Top - Geek Stuff - Linux - Taglines - Personal Making Linux Even Cooler! This section is devoted to bringing out the coolness in Linux. I will concentrate on two things: getting the best software, and configuring it. My $.02 Just a little warning. To make Linux look really cool and act cool takes halfway decent hardware. I think a higher-end 486 with 16 megs of ram is about minimum, usability wise. The more ram, the better. The window managers, GIMP, netscape, etc all take a fair hunk of memory. I think 64 megs of ram is a good amount. Window Managers For those who do not know, a window manager (WM) is the program that puts pretty borders around windows, handles sizes and location of windows, does the iconizing and maximizing, etc. In short, a window manager's job is to, well, manage windows. One of the greatest boosts to the coolness of Linux is to choose a good window manager, and configure it well. Choosing the right window manager is important for two reasons: so you can get your system to look good to you, and to be more functional for you. I'm putting information here on installing and configuring window managers. I'm only going to discuss the WindowMaker and Enlightenment WMs. You can find information on the other WMs at the Window Manager's for X page. The reason I've chosen these is that I believe they offer more power, flexibility, and good looks than any other WM. Screenshot (Coming Soon) (Coming Soon) Cool Software The second and most important ingredient in making Linux cooler is getting good software configured and running. Below is my list of X software I consider the cream of the crop. I will eventually have a page devoted to most of them (installing, configuring, tips-n-tricks, etc). The GIMP The coolest Linux program available. The Gnu Image Manipulation Program is a very powerful graphics program not unlike Photoshop. Better still, it's free. I dare say that most of the pictures you see on web pages of Linux users (myself included) are created with the GIMP. Check it out! Netscape Communicator Netscape Navigator 4.0, A.K.A Communicator, comes in a Linux native format, and is definately worth checking out. Looks much nicer than 3.0. StarOffice This is a really cool proffesional office suite that's free for non-commercial use. TkDesk TkDesk is a filemanager. It's really powerful and customizable, too. I've stuck to the shell for most of my file management, because I just haven't found a file manager I've really liked. Until now, that is. TkDesk lets you customize just about every part of it. It's feature packed, and is a must for the cool Linux desktop. Vim Vim is a 'vi' editor clone. People generally love vi or hate it with a passion. I personally tend to enjoy it. Xemacs Xemacs: The Largest Single Program Known To Man. It is big, but it can do so much for you. This text editor not only lets you edits text, it lets you read mail and newsgroups, browse the web, write HTML more easily, keep calendars, and, very possibly, wash dishes. As the saying goes, it's not an editor, it's a lifestyle. XLockmore You know those ugly screensavers that come with X? It's time to move up in the screensaving world. Meet xlockmore. It's basically the screensaver that comes with X (so you still get the ugly screensavers), but it has a bunch of really neat screensavers added to it. Definately worth checking out. Copyright © 1997 Charles W. Sharp. All rights reserved.