probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 23, 2025 18:56 UTC (Mon) by jzb (editor, #7867)
In reply to: probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications by joib
Parent article: GNOME deepens systemd dependencies

Users can still theme Xfce to look like CDE if that happens to be their preference.

Funny enough, I used to think CDE was hideous—but I have to admit, it's grown on me over the years. Probably just nostalgia...

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 23, 2025 21:30 UTC (Mon) by wtarreau (subscriber, #51152) [Link]

> I used to think CDE was hideous

I always found it hideous as well :-) And super slow. But it did work on a 64 MB machine at 300 MHz. Standards have changed!

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 24, 2025 6:39 UTC (Tue) by joib (subscriber, #8541) [Link] (1 responses)

CDE was(is?) hideous, but I used xfce 2.x for some years due to being used to the UI from using a precursor to CDE at a summer job (HP VUE).

Not sure whether I should be happy or horrified that it's possible to recreate that look with modern xfce. ;-)

CDE as XFCE gateway

Posted Jun 24, 2025 12:26 UTC (Tue) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link]

Yes! I had a job on Solaris running CDE, and I discovered XFCE which at the time was very CDE-like.

I'm still happily using XFCE4 even though it's no longer particularly CDE-like. The XFCE developers are very conservative about changes to look and feel, and my muscle memory appreciates that.

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 24, 2025 9:46 UTC (Tue) by paulj (subscriber, #341) [Link] (8 responses)

CDE looked clunky and ugly, when you were used to OpenLook!

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 24, 2025 11:34 UTC (Tue) by joib (subscriber, #8541) [Link] (7 responses)

It was even possible to run openlook on Linux. Alas, IIRC it was never open source so you had to download and compile it and whatever applications needed the libs yourself instead of using something packaged by the distro of your choice. I think I tried it out sometime, as I had sometime visited my fathers workplace where they had these Sun workstations with for the time humongous 21" screens. Albeit grayscale, but still glorious.

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 24, 2025 12:40 UTC (Tue) by paulj (subscriber, #341) [Link] (6 responses)

Yes, there was 'olwm' - OpenLook Window Manager. Unfortunately the OpenLook toolkit was never released with source, AFAIK. A lower level XView toolkit was, but I don't think much used it (?). The ability to pin windows - literally with a little virtual pin - was nice in OpenLook.

The Silicon Graphics "Indigo Magic Desktop" was also nice, with some nice widgets. Like a little thumbwheel for zooming in and out of views, and sliders that looked like sliders. Very nice. Motif based, so the later CDE didn't look /too/ different from it (indeed, CDE surely took a lot of cues from IMD).

University I went to had a lab full of SparcStation 1's and 1+'s with OpenLook, and another lab full of Silicon Graphics Indy's with IMD. Such amazing machines at the time (the Indy's particularly). Unix OSes and their desktops were just light years ahead of Win3.11 and Win95 PCs, and their underlying MSDOS.

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 24, 2025 14:25 UTC (Tue) by paulj (subscriber, #341) [Link] (5 responses)

I wish WindowMaker were still actively developed. That was my preferred WM for many a year. Unfortunately, it isn't really useable on laptops - can't cope with switching/extending displays.

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 24, 2025 14:53 UTC (Tue) by wtarreau (subscriber, #51152) [Link] (1 responses)

> I wish WindowMaker were still actively developed. That was my preferred WM for many a year. Unfortunately, it isn't really useable on laptops - can't cope with switching/extending displays.

Not really sure what you mean, I *am* using it on a laptop and have dealt with screen size changes every time I connect it to an external projector. When the external size is larger than yours, the only thing is that if you stored your icons on the right, they stay at their absolute position (which can become 2/3 of the screen), but everything works fine for me.

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 24, 2025 16:35 UTC (Tue) by paulj (subscriber, #341) [Link]

Huh, you don't need to restart WindowMaker when you change res or monitor? Did the new maintainer update WM and make it cope dynamically with resolutions at last? :)

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 26, 2025 19:04 UTC (Thu) by jmalcolm (subscriber, #8876) [Link] (2 responses)

Check out WaylandMaker

https://github.com/phkaeser/wlmaker

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 27, 2025 10:58 UTC (Fri) by paulj (subscriber, #341) [Link] (1 responses)

If that works well enough, that may overturn my inner kurmudgeon's "Sigh, am I really going to have to change my whole desktop?" feeling towards Wayland. ;)

Thanks!

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 27, 2025 12:42 UTC (Fri) by smurf (subscriber, #17840) [Link]

Heh. I feel with you. A few months ago I switched my desktop from Gnome to Sway because I couldn't stand the bloat any more.

Not looking back.

Not looking forward to converting my laptop either, but that's a different topic.

probably not a huge deal, but bigger implications

Posted Jun 24, 2025 13:49 UTC (Tue) by clump (subscriber, #27801) [Link]

That is an impressive screen shot. The colors, fonts, and lines gave me a rush of nostalgia.

I can imagine the mouse pointer changing window colors when hovering, and the right click menu disappearing when you release the button.