Alternative to Window Managers KDE and Gnome: Fluxbox

One of the things that keep life interesting when working with Linux is the fact that you can choose from a variety of window managers. Unlike MS Windows, where window management is closely tied to the operating system, Linux has kept a strict separation, which has made it possible for programmers to develop alternative window managers with very different "look-and-feel".

While KDE and Gnome have become the two most popular window managers, there are many others, such as Window Maker, IceWM, Blackbox, and Fluxbox.

Window managers handle all the primary GUI objects on the desktop, such as pop-up menus, task bars, icons, and multiple desktops. They define functions for moving, resizing, creating and eliminating those objects.

Many distros come with Fluxbox included, or it is provided as installable package. It can be downloaded from here. Fluxbox is based on the Blackbox window manager, but implements a lot of additional features. To use it you select Fluxbox as the window manager after login.

One of the interesting features of Fluxbox is that you can pop up the applications menu anywhere on the desktop by right clicking in an empty area. Therefore, there is no button to run applications as in typical window managers.

Other key features of Fluxbox include KDE compatibility, that is, you can run KDE applications installed on your system in Fluxbox; Window tabs for grouping applications into separate work spaces; a "Slit" for holding links to the programs that should always be running; and numerous themes to choose from.