Window manager selection

[satimis]

Hi folks,

I'm goting to select a light-weight window manager for BLFS 6.1 which I'm building. According to my search there are many of them.

According to the voting on
http://xwinman.org/vote.php
window-maker ranks on top

What your folks will recommend other than KDE, GNOME and Xfce.

My requirements are;
small in size
quick to start
one workspace
XPM support

TIA

B.R.
satimis

[mrBen]

Of the top of my head I cannot think of a single window manager in Linux that only offers 1 workspace by default.

Personally I find Xfce nice and lightweight, but I also like Fluxbox.

[Hmse]

Fluxbox all the way

[Hayl]

Please keep posts asking for opinions out of the help-forums... these types of posts belong in /dev/random/

[bwkaz]

Of the top of my head I cannot think of a single window manager in Linux that only offers 1 workspace by default. twm does. And satimis, you already have twm installed!

(Of course, it's a major PITA to use until you get used to it... I would not seriously recommend it. ;))

[satimis]

Hi bwkaz,

And satimis, you already have twm installed!Yes. I have been looking around how to build a picture background as well as the official website of twm without result (would it be MIT?). I only discovered following website;

Use the TWM Window Manager
http://www.uwo.ca/its/doc/hdi/x11/x4-twm.html

But I found vtwm and its website. Can vtwm be installed on top of twm, i.e. without uninstalling twm. So that 2 desktops are available simultaneously similar to KDE and GNOME being co-existing. During login selection on desktop is provided.

TIA

B.R.
satimis

[knute]

Hayl,

Wouldn't this belong in the ISO lost forum as it is asking about distros.

Wasn't that forum specifically set up for these types of questions?

My 2 cents of curiousity.


Satimis,

IN answer to your question, I would have to say to try a few and see what you like.
For uber control over window placement, I'd suggest sawfish, as it also has excellent key bindings and such.
Pekwm supports xpms, and has good keyboard support.

Some may suggest devilspie for control of windows, well, I tried it, and found it to be clumbsy and awkward to even use, unlike the settings in sawfish! :D But, that's my own opinion.

Enlightenment is good too. I actually fell in love with E17, but that's still in development, so if you have issues with it and don't know how to recover... hasn't happened too recently, but it would drive a newbie nuts!

HTH

[bwkaz]

I have been looking around how to build a picture background With twm itself, you can't do that. To set a picture as your background, you need to use xsetroot (installed with X) or Esetroot (installed with Enlightenment or Eterm):

xsetroot -bitmap /path/to/file.<some supported extension>

(This will tile the bitmap. I don't think there's any other option with xsetroot.)

or:

Esetroot -c /path/to/file.jpg

(It can be in any format that Imlib2 understands: since Imlib2 is a requirement of both Enlightenment and Eterm, Esetroot uses it to interpret the file you give it. Oh, and this doesn't tile the picture, it just centers it.)

as well as the official website of twm without result (would it be MIT?). I have no idea. I don't really look at documentation for twm itself, because it doesn't allow me to do hardly anything.

Can vtwm be installed on top of twm, i.e. without uninstalling twm. I don't know, I've never used vtwm. But I'm guessing it may be possible.

During login selection on desktop is provided. That'll require xdm, kdm, or gdm. (Most likely kdm or gdm. I don't think xdm can handle this, though I don't know for sure.) The window manager that starts will depend on what your .xinitrc file runs; the only way to change it from a GUI is to use a display manager.

Hayl,

Wouldn't this belong in the ISO lost forum as it is asking about distros. No, it's asking about window managers, not distros. ;)

[Hayl]

Hayl,

Wouldn't this belong in the ISO lost forum as it is asking about distros.

Wasn't that forum specifically set up for these types of questions?


no, this thread is about WMs and DEs.

the .ISO so confused is for those annoying "What distro should I run" opinion questions, /dev/random is for all other opinion posts.

[satimis]

Hi bwkaz,

To set a picture as your background, you need to use xsetroot (installed with X) or Esetroot (installed with Enlightenment or Eterm):....# which xsetroot
which: no xsetroot in ((null))What does it indicate?

# find / -name xsetroot/sources/xc/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xc/config/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xc/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xc/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xc/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xc/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot/xsetroot
/sources/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
/sources/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/config/xcbuild/programs/xsetroot
find: WARNING: Hard link count is wrong for /proc: this may be a bug in your filesystem driver. Automatically turning on find's -noleaf option. Earlier results may have failed to include directories that should have been searched.
/usr/X11R6/bin/xsetroot
/.Trash-0/files/xc/programs/xsetrootIt seems it is there.

...... Oh, and this doesn't tile the picture, it just centers it.)How to Centered Maxpect, Tiled Maxpect, Scale, etc. the picture? It is possible to resize the picture on graphic editing tools making it fit-to-screen. But it is not convenient.

That'll require xdm, kdm, or gdm. (Most likely kdm or gdm. I don't think xdm can handle this, though I don't know for sure.) The window manager that starts will depend on what your .xinitrc file runs; the only way to change it from a GUI is to use a display manager.I'll look at the BLFS 6.1 book to find out. If they can do it on KDE/GNOME, with similar method I can do it on twm/vtwm. The later is also a lightweight window manager about 3.8Mb having more features. I think it should be gdm. I came across it before on the first time I installed FC2, sometimes ago.

B.R.
satimis

[bwkaz]

# which xsetroot
which: no xsetroot in ((null))What does it indicate? That your $PATH isn't set correctly perhaps? I'm not sure what you're using for "which" there, though. Try running /usr/X11R6/bin/xsetroot (since you have the file), and see if that works.

How to Centered Maxpect, Tiled Maxpect, Scale, etc. the picture? xsetroot does not allow you to do that. The only thing that it will do is tile it. Esetroot has some options to scale, center, fit, or mirror the picture (presumably scale means "preserve the aspect ratio, but get the picture to fill the entire root window in one dimension", center means what you'd expect, fit means "scale both dimensions independently" -- i.e. don't preserve the aspect ratio -- and mirror flips the picture either left-to-right or top-to-bottom).

But Esetroot gets to be a bit of a pain to install.

I'll look at the BLFS 6.1 book to find out. If they can do it on KDE/GNOME, with similar method I can do it on twm/vtwm. The later is also a lightweight window manager about 3.8Mb having more features. I think it should be gdm. I came across it before on the first time I installed FC2, sometimes ago. gdm should probably work, but there will be a lot of requirements for it. Possibly the same with kdm, I'm not sure. But yeah, check the BLFS book for the requirements.

[satimis]

Hi bwkaz,

That your $PATH isn't set correctly perhaps? I'm not sure what you're using for "which" there, thoughI treid to find out the full path of "xsetroot" if it is a command.

Try running /usr/X11R6/bin/xsetroot (since you have the file), and see if that works.$ /usr/X11R6/bin/xsetroot --helpusage: /usr/X11R6/bin/xsetroot [options]
where options are:
-display <display> or -d <display>
-fg <color> or -foreground <color>
-bg <color> or -background <color>
-rv or -reverse
-help
-def or -default
-name <string>
-cursor <cursor file> <mask file>
-cursor_name <cursor-font name>
-solid <color>
-gray or -grey
-bitmap <filename>
-mod <x> <y>
Others noted with thanks

Furthermore the command prompt "satimis@localhost.localdomain : /home/satimisroot@localhost:/home/satimis#" occupies more than half of the page width of Xterm. Which file controls it? I expect to shorten it. Tks

B.R.
satimis

[satimis]

Hi bwkaz,

I tried the samll tool "xsetroot" on following formats

bmp/gif/jpg/pbm/png/rgb non of them can work.

# xsetroot -bitmap /path/to/butterfly_02.bmp
xsetroot: bad bitmap format file: /path/to/butterfly_02.bmp

B.R.
satimis

[bwkaz]

Furthermore the command prompt "satimis@localhost.localdomain : /home/satimisroot@localhost:/home/satimis#" occupies more than half of the page width of Xterm. Which file controls it? Either /etc/profile or ~/.bash_profile. You changed one of these when you did the BLFS section on "the bash shell configuration files".

Well, wait -- after reading that section, the real culprit is the /etc/profile.d/extra-prompt.sh file (which is called from /etc/profile) -- to shorten the prompt, either remove that file, or move it into some other directory.

I tried the samll tool "xsetroot" on following formats

bmp/gif/jpg/pbm/png/rgb non of them can work. Yeah, I've read some more of the manpages, and you're right. xsetroot can only take a bitmap file, which you create with the "bitmap" program. But the "bitmap" program outputs only black-and-white patterns (not pixmaps, bitmaps -- each pixel is a bit). So that won't even work.

Looks like it's either Esetroot, or something else that I don't know about... :(

[satimis]

HI bwkaz

the real culprit is the /etc/profile.d/extra-prompt.sh file (which is called from /etc/profile) -- to shorten the prompt, either remove that file, or move it into some other directory.Your advice worked here. Moved "extra-prompt.sh" to /home/satimis/. Rebooted BLFS 6.1 (must reboot. Logout/relogin did not work). Short command prompt appeared on Xterm.

Others noted with tks.

B.R.
satimis