Re: What *is* Gnome/KDE?
On Mon, Feb 21, 2000 at 04:00:35PM -0600, Christian Dysthe wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have been playing around with Gnome and KDE and I do not understand
> what they really are!
Crutches for weak-minded lusers.
...ok, that's enough gasoline, where'd I put the matches...
Seriously, they've both user and developer sides. From the user side, a
set (suite) of software and configuration, an integrated appearance, DnD
support, "desktop" motif (a hideous blot on the face of computing,
IMVAO), and themeable application appearance -- not just window
decorations, but dialogs, menus, fonts, events, etc.
On the developer side, there are corresponding toolkits for doing all
the same. This includes object models and brokers, meaning you may be
able to integrate and break Linux programs in the same way you can
Windows ones....
> They both seem to be a bar with some docked stuff and a program
> launcher. This is of course seen from a users side of things. I really
> hope it is means more to developers!
>
> I know Gnome and KDE are called "environments", but they still only
> look like...errrm...a tweaked MS task bar and program launcher.
Funny, I see the same thing <g>.
> I am now back to running only a window manager. I have all my software
> available a right-click away and no bar is taking up space anywhere.
Well, aside from the all-too-cool dock on the right of my monitor....
Yes, I run WindowMaker and like it. Clean, quick, handy keyboard
accelerators, stable. I'll occasionally fire up KDE or Gnome for kicks.
Nothing compels me to stay.
There's nothing "required" in Gnome or KDE. You can run them with
various WMs, you can run various WMs without them. WindowMaker is IMO
all the "IUE" (integrated user environment) I need, though there is the
GNUStep desktop which is adding *its* appearance, widget kit, etc., to
the desktop as well. Raster is also looking at moving E to something
bridging the space between wm and IUE. And it *is* pretty....
The point, AFAICT is to provide something for newbies to walk over to
that's familiar, to make the corporate desktop more of an option. Note
that KDE and Gnome are both miles ahead of anything MSFT offered until
Win95 in terms of appearance and integration, are still miles ahead of
it in stability, and perhaps functionality. There's also absolutely
nothing else running on commercial Unix that comes close (I'm not
counting Mac OS X as it's not based on X Windows and isn't a full Unix
despite its Mach core).
If you don't need the full desktop, you're welcome to run whatever --
fvwm, twm <g>, wmaker, AfterStep, icewm, blackbox, E, etc. You can
still run Gnome and KDE apps.
> Am I missing the whole point or something? If Gnome and KDE is
> something more I would like to know to be able to improve my desktop
> experience. If not I will let the emperor continue showing off his new
> clothes ;)
>
> Bear with me, I am only a user... :)
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------
> Regards,
> Christian Dysthe
> E-mail: cdysthe@oddbird.dyndns.org
> Web: http://oddbird.dyndns.org
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--
Karsten M. Self (kmself@ix.netcom.com)
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
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