88 lines
4.1 KiB
HTML
88 lines
4.1 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.9">
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<TITLE> From DOS/Windows to Linux HOWTO : What About Windows?</TITLE>
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<LINK HREF="DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO-8.html" REL=next>
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<LINK HREF="DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO-6.html" REL=previous>
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<LINK HREF="DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO.html#toc7" REL=contents>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<A HREF="DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO-8.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO-6.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO.html#toc7">Contents</A>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s7">7. What About Windows?</A></H2>
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<P>
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<P>The ``equivalent'' of Windows is the graphic system X Window System. Unlike
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Windows or the Mac, X11 wasn't designed for ease of use or to look good, but
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just to provide graphic facilities to UNIX workstations. These are the main
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differences:
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI> while Windows looks and feels the same all over the world, X11 does
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not: it's much more configurable. X11's overall look is given by a key
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component called ``window manager'', of which you have a wide choice:
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<CODE>fvwm</CODE>, basic but nice and memory efficient, <CODE>fvwm2-95</CODE>,
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<CODE>Afterstep</CODE>, <CODE>WindowMaker</CODE>, <CODE>Enlightenment</CODE>, and many
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more. The w.m. is usually invoked from <CODE>.xinitrc</CODE>;
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</LI>
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<LI> your w.m. can be configured so as a window acts as under, er,
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Windows: you click on it and it comes to foreground. Another possibility is
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that it comes to foreground when the mouse moves over it (``focus''). Also,
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the placement of windows on the screen can be automatic or interactive: if a
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strange frame appears instead of your program, left click where you want it
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to appear;
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</LI>
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<LI> most features can be tailored editing one or more configuration
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files. Read the docs of your w.m.: the configuration file can be
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<CODE>.fvwmrc</CODE>, <CODE>.fvwm2rc95</CODE>, <CODE>.steprc</CODE>, etc. A sample
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configuration file is typically found in
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/etc/X11/window-manager-name/system.window-manager-name;
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</LI>
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<LI> X11 applications are written using special libraries (``widget
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sets''); as several are available, applications look different. The most
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basic ones are those that use the Athena widgets (2--D look; <CODE>xdvi</CODE>,
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<CODE>xman</CODE>, <CODE>xcalc</CODE>); others use Motif (<CODE>netscape</CODE>), others
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still use Tcl/Tk, Qt, Gtk, XForms, and what have you. Nearly all of these
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libraries provide roughly the same look and feel as Windows;
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</LI>
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<LI> the feel, unfortunately, can be incoherent. For instance, if you
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select a line of text using the mouse and press <BACKSPACE>, you'd
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expect the line to disappear, right? This won't work with Athena--based
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apps, but it does with other widget sets;
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</LI>
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<LI> how scrollbars and resizing work depends on the w.m. and the widget
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set. Tip: if you find that the scrollbars don't behave as you would expect,
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try using the central button or the two buttons together to move them;
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</LI>
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<LI> applications don't have an icon by default, but they can have many.
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Most w.m. feature a menu you recall by clicking on the desktop (``root
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window''); needless to say, the menu can be tailored. To change the root
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window appearance, use <CODE>xsetroot</CODE> or <CODE>xloadimage</CODE>;
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</LI>
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<LI> the clipboard can only contain text, and behaves strange. Once you've
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selected text, it's already copied to the clipboard: move elsewhere and
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press the central button to paste it. There's an application,
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<CODE>xclipboard</CODE>, that provides for multiple clipboard buffers;
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</LI>
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<LI> drag and drop is an option, and is only available if you use X11
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applications and/or w.m. that support it.
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</LI>
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</UL>
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<P>This said, good news for you. There are projects that aim at making X11 look
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and behave as coherently as Windows. Gnome,
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<A HREF="http://www.gnome.org">http://www.gnome.org</A>, and KDE,
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<A HREF="http://www.kde.org">http://www.kde.org</A>, are
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simply awesome. Most likely your distribution uses either or both. You won't
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regret your Windows desktop anymore!
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<P>
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<P>
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<HR>
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<A HREF="DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO-8.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO-6.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO.html#toc7">Contents</A>
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</BODY>
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</HTML>
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