Things To Know Before Using Linux

Dark Star

Desktop and Windows Environment

An Operating System is of no use if its not easy to interact .. As the whole purpose of OS is to ease the communication gap between User and Computer.. To help users understand and interact with computers easily there are Graphical Shells.. These Graphical shells provide an easy and interactive interface to interact and to work with your system. With the inclusion of Graphical Shell/Desktops its easier for User to work without using Commands ..

In X-Window System or in Unix like Computer these graphical shell/environment are termed as Desktop/Windows Environment.. A desktop environment typically consists of icons, windows, toolbars, folders, wallpapers, and desktop widgets. ..Operating System like Windows and OSX do not allow users to use different Windows/Desktop Environment thus the User is restricted to only one kind of GUI while there are lots of choice in GNU/Linux.

Though there is a major difference between Desktop Environment and Windows Manager. The difference is the availability of Applications. A Desktop Environment provides users with Full set of application and tool along side with a Graphical Environment .. while the Windows Manager only provide a Graphical Shell thus relying on other source for Application. A Windows Manager is usually light on system then DE..

Desktop Environment are more scuttle and sophisticated for a new user. The provide enhanced GUI couple with handy applications and tools to ease the computing experience . .Few Major Desktop Environment available for Linux platform are K Desktop Environment [KDE], Gnome Desktop Environment, XFCE.

Gnome | KDE 4.x | KDE 3.5.x Desktops

These have their own toolkit for creating Desktop and applications like QT is a toolkit used for KDE and GTK for Gnome and XFCE .

Despite having different set of codes and base the applications made are cross platform .. i.e. you can easily run GTK based applications in KDE and vice versa.
On the other side Windows Manager doesn't come with handy tools and application. Though they are created to utilize both QT and GTK based applications.. Some of the popular lightweight Windows Manager are IceWM, Flux Box, Openbox, Enlightment etc..

All Desktop Environment comes with their own Windows Manager...

Dark Star · #1 (**permalink**) By Dark Star on 17 Aug 08, 09:17 AM

Please digg the post here Digg - Things To Know Before Using Linux

Gurpartap Singh · By Gurpartap Singh on 17 Aug 08, 09:17 AM

Digg here: ...
Edit: whoops , you already added it there

Great post buddy!

vishalrao · #3 (**permalink**) By vishalrao on 17 Aug 08, 10:20 AM

Great effort again

Nitari · #4 (**permalink**) By Nitari on 17 Aug 08, 11:03 AM

took 30 mins to completely read it and yes its very useful for first timer like me, gonna try Mandriva

grt effort repped

rahulyo · #5 (**permalink**) By rahulyo on 17 Aug 08, 06:27 PM

Thanx Dude ....

prakashan · #6 (**permalink**) By prakashan on 17 Aug 08, 06:33 PM

good effort.digged too.

SidhuScorpion · #7 (**permalink**) By SidhuScorpion on 17 Aug 08, 06:33 PM

Repped and Dugg !

Good tutorial buddy

|Anish| · #8 (**permalink**) By |Anish| on 17 Aug 08, 10:37 PM

you always seem to amaze me with your reviews/previews/guides ... this is just an awesome guide to a person like me who does not know either head nor tail regarding other OSs

.. Thanks a millions Darky

Can you also give me an idea about the best looking Linux distro available?
I have Ubuntu/Kubuntu. But i also want to try out something different for daily usage combined with great appearance

Thanks again

hammerhead · #9 (**permalink**) By hammerhead on 17 Aug 08, 11:16 PM

Excellent post. Sorry I cannot rep you, have to spread more reps

Dark Star · #10 (**permalink**) By Dark Star on 17 Aug 08, 11:16 PM

^^ You can always change the appearence of your desktop .. Linux desktop are too scalable for that Ubuntu Customization Guide v2 ..

But if you need out of the box candy I would suggest Mandriva , well it depends on person to person.. The thing I like might not suite you and so on .. Check Mandriva here http://www.techenclave.com/reviews-a...sh-111577.html

spynic · #11 (**permalink**) By spynic on 17 Aug 08, 11:23 PM

how do u get so much time?? good for newbie's..cant rep yet, need to spread around

tracyanne · #12 (**permalink**) By tracyanne on 18 Aug 08, 04:58 AM

Very nice article darkstar. I've been a Linux user (Mandriva) since 2000, when Mandriva was called Mandrake.

Ph4x0r · #13 (**permalink**) By Ph4x0r on 18 Aug 08, 10:41 AM

Great thanks.. helped me a lot ! Expecting much more from you.

Gaurish · #14 (**permalink**) By Gaurish on 18 Aug 08, 12:01 PM

Great Effort:hapy2:

btw, compiling from source is not needed for most of time, hence you should always use precompiled binaries your distros package manager like Add/Remove Programs in Ubuntu.

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Things To Know Before Using Linux Discussion under Guides and Tutorials, part of the Work in Progress category on TechEnclave; Desktop and Windows Environment...