An administrator is building a lightweight Linux workstation for developers who prefer to control their entire desktop from the keyboard. All application windows must automatically occupy non-overlapping tiles on the screen (no floating or stacking), the solution must avoid the overhead of a compositing manager, and it has to run on X11 so it will work with older graphics hardware. Which window manager best meets these requirements?
i3 is a tiling window manager written for X11. It arranges windows in non-overlapping tiles, is operated almost entirely through customizable keyboard shortcuts, and does not require a separate compositing engine, making it suitable for minimal installations and older hardware.
Openbox is a lightweight stacking (floating) window manager; windows can freely overlap, so it does not satisfy the tiling requirement.
KWin and Mutter are compositing window managers used by KDE Plasma and GNOME Shell, respectively. While they can provide tiling plug-ins or scripts, their primary design includes a 3-D compositing layer that adds resource overhead the scenario specifically wants to avoid.
Ask Bash
Bash is our AI bot, trained to help you pass your exam. AI Generated Content may display inaccurate information, always double-check anything important.
What are the key features of a tiling window manager like i3?
Open an interactive chat with Bash
What is the difference between tiling and stacking window managers?
Open an interactive chat with Bash
Why does i3 not require a compositing manager, and what are the benefits?
Open an interactive chat with Bash
CompTIA Linux+ XK0-006 (V8)
System Management
Your Score:
Report Issue
Bash, the Crucial Exams Chat Bot
AI Bot
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
IT & Cybersecurity Package Join Premium for Full Access