Which one of the following is a desktop environment?

Although the instruction interface requires earlier understanding about program names and their configuration options, with graphical user interface (GUI) program capability are often activated by pointing to familiar visual elements, making the training curve more steep. In addition, the graphical interface is best fitted for interactive media and other visually intended projects.

The X Window System

The X11 or X Window System give subordinate user interaction and graphical interface rendering in Unix-like and Linux OS for example programming interface, mouse movements, copying, cutting and pasting text in different application, and keystrokes making it complex in drawing visual elements though it is the one managing and running the graphic display. So the applications handled by X generate visual effects like shapes, shades and colors therefore this method make an applications to create a customized interfaces leading to instability in appearance and behavior of an application in terms of program interfaces.

Major Desktop Environments

The graphical user interface (GUI) of traditional computers consists of varied windows, the term window is employed here to ask any independent screen area related to running processes. As the X Window System only provide only basic interactive characteristics, the complete user experience depends on the modules provided by the desktop environment. Probably the foremost important component of a desktop environment is that the window manager manage window placement and decorations. Therefore it is the window manager that connect the title bar to the window, the control buttons generally related to the minimize, maximize and shut actions and manages the transition between open windows.

Major Desktop Environment Applications.

Major desktop environments provide the following applications by default.

Office Applications

It include the following;

  • Text Editors
  • Calculators
  • Calendars

System Applications

It include the following;

  • File mangers
  • System configuration tools
  • Terminal emulators
  • Package installation managers

Communication and Internet Applications

This include below applications:

  • Email clients
  • Web browsers
  • Contacts managers

Other applications and services include;

  • Session manager
  • Inter-process communication
  • Printing i.e CUPS
  • Sound i.e Pulse Audio
  • Keyring agent

Characteristics of Desktop Environments

Here are the common features of desktop environments;

  • Listing the third party and builtin applications in the system by an application launcher.
  • Customizing the appearance and behavior of the desktop environment using configuration tools.
  • Default applications associated to file types and protocols defined by rules.

The following are major desktop environments;

1. KDE

This the largest environment of development and applications programming. Some of the operating systems such as Kubuntu, openSUSE, Mageia and many more uses KDE Plasma which is the latest desktop environment version by default. The prominent KDE feature is the use of Qt library making its appearance and abundance of initial applications. The configuration tools provided by KDE ensures visible unity with GTK+ applications.

Once an X server is running, X client applications can connect to it and create a GUI for the user. A range of GUIs are possible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, from the rudimentary Tab Window Manager to the highly developed and interactive GNOME desktop environment that most Red Hat Enterprise Linux users are familiar with.

To create the latter, more comprehensive GUI, two main classes of X client application must connect to the X server: a desktop environment and a window manager.

30.2.1. Desktop Environments

A desktop environment integrates various X clients to create a common graphical user environment and development platform.

Desktop environments have advanced features allowing X clients and other running processes to communicate with one another, while also allowing all applications written to work in that environment to perform advanced tasks, such as drag and drop operations.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides two desktop environments:

  • GNOME — The default desktop environment for Red Hat Enterprise Linux based on the GTK+ 2 graphical toolkit.

  • KDE — An alternative desktop environment based on the Qt 3 graphical toolkit.

Both GNOME and KDE have advanced productivity applications, such as word processors, spreadsheets, and Web browsers; both also provide tools to customize the look and feel of the GUI. Additionally, if both the GTK+ 2 and the Qt libraries are present, KDE applications can run in GNOME and vice-versa.

Window managers are X client programs which are either part of a desktop environment or, in some cases, stand-alone. Their primary purpose is to control the way graphical windows are positioned, resized, or moved. Window managers also control title bars, window focus behavior, and user-specified key and mouse button bindings.

Four window managers are included with Red Hat Enterprise Linux:

kwin

The KWin window manager is the default window manager for KDE. It is an efficient window manager which supports custom themes.

metacity

The Metacity window manager is the default window manager for GNOME. It is a simple and efficient window manager which also supports custom themes. To run this window manager, you need to install the kdebase package.

mwm

The Motif Window Manager (mwm) is a basic, stand-alone window manager. Since it is designed to be a stand-alone window manager, it should not be used in conjunction with GNOME or KDE. To run this window manager, you need to install the openmotif package.

twm

The minimalist Tab Window Manager (twm, which provides the most basic tool set of any of the window managers, can be used either as a stand-alone or with a desktop environment. It is installed as part of the X11R7.1 release.

To run any of the aforementioned window managers, you will first need to boot into Runlevel 3. For instructions on how to do this, refer to Section 15.1, “Runlevels”.

Once you are logged in to Runlevel 3, you will be presented with a terminal prompt, not a graphical environment. To start a window manager, type xinit -e at the prompt.

is the location of the window manager binary file. The binary file can be located by typing which window-manager-name, where window-manager-name is the name of the window manager you want to run.

For example:

user@host# which twm
/usr/bin/twm
user@host# xinit -e /usr/bin/twm

The first command above returns the absolute path to the twm window manager, the second command starts twm.

To exit a window manager, close the last window or press Ctrl-Alt-Backspace. Once you have exited the window manager, you can log back into Runlevel 5 by typing startx at the prompt.

Which of the following are desktop environments?

A desktop environment typically consists of icons, windows, toolbars, folders, wallpapers and desktop widgets (see Elements of graphical user interfaces and WIMP).

Which of the following is a desktop environment in Linux?

GNOME, KDE, and Xfce are three of the most popular desktop environments, and Unity is Ubuntu's default desktop environment. There are many other desktop environments, but those four are enough to get you started. The desktop environment is the look and feel of the graphical interface of an operating system.

Is Linux a desktop environment?

GNOME is a very popular Linux desktop environment. Many Linux distros use GNOME. GNOME is simple to use and can be customized. The modern and touch-feature-enabled user interface provides an amazing experience.

What is the desktop environment of windows 10?

It usually includes everything from how the windows look and feel, to the style of the icons, files, folders, and the mouse pointers. A desktop environment also dictates what file manager to use, default text editor, image viewer, wallpapers, and the interface used to log in and log out of the local system.