14 A Brief Survey of the Linux Desktop and Printing

This chapter is a quick introduction to the components found in a typical Linux desktop system. Of all of the different kinds of software on Linux systems, the desktop arena is one of the wildest and most colorful, because there are so many environments and applications from which to choose, and most distributions make it relatively easy for you to try them out.

Unlike other parts of a Linux system, such as storage and networking, creating a desktop structure doesn’t involve an extensive hierarchy of layers. Instead, each component performs a specific task, communicating with other components ...

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