After user login at the display manager/login manager, the display manager initiates the desktop environment. Then it draws graphics to the screen through a sub application called a compositor.Ī compositor runs on top of the display server and creates a buffer for each workspace and then composites the buffers to enable visual effects like shadows, transparency, fading, scaling etc… and the display of graphics to the screen.ĭesktop environments combine together a host of applications to give the user an intuitive and interactive experience. and dispatches those events to the appropriate applications. When Xorg is started, it listens for events like starting applications, mouse clicks and key presses etc. This was to make server’s administration easier. Xorg was designed to be used to render graphics from a server to a client on another computer. This is because Linux was also originally for server-side implementations only. Originally, the X protocol and Xorg were designed for server use. The X protocol is just a set of rules for communication between the display server and its clients. Xorg is a display server that implements the X protocol. Xorg is usually the display server of choice on many Linux systems. So, in this story let’s see how they work together and get introduced to tiling window managers in Linux. All those components make-up the average Linux desktop. Well, for the average Linux desktop, there is But this time, I wanted to try tiling window managers. Just last 2 weeks, I decided to leave my Microsoft Windows platform and go back to good old Linux once more. If you are not already on Linux, I’ll advise you join the party. There are even some people who build and use their own applications on their systems not to talk of custom scripts, icons, fonts and what have yous.īut, the beauty is that in Linux, it is easy to become a power user because everything is customizable. Their systems are very much customized to the extent that no one can use it except them.

There are many things you will wonder when you see a screenshot of a Linux power user’s desktop.

Windows 10 window tiling manager