This manual describes version 1.2 of NsCDE.
Copyright © 2019, 2020, 2021 M. Z.
Abstract
This manual describes NsCDE: Not so Common Desktop Environment
Table of Contents
In a nutshell, NsCDE is the CDE clone. Tehnically, it can be considered a heavy FVWM theme enriched with additional free software tools and applications, combining all this components into something which can be called lightweight hybrid desktop environment. It can even be integrated into existing desktop environments as a window manager wrapper for session handling and additional DE functionality.
NsCDE's main goal is to revive look and feel of the Common Desktop Environment found on many UNIX and unix-like systems during nineties and first decade of the 21 century, but with a slightly polished interface (XFT, unicode, dynamic changes, rich key and mouse bindings, workspace pages, rich menus etc) and a goal to produce comfortable "retro" environment which is not just a eye candy toy, but a real working environment for users who contrary to mainstream trends really like CDE, thus making semi-optimal blend of usability and compatibility with modern tools with look and feel which mainstream abadoned for some new fashion, and ... in a nutshell, giving to user the best of the both worlds.
Main driver behind NsCDE is the excellent FVWM window manager with it's endless options for customization, GUI Script engine, Colorsets, and modules. NsCDE is largely a wrapper around FVWM - something like a heavyweight theme, sort of.
Other main components are GTK2, GTK3, Qt4 and Qt5 theme for unifying look and feel for the most Unix/Linux applications, custom scripts which are helpers and backend workers for GUI parts and some data from the original CDE, as icons, palettes, and backdrops.
Since the 90-ties, I have always liked this environment and it's somewhat crude socrealistic look in a contrast to "modern" Windows and GNOME approach which is going in the opposite taste from what I always liked to see on my screen. I have created this environment for my own usage 8-10 years ago and it was a patchwork, chaotic and not well suited for sharing with someone. While it looked ok on the surface, behind it was a years of ad hoc hacks and senseless configurations and scripts, dysfunctional menus etc. Couple of months in a row I had a time and chance to rewrite this as a more consistent environment, first for myself, and during this process, idea came to do it even better, and put on the web for everyone else who may like this idea of modern CDE.
NsCDE is intended for a people which doesn't like "modern" hypes, interfaces that try to mimic Mac and Windows and reimplementing their ideas for non-technical user's desktops, and reimplementing them poorly. Older and mature system administrators, programmers and generally people from the Unix background are more likely to have attraction to NsCDE. It is probably not well suited for beginners.
Of course, question arises: why not simply use original original CDE now when it is open sourced?
Apart from desirable look, because it has it's own problems: it is a product from 90-ties, based on Motif and time has passed since then. In CDE there is no really XFT font rendering, no immediate application dynamic changes. Beside that, I have found dtwm, CDE's window manager inferior to FVWM and some 3rd party solutions which can be paired with it. So I wanted the best of the two worlds: good old retro look and feel from original CDE, but more flexible, modern and maintained "driver" behind it, which will allow for individual customizations as one find's them fit for it's own amusement and usage. As it will be seen later, there are some intentional differences between CDE and NsCDE - a middle line between trying to stay as close as possible to look of the CDE, but with more flexibility and functionality on the second and third look.