Enlightenment (window manager)

Last updated

Enlightenment
Original author(s) Carsten Haitzler
Developer(s) Enlightenment development team
Initial release1997;28 years ago (1997)
Stable release
0.27.0 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 11 January 2025
Repository
Written in C (EFL)
Operating system Unix-like
Type
License BSD 2-Clause [2]
Website www.enlightenment.org

Enlightenment, also known simply as E, is a compositing window manager for the X Window System. Since version 0.20, Enlightenment also supports Wayland. [3] It is shipped with some Linux distributions such as Bodhi Linux and Pentoo. [4]

Contents

Enlightenment is only a window manager at its core; however, with many modules included, it can be extended to resemble a full desktop environment. [5] Since version 0.17 (E17), Enlightenment has been written with the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL), and the Enlightenment project also writes a set of applications with the EFL.

History

E16 and before

The first version of Enlightenment was released by Carsten Haitzler in 1997. [6] [7] Originally, it was just a window manager before the addition of the EFL in E17. [8]

With the release of E17 written with the EFL in 2012, Enlightenment went through a major rewrite, splitting the codebase into 0.16 (E16) and the versions after (E17). Some of the community decided to stay with the E16 codebase and continue development of this version, releasing under an independent versioning scheme from E17. It reached the 1.0 milestone and is still actively developed as of 2024. [9]

E17 and later

In 2000, the development of the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries started to create a toolkit for writing applications that interoperate with Enlightenment, as well as other X window managers, too. As the EFL was built up, Enlightenment was rewritten to utilize the EFL, and in 2012 version 0.17.0 was released. As this version was completely rewritten to use the EFL, it is incompatible with E16. [10]

The current version as of Janurary 2025 is E27. [11]

Usage

Bodhi Linux was built around the Enlightenment 17 desktop, but forked it to create the Moksha desktop. [12]

Elive Linux also used a fork of E17 as its main desktop environment until 2019, when the 3.7 series was released. It also features E16 and has future plans to integrate the new E26 version.

Reception

A 2011 review of E16 found it was highly customisable, featuring per-window configurability, support for virtual desktops with much larger screenspace than monitor size, and that "nearly everything can be done with the keyboard." While the appearance was praised, the desktop environment was criticised as being somewhat unstable due to bugs at the time. While E16 could be used as a window manager for GNOME or KDE, the review found they had poor compatibility. [13]

A 2014 review of E17 found the design to be fast, touchscreen friendly and have a nice appearance, but was annoyed by the small selection area to resize windows. The appearance of the default terminal with the desktop environment, called Terminology, was also praised and the author personally liked the desktop left and right click menus. [14]

A 2017 review found E18 to have lightweight performance, remarking a similar appearance to Mac OS, but also mentioning a steep learning curve due to the desktop left and right click menus. [8]

A 2020 review praised Enlightenment for its high number of keyboard shortcuts, and that it was lightweight enough to run well on older hardware, with low idle CPU and RAM usage. However, it criticised the desktop left and right click menus for having too much complexity. [15]

Release history

Major releases [16]
VersionCode nameRelease dateNotes
pre-alphaEnlightenment Alpha1October 1996 [17]
0.13.2DR1318 January 1998 [18]
0.14.0DR1418 July 1998 [19] [20] [21]
0.15.0DR1512 March 1999 [22]
0.16DR1627 October 1999 [23] Still maintained as of 2024. Preferred by many people, especially as a "retro" desktop. [24]
0.17DR1721 December 2012 [25] Major rewrite version. Was forked to create the Moksha desktop.
0.18DR1822 December 2013 [26]
0.19DR1915 September 2014 [27]
0.20DR201 December 2015 [28]
0.21DR211 June 2016 [29]
0.22DR2222 November 2017 [30]
0.23DR 0.2324 August 2019 [31]
0.24DR 0.2417 May 2020 [32]
0.25DR 0.2516 December 2021 [33] [34]
0.26DR 0.2623 December 2023 [35]
0.27DR 0.2711 January 2025 [36] [37] Current release.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xfce</span> Desktop environment

Xfce or XFCE is a free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Light-weight Linux distribution</span> Linux distribution with low resource requirements

A light-weight Linux distribution is a Linux distribution that uses lower memory and processor-speed requirements than a more "feature-rich" Linux distribution. The lower demands on hardware ideally result in a more responsive machine, and allow devices with fewer system resources to be used productively. The lower memory and processor-speed requirements are achieved by avoiding software bloat, i.e. by leaving out features that are perceived to have little or no practical use or advantage, or for which there is no or low demand.

The Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL) are a set of graphics libraries that grew out of the development of Enlightenment, a window manager and Wayland compositor. The project's focus is to make the EFL a flexible yet powerful and easy to use set of tools to extend the capabilities of both the Enlightenment window manager and other software projects based on the EFL. The libraries are meant to be portable and optimized to be functional even on mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets.

A desktop environment is a collection of software designed to give functionality and a certain look and feel to an operating system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LXDE</span> Lightweight desktop environment for Linux and BSD

LXDE is a free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for use on older or resource-constrained personal computers such as netbooks or system on a chip computers.

gOS (operating system) Ubuntu-based Linux distribution

gOS or "good OS" was an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution created by Good OS LLC, a Los Angeles-based corporation. Its CIO David Liu described that after meeting Enlightenment and open source people, he realized that his dream to bring Web 2.0 applications into mainstream use could be achieved by creating a Linux distribution that made it easy for users to access Google and Web 2.0 applications. David Liu went on to create the Chinese Twitter clone called Wozai (我在), leaving gOS officially defunct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenGEU</span> Free computer operating system

OpenGEU was a free computer operating system based upon the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, which in turn is based on Debian. OpenGEU combined the strengths and ease of use of GNOME desktop environment with the lightweight, and graphical eye candy features of the Enlightenment window manager to create a unique and user-friendly desktop. While OpenGEU was originally derived from Ubuntu, the design of the user gave it a significantly different appearance, with original art themes, software and tools.

This article compares variety of different X window managers. For an introduction to the topic, see X Window System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midori (web browser)</span> Free and open-source web browser

Midori is a free and open-source web browser. In 2019, the Midori project was acquired by the Astian Foundation. After the acquisition, the project became a derivative of the Firefox browser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granular Linux</span> Linux distribution

Granular, or Granular Linux, was a Linux distribution targeted at the common desktop users. Granular was based on PCLinuxOS and came as an installable live CD. The CD version of Granular featured two desktop environments – KDE and a development version of Enlightenment. Where KDE is a full-featured desktop environment, Enlightenment is a lightweight desktop shell which is markedly faster than KDE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayland (protocol)</span> Display system intended to replace X11

Wayland is a communication protocol that specifies the communication between a display server and its clients, as well as a C library implementation of that protocol. A display server using the Wayland protocol is called a Wayland compositor, because it additionally performs the task of a compositing window manager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GTK</span> Free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces

GTK is a free software cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the Wayland and X11 windowing systems.

Mutter is a window manager initially designed and implemented for the X Window System, but then evolved to be a Wayland compositor. It became the default window manager in GNOME 3, replacing Metacity which used GTK for rendering. "Mutter" is a combination of "Metacity" and "Clutter".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bodhi Linux</span> Linux distribution

Bodhi Linux is a light-weight Linux distribution based on Ubuntu that uses an Enlightenment DR17-based fork called Moksha as its desktop environment. The philosophy for the distribution is to provide a minimal base system so that users can install the software they want. In turn, the distribution only includes software that is essential to most users, such as a file manager (Thunar), a terminal emulator (Terminology), and a web browser. To install additional software, Bodhi Linux developers maintain a browser-based app store that uses apturl to install programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinnamon (desktop environment)</span> Desktop environment

Cinnamon is a free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, which was originally based on GNOME 3, but follows traditional desktop metaphor conventions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Razor-qt</span> Desktop environment for the X Window System

Razor-qt is a discontinued free and open-source desktop environment. It was intended as a lightweight desktop environment based upon the Qt application framework, and was "tailored for users who value simplicity, speed, and an intuitive interface."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simple Desktop Display Manager</span> Software for Unix-like operating systems

Simple Desktop Display Manager (SDDM) is a display manager for the X11 and Wayland windowing systems. SDDM was written from scratch in C++11 and supports theming via QML.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Budgie (desktop environment)</span> Desktop environment for Unix-like operating systems

Budgie is an independent, free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems that targets the desktop metaphor. Budgie is developed by the Buddies of Budgie organization, which is composed of a team of contributors from Linux distributions such as Fedora, Debian, and Arch Linux. Its design emphasizes simplicity, minimalism, and elegance, while providing the means to extend or customize the desktop in various ways. Unlike desktop environments like Cinnamon, Budgie does not have a reference platform, and all distributions that ship Budgie are recommended to set defaults that best fit their desired user experience. Budgie is also shipped as an edition of certain Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu Budgie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elive</span> Linux distribution developed by Samuel F. Baggen

Elive is a non-commercial Linux distribution based on Debian. It uses the Enlightenment desktop environment, offering a live DVD and a persistent USB image for 32- and 64-bit computers with Intel or AMD x86 processors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moksha (window manager)</span> Window manager

Moksha is an open source window manager for Linux used primarily by Bodhi Linux. It is a fork and continuation of the Enlightenment 17 window manager.

References

  1. "Enlightenment 0.27.0 Release". 11 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  2. "Enlightenment/COPYING at master" . Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  3. "Enlightenment DR 0.20.0 Release". Enlightenment.org. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  4. Zinoune, M. (10 July 2012). "Enlightenment distributions that are still alive!". Unixmen. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  5. "Portal:Enlightenment". en.opensuse.org. 2012-12-21. Archived from the original on 2018-02-12. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  6. "The windows manager Enlightenment – MVPS.net Blog" . Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  7. "Enlightenment DR16". Enlightenment.
  8. 1 2 Germain, Jack M. (16 May 2014). "Enlightenment Linux: It's Not What You Think". LinuxInsider. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  9. "Enlightenment E16". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  10. Zinoune, M. (28 June 2024). "Enlightenment 17 is soon to be released! | Unixmen" . Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  11. "Enlightenment 0.27.0 Release". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  12. Desktop, Moksha. "Moksha Desktop – The future desktop environment of the Bodhi Linux project". mokshadesktop.github.io. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  13. Marco Fioretti (3 July 2011). "Best lightweight window managers for Linux". TechRadar. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  14. "The desktop-a-week review: Enlightenment (E17)". Network World. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  15. Perkins, John (1 October 2020). "Enlightenment Desktop Review: A Beautiful, Lightweight but Different Desktop Manager". Make Tech Easier. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  16. "Legacy sources". Archived from the original on 29 October 2020.
  17. "enlightenment-1.0alpha-1.i386.rpm". CDrom Archive.
  18. "New E Already Released". Slashdot News. 19 January 1998.
  19. "Enlightenment 0.14 release". Slashdot. 18 July 1998.
  20. ""E news"". Archived from the original on 28 April 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  21. "Official Word on Enlightenment DR14". Slashdot. 16 July 1998.
  22. "Enlightenment 0.15". Slashdot. 12 March 1999.
  23. ""E news"". Archived from the original on 4 March 2000. Retrieved 19 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  24. "Enlightenment E16". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  25. "After 12 years of Development, E17 Is Out". Slashdot. 21 December 2012.
  26. "Enlightenment DR 0.18: Improved Compositing, Wayland Support". slashdot. 22 December 2013.
  27. "v0.19.0". git release.
  28. "Enlightenment E20 Released With Full Wayland Support". slashdot. December 2015.
  29. "v0.21.0". git release.
  30. "v0.22.0". git release.
  31. "v0.23.0". git release.
  32. "v0.24.0". git release.
  33. "Enlightenment 0.25.0 Release". 16 December 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  34. "v0.25.0". git release.
  35. "Enlightenment 0.26.0 Release". 23 December 2023. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  36. "Enlightenment 0.27.0 Release". 11 January 2025. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
  37. "v0.27.0". git release.