Re: Default window manager

On 27. 11. 21 22:34, jwinnie@tilde.institute wrote:
> Hello OpenBSD users and devs,
>
> I am wondering if there are plans to change the
> default window manager in OpenBSD.
>
> Currently, the default WM is fvwm, with cwm and
> openbox available as alternatives. However, none
> of these are particularly user-friendly, simple,
> or modern, and I think it might be advisable to
> use a better default here.
>
> Some things which might be wanted:
>
> * Using xcb instead of xlib, since xcb is faster
> and supposedly better
> * Dynamic virtual desktops
> * Tiling (dynamic or manual)
> * Decent window decorations
> * Can be controlled with both the pointer and the
> keyboard
> * Simple, minimal configuration that fits with the
> rest of OpenBSD
>
> What do you think?
>
> ~jwinnie
> My poorly-educated opinion is that the defaults work fine. My use case
for a desktop environment on OpenBSD is little more than terminals and
the occasional Firefox window. For this usage, fvwm is more than enough
and I was finding myself using dwm most of the time because it was even
lighter (plus I was used to the keybinds).

I think that the default package set should cover the lowest common
denominator in graphics capability. I've been using X on a pretty wide
set of machines, most of which were either low-power Intel Atom boards,
C2D ThinkPads, virtual machines, or servers without a dedicated GPU, so
I was happy that the defaults would be always snappy on the hardware at
hand. I'm positive I couldn't say that for any of the "modern" user
friendlier (i. e. visually appealing) offerings.

--
Kristjan Komloši