If you open a third window, depending on the window manager settings, it may split all three windows into equal 33% columns, or it may leave the left 50% as-is and then split the right 50% into two equally sized rows.

For example, if you have two windows open on your screen, they each take up 50% of the available screen space - one on the left, and the other on the right. Similar to the default Windows 10 behavior (and the behavior of Magnet, which we looked at a couple weeks ago), tiling window managers allow you to equally space windows beside each other. Every new window (aka, application) that you open on the screen means that the other windows have to readjust their sizing to make room for the newest window. In current standards of Windows and macOS, windows can overlap or completely cover other windows, with the knowledge that the window exists behind the top layer window.Ī tiling window manager does not allow windows to overlap each other. What Are Tiling Window Managers?Įvery operating system has a window manager, and it controls how windows are displayed, how they’re sized and moved, and other default options to go along with a window-based GUI. On the other end of the spectrum, there are desktop environments that cater to the old-school “tiling” window manager days of Windows 3.1. GNOME is fairly similar to Windows and macOS in that you manipulate windows on the screen for applications that you can move and resize to meet your needs. For example, one of the most popular distributions of Linux is Ubuntu, and the default desktop environment that Ubuntu uses is called GNOME. To generalize the Linux experience, you have a couple of main options to get started: what distribution do you want, and what desktop environment do you like best? Think of the distribution as the underlying foundation of the OS, while the desktop environment is the GUI that you see and interact with.

It was cool to see what a “free” OS could do, but it was rarely anything besides a quick distraction.Īs part of this new journey, I’ve become quite smitten with the power and stability that Linux can offer, as well as the overwhelming amount of customization and tinkering that I can do as long as my appetite for the terminal and configuration files is strong. I’ve had brief encounters in the past with some of the more common distros, but they just never stuck due to the prevalence of Windows and my affinity for Macs. Over the past year, I’ve been on a quest to learn more about other operating systems - specifically, Linux.

Magnet app mac alternative