My first Linux experiences came through ="window.status='http://www.knoppix.org/';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;" target="_blank">Knoppix and ="window.status='http://mandriva.com/';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;" target="_blank">Mandrake,
which send you to the KDE desktop by default. I used KDE at first, but
I wanted to experiment with other less Windowsesque environments.
The first one I installed was Enlightenment 16, which I must confess I had first heard of in Neal Stephenson's essay "="window.status='http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;" target="_blank">In The Beginning There Was the Command Line."
In that essay he said Enlightenment "may be the hippest single
technology product I have ever seen" and that "it looks amazingly
cool." Since these sentiments were written in 1999, plenty of rivals
have emerged for the title of "hippest tech."
Once I had ="window.status='http://www.enlightenment.org/';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;" target="_blank">Enlightenment
installed on my laptop there was no going back. I tried out a few other
window managers, but the efficiency of E16 was hard to beat. My only
complaints were that Enlightenment seemed a bit short on conveniences
such as launchers, so I ended up running GNOME stripped down to one
panel and the main menu with E16 as the window manager. Meanwhile, I
read the descriptions of the new "desktop shell" that the Enlightenment
crew was working on, dubbed ="window.status='http://www.enlightenment.org/Enlightenment/DR17/index.html';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;" target="_blank">Enlightenment DR17 (or E17, as I'll refer to it from here on) and thought it sounded like exactly what I wanted.
="window.status='http://linux-blog.org/uploads/desktoptreebg.png';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;"> I
should mention that "window manager" isn't quite the right term for
E17. The developers call it a desktop shell, intending it to fill in
the space between a simple window manager like the original
Enlightenment and a full-featured desktop environment like GNOME. In
other words, they were setting out to create a desktop not unlike my
own E16/GNOME hybrid. In this respect it does not disappoint.
In
creating E17 the Enlightenment crew have created a set of shared
libraries (the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries) with the goal of
building a complete set of applications to="window.status='http://linux-blog.org/uploads/e17sky.png';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">
create an integrated environment where all files and programs are
readily available that remains fast and non-resource-intensive.
Essentially, E17 breaks down a desktop environment into its essential
components (window manager, file manager, launcher, main menu, etc.)
and offers them as a completely customizable package, where the user
chooses which elements to use at any time.
Early Impressions ="window.status='http://linux-blog.org/uploads/desktopmilktheme.png';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;"> When
I started using E17 back in early May, I had already been a regular
user of E16 for a while. My first impressions were that E17 sported
some neat features, but configuring the menus (by making all those damn
eapp files, E17's special icon format -- read on for more details) was
a hassle, plus E17 was missing many of the small features, such as
edge-flipping or icon boxes, that I liked in E16. But I stuck with it,
updating it on a regular basis and reading the continually updated user
guide at ="window.status='http://www.get-e.org/';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">Get-E.org,
and usability has steadily increased. Also, a number of the features I
had been missing were added (like edge-flipping) or had been there all
along (turns out there is an icon box module called ibox, which is
disabled by default).
A graphical eap creator and other additions like a run command, alt-tab
window switching (complete with a well designed display) and, for those
who use sloppy or mouse focus, automatic placement of the cursor in the
newly selected window have improved general usability.
Peeves
One
functional feature of E16 I still miss is using middle-clicks to shade
windows. I made an attempt at setting this mouse binding in E17, though
what happened was middle-clicking anywhere in the window (as opposed to
directly on the titlebar) would shade it, which is problematic when,
say, browsing in Firefox and trying to open links in new tabs by middle
clicking. Naturally I wasn't expecting everything to work perfectly
-- even the splash screen advises "This is development code -- be
warned!" But to paraphrase someone from another forum, E17 is more
stable than your average development window manager.
One early
issue I had was Firefox behaving strangely with sloppy focus, the
default setting. The titlebar would flash in time with my typing, I
would lose all of my Firefox-specific keyboard shortcuts, and there
would be no auto completion in the URL bar. Perhaps one of the many
"minor bugfixes" one reads about in CVS logs took care of it. Another
recently remedied problem was the inability to open menus in
applications run under WINE. Another curious effect with WINE programs
is that any Windows apps opened with WINE (or CrossOver) have the same
window-class, which is how Enlightenment chooses what eap icon it uses
to represent the app in the taskbar, pager, and window list. While you
can set up different eaps with unique icons for each application
(useful for the menu), they will all appear with the same icon in the
pager (not so useful). Annoying, though likely not a deal breaker for
most users.
Other minor annoyances:
- no easy configuration of module appearance
- click-to-raise only works on titlebar under mouse/sloppy focus, while click-to-focus works anywhere in the window.
Good Things
I
remember someone writing that one of the biggest considerations in your
choice of an OS or window manager was answering the question, "Does
this help you get your work done?" For a short time last month I
switched back to Fluxbox, as I found minor things like focus issues
distracting while trying to work. But while writing this review, I've
found that those minor issues are either fixed or there are
workarounds, and E17 has become my standard desktop again. I recently
loaded up E16 on the home computer and was struck by how inelegant it
is compared to E17.
And so I have stayed with the new Enlightenment. Bugs are fixed, people are creating new themes and icon sets, the ="window.status='http://www.get-e.org/User_Guide/English/index.html';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">user guide at Get-E
is becoming ever more detailed, and of course, since this is Linux,
there are plenty of opportunities for users to join in and make the
damn thing better still.
Installation
As far as installation goes, you can manually configure, compile, and install following the directions at ="window.status='http://enlightenment.freedesktop.org/';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">Enlightenment.freedesktop.org, or you can avail yourself of a few less labor intensive options. Packages are available for ="window.status='http://shadoi.soulmachine.net/';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">Debian, rpms for ="window.status='http://sps.nus.edu.sg/~didierbe';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">Fedora, and ebuilds (both snapshots and CVS) in portage for Gentoo. More information on installation can be found ="window.status='http://www.get-e.org/User_Guide/English/_pages/2.html';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">here.
I use both the Fedora rpms and Gentoo ebuilds (from CVS). At the rate
E17 is updated, last month's version is already rustic. I tend to
update it every other week. Thus far, I have had no upgrades leave me
with an unstable or unusable E17.
The Strange and Wondrous World of the EAP
The
only major hurdle facing a new user of E17 is the creation of eap
files, which are essentially small files consisting of an icon plus
basic information about a program, including its name and executable.
In a desktop environment like GNOME, you create launchers on the panel
by choosing an icon and entering the program's name and executable in
the launcher Fortunately, it is easily done with an included script or
using a guicreation tool. Creating an eap is a similar process, but
newly created eaps are stored for Enlightenment to use in the menus,
launchers, icon boxes, taskbars, and pagers.
Though
a few eaps are included in the basic installation, you will want to
create more. Included in the e_utils package. Ideally, you should only
have to build a set of eaps once, plus a number of prebuilt eap
collections are available online at ="window.status='http://www.get-e.org/Themes/Eap-Files/index.html';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">www.get-e.org. You then organize menus and launchers by editing text files or using the graphical tool Entangle.
Additional configuration is done with the main menu , the background
chooser Emblem or the command line tool enlightenment_remote, which is
by far the most powerful of the configuration tools available in E17.
With it you can set backgrounds, themes, focus policy, virtual
desktops, modules,="window.status='http://linux-blog.org/uploads/mainmenu.png';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">
mouse button bindings, key bindings, fonts, menu display speeds,
edge-flipping, and more. Graphical tools for key bindings, background
creation, and general configuration are all on the TODO list, along
with items like desktop icons, tabbed windows, and other monitor
modules, so there are plenty of opportunities for coders looking to get
involved.
Themes and backgrounds also have their own unique
file format that allows a file to include multiple images and scripts,
which makes some fun effects possible, such as title bar animation
during focus changes, light effects in backgrounds and full-screen
animations. A number of themes and backgrounds are available at ="window.status='http://www.get-e.org/Themes/E17/index.html';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">www.get-e.org. Static backgrounds can be generated from any normal image file.
The following is a short flash video demonstrating a few of the
animated backgrounds available, as well as one of the desktop switching
animations.
(="window.status='http://linux-blog.org/flash/backgrounds.html';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;" target="_blank">Go Watch the Background Video!)
="window.status='http://linux-blog.org/uploads/confupgrade.png';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;"> The
one nasty little surprise that often awaits a user after an upgrade
that is your configuration is reset. What this means is that your
module, theme, background, and key binding settings are all lost,
though these can be easily restored by writing a simple script. Also,
as development progresses, E has become better at remembering some
settings (menus, weather url, module placement, startup programs,
etc.), which makes for less work to restore your desktop. Eap files,
menus, and launcher configurations are not affected by updates.
Modules
A
central feature of the E17 desktop is the collection of modules which
can be added or removed as the user wishes, allowing Enlightenment to
be as light or heavy as one desires. Currently there are 16 official
modules available, ranging from the useful (pager, launch bar) to the
informative (cpu/memory monitor, weather) to eye candy (dropshadow,
flame, snow). Discovering the modules was a bit of an adventure, as
there was no obvious way to list all available choices, only the loaded
ones. (By the way, you can find all the available modules - in Gentoo
anyway - by looking in /usr/lib/enlightenment/modules/ and
/usr/lib/enlightenment/modules_extra/)
The following three flash videos show off the various modules in use: Evidence
Another new EFL application, though not actually a part of E17, but
deserving of special mention is Evidence, essentially an graphical file
browser, though a bit more flexible than say, Nautilus. It offers a
choice of views (icon, browser, or tree), customizable context menus,
and a command shell. The context menu includes options for various file
types, such as opening image files in Entice (the E17 image viewer) or
editing ID3 tags on mp3 files. Also, you can use the shelf (a frame at
the bottom of the main window) to store often used files or application
launchers. Evidence can also be used to draw the desktop.
Personally,
this is one of my favorite new applications, even though I have yet
to master half of what it can do. The command shell combined with
the icon view gives me what feels like the best of both the terminal
(powerful commands like cp and mv) and graphical file managers
(excellent visual organization). There are little tricks to be learned
(like using the full path of a file name in shell commands -- tab
completion can be used for this), and occasional bugs (like the
vanishing configuration window), but considering that Evidence has
become remarkably more stable and functional in the past month alone, I
foresee this become my full time file manager. You can use Evidence in
any window manager.
Visit the ="window.status='http://evidence.sourceforge.net/';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">Evidence home page for more information.
Engage and Other Applications
Possibly the most popular of the new EFL applications, or at
least the one asked about most frequently on various forums, Engage is
a combination app launch bar, taskbar, and system tray similar to the
dock in Mac's OS X. Engage is available in two different forms: a
standalone form which can be used with any window manager or a module
form for use with E17. The standalone version is a bit more robust and
configurable than the module form, but I have been using Engage in
place of the iBar launcher recently without any troubles, and having
the system tray available was quite useful in creating the Wink movies
for this review.
A number of other applications are being developed as well. Equate is a
simple, themeable calculator, Entice is an excellent image viewer that
allows for zooming and slide shows, Elation is a bare-bones media
player, and Eclair is a music player with playlist support, similar to
XMMS. Though these new EFL apps are worth keeping an eye on as
development progresses, Entice is the only one I use on a regular basis.
On the whole, I am very happy with the new Enlightenment. On their homepage (="window.status='http://www.enlightenment.org/Enlightenment/DR17/index.html';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">www.enlightenment.org),
the Enlightenment team states "We believe your desktop should not be an
eyesore. It should be functional AND beautiful." They are doing well on
both fronts.
www.linux-blog.org
="window.status='http://www.enlightenment.org/Enlightenment/DR17/index.html';return true;" ="window.status='';return true;">www.enlightenment.org
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