Interesting Desktop Environments to try.

[kio_http]

Hi, I've got some spare time and I am tying out Desktop Environments. So far I've tried KDE, Unity, Gnome-Shell, LMGSE with gnome-shell, Gnome 2, LXDE and will soon try XFCE.

I've made a review of all them Here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1889502) if you are interested.

Which other environments would be interesting to try?

I really want to use e17, but I can't find it in the repos, it used to be there in Ubuntu 6.06 and 7.10 if I recall.

I do compile KDE quite frequently and I can possibly do that for e17 butI'm lazy!

[koleoptero]

If you want e17 you can try it with bodhi linux.

[RichardLinx]

I'll second Bodhi Linux. It was my first experience with e17. It's not a bad DE. Very fast, light, and functional. But it's not for me. The effects are quite snappy despite working on incredibly low performance hardware, but I still didn't like it enough in comparison to other available choices.

[Lars Noodén]

You can try plain window managers, too. There are Fluxbox, OpenBox, FVWM / FVWM-crystal and Compiz to try, too.

[CryptAck]

I'm trying to find a nice DE for my HP Mini netbook. I want something very lightweight and fast. I've been toying around with DWM, but sometimes the text is a bit small on the display.

Anyways, DWM is pretty cool, I often recommend experienced users to give it a try.

[kio_http]

I'm trying to find a nice DE for my HP Mini netbook. I want something very lightweight and fast. I've been toying around with DWM, but sometimes the text is a bit small on the display.

Anyways, DWM is pretty cool, I often recommend experienced users to give it a try.

I use DWM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_Window_Manager) too! Its really nice actually.

Just joking, I know you mean DWM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwm)

[digithal]

You can install e17 in your current installation of Ubuntu 11.10 by using yunn's ppa:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yunnxx/e17
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ecomorph e17

Source: http://www.lffl.org/2011/11/installare-e17-e-ecomorph-su-ubuntu.html

[keithpeter]

Hello All

DWM custom compile along with Dmenu and Thunar makes a viable large wide screen interface for me. See my signature for a Debian based version using a desktop file to provide a dwm session under gdm in Debian.

Dmenu is in the 'suckless-tools' package and can work with other desktop environments as well. I've tried it with Openbox (no panels, just dmenu) and XFCE (along side the standard panels).

See

http://bodmas.org/xubuntu/dmenu.html

for detailed guide. No compiling needed, works fine with the packaged version.

[3Miro]

I am primarily a XFCE user, however, I recently make my own DE with Compiz + AWN. this gives you a very clean interface with tons of features and beautiful effects. It is not as efficient as XFCE, but it is worth the try.

[cgroza]

I run Xmonad on top of Xfce.
Tilling window managers are definitely worth it to explore.

[snowpine]

I am a fan of simple and fast: fluxbox, openbox, ratpoison, etc.

[BrokenKingpin]

I would try some of the tiling window managers out there, such as AwesomeWM. Or just pure openbox (it is pretty configurable).

Other than that you hit all the major ones, and would say the other ones are less popular for a reason (not saying they are bad, just less accessible).

I have tied many DEs/WMs over the years, and have finally settled on Xfce, which I am very happy with.

[ninjaaron]

scrotwm is DWM for people who don't want to configure in C.

I use herbstluftwm, which is fantastic, and has the best name of any window manager.

[lykwydchykyn]

I've wanted to try etoile (http://etoileos.com/) for a while but could never get it working. Maybe you'll have more luck.

There's always the retro thing with windowmaker or afterstep.

Right now I'm using awesome on my laptop. It's cool but you have to learn Lua to configure it.

There's always the assemble-your-own method too; try various combinations of window managers, panels, menus, docks, and file browsers until you find something you like. There are a surprising number of options in the repositories and ppa's.

[lorin30]

I've wanted to try etoile (http://etoileos.com/) for a while but could never get it working. Maybe you'll have more luck.

There's always the retro thing with windowmaker or afterstep.

Right now I'm using awesome on my laptop. It's cool but you have to learn Lua to configure it.

There's always the assemble-your-own method too; try various combinations of window managers, panels, menus, docks, and file browsers until you find something you like. There are a surprising number of options in the repositories and ppa's.

Wmaker is fun to tinker around with, and of course uses very little resources. Although, when I installed it without its own home folder, it seemed to break something in my XFCE. I do have a talent for breaking stuff! Also, I don't have any added ppa and apt-get install e17 worked for me so..hrm. So far of all the 'alternative' / light DEs I've tried, openbox was the most viable for my every day use.

[CryptAck]

I use DWM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_Window_Manager) too! Its really nice actually.

Just joking, I know you mean DWM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwm)

You had me very confused until I clicked the links! :)

[screaminj3sus]

I'll second Bodhi Linux. It was my first experience with e17. It's not a bad DE. Very fast, light, and functional. But it's not for me. The effects are quite snappy despite working on incredibly low performance hardware, but I still didn't like it enough in comparison to other available choices.

e17 definitelt isn't for me either, but I was also extremely impressed by how stable and fast its compositing is. Compiz really needs to take a hint from e17!