fvwm and Derivatives

fvwm: Nobody knows what the "f" in fvwm stands for, but it is a virtual window manager built on top of twm, with features like a 3D appearance, mwm emulation, and lower memory consumption. Fvwm supports shaped windows and icons, multiple virtual desktops, and it allows you to select among several different ways of placing windows on the screen.

Fvwm also introduced the concept of modules to the world of window managers. Fvwm modules are small programs that provide extra features to the window manager. Because of their modular design, though, these little programs only use up system memory if the feature they provide is being used.

fvwm2:Version 2 of fvwm has been through several maintainers and picked up a number of new features along the way. Fvwm2 is extremely configurable. It allows you to configure the focus policy far beyond the simple click-to-focus or focus-follows-mouse methods.

fvwm95: A variant of fvwm, fvwm95, has the look and feel of Windows 95, but is compatible with fvwm2. It features a module that emulates the Start menu of Windows 95.

AfterStep: AfterStep is a fvwm derivative developed to emulate the look and feel of NeXTSTEP. It supports multiple desktops, each with their own look and feel, and allows you to change themes easily via menus. The AfterStep Web site brags that it is "The most highly configurable window manager available today, bar none!" They said it, not me.

xfwm:This window manager is not as configurable as fvwm2, but it's smaller. Plus it supports KDE and GNOME hints, in addition to the Open Look and Motif hints already supported by fvwm2.

scwm: The Scheme Window Manager is another highly configurable window manager. It is configured by writing functions in a dialect of Lisp known as Scheme. Unless you are a programmer, this is probably not the window manager for you.

The Lookalikes

These window managers attempt to emulate the look and feel of other desktop environments.

amiwm: This window manager approximates the look of the Amiga Workspace Manager.

qvwm: Developed in Japan, gvwm has a Windows 95-like appearance.

mlvwm:This Mac lookalike is an obvious candidate for anyone used to working with MacOS.

icewm:The icewm window manager is able to simulate the look of OS/2 Warp, Windows 95 and mwm.

WindowMaker: WindowMaker has a NeXT-like look, although it too can be configured with different themes. WindowMaker configuration is done via drag-and-drop, so it is a good choice for someone who wants to be able to make changes easily.

Blackbox:Blackbox has a look similar to WindowMaker (and AfterStep, and therefore, NeXTSTEP). It supports multiple workspaces and is GNOME-aware, yet relatively lightweight.

Lightweights

The window managers in this category are designed to be small and efficient. Their lack of features is, in fact, one of their best features. If you are using a system without much RAM or a low-resolution screen (or both) you'll want to try one of these.

wm2:Wm2 lets you move windows around on the screen and resize them. It allows you to delete windows, to hide them from view and cause them to be seen again. It also attaches a title bar and a partial frame to the windows. It gives you the basic functions a window manager should provide, but not much more. You do not get any configuration options with wm2.

wmx:Wmx is from the same author as wm2 and it shows. It places a thin half frame along the top and left side of each window and adds a small tab with the window title vertically along the top of the window's left side. However, wmx has a trick or two that is lacking in wm2: multiple desktops and key bindings, for example.

lwm:The Lightweight Window Manager, like wm2, has a very short list of features. It is somewhat configurable though. For example, you can change the font used in the title bar. This window manager draws a thin frame for each window, but only the window that currently has focus (using focus-follows-mouse) gets a title bar. This reduces the amount of screen real-estate used by the window manager itself. The root menu is configured by adding symlinks to the directory ~/.wmx. For each symlink in that directory, there will be a menu entry of the same name. The symlink should point to the program to be executed when the menu item is selected.

flwm: Another window manager with minimal configurability, flwm, the Fast Light Window Manager also reads the ~/.wmx directory to generate its root menu. Each window gets a title bar running sideways along the left side of the window.

Commercial Window Managers

These all either cost money or are obsolete. Unless you are already using a Unix workstation and want to keep the same look on your Linux box, you can probably skip this section of the store. The free window managers are a much better choice.

mwm:The Motif Window Manager or some variant was a standard window manager for several years on Unix workstations. Built with the Motif widget set, mwm has a 3D look that has been imitated by many other window managers. This window manager is slowly being supplanted by dtwm (see below).

olwm:One vendor that did not use mwm was Sun. Instead Sun used the Open Look desktop environment and olwm, the Open Look Window Manager. Sun released the olwm source code and it has since been ported to Linux. Olwm's look, provided by the XView toolkit, is unique, with buttons and menu selections that have rounded corners. It also has pinnable windows and menus.

olvwm:Olvwm is simply olwm with the addition of a virtual desktop.

dtwm: Dtwm is the window manager for the Common Desktop Environment. CDE is now used by almost all of the major workstation vendors, including Sun. If you are trying to introduce Linux workstations to a company that has been using Unix for a long time and is standardized on CDE, you may want to purchase CDE for your new Linux systems.

The Ones that Don't Fit

Most window managers fit into one of five broad categories, but there are three that defy categorization. And two of the three, kwm and Enlightenment, are window managers that you will definitely want to check out.

kwm:The K Desktop Environment comes with its own window manager,kwm. This window manager features roll-up windows, keyboard shortcuts, and themes. Its strongest feature, though, is its integration with the rest of the KDE desktop. While there are now other KDE-aware window managers, kwm uses the same Qt toolkit as the KDE applications, so it maintains the same look and feel across the entire desktop environment.

Enlightenment:Enlightenment, also known simply as E, is a very graphics-intensive window manager. It is designed to be extremely customizable. Selecting themes with Enlightenment is a piece of cake because of this. It broke from tradition by being the first to use non-rectangular window frames. Probably the most interesting innovation in Enlightenment is its use of floating desktops. As with other window managers, Enlightenment lets you have multiple desktops on one machine, but instead of being separate, disjointed entities, floating desktops are layered one on top of the other. You switch desktops by sliding one over the top of another. You can partially slide one desktop on top of the other, creating an overlap where it's easy to move windows from one desktop to another. Enlightenment is GNOME-aware and is often used with it.

gwm:The Generic Window Manager, like scwm is configured by writing code in a programming language. Gwm uses a language called WOOL (Window Object Oriented Language). But unlike, scwm, it has not been updated for several years. You'll probably want to skip this one.

So there you have it. While I've not covered every possible item in the inventory, you should now know enough about the X Window System store to make an informed purchase. And sometime down the road, if you want to update your wardrobe, feel free to shop again. There's always plenty to choose from.

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Joseph Moss is the maintainer of the XFree86 man pages. He can be reached at .