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− | =Introduction=
| + | #REDIRECT [[Window Managers]] |
− | The window manager and it's related software as pagers, trayers and so on, is a core part of the UI accessibility/usability.
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− | Actually you may virtually choose the window manager you prefer, but in the reality distros are heavily patched for a specific one and a specific graphical toolkit.
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− | SHR/OM2009 uses E17/Illume, Hackable:1 uses MatchBox, other distros adopt LXDE or XFCE4.
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− | Actually SHR/OM2009 does not provide alternatives in their feeds, you may try to use Angstrom feeds but this is discouraged as it may break your system.
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− | Debian based distros, instead, already have all the needed software packaged and compiled, so it's easy to try all them.
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− | Here we analyze various window manager to help users and distro maintainers choosing between them.
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− | =E17/Illume=
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− | This is the "future", all bleeding edge distros adopted it.
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− | Pro:
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− | * a very nice GUI
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− | * highly configurable with easy interface
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− | * finger friendly
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− | * has integrated application launchers, file manager
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− | * authors worked in openmoko, so they know better community needs
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− | Cons:
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− | * not compatible with freedesktop systray specifications
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− | * not EWMH compliant (at least actually, as E16 is we suppose it will be compatible in the future)
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− | * not stable version released, distro maintainers have to mediate between updates and system breaking, see SHR-Unstable
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− | * not easy theming
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− | * poor documentation
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− | Workarounds/todo:
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− | * find/test/patch/package some standard sys tray gadget to allow tray application run fine
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− | * bore the authors to implement EWMH specifications :)
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− | * bore distro maintainers to update E snapshots only when needed :)
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− | * use the highly configurability of Illume to simulate EWMH interaction, for example with global shortcut to close/kill window, toggle fullscreen, this needs more key events, the topic is discussed in [[Better handling of AUX/Power buttons]]
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− | =Matchbox=
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− | Matchbox is the "legacy" window manager in the embedded world, very light, a bit older then other solutions.
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− | Pro:
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− | * sys tray specification compliant
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− | * EWMH compliant, so you may write your software to drive it
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− | * very light
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− | * well tested
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− | * simple theming
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− | * good documentation
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− | Cons:
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− | * with default settings it's not finger friendly
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− | * not easy to configure, some parameters have to be passed on the command line
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− | * some features are experimental, but it seems they are quite stable
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− | * the major part of applets does not work on freerunner (battery for example)
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− | Workarounds/issues/todo:
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− | * to make it finger friendly you need a specific theme, you may use the one in Hackable:1
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− | * for good interaction you have to use EWMH software, neod is one of them, but it is not FSO compatible, and use hardware directly
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− | * the matchbox-desktop application launcher has some usability issues
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− | * we should think to write a new launcher and a fso-compatible neod to improve user experience.
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− | =Other window mangers=
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− | TO BE DONE
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