UltimateWM, VTWM, Wayland, Wingo, WM2: 5 alternative WMs for Linux

UltimateWM, VTWM, Wayland, Wingo, WM2: 5 alternative WMs for Linux

UltimateWM, VTWM, Wayland, Wingo, WM2: 5 alternative WMs for Linux

Today we continue with our ninth post and penultimate on the Window Managers (Windows Managers - WM, in English), where we will review the following 5, from our list of 50 previously discussed.

In such a way, to continue to know important aspects of them, such as, are they or not active projects, what WM type are they, what are their main features, and how are they installed, in other aspects.

Window Managers: Content

It is worth remembering that the full list of independent Window Managers and dependents a Desktop Environment Specific, it is found in the following related post:

Window Managers: Graphical User Interfaces for GNU / Linux
Related article:
Window Managers: Graphical User Interfaces for GNU / Linux

And in case you want to read our previous related posts With the previous WM reviewed, the following can be clicked links:

  1. 2BWM, 9WM, AEWM, Afterstep and Awesome
  2. BerryWM, Blackbox, BSPWM, Byobu and Compiz
  3. CWM, DWM, Enlightenment, EvilWM and EXWM
  4. Fluxbox, FLWM, FVWM, Haze and Herbstluftwm
  5. I3WM, IceWM, Ion, JWM and MatchBox
  6. Metisse, Musca, MWM, OpenBox and PekWM
  7. PlayWM, Qtile, Ratpoison, Sawfish and Spectrwm
  8. Steamcompmgr, StumpWM, Sugar, SwayWM and TWM

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5 alternative WMs for Linux

UltimateWM

Definition

According to its official website, it is described as:

“A new WM that hopes to be a complete GUI in the future, which is why it is currently called Unix Desktop Environment Project (UDE). The project does not use any special GUI libraries like QT or GTK +. It only uses the Xlibs standard, to keep it fast, light and to avoid dependencies. UltimateWM or UDE has a completely original Look'n'Feel, it is not just another copy of the well-known "classic" window management user interface.".

Features

  • Inactive project: Last activity detected around almost 6 years ago.
  • Type: Stacking.
  • It offered maximum use of screen space, stability, and very low resource usage.
  • It was designed to be used very efficiently after a short learning phase.
  • It did not have a taskbar or a desktop panel or equivalent. And the windows lacked a title bar and therefore had no buttons to close, resize, iconize, or maximize windows at the edges of the windows. These buttons were replaced by the so-called hexagonal or honeycomb menu that appeared when the user clicked on the edge of the window.
  • The user interaction worked entirely by using the different mouse buttons on the window borders and the desktop background, for that reason, the efficient use of UDE was only possible using a three-button mouse, since it only offers a support very basic for keyboard shortcuts.

Installation

For its download and installation or more information, the following is enabled link. And this other link If necessary

VTWM

Definition

According to its official website, it is described as:

“A Simple and Efficient Window Manager for the X Window System".

Features

  • Inactive project: Last activity detected more than 5 years ago.
  • Type: Stacking.
  • It provided title bars, shaped windows, various forms of icon management, user-defined macro functions, click-and-pointer keyboard focus, and user-specified key and pointer button bindings.
  • It was frequently executed in the foreground as the last loaded client, so that when it was executed in this way, when exiting it, the user session would be terminated.
  • By default, it offered application windows surrounded by a border with a title bar at the top. The Title Bar that contained the name of the window, a rectangular area indicating when the window receives keyboard input, and three function boxes known as "title bar buttons."
  • Pressing the button in the title bar with the down arrow on it brought up a menu with many other functions that can be applied to the window.

Installation

This updated WM is usually found in many repositories of different GNU / Linux Distros, under the name of package "vtwm"Therefore, depending on the package manager used, graphical or terminal, it can be easily installed. More additional information about this WM can be found in the following link or this other link.

Wayland

Definition

According to its official website, it is described as:

“A complete and robust Window Manager and Composer designed as a modern, excellent and simpler replacement for the Linux X Server, therefore, easier to develop and maintain. Therefore, it is expected that robust Desktop Environments, such as GNOME and KDE, will implement it fully and definitively and exclusively in the near future ".

Features

  • Active project: Last activity detected a little less than a month ago.
  • Type: Independent.
  • It offers the elimination of a lot of complex facts to offer a much easier job. It basically works by simplifying the graphics stack. Reason why, it also manages the composition work by itself.
  • At its core it is a protocol for a composer to talk to their clients as well as an implementation of the C library of that protocol. The composer can be a standalone display server running on the Linux kernel and evdev input devices, an X application, or a Wayland client itself.
  • It also offers the Weston reference implementation within its functionality as a composer. Weston can work as an X client or under Linux KMS and ships with some demo clients. Weston's composer is a minimal and fast composer and is suitable for many mobile and embedded use cases.

Installation

This updated WM is usually found in many repositories of different GNU / Linux Distros, under the name of package "xwayland"Therefore, depending on the package manager used, graphical or terminal, it can be easily installed. More additional information about this WM can be found in the following link.

Wingo

Definition

According to its official website, it is described as:

“A Window Manager written entirely in the Go programming language".

Features

  • Active project: Last activity detected more than 2 years ago.
  • Type: dynamics.
  • It has all its dependencies, from the communication with X to the drawing of text in the windows, written in Go. Also, it is mostly ICCCM and EWMH compatible.
  • It has two characteristics that, when combined, differentiate it from other window managers: Support for window placement policies, compatible with Tiling and Stacking type WMs. And one use of workspaces per monitor, allowing each monitor to display its own workspace, independent of the other monitors.
  • It is extremely configurable. This includes linking a large number of commands to keystrokes or mouse presses, window decoration, and setting the hooks that fire depending on a set of match conditions. All configuration is done using an INI file format with support for simple variable substitution. There is no use of XML files, nothing to recompile and no scripts are used.

Installation

For its download and installation or more information, the following is enabled link.

WM2

Definition

According to its official website, it is described as:

“A very minimalist Window Manager for the X Window System".

Features

  • Inactive project: Last activity detected around a little over 9 years ago.
  • Type: Stacking.
  • It offered the ability to move windows around the screen, resize windows both horizontally and vertically, hide windows, restore hidden windows, and erase windows.
  • It provided an elegant framework to each managed window, but it did not provide icons, configurability, virtual desktops, extensible root menus, and toolbars, among other elements.

Installation

This updated WM is usually found in many repositories of different GNU / Linux Distros, under the name of package "wm2"Therefore, depending on the package manager used, graphical or terminal, it can be easily installed. More additional information about this WM can be found in the following link.

Note: Remember to explore the official websites of each WM to see how they are visually the same, since, in each one, there are generally updated screenshots of their graphic appearance.

Generic image for article conclusions

Conclusion

We hope this "useful little post" about these next 5 «Gestores de Ventanas», independent of any «Entorno de Escritorio», called UltimateWM, VTWM, Wayland, Wingo, WM2, is of great interest and utility, for the entire «Comunidad de Software Libre y Código Abierto» and of great contribution to the diffusion of the wonderful, gigantic and growing ecosystem of applications of «GNU/Linux».

And for more information, always do not hesitate to visit any Online library as OpenLibra y jedit to read books (PDFs) on this topic or others knowledge areas. For now, if you liked this «publicación», don't stop sharing it with others, in your Favorite websites, channels, groups, or communities of social networks, preferably free and open as Mastodon, or secure and private like Telegram.

Or simply visit our home page at DesdeLinux or join the official Channel Telegram from DesdeLinux to read and vote for this or other interesting publications on «Software Libre», «Código Abierto», «GNU/Linux» and other topics related to «Informática y la Computación», and the «Actualidad tecnológica».


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