FreeBSD is really great.. BUT..

Wed Mar 19 17:27:11 UTC 2014

I will add my personal notes atop Polytropon's...
reinforcing the "FreeBSD as a Desktop" concept:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Polytropon [mailto:freebsd at edvax.de]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 8:03 AM
> To: Matthias Gamsjager
> Cc: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> Subject: Re: FreeBSD is really great.. BUT..
> 
> On Wed, 19 Mar 2014 13:15:30 +0100, Matthias Gamsjager wrote:
> > Well for pure desktop use FreeBSD still doesn't cut it.
> 
> Allow me to add a personal note:
> 
> I'm using FreeBSD _exclusively_ on the desktop since 4.0 for
entertainment,
> multimedia, development and testing, even though it's a home desktop
> computer. I'm more than happy with it because I could do what the "cool
> kids"
> could do _before_ they could do it, and even _after_ they stopped being
> able to do it, even with limited, primitive and el cheapo hardware.
> 
> I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. :-)
> 

I too must be doing something wrong. Been using FreeBSD as a desktop for
work, play, fun, since 4.8. Using it as a Desktop right now with FreeBSD 10.

Recently for fun, I decided to load up a few different window managers just
to see how many choices I had for a desktop environment. Here's what I
ended up with (NOTE: I got tired when I hit "w", going from the A-Z on the
freshports.org website under x11-wm category):

devin at scribe10 ~ $ ls .XSM*
.XSM-fvwm2     .XSM-jwm       .XSM-new       .XSM-sawfish   .XSM-xfwm4
.XSM-gnome     .XSM-lxde      .XSM-piewm     .XSM-tvtwm     .XSMlock-fvwm2
devin at scribe10 ~ $ ls XSM-profiles/
.XSM-blackbox  .XSM-jewel     .XSM-oroborus  .XSM-sapphire  .XSM-windowlab
.XSM-fluxbox   .XSM-mate      .XSM-pekwm     .XSM-swm
.XSM-flwm      .XSM-matwm2    .XSM-phluid    .XSM-twm
.XSM-icewm     .XSM-openbox   .XSM-pwm       .XSM-w9wm

I only made it from A through half of W, so I'm sure if I kept going, I'd
have
things like windowmaker and anything starting with a latter X-Z.

NOTE: I use "xsm" as a tool for choosing which window manager I want to run
during login and I use "xdm" as a login screen.

I also use other "cool" things like compton, conky, and transset. All of
which
(including each/every one of the above window managers) run decently with
1GB of RAM or higher (maybe less, but I've got ZFS as a root filesystem on
this
FreeBSD 10 desktop).

> > I am still trying
> > to get any form of Eclipse running here in 10Stable.
> 
> Have been using Eclipse previously without any problems, but no experience
> on v10. Address the list with more details to improve that situation.
> 

I can similarly attest to running Eclipse, but haven't yet tried to load it
onto
FreeBSD 10 (running fine on a 9.x laptop).

> > The gfx driver lack
> > behind (tho we are catching up) and things like GNOME3 etc. it's so
> > Linux centric that using a newer WM on FreeBSD is like using a
> > smartphone in the middle of the desert.
> 
> You're comparing things and stuff here. Gnome 3 isn't a window manager.
> It's a desktop system that is, as you said, quite Linux-oriented, that's
why the
> port to a different operating system (which FreeBSD is in relation to
Linux)
> requires time, so functionality is lacking.
> There are other desktop systems that tend to work better than Gnome 3, for
> example Xfce 4 or LXDE.
> Both Xfce and LXDE are quite new, I think LXDE is even newer than Gnome or
> KDE. :-)
> 
> If you want to use a _real_ window manager, maybe even a tiling WM,
> there's plenty of choice.
> 

I've given a good list of window managers that I've tested to be working
as-expected when loaded using "pkg install -y", but for reference, here's
there port names and how to invoke them from (say) an XTerm (after
which if you like it, you can either make a .xsession file or create an XSM
profile):

fvwm2-i18n:
	Port name: x11-wm/fvwm2-i18n
	How to run/test-drive: fvwm2 &
gnome2:
	Port name: x11/gnome2
	How to run/test-drive: gnome-session &
	NB: For XSM profile, you also need (first) "xhost
si:localuser:USERNAME"
Joe's Window Manager (extremely fast and light):
	Port name: x11-wm/jwm
	How to run/test-drive: jwm &
LXDE:
	Port name: x11/lxde-meta
	How to run/test-drive: lxsession &
PieWM (David Wolkskill's fork of Tom's Virtual WM; a fork of TWM):
	Port name: x11-wm/piewm
	How to run/test-drive: piewm &
Sawfish (fast and compatible with smproxy):
	Port name: x11-wm/sawfish
	How to run/test-drive: sawfish &
Tom's Virtual WM (fork of TWM):
	Port name: x11-wm/tvtwm
	How to run/test-drive: tvtwm &
XFCE4:
	Port name: x11-wm/xfce4
	How to run/test-drive: xfwm4 &
Blackbox:
	Port name: x11-wm/blackbox
	How to run/test-drive: blackbox &
Fluxbox:
	Port name: x11-wm/fluxbox
	How to test-drive: fluxbox &
flwm:
	Port name: x11-wm/flwm
	How to run/test-drive: flwm &
IceWM (support smproxy):
	Port name: x11-wm/icewm
	How to run/test-drive: icewm &
Jewel:
	Port name: x11-wm/jewel
	How to run/test-drive: jewel &
Mate:
	Port name: x11/mate
	How to run/test-drive:
		mate-session &
		marco &
	NB: For XSM profile, you also need (first) "xhost
si:localuser:USERNAME"
matwm2:
	Port name: x11-wm/matwm2
	How to run/test-drive: matwm2 &
OpenBox (supports smproxy):
	Port name: x11-wm/openbox
	How to run/test-drive: openbox &
Oroborus (Mac Classic look by default; supports smproxy):
	Port name: x11-wm/oroborus
	How to run/test-drive: oroborus &
pekwm (fast; light; "Orange" and minimalist):
	Port name: x11-wm/pekwm
	How to run/test-drive: pekwm &
Phluid:
	Port name: x11-wm/phluid
	How to run/test-drive: phluid &
pwm:
	Port name: x11-wm/pwm
	How to run/test-drive: pwm &
Sapphire:
	Port name: x11-wm/sapphire
	How to run/test-drive: sapphire &
SWM:
	Port name: x11-wm/swm
	How to run/test-drive: swm &
TWM (supports smproxy):
	Port name: x11-wm/twm
	How to run/test-drive: twm &
w9wm (fork of 9wm):
	Port name: x11-wm/w9wm
	How to run/test-drive: w9wm &
WindowLab:
	Port name: x11-wm/windowlab
	How to run/test-drive: windowlab &

Just to name a few.
-- 
Devin

_____________
The information contained in this message is proprietary and/or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please: (i) delete the message and all copies; (ii) do not disclose, distribute or use the message in any manner; and (iii) notify the sender immediately. In addition, please be aware that any message addressed to our domain is subject to archiving and review by persons other than the intended recipient. Thank you.