A twist with gnome, KDE, LXDE and OpenBox
Hi all,
Today I'm on a different plane. So last week I was flying(metaphorically) around the world wide web. And I came across a number of websites/forums/blogs where people have published really eye-catching desktops using various utilities/programs etc. I went through it and as a hardcore Linux User and Developer I know how slow a system becomes when you try out all those swanky things.
Sure try them if you have a Quad core monster and oodles of ram, but I came across a number of posts where people have achieved lightweight desktops with great eye candy. Many used Openbox, others LXDE, not many for xfce.
It was interesting thing to see and I wanted to try them out. So I started with OpenBox. Installed it and restarted the machine. After logging on I could see is a blank desktop. A menu came at Right Click and I could access a terminal I went online looked up a number of apps and later after half an hour I had a fully functional desktop working. I used it for next couple of days and found myself wanting.
Mind you I've been a One DE(Desktop Environment) user of gnome for last 6-9 months, so I've came to want all the goodies that Gnome provides like thumbnails in folders, The easy mount/Unmount/Safely Remove facilities for removable storage. And many programs which have many small functions added to which users like me have became used to. It's like traveling to work everyday by bus. It's a norm and you don't miss it till some unfortunate day when bus Drivers call for a strike and you miss the luxury of flashing your route pass to the conductor and hanging on in a bus(and occasionally enjoying the heavenly luxury of a seat - yeah things are so so in India).
And so I found that 'yeah Gnome is slow so what, I've become so used to it's nitti-gritties that I've achieved max productivity and if I were to change to other DE that'll hamper my productivity and I'll have to spend some time getting hang of things and there are a few things that I'm gonna forever miss.
I wanted a confirmation so I installed LXDE and used it for next couple of weeks. Result's same. By end of couple of weeks I've gotten to Gnome like functionality but it was just so-so. Not optimal.
So i'm back to the ever familiar GNOME. BTW I tried out KDE in Kubuntu, didn't like the Win7'esque plasma desktop switched back to gnome.
Life's that sometime we discover a gem on untraveled paths, but usually it's thorns and thorns and some not so pleasant things.
-Vaibhav
p.s My Desktop
Today I'm on a different plane. So last week I was flying(metaphorically) around the world wide web. And I came across a number of websites/forums/blogs where people have published really eye-catching desktops using various utilities/programs etc. I went through it and as a hardcore Linux User and Developer I know how slow a system becomes when you try out all those swanky things.
Sure try them if you have a Quad core monster and oodles of ram, but I came across a number of posts where people have achieved lightweight desktops with great eye candy. Many used Openbox, others LXDE, not many for xfce.
It was interesting thing to see and I wanted to try them out. So I started with OpenBox. Installed it and restarted the machine. After logging on I could see is a blank desktop. A menu came at Right Click and I could access a terminal I went online looked up a number of apps and later after half an hour I had a fully functional desktop working. I used it for next couple of days and found myself wanting.
Mind you I've been a One DE(Desktop Environment) user of gnome for last 6-9 months, so I've came to want all the goodies that Gnome provides like thumbnails in folders, The easy mount/Unmount/Safely Remove facilities for removable storage. And many programs which have many small functions added to which users like me have became used to. It's like traveling to work everyday by bus. It's a norm and you don't miss it till some unfortunate day when bus Drivers call for a strike and you miss the luxury of flashing your route pass to the conductor and hanging on in a bus(and occasionally enjoying the heavenly luxury of a seat - yeah things are so so in India).
And so I found that 'yeah Gnome is slow so what, I've become so used to it's nitti-gritties that I've achieved max productivity and if I were to change to other DE that'll hamper my productivity and I'll have to spend some time getting hang of things and there are a few things that I'm gonna forever miss.
I wanted a confirmation so I installed LXDE and used it for next couple of weeks. Result's same. By end of couple of weeks I've gotten to Gnome like functionality but it was just so-so. Not optimal.
So i'm back to the ever familiar GNOME. BTW I tried out KDE in Kubuntu, didn't like the Win7'esque plasma desktop switched back to gnome.
Life's that sometime we discover a gem on untraveled paths, but usually it's thorns and thorns and some not so pleasant things.
-Vaibhav
p.s My Desktop
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