Re: noob requesting a bit of explanation ...

From: Jim the Bad (_at_)
Date: 04/02/04 

Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 00:30:58 +0100

Martin Slaney wrote:

> Here's hoping someone might a couple of minutes to explain this ...
>
> I'm primarily a Windows user ... (well -its the means by which I make a
> crust :-) ) - starting to quite like Suse (I have 8.2 nicely installed
> on a spare box) - after several brief, minor flirtations with Linux over
> the years - but one thing _really_ confuses me still .... and I suspect
> quite a few others.
>
> Could someone - in a few sentences - very broadly describe how the
> (apparent) multiple "layers" of GUI work in Linux ? I mean what really
> is Xfree86 ? What are KDE, Gnome ? Window managers ? How do these layers
> work/relate to each other ? Which of them is a subset of "X-windows" ?
> Where do the h/w specific device drivers "plug in" to ? How specific are
> these layers to the different Linux distro's ? Could you please use
> "brand name" examples ?
>
> I've had a quick google, but its hard to know what to search on <g>.

Simplified explaination, not technically accurate but will start you off:

At the core is Linux itself - the kernel. This talks to the hardware, and
does all the basic running of the computer. It has no user interface to
speak of.

On top of this are the GNU Tools, running on top of the Kernel. Part of
these tools is the 'shell'. This is the command line stuff - like DOS, only
much better. If you don't want a graphical system, this is enough for a
fully usable computer. The shell allows you to type in commands and run
scripts (like DOS batch files, only much more powerful). The GNU tools
include the commands themselves and many core utilies and apps. Actually,
there is a choice of shells - the most common Linux one is called 'Bash'.

On top of this is X Windows. This is the core GUI. It handles the screen
display and user input from the mouse and keyboard etc. (Actually, it's in
two parts, a client and a server part, but for most people this is
unimportant). There are several versions of X available, but XFree is the
default right now.

On top of that is the window manager. You have a wide choice, from the very
simple like olwm to the all-singing all-dancing WindowsXP rivaling KDE or
Gnome. You can even run more than one at once, it you really want. It's
your choice of Window Manager that decides the 'look and feel' of your GUI
experience. 

-- 
JimTheBad@ANTISPAM@NTLWorld.com

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