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Ctwm desktop setup
Some characteristics of the Ctwm desktop setup:
Focus follows mouse. When I move the mouse into a window, it
gets focus. So I do not need to click in the window first.
Autoraise, with a small delay When I move the mouse into a window, it
gets raised to the front, but only if I have been in the wondow
for a short amount (some 500 millisecs) of time. So windows get
raised automatically, but not when I accidentally swipe the
mouse across.
Minimal decoration for windows.
Decoration does not have added value, and I'm always short on
pixels already.
No icons. Icons have no added value since I seldom see my
desktop anyway. The small, compact window/icon list that Ctwm
provides is a wonderful compromise between space and functionality.
Multiple desktops. Not a big desktop that is spread across
views, but separate, distinct desktops. This is one of the most
significant features of Ctwm (at that time, at least).
Free menus that can pop up everywhere. While most window
managers support a popup menu when clicking on the empty desktop,
Ctwm supports popup menus everywhere at all times. This is a
very powerful and addictive feature.
- Manual window placement.
Windows that do not have an explicit
location specified can (must) be placed manually. In the
process, the size of the window can be changed as well.
I want my applications to be capable of using all kinds of key
combinations, including Alt and Fx keys. In my setup, the the Windows key
controls the window and desktop related actions. For example, I switch
desktops with W-Left and W-Right, and switch windows with W-Tab. The
Menu key is
another reserved key, that I use for menu-related operations.
Some screen dumps:
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The normal desktop. On
top is the (folded in) Gnome
panel. Below that are XPostit, the icon manager, a screen-wide Xload window, a
Biff and a digital, colour-coded clock. These are sticky (occur on
all desktops). The big white window is a xterm, the yellow
window is Emacs. The bottom window is a xterm tailing the
system log files. |
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Same, but with
the Gnome panel folded out. |
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Desktop, showing the
“Execute” menu. This menu is selected from the root menu
that was popped up after a left-click on the desktop.
The “Execute” menu can also be popped up as a
separate menu at all times with Ctrl-Menu, or with a right-click on
the desktop. |
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Desktop, showing the
“New Window” menu. This menu is selected from the root menu
that was popped up after a left-click on the desktop.
The “New Window” menu can also be popped up as a
separate menu at all times with Shift-Menu, or with a middle-click on
the desktop. |
Since I use the same desktop on several different computers (with
different applications and screen sizes) starting up Ctwm is done by the script wm. I have this in my local bin
directory.
wm runs startx which runs .xinitrc. This runs the startup script XStart. This script does most
of the work determining the system, features, screen properties, and
so on. It then runs ctwm . Ctwm processes ctwmrc by ‘m4’ (a standard Ctwm
feature) which includes the files ctwm_exec and ctwm_terms.
Don't worry if you don't understand all, it is the product of 15
years of slow, incremental and often ad-hoc development. And a
mess.
The new OpenBox setup
Note that all sample files mentioned on this
page are snapshots from a working configuration. They are subject to
change without notice.
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