alt text: Scene of The Punisher where he is desperate having a nightmare, captioned “When a tiling window manager user has to use a MacOS/Windows desktop”

  • Beacon@fedia.io
    3·
    1 day ago

    I’m not clear on what the distinction is that you’re referring to. How are the Linux window managers different than the win/mac ones?

    • muix@lemmy.sdf.org
      7·
      22 hours ago

      Window managers in Linux take direct command from the display server (Xorg, Wayland, etc.) to decide where to position windows and what they should look like. Whereas “window managers” on MacOS/Windows are tricking the original window manager provided by the OS into positioning windows a certain way. I’m simplifying here, but hope that clears things up.

      • Beacon@fedia.io
        3·
        17 hours ago

        Thanks for the info, but what is the functional difference to the end user?

        • Ghoelian@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          3·
          15 hours ago

          They’re limited by what the original window manager allows them to do. Sway has its whole own window manager, so it can do whatever it wants.

      • Honytawk@lemmy.zipEnglish
        11·
        19 hours ago

        You mean like Windows registry which determines how the windows need to be managed, just like almost every other program running on Windows?

        Your explanation still doesn’t differentiate.

        Or do you claim Linux calls home to some rando server to get the information on how a window should be displayed? Because that doesn’t seem like a great feature at all.

    • sudo@programming.dev
      2·
      20 hours ago

      https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Window_manager

      • Stacking (aka floating) window managers provide the traditional desktop metaphor used in commercial operating systems like Windows and macOS. Windows act like pieces of paper on a desk, and can be stacked on top of each other. For available Arch Wiki pages see Category:Stacking window managers.
      • Tiling window managers “tile” the windows so that none are overlapping. They usually make very extensive use of key-bindings and have less (or no) reliance on the mouse. Tiling window managers may be manual, offer predefined layouts, or both. For available Arch Wiki pages see Category:Tiling window managers.
      • Dynamic window managers can dynamically switch between tiling or floating window layout. For available Arch Wiki pages see Category:Dynamic window managers.

      Mac and Windows window managers aren’t different from Linux window managers. (Other than being difficult or impossible to replace). What you are calling “window managers” are software that reposition the windows after the actual window manager has positioned it.