Yet another ratpoison thread

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-25 19:34:32

Let me just say it: I'm 2ManyDogs, and I use ratpoison.

There have been a few other threads here, including this one and many others if you search "ratpoison" in the search box. But none recently (at least that's my excuse, along with some encouragement from rhowaldt).

After I completed the marathon 30 WMs in 30 days, I used musca for a couple of weeks; it has a lot of really sane keybindings and works well, but I had a few issues with it -- it would output to the console even when I told it not to, and occasionally decide not to let me switch windows, eventually requiring me to log out (others have described this as "instability" -- but I would call it "annoyability"). So now I am using ratpoison; probably the last WM I would have picked on a list before I started the 30 WMs thread, but once I figured out the "top" keymap I was hooked.

So here is my .ratpoisonrc:

exec rpws init 4 -a -k
exec conky -c /home/bsh/.config/conky/conkyrc-top
exec nitrogen --restore

set padding 0 15 0 0
set font Mono-10 
set bargravity nw
set bgcolor cyan
startup_message off
msgwait 2

source .ratpoisonkeys

and my .ratpoisonkeys (I made it work a little more like musca, and I separated them so I could reload the keymap without restarting rp; and "mymenu" is a custom dmenu script I'll post if anyone wants it):

escape C-a

bind d exec dmenu_run

definekey top s-Down    focusdown
definekey top s-Up      focusup
definekey top s-Left    focusleft
definekey top s-Right   focusright

definekey top s-S-Down    exchangedown
definekey top s-S-Up      exchangeup
definekey top s-S-Left    exchangeleft
definekey top s-S-Right   exchangeright

definekey top s-R    resize
definekey top s-h    hsplit
definekey top s-v    vsplit
definekey top s-H    hsplit 2/3
definekey top s-V    vsplit 2/3
definekey top s-c    next
definekey top s-p    prev
definekey top s-r   remove
definekey top s-w   windows
definekey top s-b   banish

definekey top s-semicolon  colon
definekey top s-slash      help root
definekey top s-question   help top

definekey top s-d    exec dmenu_run
definekey top s-t    exec urxvt
definekey top s-W    exec luakit
definekey top s-m    exec ~/.scripts/mymenu

definekey top s-Q      quit
definekey top s-C-r    restart
definekey top s-C-s   source .ratpoisonkeys

newkmap super-x
definekey super-x B    set padding 0 15 0 0
definekey super-x b    set padding 0 0 0 0
definekey top s-x        readkey super-x

You can haz cheezburger? (translation -- "you haz other rp configs?")

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2012-04-25 21:50:48)

rhowaldt · 2012-04-25 19:51:27

we want screenshots! big_smile
(or just links to the screenshot-thread, that's fine too)

good job starting a ratpoison-thread. our aim should be to have a thread for every single WM out there smile

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-25 19:59:17

Thanks for the encouragement, rw. The scrots are kind of boring, like most tilers, but here you go:

The big draw (at least for me) with rp and musca is that you can put any size tiles anywhere. I mostly use it full screen, but when I want to split I can, and I can completely control the size of the split tiles. RP also handles transient windows (dialog boxes) better than any tiler I've used so far.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2012-04-25 20:26:18)

rhowaldt · 2012-04-25 20:01:20

^ yeah, pretty boring. wish you hadn't posted that. that really ruined my night.
smile

anyway, thanks for posting a scrot. makes the picture complete, to my eyes. now, let's wait for more ratpoison-addicts big_smile

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-25 20:02:37

rhowaldt wrote:

^ yeah, pretty boring. wish you hadn't posted that. that really ruined my night.

Sorry bud, go visit the whales inside your eyelids... smile

sqlpython · 2012-04-25 21:00:27

^ yeah, pretty boring. wish you hadn't posted that. that really ruined my night.

I didn' t see it until the next Day..So, I had to bear it in Day light... smile

heh heh..

ALthough I have lots of Shortcut keys and Macros....
there are times when I just need a Whiskey and a Mouse/ .. not necessarily at the same time.. smile

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-25 21:26:30

^ I hold you responsible for this rhowaldt...

avert your eyes! here's another screenshot

Athos · 2012-04-25 22:49:25

Hello 2Many,

I'm using specterwm, and I like a lot ratpoison.
Do you prefer RP, or Specterwm, and why? big_smile

Last edited by Athos (2012-04-26 09:35:40)

rhowaldt · 2012-04-26 07:26:40

@2manydogs: ah, much nicer already! how many times have you watched that video? smile

gutterslob · 2012-04-26 12:53:15

I use Ratpoison a bit differently from most people. Don't really depend on much of the WM behaviour and instead use terminal multiplexors like Screen+Dvtm or (more recently) Tmux for most of my apps. No point posting a screenshot as it would just look like one giant split-terminal window. (like this)

Anyways, here's a very old config.

# Layouts [ ] [|] [|= [-] [+]
bind F1 exec ratpoison -c "select -" -c "only" -c "next"
bind F2  exec ratpoison -c "select -" -c "only" -c "hsplit" -c "next"
bind F3 exec ratpoison -c "select -" -c "only" -c "hsplit" -c "next" -c "focusright" -c "next" -c "vsplit" -c "next"
bind F4 exec ratpoison -c "select -" -c "only" -c "vsplit" -c "next"
bind F5 exec ratpoison -c "select -" -c "only " -c "hsplit" -c next -c "vsplit" -c next -c "focusright" -c next -c "vsplit" -c "next"

banish

#exec xmodmap -e 'clear Lock' -e 'keycode 66 = F13'

#Set up the workspace stuff
gnew one
gnewbg two
gnewbg three
gnewbg four
gnewbg five
gnewbg six
gnewbg seven
gnewbg eight
#gnewbg nine
gmerge default
gdelete default

#ALT + F* for workspace switching
definekey top M-F1 exec ratpoison -c "gselect 1" -c "select -" -c "only" -c "next" -c "echo one"
definekey top M-F2 exec ratpoison -c "gselect 2" -c "select -" -c "only" -c "next" -c "echo two"
definekey top M-F3 exec ratpoison -c "gselect 3" -c "select -" -c "only" -c "next" -c "echo three"
definekey top M-F4 exec ratpoison -c "gselect 4" -c "select -" -c "only" -c "next" -c "echo four"
definekey top M-F5 exec ratpoison -c "gselect 5" -c "select -" -c "only" -c "next" -c "echo five"
definekey top M-F6 exec ratpoison -c "gselect 6" -c "select -" -c "only" -c "next" -c "echo six"
definekey top M-F7 exec ratpoison -c "gselect 7" -c "select -" -c "only" -c "next" -c "echo seven"
definekey top M-F8 exec ratpoison -c "gselect 8" -c "select -" -c "only" -c "next" -c "echo eight"
#definekey top M-F9 exec ratpoison -c "gselect 9" -c "select -" -c "only" -c "next" -c "echo nine"

startup_message off
msgwait 5
rudeness 12
set winname title
set winfmt %n %s %t
set framefmt %t
set bgcolor #000000
set fgcolor #CCCCCC
set fwcolor #343434
set bwcolor #272727
set font "Terminus-9"
set winliststyle column
set waitcursor 1
set padding 0 0 0 0
set barpadding 4 0 
set wingravity ne
set transgravity center
set bargravity ne
set border 8
set barborder 1
set inputwidth 500
set historysize 0

bind k kill
bind R remove
bind u undo
bind d dedicate
bind c exec urxvtc
#bind L exec slock
bind b exec ratpoison -c "banishrel" -c "ratrelwarp -15 -15"
bind o only
bind v hsplit
bind h vsplit
bind s swap
bind n nextscreen

definekey top M-h ratrelwarp -20 0
definekey top M-j ratrelwarp 0 20
definekey top M-k ratrelwarp 0 -20
definekey top M-l ratrelwarp 20 0

definekey top M-F10 exec amixer -q set PCM 0%
definekey top M-F11 exec amixer -q set PCM 3dB-
definekey top M-F12 exec amixer -q set PCM 3dB+

definekey top M-w windows
definekey top M-g groups
definekey top M-numbersign fselect
definekey top M-S-Return exec urxvt
definekey top M-p exec $(dmenu_path | dmenu -nb "#000000" -nf "#ff99cc" -sb "#ff99cc" -sf "#000000" -fn "-*-terminus-medium-r-normal-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*")
definekey top M-Tab next
definekey top M-C-Left exchangeleft
definekey top M-C-Right exchangeright
definekey top M-C-Up exchangeup
definekey top M-C-Down exchangedown
definekey top M-Left resize -10 0
definekey top M-Right resize 10 0
definekey top M-Up resize 0 10
definekey top M-Down resize 0 -10
definekey top M-d exec "ratpiss-info.sh"

ratpiss-info.sh

#!/bin/sh
TEMP=$(cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature | awk '{print $2"C"}')
FREQ=$(cpufreq-info | awk '/current CPU frequency/ {print $5"MHz"}')
DATE=$(echo -n $(date +%B,\ %d\ -\ %I:%M\ %p))
SDA2=$(df -h | awk '/sda2/ {print $4"/"$2}')
ratpoison -c "echo `echo -e "HDD: $SDA2\nCPU-Freq: $FREQ\nTemperature: $TEMP\n$DATE"`"

iirc, I think this was for an Arch install (not that it should matter) on an old laptop. Most of the configs were originally conceived by Daisuke and Lich.

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-26 22:34:44

^ thanks gs. useful stuff.

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-26 22:40:21

Athos wrote:

Hello 2Many,
I'm using specterwm, and I like a lot ratpoison.
Do you prefer RP, or Specterwm, and why?

I used spectrwm for several months, and I like it. I'm using ratpoison now because it lets me have complete control over the windows. I mostly use apps full screen and only split the screen when I need to see more than one app at a time -- then I usually split vertically (top and bottom) and resize if necessary. I can do this even if I have more than two apps running at once. I know I could run spectrwm (or dwm, or almost any other tiler) full screen, but when I want to see more than one window I don't want the WM to decide where they go and how big they are. Maybe I'm just a control freak... hmm

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-27 00:03:56

rhowaldt wrote:

@2manydogs: ah, much nicer already! how many times have you watched that video?

I just recycled that scrot from the 30 WMs thread because I was too lazy to make a new one. smile

It's not a video, it's just one of a few stills I found of Bitzer the dog from "shaun the sheep" -- an Ardman creation like Wallace and Grommit, but with no dialog.

SabreWolfy · 2012-06-09 04:30:22

For reference, the following reloads ratpoison config:

$ ratpoison -c "source /home/USER/.ratpoisonrc"

I'm trying ratpoison out (again). I like the Emacs-like keychains and the "escape" key. I'm trying out using CapsLock as the escape key as mentioned in the post linked in the first post above. I've tried scrotwm before, but I prefer manual tiling if I'm using a tiler. stumpwm crashed on me a few times too many when I tried it out a few months ago, so I'll stick with ratpoison for now.

Last edited by SabreWolfy (2012-06-09 05:35:08)

SabreWolfy · 2012-06-09 04:40:24

What's a good panel to use with ratpoison? Something to show the time at least? conky as explained here?

pidsley · 2012-06-09 04:47:12

Yes, that's what I use; a simple one-line conky at the top of the screen, and leave room for it with the padding command:

in my .ratpoisonrc:

set padding 0 15 0 0

and then to hide and unhide it, from 2MDs review:

You can also tell ratpoison to leave an area of the screen alone; this allowed me to reserve a little space at the top of the screen for conky, and to bind keys to show and hide the reserved space. I put these in the super-x keymap because I don't use them very often:
definekey super-x B    set padding 0 18 0 0
definekey super-x b    set padding 0 0 0 0

(But I hardly ever hide it) I use stalonetray for the (few) apps that insist on using a tray.

Last edited by pidsley (2012-06-09 04:51:24)

SabreWolfy · 2012-06-09 05:15:32

@2ManyDogs: I see what you mean here about the confusion with groups. If you split vertically or horizontally, then the "next" and "prev" shortcuts don't work. You then use "up" or "down" to move between "windows". Not yet clear how this works.

Edit: I think I'm understanding this. If you have a terminal and browser running, both maximized, then "next" moves between them. However, as soon as you split, then both are visible, so "next" makes no sense because both (all) applications are visible.

Last edited by SabreWolfy (2012-06-09 05:25:09)

SabreWolfy · 2012-06-09 05:23:07

@pidsley: I'm using ratpoison on a netbook at the moment so I can see how hiding it would be useful actually. Thanks -- I'll check out stalonetray too.

SabreWolfy · 2012-06-09 05:51:39

Got the padding with conky at the top working with the shortcut. If I toggle the padding in a full-screen terminator window, I get a padding area showing the desktop at the bottom as well as at the top. This is not the case if I toggle it when in a fullscreen browser. In other words, if I'm in the browser fullscreen and toggle, I see conky at the top in the padding area. In terminator, I see the same, but also an empty padding area below the window to for some reason.

Also see this with xterm. Even with no padding, there is a (smaller) strip visible below xterm, which increases in size when the padding at the top is activated. Grr. These kinds of visual artefacts/glitches make this quite frustrating!

Last edited by SabreWolfy (2012-06-09 05:54:27)

SabreWolfy · 2012-06-09 06:02:04

What about hibernating or restarting or shutting down when using ratpoison? All just via the command line?

Unia · 2012-06-09 08:57:44

SabreWolfy wrote:

What about hibernating or restarting or shutting down when using ratpoison? All just via the command line?

I don't know ratpoison's posibilities, but perhaps keybindings? You can also use the acpid daemon to register your powerbutton/sleepbutton and use that to enable shutdown/hibernate

SabreWolfy · 2012-06-09 10:52:31

^ Thanks; both of those are good suggestions.

pidsley · 2012-06-09 23:50:09

SabreWolfy wrote:

Got the padding with conky at the top working with the shortcut. If I toggle the padding in a full-screen terminator window, I get a padding area showing the desktop at the bottom as well as at the top. This is not the case if I toggle it when in a fullscreen browser. In other words, if I'm in the browser fullscreen and toggle, I see conky at the top in the padding area. In terminator, I see the same, but also an empty padding area below the window to for some reason.
Also see this with xterm. Even with no padding, there is a (smaller) strip visible below xterm, which increases in size when the padding at the top is activated. Grr. These kinds of visual artefacts/glitches make this quite frustrating!

ratpoison doesn't seem to be able to divide the screen equally at all times -- if I have a background set, sometimes the background will be visible above, below, or between frames. You could always not set the background (leave it black) and because rp doesn't set frame borders, you won't see the gaps. Or you could run conky or another panel on workspace 4 and just check it when you need to (I usually run everything full screen on workspace one and hardly ever use other workspaces, so this would work for me, but maybe not for you)

pidsley · 2012-06-10 00:43:06

SabreWolfy wrote:

Edit: I think I'm understanding this. If you have a terminal and browser running, both maximized, then "next" moves between them. However, as soon as you split, then both are visible, so "next" makes no sense because both (all) applications are visible.

Yes, but this really has nothing to do with groups. As long as you don't specify groups, all the windows (including those you can't see) are in one big group. If there's only one frame (full screen) "next" and "previous" toggle you through the windows. If you split the frame in two (top and bottom or left and right) then you see two of the windows (depending on which are in the stack at that moment). If you activate (say) the lower frame, and use "next", you toggle through any windows that might still be hidden (because there are more windows than frames). The top frame stays the same. If you switch to the top frame and use "next" it now toggles through the hidden windows. Once you have the same number of frames and windows, next and previous have no meaning, so they stop working.

It sounds confusing, but try opening a bunch of apps at once without creating any new frames, then use next and prev, then split the screen and use it again. You'll see how it works.

It gets really complicated if you start putting windows into groups, because then next and prev only toggle through the windows in the active group. As 2MD said, it seems like this is a "fix" added to compensate for the lack of workspaces; once multiple workspaces are available, groups become much less important. If you can remember what you have running (or use the "windows" keybind to see the list) you probably don't even need more than one workspace...

Last edited by pidsley (2012-06-10 00:56:58)

SabreWolfy · 2012-06-10 10:00:30

@pidsley: Thanks for the detailed replies smile I was testing ratpoison on a Wheezy NetInstall which left the Debian space wallpaper which was showing through at the bottom. It also meant that the window wasn't as big as it should be -- there was effectively wasted space at the bottom. I was changing settings quite a lot, so I'll have to test it again after a restart. Other than that though, I really like ratposison smile

I'll have to read your reply about windows and groups a few more times and test/play myself to finally understand it smile

Last edited by SabreWolfy (2012-06-10 10:03:36)

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#1 2012-04-25 19:34:32

Yet another ratpoison thread

#2 2012-04-25 19:51:27

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#3 2012-04-25 19:59:17

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#4 2012-04-25 20:01:20

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#5 2012-04-25 20:02:37

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#6 2012-04-25 21:00:27

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#7 2012-04-25 21:26:30

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#8 2012-04-25 22:49:25

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#9 2012-04-26 07:26:40

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#10 2012-04-26 12:53:15

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#11 2012-04-26 22:34:44

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#12 2012-04-26 22:40:21

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#13 2012-04-27 00:03:56

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#14 2012-06-09 04:30:22

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#15 2012-06-09 04:40:24

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#16 2012-06-09 04:47:12

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#17 2012-06-09 05:15:32

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#18 2012-06-09 05:23:07

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#19 2012-06-09 05:51:39

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#20 2012-06-09 06:02:04

Re: Yet another ratpoison thread

#21 2012-06-09 08:57:44

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#22 2012-06-09 10:52:31

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#23 2012-06-09 23:50:09

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#24 2012-06-10 00:43:06

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#25 2012-06-10 10:00:30

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