Revision [19692]
This is an old revision of WindowManagersEffects made by darkcity on 2011-12-01 13:45:43.
Window Managers
The Window Manager is the layer between X windows and the DesktopEnvironments desktop environment. If you imagine a computer system as a series of layers it would look something like this:
Hardware < Operating System < Window System < Window Manager < Desktop Environment
for Puppy the default is JWM or OpenBox:
Hardware < Linux < X Windows < JWM or OpenBox
(JWM or OpenBox also act as the Desktop Environment.)
List of Window Managers
Forum Pages
Window Managers with Special Effects
Window managers (WM) control the placement & appearance of windows. The default WM in Puppy is JoesWindowManager JWM, a very light and basic but effective WM. However there are many other window managers (& windowing systems and desktop environments) available and some offer special effects like transparency & 3D. Primary examples are:- Beryl
- Compiz
- Compiz-Fusion
- Metisse
- Project Looking Glass
- Xfwm
Understanding these Effects
To get an idea of the difference these effects can make to how to use your computer, static pictures alone won't help.- Watch some videos. Here's a short one (1 min 11 secs) showing Beryl, Metisse & Looking Glass.
- Try them out for yourself
Beryl
Originally a fork of Compiz. Now officially re-merged into Compiz to create Compiz-Fusion. Some people still prefer Beryl.- BerylUsage, for more info about using Beryl in Puppy.
- Puppy 2.13 with Beryl 0.2.1 (2 mins 15 secs)
- Short video (47 secs)
- Beryl demonstration video (5 mins 39 secs)
Compiz
Now merged with Beryl into Compiz-Fusion, but still available as Compiz Core, without Fusion additions.- Compiz on Ubuntu (1 min 36 secs)
Compiz-Fusion
The "hot" special effects window manager, with many plug-ins to add different effects.- PuppyNOP > Compiz-Fusion & Wobbly NOP: combines Xfce with Compiz-Fusion.
- Wobbly Puppy NOP experimental in action (2 mins 48 secs)
- Compiz-Fusion on Puppy 3.00 (6 mins 11 secs)
Metisse
A somewhat different concept from straightforward 3D WMs like Compiz-Fusion. Apparently lighter on computer resources than the Compiz family.
- Video of Metisse on Puppy by Crusty Lobster (48MB, .mov)
- Video of creating you own UI for The GIMP (6 mins, 12 secs)
- Video showing some more effects (50 secs)
Project Looking Glass
3D desktop environment using Java3D.- Video of PLG on Linux (3 mins 54 secs)
Xfwm
Xfwm is the default WM of the Xfce desktop environment, capable of true transparency & shadows. While not as flexible as Metisse or Compiz-Fusion, it is very stable.- XfcePuppy, for more info re Xfce on Puppy
- PuppyNOP, a Puplets puplet with Xfce & Opera already built-in.
- Short video of Xfwm transparency effects (12 secs)
- Video showing how to enable & change effects in Xfwm (2 mins 46 secs)(loud music!)
eg. root/.icewm/themes/Venusian/default theme
