This article is part of a special 24-day Linux Desktop series. Let’s go back in time with Window Maker, which implements the old-school Unix NeXTSTEP environment for today’s users.
Before Mac OS X, there was a strange closed-source Unix system called NeXTSTEP. Sun Microsystems later made the underlying NeXTSTEP an open specification, which allowed other projects to create many free and open source NeXT libraries and components. GNUStep implements many NeXTSTEP libraries, while Window Maker implements its desktop environment.
Window Maker closely mimics the NeXTSTEP desktop GUI and provides an interesting insight into what Unix was like in the late ’80s and early’ 90s. It also reveals some of the basic concepts behind window managers such as Fluxbox and Openbox.
You can install Window Maker from your distribution’s repository. To try it, exit the desktop session after the installation is complete. By default, the session manager (KDM, GDM, LightDM, or XDM, depending on your Settings) will continue to log in to the default desktop, so the default Settings must be overridden when logged in.
To switch to Window Maker on GDM:
On the KDM:
Window Maker Program dock
By default, the Window Maker desktop is empty, but there are several docking stations in each corner. In Window Maker, as in NeXTSTEP, apps can be minimized to ICONS and docked in the Docking area, initiators can be created for quick access to common apps, and miniature “DockApps” can be run.
You can try DockApp by searching for “DockApp” in the repository. These are often network and system monitors, audio Settings panels, clocks, and so on. This is Window Maker running on Fedora:
The application menu
To access the Application menu, right-click anywhere on the desktop. To close it, right-click again. Window Maker is not a desktop environment (DE), but a Window manager (DM). It helps you arrange and manage Windows. The only program it comes bundled with is WPrefs (or Window Maker preferences, as it’s more commonly known), which helps you configure common Settings, while the app menu provides access to other options, including themes.
It’s entirely up to you what apps you run. In Window Maker, you can choose to run KDE applications, GNOME applications, and programs that are not considered any other mainstream desktop applications. You can create your own work environment and manage it using Window Maker.
Via: opensource.com/article/19/…
By Seth Kenlon (lujun9972
This article is originally compiled by LCTT and released in Linux China