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Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

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hudson
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Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#1 Post by hudson »

Hello all, I'm sure this topic has been done to death, but I've been setting up my desktop and running through the various options. For years and years I used Openbox + tint2. In fact, I have no idea what modern KDE/Gnome DE's looks like. But, being on a configuration binge, I found Openbox lacking in the documentation department and recently switched to Fluxbox. Now, Openbox is written in C and has a lighter memory profile. Fluxbox is C++ so larger/slower. But I like the man pages, so I've gone with Flux.

My final config with Fluxbox used the toolbar + bbpager. But in some ways I found it limiting. I've been really into designing for usability, so to speak...getting nice titles, good placement of minimized windows and workspace pagers, etc. Currently, I see two paths...switching to FVWM and configing the hell out of it or using a ultra lightweight wm like WM2 / WMX / FLWM and overlays for paging, docking, etc.

I was interested in WindowMaker/GNUStep...I liked the idea of an integrated development environment and it reminds me of what I think SmallTalk is about, but I think FVWM is a better direction. I know a lot of people swear by Xmonad/Awesome/DWM/etc...but for now I am looking more for a Openbox/Fluxbox style with better paging/docking/etc. I do think, though, that I'm going to use Notion (an Ion3 fork) as an additional WM. I always thought Ion3 was brilliant.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts 8)

Bulkley
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#2 Post by Bulkley »

Favorite window manager -> Openbox + tint2 set transparent.
File manager -> PCManfm
By pagers you mean icon based launchers? I never use them. My preference is a menu that appears anywhere on the screen with a right click.
Conky set transparent.

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neruson
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#3 Post by neruson »

I prefer Openbox. I typically use BmPanel2, thunar with dmenu. I can use just about any window manager as long as dmenu is installed. I barely use traditional menus anymore. Dmenu is the most crucial app installed on my machine. I would be lost without it :lol:
Desktop: Fedora 22 Mate + Compiz (64 bit) / Windows 7 Pro (64 bit)
Laptop: Arch Linux Xfce (64 bit)
Chromebook: Debian Jessie + Openbox (32 bit)

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hudson
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#4 Post by hudson »

Thanks for the replies. I was using PCManFM, but maybe wimped out and have been trying out Caja. I have major problems finding a good file manager!

@Bulkley here's a link to fbpager http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/fbpager/ you can see screenshots down the page...basically the same thing as tint2 minus the clock and systray.

@neruson thanks for the tip on BmPanel2. I thought dmenu was great...I rigged it up to open directories in /usr/share/doc/ and also man pages. But, then I started wanting submenus...so I gave up on that :)

Randicus
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#5 Post by Randicus »

hudson wrote:I know a lot of people swear by Xmonad/Awesome/DWM/etc...but for now I am looking more for a Openbox/Fluxbox style with better paging/docking/etc.
I use i3, but also like Xmonad and Spectrwm. I would suggest installing one or two tiling WMs to see if you like them. They can simply be removed if you do not like them.
1) Tiling WMs are designed for functionality, so they are limited in how much they can be made to look pretty.
2) Documentation varies. Xmonad has extensive documentation, but all configuration is done in Haskell. So extensive learning is required to alter it, but the default configuration is pretty good. i3 has less documentation, but is much easier to configure (text files). Spectrwm is very easy to configure, but the range of possible configuration is small. With DWM everything is done in C. It is designed for programmers. So on and so forth.
3) They are keyboard-focused. The mouse works fine, but they were designed with key-bindings in mind.

You would probably love them or hate them.

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Head_on_a_Stick
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#6 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

dwm, dmenu and the shell for file management.

I would use xmonad but it needs ~1GiB of haskell compilers on the system, which is a bit silly for a simple WM...
deadbang

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hudson
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#7 Post by hudson »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:the shell for file management.
very dangerous :lol:

I'd like to use Xmonad someday...but I tried breezing through the docs to install some of the contrib stuff and could see it would take a bit of elbow grease. I haven't heard of Spectrwm, but I'll check it out.

Here's a video on tiling in Fvwm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdSgf-IykIo

Randicus
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#8 Post by Randicus »

Spectrwm resembles a light version of Xmonad. Same key-bindings, but very minimalistic.
Xmonad is very versatile. It can be configured in amazing ways. I wanted to use it, but could not figure out how to configure the damn thing. No matter how much I tried to understand Haskell, I could not get any customisations to work. i3 is much simpler.

andre@home
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#9 Post by andre@home »

Under DB6 and 8 : For wysiwyg I use Xfe with has an easy button to be switched to root mode..
The amount of menu options are great....also under R-mouse it is very strong.
Image

For line command work I just use generally Gnome terminal, which often is enough, though I'm impressed by some tools you use, I do not know whether I've work enough to make it profitable (I maintain 2 webdav servers for documentary photography for my son; for my own I still need W7 for full compatibility with my work systems...). And in terminal mode... MC (Midnight Commander) is a fine help nearby when needed.....

Some other commander like tools;
https://168hours.wordpress.com/2008/08/ ... for-linux/

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hudson
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#10 Post by hudson »

I never really got into the zen of Midnight Commander, but I think it is beautiful. I agree with you, andre@home, sometimes all this playing around with different tools only feels profitable for the fun it brings!

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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#11 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

I forgot about terminals -- rxvt-unicode (256 colour) FTW!
deadbang

Randicus
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#12 Post by Randicus »

I did not like MC, until I read the man page and figured out how to use it. Now I love it. :shock: If you like terminal file managers, check out Ranger if you have not done so already.

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hudson
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#13 Post by hudson »

I gotta learn MC! I always think I'm going to do something like only use the terminal and tmux for a month, but never do. I think I'm too busy configuring my window manager.

millpond
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#14 Post by millpond »

hudson wrote:I gotta learn MC! I always think I'm going to do something like only use the terminal and tmux for a month, but never do. I think I'm too busy configuring my window manager.
I run my system out of mc, and the only ting that came close was gnome-commander, but Jessie broke it with Samba 4.

Its too bad that nothing in Linux come close to Far Manager. I've got it working in Wine, but its a bit hobbled - though it mostly works. Excellent for archive manipulation, it uses lua which is native to Linux. Total Commander is another option for wine, though I havent tested it yet.

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hudson
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#15 Post by hudson »

Randicus wrote:I did not like MC, until I read the man page and figured out how to use it. Now I love it. :shock: If you like terminal file managers, check out Ranger if you have not done so already.
wow...are you ever right about MC...I started reading the man page and I didn't even know you can enter shell commands. Ranger is very cool. Anyone using xterm? I really like it, but I need to get a right-click menu somehow...

Randicus
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#16 Post by Randicus »

Apparently xterm is very versatile ... after reading and absorbing the man page, which is veryyyyy long. :shock:

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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#17 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

hudson wrote:Anyone using xterm?
It's nice but rxvt-unicode is much faster.
hudson wrote:I need to get a right-click menu somehow...
:lol:
deadbang

Deshapria
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#18 Post by Deshapria »

hudson wrote:I gotta learn MC! I always think I'm going to do something like only use the terminal and tmux for a month, but never do. I think I'm too busy configuring my window manager.
Yes, you should!
It appears that you've never used Norton Commander in the 80s and 90s. :)
MC would teach you a lot.

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hudson
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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#19 Post by hudson »

Well, I threw in the towel on Fvwm...ultra-configurable means you spend all your time tweaking your window manager and it never seems right...I'm back to Fluxbox now :lol:

MC is definitely something I plan to master...at least 6-10 commands like I know vi well enough to edit a config file. I love xterm...it actually has a Tektronix 4014 Emulator you can use...check out http://www.stenyak.com/archives/1208/tr ... -terminal/

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Re: Favorite window managers, pagers, panels, etc

#20 Post by None1975 »

My favorite wm is xmonad. And with xmobar it is rocks. Much better, faster and solid, then i3wm. But configuring it-it is dauntless process.
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