# Freebsd handbook & lesser known desktop environments.



## Alain De Vos (Jan 15, 2022)

Debatable, shouldn't the handbook provide some information about lesser known desktop environments ? E.g. sway,labwc,openbox,pekwm
Personally i find gnome,kde,xfce a little short in all the good working possibilities available.
Or why not add a url to some wikipage on it ?


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## Cthulhux (Jan 15, 2022)

Wayland is not a desktop environment.


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## chrbr (Jan 15, 2022)

In my opinion there are already many sites comparing different desktop environments. And once X is up and running it makes no difference to me what the operating system is. Therefore it makes no big sense to me to have an additional page. It would also take resources to keep it up to date.


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## tingo (Jan 15, 2022)

I think it is fine as it is: the handbook gives you instructions to set up a few of the more known DE's (DE = desktop environment). If you want to set up a lesser known DE, you should probably have some experience first, right?


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## kpedersen (Jan 15, 2022)

Actually, there possibly should be a section on `TWM` since it is the default WM environment that comes with Xorg and appears after just running `startx` without any additional customization / configuration. Chapter 5 currently only mentions the name.

Details should probably include screenshots, what TWM is and a brief overview on how to use it. I imagine many beginners get Xorg running, only to panic on seeing something very different to the usual visual cheese they see on more consumer-centric platforms.


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## Alain De Vos (Jan 15, 2022)

tingo said:


> I think it is fine as it is: the handbook gives you instructions to set up a few of the more known DE's (DE = desktop environment). If you want to set up a lesser known DE, you should probably have some experience first, right?


A handbook is not only for persons without experience.
And currently what i do is go look into to the arch website e.g.,





						Openbox - ArchWiki
					






					wiki.archlinux.org


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## Alain De Vos (Jan 15, 2022)

Cthulhux said:


> Wayland is not a desktop environment.


I knew someone would say that. So i adapted.


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## kpedersen (Jan 15, 2022)

Alain De Vos said:


> I knew someone would say that. So i adapted.


Arguably your mentioned labwc,openbox,pekwm are not desktop environments either. They are Window Managers.

As for sway, you might as well replace that with *i3 *in your post because the latter is far more commonly used so makes more sense to include in the handbook.

Otherwise you might be suspected of tricking users into going down a needlessly non-standard rabbit hole when really they just wanted a *standard *window manager. Unless that is your intention, I am not sure 

Really I assume you just want to ask the simple question of "_*Would it be possible for the handbook to include a section on Wayland*_" right? In that case, the answer to that is probably, absolutely, once the Wayland ecosystem becomes more mature.


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## Alain De Vos (Jan 15, 2022)

I had to go over a few window managers/desktop environments/display servers , before i found the right ones which fitted my needs.
And am certain mileage vary.
To guide handbook users you could name them "Basic section / Advanced section".
I am certain a lot of Linux users are not aware of desktop-stuff which works under FreeBSD.


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## kpedersen (Jan 15, 2022)

Alain De Vos said:


> I had to go over a few window managers/desktop environments/display servers , before i found the right ones which fitted my needs.


Indeed. I used to enjoy going through xwinman (it died but luckily it was mirrored by Thomas Adams (FVWM Maintainer) https://xteddy.org/xwinman/)


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## mer (Jan 15, 2022)

Alain De Vos said:


> I had to go over a few window managers/desktop environments/display servers , before i found the right ones which fitted my needs.


As did a lot of us.  But you know what?  I've been using WindowMaker for close to 20 years or so.


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## grahamperrin@ (Jan 15, 2022)

Alain De Vos said:


> Debatable, shouldn't the handbook provide some information about lesser known desktop environments ?



I think, there's already too much in various parts of the book, this chapter in particular. 

With the FreeBSD website as the focal point, imagine a page that lists more desktop environments. Obscurely: there's an *X Window workstation* area under _Applications_, but not until after you click _Features_. 

Less obscurely: the main website links out to the FreeBSD Foundation site but there, again, I shouldn't expect to find the lesser known DEs. 

There's work in progress to improve the main site.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Jan 15, 2022)

Alain De Vos said:


> Or why not add a url to some wikipage on it ?


Here you go:



			Building A FreeBSD Desktop From Scratch - Screenshots
		


I've had a separate page for myself and 11 other FreeBSD forum members who use different DE and WM on FreeBSD desktops for the past few years:

Ratpoison
LXQt
XFCE
FVWM
Openbox
i3WM with i3blocks
BSPWM
JVM
KDE
Gnome3
Gnome2
Mate
TWM
Fluxbox
Fluxbox with icons


The shots of Mate and Gnome2 are my screenshots of Solaris, OpenIndiana and Kali boxen, OpenBSD and NetBSD desktops are also represented.


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