Hi,
The best desktop environment to use is GNOME ! (for me my needs at last - check my needs below...) (but nautilus sucks in detailed view)
Now most posts on desktop environments i found with google (many were from this forum), considered too few aspects to judge a desktop environment. For example there was this thread where it was said "kde-core is faster than gnome-desktop" - which is true, but not accurate - he should have compared kde-core with gnome-core and gnome would have won this one.
Im gonna try better in my post. I used 8.10 with generic kernel for testing. It took like 3 days to test all of this. Hope it helps others that seek "the one" for themselves. Some limitations are amazingly stupid/weird for a long time windows XP user as myself.
For every major component...
I will list my "Needs"
I will list what software i tried
I will list the advantages / disadvantages per software
[U][B]
"Login Manager" the software to start a desktop session:[/B][/U]
1.Must be easy to edit 2.As fast/light as possible 3.Remote capabilty
- Needs:
I found these to consider: GDM, KDM, XDM, SLIM
*XDM + seemed light enought
*SLIM
*GDM vs KDM ? + both are easily configurable
KDM for KDE, GDM for GNOME - becuase then they share libraries with desktop manager software and are lighter. So in the end i chose GDM because i chose GNOME.
- is hard to edit (no GUI configurator)
- no remote capability (i didnt have time to try it out)
- is hard to edit (no GUI configurator)
- not very light
_### "Window Manager"+"taskbar" the software to manage your windows and some desktop aspects:_
- Needs:
1.1 While moving/resizing "dont show window content" - makes any window manager surpringly fast (i know its an illusion :P, but really - seeing the border(s) is enought ! )
2.1 Changing theme 2.2 Canging menu
- As fast/light as possible
- Must be easy to edit
- Dual Monitor capability (the weak spot of any linux).
I found these to consider: openbox, fluxbox, lxde, xfce4, gnome-core, kde-core
*kde-core 4.1 I read by googling a lot, tat kde 4.1 uses less memory than kde 3.5. - too heavy.. i have used kubuntu desktop.. it took around 400MB ram without activating any application somehow. It starts slower than any gnome variant. kde-core took 285MB of ram and also started slow.. ..besides some taskbar icons were broken, panels were with wrong sizes... Felt alot like testing "Windows Vista" Tooo raw. - needs too much practise to remaster the new 4.1 Desktop So i discard all KDE variants from futher testing. (at work we still have some 512MB ram PC-s)
*xfce4 "xubuntu" desktop environment was my second try to use linux in everyday tasks. + light/fast enought (near 200 MB ram usage) (i mesaured ram in the end with all window managers installed i didnt make clean install for every test.. so its +/- 20Mb ? maybe) + "Opaque move and resize" option, "No window content while move and resize" + themes are easy to edit (GUI confiurators) So why did xfce4 make me mad ? - no "copy, paste, create new" under right click on Desktop - no group select under Desktop !!! wtf !!! - no dual monitor GUI configurator (the default filemanager "thunar" made me also mad... read below "Filemanager")
*lxde It uses openbox for window manager, lxmenu for taskmanager and pcmanfm for filemanager. + light/fast enought (near 170 MB ram usage) + openbox themes and menu are easy to edit (GUI confiurators) - openbox "No window content while move and resize" is 100% broken - cant move Desktop icons (pcmanfm manages it).. only sort (not a very big minus in my eyes) - no dual monitor.. tryed lxrandr, but it doesnt detect external monitor,tv,projector.
*fluxbox It does not come with Desktop- and File- manager.. but it has its own taskbar. + light/fast enought (near 155 MB ram usage) + fluxbox themes and menu have GUI configurators + "No window content while move and resize" is working. (although this function clitched with default (not the manufacturer nvidia) video driver) - no dual monitor GUI
*gnome-core + openbox (this takes some configuring to set up) ... very few (maybe acceptable) minuses for this combination :) + light/fast enought (near 195 MB ram usage) + openbox themes and menu are easy to edit (GUI confiurators) + let Neutilus handle Desktop to be able to move icons on it... (or pcmanfm to not).. + for Dual Monitor gnome has "gnome-display-properties" applet which works fine with openbox. (NB!, if i installed nvidia drivers, then gnome applet broke.. nvidia-settings worked everywhere... but thtats not the point... i also have a PC which has SIS graphics and no such "nvidia" or "ati" custom app works for it) - openbox "No window content while move and resize" is 100% broken
*gnome-core + fluxbox (this takes some configuring to set up) + light/fast enought (near 196 MB ram usage) + fluxbox themes and menu have GUI configurators + let Neutilus handle Desktop to be able to move icons on it... (or pcmanfm to not).. + "No window content while move and resize" is working. - for Dual Monitor gnome has "gnome-display-properties" applet which DOES NOT WORK with fluxbox. (only mirroring was possible - i saw many clitches, and one xserver crash with testing this)
*gnome-core + light/fast enought (near 230 MB ram usage) (i remember that first install gnome-core was 155MB ram... i was surprised because openbox and fluxbox were near that ram usage) + metacity (gnome window manager) themes and gnome menu are easy to edit (GUI configurators) + let Neutilus handle Desktop to be able to move icons on it... (or pcmanfm to not).. + "No window content while move and resize" is working but not easy to set (needed to google more than usual). + for Dual Monitor gnome has "gnome-display-properties" applet which works fine with metacity. (the default filemanager "nautilus" made me angry... read below "Filemanager")
[U][B]
"Filemanager" the software to manage files.. browse, move, copy,[/B][/U] delete:
- Needs:
1.1 NB! i consider "Detailed view" the only view to use anywhere. Why ?: * Icon view is a chaos - [INDENT] (the default view.. thats why all newbies use it, maybe thats why some ppl hate computers?) * not sorted, * icons are huge.. so browing many files is a chore. * gives no info on things you see. (you see by extension, thats its image, but how big ? (hover tooltip is not an option))[/INDENT] * List view is a bit less chaos - [INDENT]* things are more sorted, but items go from up to down and from left to right... a bit bad listing. * gives no info on things you see.[/INDENT] * Detailed view - [INDENT]* things are sorted from up to down. you get a good overview. * very easy to resort.. by name, size, owner, filetype, date[/INDENT]
(on every view previously mentioned)
- Must have "Detailed view"
- Right click function must have "Create new", "Copy", "Paste"
- Network browsing. (ftp, windows shares, linux shares).
I tested those: Thunar, Dolphin, Nautilus, Pcmanfm Because they came from above testing.
*Dolphin - came with KDE 4.1 + Detailed view functioned properly + Network browsing was there + Right click funtions worked
which makes it not a good idea to use in GNOME environment.
- many usuless space taking sidepanels by default (easily removable)
- comes with KDE, so i assume it uses KDE libraries...
*Nautilus - comes with GNOME + Network browsing is there
- Detailed view is broken ... cant right click Copy/Paste items in this view.
*Thunar - comes with xfce4 (sorry, i dont remember about network browing)
- Detailed view is broken ... cant right click Copy/Paste items in this view. Same as in nautilus. That makes me mad.
*Pcmanfm - comes with lxde + Detailed view is OK - not as good as in dolphin.. it like in nautilus, but with a quick hotfix - good enought :D (people use right click copy/paste/create new more often than group select anyway) (I mean group select is not totally broken - but you cant select all with one stroke.. always one unselected) + Right click functions work
(in sudo mode it works, in user mode it displays a unreadable errormessage) For removable device mounting it works in user mode as in sudo mode.
- no Network browsing (promised in new versions)
- It hase some permission issues mith mounting partitions
_So what meets my needs ?_
gnome-core desktop and window managing is enought for me. But joggling between tho filemanagers - pcmanfm with default view to detailed for file managing and nautilus for network browsing is not very good solution.
_The question for this thread.._.
Anyone knows how to "hotfix" the nautilus and thunar "detailed view" bugs ? Or is there another better filemanager (i mean besides pcmanfm upcoming versions) ?
:confused: To answer you dont have to read the whole post... start from "Filemanager" to understand the thread question. All fack corrections are welcome. Picking on my unperfect english - not.