Open-Source Graphical Shells: Part One – Desktop Environments
Open-Source Graphical Shells: Part One – Desktop Environments Part 1 of a three-part series on the graphical shells of the open-source world. Contents What Is a Graphical Shell, Really? The Familiar Faces Fresh Ideas and Specialist Builds There's a moment every newcomer to Linux, BSD or Unix hits: the desktop staring back at them looks nothing like what they expected, and somebody in a forum casually mentions "just switch your DE" as though that's an ordinary sentence. It is, once you know the territory. This is the first instalment of a three-part tour through the world of open-source graphical shells — the software that sits between you and your kernel, and quietly decides how good (or gruelling) your day at the computer is going to be. Part One covers desktop environments, the all-in-one packages that most people mean when they say "Linux desktop." Parts Two and Three, coming soon, will take on window managers and the fast-moving world of Wayla...
