Enlightenment (window manager) (original) (raw)
An Enlightenment desktop, with desktop pager, configuration window and xterm
Enlightenment serves as a window manager for the X Window System. Though a window manager, Enlightenment (often simply referred to as "E") has more complexity than many window managers, and has great facility for theming while remaining fairly fast and efficient. Low-end systems with RAM and CPU time constraints often deploy Enlightenment rather than a full desktop environment. Its use, however, also goes beyond such systems, and it often appears in conjunction with -- or superceding -- full desktop environments such as KDE or GNOME, even on fast systems.
As of 2003 Enlightenment had reached a "stable" version of 0.16.5. Version 0.16.6 has GNOME hints that allow greater functionality in conjunction with the GNOME panel and desktop. The next major version, currently in development and known as E17, has the design goal of serving as a desktop shell; somewhere between a window manager and a desktop environment.