Bye-bye GNOME

Well, after trying GNOME 2.6 (actually 2.5.92, but why quibble) for more than a week, I finally had to go back to XFce. Though I found a lot to like about GNOME 2.6, I simply cannot stand Metacity — specifically, I can’t stand the lack of wirebox window dragging/resize. Yeah, I know — it’s a tiny feature, but I simply hate the opaque window dragging that much.

I wish the GNOME/Metacity folks all the luck in the world, but until they come to grips with the reality that some users actually like having preferences, I think I’ll stick with a window manager/desktop enviroment that actually implements some standard features that longtime users expect.

After reading through the discussions about the opaque resize vs. wireframe resize while trying to find a way to enable wireframe dragging, I kept getting more and more pissed off because of the attitude of the developers which seemed to boil down to “you don’t really need this feature, because we tell you so. So stop asking.”

About Joe Brockmeier

I'm a freelance writer, FOSS advocate, music lover, computer geek, avid reader, and politically progressive (read "Liberal with occasional Libertarian tendencies"). You can read more on my about page if you're not already bored.
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8 Responses to Bye-bye GNOME

  1. Anonymous says:

    hi, you should try fvwm with GNOME. I hate metacity too (vehemently!) but with fvwm I get call the goodness of GNOME without the arrogance of metacity devs.

  2. peter says:

    does this work:

    gconftool-2 –set /apps/metacity/general/reduced_resources –type boolean true

    …?

  3. Anonymous says:

    i would probably stay with gnome desktop if it weren’t for lack of visibility where to turn OFF opaque moving/resizing. Going to install icewm, as i have done so in the past.

  4. Tom Tran says:

    Me too! Bye-Bye Metacity! No wireframe support? Are you kidding? Have you run VNC viewer remotely with no-wireframe support?

    It is not RIGHT to ask ALL EXISTING application to be redesigned to improve Window Update CAUSE Metacity designed not to support Wireframe resize/move.

    Don’t Metacity Developers remember FORD Model-T history? You can any color as long as it is black!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. Ryan says:

    Hey Peter… Your command is close, but not quite accurate, for wireframe resizing in metacity use this command!
    gconftool-2 –set /apps/metacity/general/reduced_resources –type=bool true

  6. Earl says:

    Ryan:

    Worked for me! Thanks. That’s all I need to stick with gnome.

  7. anonymous says:

    Just an update:

    gconftool-2 –set /apps/metacity/general/reduced_resources –type=bool true

    You need the double hash, or -s flag, and –type=bool true.

  8. Aijaz Baig says:

    Hay folks with xfce..ive got xfce3 on my box and I cannot turn on wire frame dragging.

    Id like my windows to be transparent save the borders when I move them.

    Is this available on xfce3?

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