Type of Desktop

[Brian McKee]

On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 10:28 AM, elmo <elmo at ne.rr.com> wrote:
> I have a very satisfactory desktop in my 8.04 but I have no idea whether
> it's Gnome or whatever.
> How do I determine what type it is?
>
> What other types of desktops are there?  I might like to try them just
> for comparison.

Hi Elmo

If you installed Ubuntu - you got Gnome.  For confirmation - click on
the System menu at the top of your screen and you should see 'About
Gnome' on the list of choices.

Believe it or not, the term 'desktops' is kind of slippery.  There are
desktops, window managers and other related terms people often throw
around interchangeably, so it can get confusing.
This link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_Linux#Desktop_Environments
might help get you started.  It has pictures of three common options -
Gnome, KDE and XFCE.

Those three desktops are the reason for the three basic Ubuntu
variations - Ubuntu is Gnome, Kubuntu is KDE and Xubuntu is XFCE *when
you first install them*.   There's no reason you can't install more
than one desktop on any of them and pick and choose which you use each
time you log in.

This article will show you how to install some of the alternatives and
check them out.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Alternative-Desktop-Managers-in-Ubuntu-48586.shtml

Desktop hopping is a linux tradition up there with distro hopping - it
can be a real eye opener  (or a time waster depending on how you look
at it :-)

Brian