Software Alternatives & Startups

CDM VS picom

Compare CDM VS picom and see what are their differences

CDM logo CDM

Console Display Manager. Contribute to evertiro/cdm development by creating an account on GitHub.

picom logo picom

A lightweight compositor for X11 (previously a compton fork).
  • CDM Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-07
  • picom Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-26

CDM features and specs

  • Customizability
    CDM is customizable and allows users to tailor the appearance and behavior of the display manager to suit their preferences.
  • Lightweight
    CDM is a lightweight console display manager, meaning it has minimal system requirements and runs efficiently without consuming excessive resources.
  • Console-Based
    Being console-based, CDM does not require a graphical environment, making it suitable for systems without a GUI.
  • Simplicity
    CDM's simple design and straightforward configuration make it easy to set up and use, especially for those familiar with command-line interfaces.

Possible disadvantages of CDM

  • Lack of Advanced Features
    Compared to graphical display managers, CDM may lack some advanced features such as graphical user interfaces, easy configuration dialogs, and multi-user support.
  • Steep Learning Curve for New Users
    Users not familiar with terminal-based applications might find CDM challenging to configure and navigate compared to graphical display managers.
  • Limited Documentation
    CDM may have less comprehensive documentation, leading to challenges in troubleshooting and configuration for new users.
  • Compatibility
    As a console-based tool, CDM might not integrate smoothly with all graphical desktop environments or offer seamless user experiences compared to graphical display managers.

picom features and specs

  • Customizability
    Picom offers a wide range of customization options, allowing users to configure window transparency, animations, shadows, and other graphical effects to fit their preferences.
  • Performance
    Designed to be lightweight, Picom provides minimal resource usage while offering compositing effects, making it suitable for systems with limited resources.
  • Modern Features
    Picom includes support for hybrid backends, experimental features like VSync, and improved performance over its predecessor, Compton, making it well-suited for modern Linux systems.
  • Active Development
    The project benefits from ongoing updates and enhancements, addressing issues and introducing new features based on community feedback.

Possible disadvantages of picom

  • Complexity
    Due to its extensive range of options and settings, Picom can be complex to configure, requiring users to invest time in understanding and editing configuration files.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Some users may experience compatibility issues with specific hardware or window managers, necessitating additional troubleshooting and configuration.
  • Documentation
    Despite being actively developed, the documentation can be sparse or outdated, requiring users to seek community support or refer to insider knowledge for certain configurations.
  • Experimental Features
    Some features may be in experimental stages and could lead to instability or unpredictable behavior on certain systems.

CDM videos

THE BEST CDM IN FIFA 20!!!? | MIDDLE ICON ESSIEN PLAYER REVIEW

More videos:

  • Review - Gemini DJ Twin CD Media Player CDM-4000 Review
  • Review - REVIEW FO4 | Granit Xhaka GR | CDM | " Vua thẻ đỏ " của Châu Âu |

picom videos

ArcoLinux : 1481 Making sure compton/picom is working on LXQt

More videos:

  • Review - ArcoLinux : 1479 Changing from compton to picom - transparency in terminals

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CDM and picom)
Linux
52 52%
48% 48
Note Taking
0 0%
100% 100
Electronics
100 100%
0% 0
Window Manager
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using CDM and picom. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, picom seems to be a lot more popular than CDM. While we know about 40 links to picom, we've tracked only 1 mention of CDM. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

CDM mentions (1)

  • Cldm - Console Display Manager https://github.com/martinval9/cldm---CONSOLE-DISPLAY-MANAGER
    Just so you know, there is already a console display manager with a similar name, cdm. Source: about 5 years ago

picom mentions (40)

  • Why I traded my custom "Opinionated Linux" for Omarchy
    I've been using Omarchy as my main setup since June 26, 2025, the day DHH released the first version. Before that I had my own custom Opinionated Linux, mclovin-ARCHived: an Arch + i3wm installer set up exactly the way I liked. It was total control over the OS: me deciding what goes in, keeping every piece (i3wm, polybar, picom, kitty, dotfiles) up to date and making sure they all talked to each other for the... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • How to make Openbox look good with ease?
    Picom is also open source and you can find its code at its GitHub repo. The version of Picom used for this tutorial was the 10.2–1 version. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • [photo] installing Debian :)
    Also I took a census and zero founding members of NWA are "straight outta Picom". That's right, you heard it here first: Not even MC Ren is running Picom. Source: about 3 years ago
  • I have two Linux computers which I use for gaming.... somehow the one with slightly inferior hardware gets significantly better performance. I'm trying to figure out why... any ideas?
    If you have compositing you are likely using picom. You can check if it's running with ps -A | grep picom. I've never dealt with this issue as I don't really game on linux often, but I'm sure there's a solution somewhere in the github docs or issues. Worst case scenario you could always just kill the process with killall picom whenever you're about to game, and re-enable it with picom -b after. Do note though that... Source: over 3 years ago
  • Picom crashes with 'I3_FLOATING_WINDOW' in a rule
    Somewhat recently in official picom, a field called corner-radius-rules was added. I would like all my floating windows to have rounded corners. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing CDM and picom, you can also consider the following products

Console TDM - a login-manager-like desktop session selector written in bash (original source tree, now forked by dopsi https://github.com/dopsi/console-tdm) - mytbk/console-tdm

bspwm - A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

LightDM - A lightweight display manager

Polybar - Status bar for Unix-like systems.

Ly - TUI (ncurses-like) display manager

Kitty terminal - Super fast, GPU and OpenGL based terminal emulator with tiling support