LibHunt tracks mentions of software libraries on relevant social networks. Based on that data, you can find the most popular projects and their alternatives.
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JWM
i3
Openbox
IceWM
Fluxbox
dwm
awesome
bspwm
Enlightenment
Xfce
i3
LXDE
LXQt
KDE Plasma Desktop
IceWM
Fluxbox
JWM EnlightenmentEnlightenment might be a bit more popular than JWM. We know about 4 links to it since March 2021 and only 3 links to JWM. 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.
More data than I expected, OpenBSD also preferred jwm for a short time. Source: over 1 year ago
Absolutely yes - I had a very, really old toshiba satellite A50 from 2006 or so, I just can't remember the year, maybe older, but it is really old (it still is somewhere around here, although I've never used it anymore) running debian 32 bits with jwm (I prefer this over openbox or other minimalist DE - this is something where you should take some time trying, to see which it's best for you and for that machine). Source: over 2 years ago
Last time I tried Debian on a computer with only 512MB, I ended up with JWM as the window manager. Source: almost 3 years ago
As for modern and sleek - isn't the default flat theme that's there now just that. It's what everyone wants? Flat? Sleek? Minimal shadows where needed for some borders/depth. Is the problem that it's dark? You can just select one of the light color palettes in the palette selector if that's what you want. Look at enlightenment.org and all the screenshots there now or just try the latest. Source: over 2 years ago
Don't give up too fast - it may be the thing you want exists and it just isn't where you expect it or there's a feature you just don't know is there. It may be it does something differently and it's odd at the start but then you get used to it and then suddenly you can't go back. This happened to people early in the E-0.17 rewrite where E would separate each screen and virtual desktops are switched separately per... Source: over 2 years ago
Hmmm... Not really. e uses about half the memory. I just updated the the about-enlightenment page on enlightenment.org with some numbers I took from an actual installed vm comparing e, xfce, gnome, kde, lxd, and lxqt. e is about 1/4 the mem of kde and even less than lxqt. You might find e is actually more customizable than kde if you dig into themes and how they work. They are sheer mountains of power if you want... Source: over 2 years ago
You could try Enlightenment, an old, forgotten gem. I use a distro designed for it (Elive Linux) but that's optional especially since the betas which are the only supported versions not using Debian Wheezy are using an "outdated-looking" (personally I like it) E16 desktop. Source: about 3 years ago
i3 - A dynamic tiling window manager designed for X11, inspired by wmii, and written in C.
Xfce - Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.
Openbox - Openbox is a highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.
IceWM - icewm home page . Bug Tracking. If you have a patch, a bug report or a feature request to submit, please do so at the icewm project page at SourceForge.
LXDE - Why will you like it? Less resource needs. You can use it on your less-pricey embedded board or salvaged computer. Component-based design. Don't want something in LXDE, or you don't want to use LXDE but only part of it?
Fluxbox - Fluxbox is a window manager for X that was based on the Blackbox 0.61.1 code.