about Linux user groups.

Here is a
[http://www.linux.org/groups/ list of Linux User Groups]
from around the world.

[http://www.lalugs.org/ Los Angeles Linux User Groups]
website has information about many groups in the Los Angeles area and not just in Los Angeles proper.

If there is no current local group you may think of starting one yourself. There is information
[http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/User-Group-HOWTO.html here]
on how to start one.