Red Hat® Linux® 7 Unleashed

What Is a Window Manager?

Using Linux and the XFree86 distribution of X11 means freedom of choice—the choice of an operating system and the choice of how you'd like your computer's desktop or root window in X to look and act. Although a window manager is nothing more than an X11 client, you'll find that using a window manager is virtually necessary if you want to run different programs, drag windows around the display, click buttons, drag slider controls, use icons, create virtual desktops, resize windows, or customize how your X sessions work. Of course, you can run X without a window manager, but you'll lose a lot of functionality.

Note

Want to try X without a window manager? If you've configured Red Hat Linux to use a display manager, such ...