06.23.09

Window Manager Conundrum

Posted in Linux For All at 10:03 pm by beely

Summer is brutal in Tucson: lots of heat, and when the “monsoon” rain season hits, there’s the high humidity to deal with, it’s murder! Tough working conditions for computers, especially for laptop users: My Dell Inspiron 5150 is my primary machine–a decent desktop replacement that I’ve been pretty happy with, especially using SuSE Linux 10.0.

I’m having an issue with the system: in times of intense, heat-creating activity (running KDE or Gnome and loads of eye-candy and processes running, lots of hard drive activity, processor really cranking, WLAN interface active as primary network connection), I’ve experienced situations where the laptop does a preventative thermal shutdown with the briefest of warnings. I’m thankful that I ‘m not experiencing motherboard melt-down, but it’s very annoying! Why do I continue to use KDE as my primary desktop/window manager when it could be contributing to the problem? Which window manager/desktop system to use on my laptop?

I really like working with KDE, but I'm trying to understand my reasons for using it as the default desktop on my laptop. I also use Gnome from time-to-time, it's a little bit lighter than KDE, not as much bloat, not as many services loaded, but I experience the thermal shutdown problem with Gnome as well. So, why do I stay with KDE when I my laptop might be better served with a lighter window manager (WM) such as IceWM, FluxBox, BlackBox, or XFCE (another favorite)?

• KDE feels complete and seems to start up services I use often with the laptop, especially wireless access when I take the machine out to local, free WiFi coffeeshops. Gnome also provides the networking tool that let's me choose the WLAN network wireless interface. I'd love to get this working in XFCE and IceWM.
• I also think that KDE feels closer to that other operating system I have to use at work, so it's less adjustment. I'm still evaluating this. Not really a reason to stay with KDE, but it's all about our level of comfort and what we're used to using.
• We have a used LexMark laser printer (4039-10Plus) accessed directly on the home network that I can have only been able to print from KDE via CUPS. Gnome works like it's going to print, but doesn't happen. I'd like to see printing be much more seamless in all the WMs. I'm still researching this.
• I much prefer Konqueror as the default file manager. I don't care too much for the Gnome file manager: Nautilus. The other WMs have a very minimalistic file manager so I usually invoke the Konqueror manager from a console.
• I use Firefox and usually have no problem launching that from any of the WMs. Thunderbird for email is another story: I have to launch Thunderbird from a console in some of the WMs because it doesn't show up as an option in any of the launching options provided. More on that below.
• Not all of the WMs provide an easy method to modify their user and system menus. This could also be an incomplete installation or simply the absence of the configuration/management tools. Why is this? Why don't all the WMs provide a FAQ, help file that is readily found that describes what file(s) have to be edited or which configuration tool has to be run and used to update the installation.I'd love to have the programs I use most available from whatever menu the WM provides.
• I've liked Enlightenment when I used it in earlier SuSE installations (8.2, 9.3), but the newest version seems to have so many dependencies, I've been hesitant to install it. Enlightenment could be more complete than many of the lighter WMs, but I still worry about bloat.
• I'm obviously still learning more and more about Linux and specifically the management of this laptop. I've used KDE management tools to turn off some services and enable other options. I am looking at making sure that I don't start up so many instances of Apache web server (for local verification of web content I develop.)

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