If you don’t use Gnome or KDE or one of the other big DEs, do you basically have no (user facing GUI) programs installed by default? If so, don’t you end up installing a bunch of programs from one of those anyway?
Most window managers come with no GUI apps. They don’t even have a launcher (start menu), status bar, notification area, wifi menu, task bar, dock, etc.
For most window managers you pick and choose a shell, launcher, etc, to combine it with. Then you configure all those separate tools and the window manager to your liking
There are preconfigured packages, distros, and scripts that make sensible choices for this already. Even they usually don’t bring a lot of applications with them.
Omarchy brings a lot of applications in their default install. Check out this uninstall script to get an idea. KDEnlive is a KDE application, gnome-calculator, nautilus, gnome-diskutil, gnome-keyring are GNOME. Chromium is GTK too, I actually don’t know if LibreOffice is. So not many I would dare say. Others ship less.
Dank Linux, a full features shell for Niri, Wayland, mangowc describes it pretty well.
Batteries Included
The age of assembling your desktop from dozens of separate tools and spending hours trying to make it feel cohesive is over. While traditional Wayland setups require you to hunt down, configure, and maintain a sprawling collection of utilities, Dank Linux delivers everything in one cohesive package with minimal dependencies.
The Traditional Way: Package Hunting Simulator
A typical Hyprland, niri, Sway, MangoWC, dwl, labwc, Miracle WM, or generic Wayland setup forces you to learn about and configure a dozen or more separate tools, such as:
Status Bar: waybar, eww, or custom scripts
Notifications: mako, swaync, or dunst
App Launcher: rofi, wofi, fuzzel, or tofi
Screen Locking: swaylock, hyprlock, or gtklock
Idle Management: swayidle, hypridle
System Tools: htop, btop, nm-applet, blueman, pavucontrol
Audio Control: pavucontrol, pamixer scripts
Brightness Control: brightnessctl with custom bindings
Clipboard Manager: clipman, cliphist, or wl-clipboard scripts
Wallpaper Management: swaybg, swww, hyprpaper, or wpaperd
Theming: manually configuring gtk, qt, various apps, bars, compositor gaps and colors
Power Management: custom scripts or additional daemons
Greeter: gdm, sddm, lightdm, greetd
Each tool has its own configuration format, its own quirks, and its own dependencies. You’ll spend hours writing glue scripts, debugging integration issues, and discovering missing functionality at the worst possible moments.
That was my experience when I briefly tried a TWM, the parts bin approach is very cool but I need my computer to work NOW, I can’t take two weeks to play with it. A package sounds good…
Omarchy is the most complete package for Hyprland, I have seen so far. Installs in under 10 minutes and comes with everything you need installed, nicely configured, and good documentation.
If you don’t use Gnome or KDE or one of the other big DEs, do you basically have no (user facing GUI) programs installed by default? If so, don’t you end up installing a bunch of programs from one of those anyway?
Keyboard shortcuts. And also, launchers.
They open as tiles not windows, look up hyprland
It basically favors keyboard only use over mouse
I think most window managers typically come with just a fee GUI apps preinstalled, but most users install more.
Most window managers come with no GUI apps. They don’t even have a launcher (start menu), status bar, notification area, wifi menu, task bar, dock, etc.
For most window managers you pick and choose a shell, launcher, etc, to combine it with. Then you configure all those separate tools and the window manager to your liking
There are preconfigured packages, distros, and scripts that make sensible choices for this already. Even they usually don’t bring a lot of applications with them.
Omarchy brings a lot of applications in their default install. Check out this uninstall script to get an idea. KDEnlive is a KDE application, gnome-calculator, nautilus, gnome-diskutil, gnome-keyring are GNOME. Chromium is GTK too, I actually don’t know if LibreOffice is. So not many I would dare say. Others ship less.
Dank Linux, a full features shell for Niri, Wayland, mangowc describes it pretty well.
Interesting, every wm I’ve tried had a status bar, launcher and a web browser preinstalled, but I haven’t tried many and I forget what distro
Distros might package some stuff for you, yes.
That was my experience when I briefly tried a TWM, the parts bin approach is very cool but I need my computer to work NOW, I can’t take two weeks to play with it. A package sounds good…
Omarchy is the most complete package for Hyprland, I have seen so far. Installs in under 10 minutes and comes with everything you need installed, nicely configured, and good documentation.