The GNOME and KDE Desktop Environments


A desktop environment for X provides one or more window managers and a suite of clients that conform to a standard graphical interface based on a common set of software libraries. When they are used to develop associated clients, these libraries provide graphical consistency for the client windows, menus, buttons, and other onscreen components, along with some common keyboard controls and client dialogs. The following sections briefly discuss the two desktop environments that are included with Ubuntu: GNOME and KDE.

GNOME: The GNU Network Object Model Environment

The GNOME project, which was started in 1997, is the brainchild of programmer whiz Miguel de Icaza. GNOME provides a complete set of software libraries and clients. GNOME depends on a window manager that is GNOME-aware. This means that to provide a graphical desktop with GNOME elements, the window manager must be written to recognize and use GNOME. Some compliant window managers that are GNOME-aware include Havoc Pennington's metacity (the default GNOME window manager), Enlightenment, Window Maker, IceWM, and sawfish.

Ubuntu uses GNOME's user-friendly suite of clients to provide a consistent and user-friendly desktop. GNOME clients are found under the /usr/bin directory, and GNOME configuration files are stored under the /etc/gnome and /usr/share/gnome directories, with user settings stored in the home directory under .gnome.

A representative GNOME desktop, running the gconfeditor client used for setting GNOME configuration options, is shown in Figure 6.3.

Figure 6.3. Ubuntu's GNOME desktop uses the metacity window manager and offers a selection of GNOME themes.


You can configure your desktop in various ways and by using different menu items under the Preferences menu. For a comprehensive icon view of preference items, look under the System menu to find many different tools. Nautilus, the GNOME file browser, was originally developed by Eazel (which ceased operations shortly before summer 2001). The Nautilus shell is used for the Ubuntu desktop as a file browser and desktop utility.

The Nautilus main window, shown in Figure 6.4, is a hierarchy of sub-directories and files in a home directory.

Figure 6.4. You can customize your Ubuntu desktop by using Preference settings that are available in the Nautilus graphical shell.


KDE: The K Desktop Environment

KDE, which is included with Kubuntu, has been available for Linux, Xorg, and XFree86 since 1996. KDE is a graphical desktop environment that offers a huge suite of clients, including a free office suite named KOffice. KDE clients are located under the /usr/bin directory, and nearly all clients have a name that begins with k.

The .kde directory in your home directory contains custom settings and session information. You can use KDE's Control Center, as shown in Figure 6.5, to customize desktop settings. You can launch this client by clicking the Control Center menu item from KDE's desktop menu (hosted by the panel along the bottom of your desktop, known as the kicker) or from the command line, like so:

$ kcontrol &


Figure 6.5. You can use the KDE Control Center to manage nearly every aspect of KDE desktop sessions.


Xfce: The Lightweight Alternative

With the release of the Ubuntu 6.06 family of distros came another sibling, Xubuntu. This version is aimed specifically at low specification machines, and uses a very lightweight window manager called Xfce, shown in Figure 6.6.

Figure 6.6. For a desktop experience that is a little bit different from the rest, choose Xfce. It's light, friendly, and no-nonsense.


Xfce can make use of most of the GNOME applications, thanks to being able to access the GTK2 libraries that GNOME is built upon. If you like your window manager simple and un-complicated, and GNOME is straining your hardware, then choose XFce.



Ubuntu Unleashed
Ubuntu Unleashed 2011 Edition: Covering 10.10 and 11.04 (6th Edition)
ISBN: 0672333449
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 318

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