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Ah well - it's looking like there have been a few changes to my beloved FVWM in this upgrade as things aren't quite right and the config file I've been using for the past umpteen years isn't giing me quite the same results as it did before )-:
The thing I've always found frustrating with modern window (desktop) environments is that they take up screen real-estate and applications are then designed (by default) to open full-screen.
Since all my work involves typing into Xterms, I like to have a few open next to each other, and maybe a small window of some otehr application, etc. so I can quickly switch between then. I've no need (nor use) for a desktop with files, nor a "file manger" (My dyslexia makes it hard for me to instantly remember the alphabet, so being presented with an alphabetical list of filenames does not really help me pick out the file I want when I know it's name )-: It really is quicker for me to type and use shell completion to find a filename..
So a bar at the bottom of the screen is a waste of space for me.I tolerate xfce4 on my laptops purely as it's what my wife is using, so when she has an issue, I have something I can use to help her out. I put the bar on the right side though as netbooks are even more limited in screen height (and by the time you launch a browser, take off the bottom bar on the GUI, add in the top 5 bars of the browser and an additional bottom one, you've got a tiny letterbox to view web pages it )-:
However I'm on the verge of getting a complete new system - with a wide screen (1920x1080) That would work in my current scheme as I have what's essentially an icon-dock on the right - except with the new version of fvwm, there are no icons and the labels are full width, so it looks bad. Of-course I could read up on the fvwm manual for changes to this version but I'm being lazy here.
So Gnome or xfce4 and simply not bother with the desktop metaphor - have the bar at the right and off I go? The engineer in me is then crying at all the other stuff that comes with it that I'll never use - dbus, udev, having stuff automount things in the background, and so on.
So do I waste a day getting to grips with xfce4/gnome, or just soldier on...
Hmm!(In-case you're wondering why I bothered to upgrade in the first place, it was because of improved support in gcc for the Atom processor - I'm doing a lot of embedded stuff on the atom now and as always, I wan't stuff to be as good as it can be - maybe I should jsut have installed gcc separately! Too late now..)
Gordon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq