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Enlightenment (window manager)

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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]

Enlightenment
Original author(s)Carsten Haitzler
Developer(s)Enlightenment development team
Initial release1997; 27 years ago (1997)
Stable release
0.26.0[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 23 December 2023
Repository
Written inC (EFL)
Operating systemUnix-like
Type
LicenseBSD 2-Clause[2]
Websitewww.enlightenment.org

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

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E16 and before

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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

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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 July 2024 is E26.[11]

Usage

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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

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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

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Major releases[16]
Version Code name Release date Notes
pre-alpha Enlightenment Alpha1 October 1996[17]
0.13.2 DR13 18 January 1998[18]
0.14.0 DR14 18 July 1998[19][20][21]
0.15.0 DR15 12 March 1999[22]
0.16 DR16 27 October 1999[23] Still maintained as of 2024. Preferred by many people, especially as a "retro" desktop.[24]
0.17 DR17 21 December 2012[25] Major rewrite version. Was forked to create the Moksha desktop.
0.18 DR18 22 December 2013[26]
0.19 DR19 15 September 2014[27]
0.20 DR20 1 December 2015[28]
0.21 DR21 1 June 2016[29]
0.22 DR22 22 November 2017[30]
0.23 DR 0.23 24 August 2019[31]
0.24 DR 0.24 17 May 2020[32]
0.25 DR 0.25 16 December 2021[33][34]
0.26 DR 0.26 23 December 2023[35] Current release.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Enlightenment 0.26.0 Release". 23 December 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  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. ^ a b 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 0.26.0 Release". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 27 July 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 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Enlightenment (software).
 
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: The Unofficial Enlightenment User's Manual
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