desktop environments / x / window managers?

Have I got this right?

* X is the graphical server for linux.
* you run window managers on top of X, window managers can be minimal (blackbox) or fuller featured.

So, what are Gnome and KDE?  Are they a combination of WM and extra software, or are they just feature rich WMs?

Gnome and KDE are both Desktop Environments


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment

That's fairly accurate. Window managers are programs that control the placement and appearance of windows of the windowing system. Desktop environments like KDE or Gnome consist of a bunch of software that are designed to work together for the purpose of presenting a "desktop computing environment". These desktop environment includes their own window manager; Kwin for KDE and Metacity for Gnome.

>>3
Desktop environments include their own window manager, but you can generally substitute any other window manager without problems. It's common for Ubantofags to use compiz instead of Metacity with GNOME, for instance.

If you want a better idea of what your desktop environment does, just open a bash shell and type ``gnome'' and hit tab to get a list of all applications starting with ``gnome''. That should give you a general idea.

To be exact, X consists of three parts:

* X-Server is what controls the graphics card and input devices on a particular computer
* X-Clients are any applications wanting to draw themselves on a screen
* The protocol that X-Clients and Servers use to communicate

With that architecture it's perfectly possible to have X-Clients running on a different machine than the X-Server. "display" and "XDMCP" are some keywords for a search.

Also, desktop environments typically also bring their own session manager which restore you previous session (running applications, window placement, etc) once you log out and in again. The only "pure window manager" that does that as well that I know of is Window Maker.

Okay, that's excellent, thanks.

BITCHFUKCS

Well, I learned got a couple of doubts cleared up in this thread. It's such a shame that almost no one uses the text boards.

>>5
You can even run an X-client from windows.

And since has came a new concept called "desktop shell" with Enlightenment (E17 one), it will be released in the DVD bonus of Duke Nukem Forever (along with a working operating system based on Hurd)

>>10
The Hurd is a working operating system (for some values of working).

fluxbox ftw

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