Enlightenment
Original author(s)Carsten Haitzler
Developer(s)Enlightenment development team
Initial release1997 (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, also known simply as E, is a compositing window manager for the X Window System. Since version 20, Enlightenment also supports Wayland,[3] and is shipped with some linux distributions such as Bodhi Linux and Pentoo.[4]

Enlightenment includes functions to provide a graphical shell and can be used in conjunction with programs written for GNOME or KDE. When used together with the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL), Enlightenment can refer to an entire desktop environment.[5]

History

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.[8]

Bodhi Linux was built around the Enlightenment 17 desktop, but forked it to create the Moksha desktop. The Elive Linux distribution also used a fork of E17 as its main desktop environment until 2019, when the 3.7 series was released.

The current version as of August 2023 is E25.[9]

E16

The release of E17 meant a fundamental redesign of the enlightenment manager. As a result smaller part of the community decided to stay with the E16 codebase and continue independent development of this version, simply naming the manager "e16" while releasing under independent version scheme. It reached the 1.0 milestone in 2009 and is still actively developed (1.0.29 as of 2023).[10]

Reception

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.[11]

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.[12]

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 complex desktop left and right click menus for having too much complexity.[13]

Release history

Major releases[14]
Version Code name Release date Notes
pre-alpha Enlightenment Alpha1 October 1996[15]
0.13.2 DR13 18 January 1998[16]
0.14.0 DR14 18 July 1998[17][18][19]
0.15.0 DR15 12 March 1999[20]
0.16 DR16 27 October 1999[21] Still maintained as of 2023. Preferred by many people, especially as a "retro" desktop.[22]
0.17 DR17 21 December 2012[23] Major rewrite version. Was forked to create the Moksha desktop.
0.18 DR18 22 December 2013[24]
0.19 DR19 15 September 2014[25]
0.20 DR20 1 December 2015[26]
0.21 DR21 1 June 2016[27]
0.22 DR22 22 November 2017[28]
0.23 DR 0.23 24 August 2019[29]
0.24 DR 0.24 17 May 2020[30]
0.25 DR 0.25 16 December 2021[31][32]
0.26 DR 0.26 23 December 2023[33] Current release.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Enlightenment 0.26.0 Release". 23 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "COPYING - core/enlightenment.git". Archived from the original on 28 March 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  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. 1 2 Germain, Jack M. (16 May 2014). "Enlightenment Linux: It's Not What You Think". LinuxInsider. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  9. ↑ "News". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  10. ↑ "Enlightenment E16". Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  11. ↑ Marco Fioretti (3 July 2011). "Best lightweight window managers for Linux". TechRadar. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  12. ↑ "The desktop-a-week review: Enlightenment (E17)". Network World. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  13. ↑ Perkins, John (1 October 2020). "Enlightenment Desktop Review: A Beautiful, Lightweight but Different Desktop Manager". Make Tech Easier. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  14. ↑ "Legacy sources". Archived from the original on 29 October 2020.
  15. ↑ "enlightenment-1.0alpha-1.i386.rpm". CDrom Archive.
  16. ↑ "New E Already Released". Slashdot News. 19 January 1998.
  17. ↑ "Enlightenment 0.14 release". Slashdot. 18 July 1998.
  18. ↑ ""E news"". Archived from the original on 28 April 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  19. ↑ "Official Word on Enlightenment DR14". Slashdot. 16 July 1998.
  20. ↑ "Enlightenment 0.15". Slashdot. 12 March 1999.
  21. ↑ ""E news"". Archived from the original on 4 March 2000. Retrieved 19 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  22. ↑ "Enlightenment E16". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  23. ↑ "After 12 years of Development, E17 Is Out". Slashdot. 21 December 2012.
  24. ↑ "Enlightenment DR 0.18: Improved Compositing, Wayland Support". slashdot. 22 December 2013.
  25. ↑ "v0.19.0". git release.
  26. ↑ "Enlightenment E20 Released With Full Wayland Support". slashdot. December 2015.
  27. ↑ "v0.21.0". git release.
  28. ↑ "v0.22.0". git release.
  29. ↑ "v0.23.0". git release.
  30. ↑ "v0.24.0". git release.
  31. ↑ "Enlightenment 0.25.0 Release". 16 December 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  32. ↑ "v0.25.0". git release.
  33. ↑ "Enlightenment 0.26.0 Release". 23 December 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
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