Window managers, desktop environments, themes, applications ... with all these components from which to choose, it's no wonder many users new to X Window are confused. Even we were confused. Here's what we found out.
More than 20 window managers are available, and an increasing number of them incorporate functionality traditionally reserved for the desktop environment, so making a distinction between the two is a daunting task.
The X Window System, also referred to as X and X11, is the software that lies between the hardware and the GUI. Linux uses the XFree86 implementation of X, which includes low-level video drivers, basic fonts and other core components. The X Window System is responsible for drawing basic windows, icons and backgrounds. X alone, however, would make for a relatively useless computing experience.
A window manager extends the functionality of the X Window System, adding to the windows borders and providing additional icons, virtual desktops and toolbars, for example (see "Components of the Most Common Window Managers," right). A window manager is also responsible for the look and feel of your desktop, and it is the component with which you'll experiment most.
Conversely, the desktop environment is responsible for much of the behind-the-scenes work of your desktop, providing cut-and-paste, drag-and-drop and other capabilities. It also delivers many of the common utilities you would expect in a functional desktop, including a file manager, control panels, a browser and several other useful programs. The desktop environment also typically includes programming libraries, allowing easy integration of new programs into the environment, and toolkits that help standardize the look and feel of those applications.
In the Linux world, there are two main contenders for the desktop environment space, GNOME and KDE. The debate over which is better is much like the debate concerning which Linux distribution is best: eternal and pointless. Nonetheless, you should be aware of the differences between the two. For example, KDE's browser, Konqueror, is currently more advanced than the GNOME effort, Nautilus. That's liable to change because Nautilus is actively being developed. The look and feel of GNOME and KDE are also quite different because they are based on their own graphics libraries, GTK and QT, respectively.
The bottom line: Selecting a window manger and desktop environment is a personal decision, subject to one's preferences for look and feel, ease of use, and a continuing list of differences between the main contenders. Most agree that the only way to know which environment is right for you is simply to try them out.
Window Manager/Desktop Environment Web Sites:
>> GNOME: www.gnome.org
>> KDE: www.kde.org
>> AfterStep: www.afterstep.org
>> Blackbox: blackbox.alug.org
>> Enlightenment: www.enlightenment.org
>> FVWM: www.fvwm.org
>> IceWM: icewm.sourceforge.net
>> Sawfish: sawmill.sourceforge.net
>> Window Maker: www.windowmaker.net
-- Mike Janowski, mjanowski@neohapsis.com
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