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This article is about how to use the Window Maker desktop on Linux. The editor thinks it is very practical, so share it with you as a reference and follow the editor to have a look.

Before Mac OS X, there was a strange closed-source Unix system called NeXTSTEP. Sun Microsystems later set the underlying NeXTSTEP to an open specification, which allowed other projects to create many free and open source NeXT libraries and components. GNUStep implements many NeXTSTEP libraries, while Window Maker implements its desktop environment.

Window Maker closely mimics the NeXTSTEP desktop GUI and provides an interesting perspective on what Unix looked like in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It also reveals some basic concepts behind window managers such as Fluxbox and Openbox.

You can install Window Maker from the repository of the distribution. To try it, exit the desktop session after the installation is complete. By default, the session manager (KDM, GDM, LightDM, or XDM, depending on your settings) will continue to log in to the default desktop, so the default settings must be overridden when logging in.

To switch to Window Maker on GDM:

Selecting the Window Maker desktop in GDM

On KDM:

Selecting the Window Maker desktop in KDM

Window Maker program dock

By default, the Window Maker desktop is empty, but there are several docks in each corner. As in NeXTSTEP, in Window Maker, in the docking area, applications can be minimized into icons and docked, initiators can be created to quickly access common applications, and miniature "dockapp" can be run.

You can search the software repository for "dockapp" to try dockapp. They are often network and system monitors, audio settings panels, clocks, and so on. This is the Window Maker running on Fedora:

Window Maker running on Fedora

Apply menu

To access the application menu, right-click anywhere on the desktop. To close it, right-click again. Window Maker is not a desktop environment (DE), but a window manager (DM). It can help you arrange and manage windows. Its only bundled program is WPrefs (or, more commonly, Window Maker preference), which helps you configure common settings, while the application menu provides access to other options, including themes.

It's entirely up to you to decide what app to run. In Window Maker, you can choose to run KDE applications, GNOME applications, and programs that are not considered to be any other mainstream desktop applications. You can create your own work environment and manage it using Window Maker.

Thank you for reading! This is the end of the article on "how to use the Window Maker Desktop on Linux". I hope the above content can be of some help to you, so that you can learn more knowledge. if you think the article is good, you can share it for more people to see!

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