30 Window Managers in 30 days

damo · 2012-04-03 19:27:42

Nice one Mr Dogs - a good effort, and something I've looked forward to every day (better than TV soaps for sure smile ). The thread is bookmarked for future reference so I can have a play with wm's if I want.

+1 vote for "#!er of the Year" big_smile

SabreWolfy · 2012-04-03 19:29:52

^ Ooh yes, I second that nomination! smile

el_koraco · 2012-04-03 19:59:15

jeezh, I didn't even notice we came to an end. Anyhoo, it's been a great thread, much more informative than various wiki links all over the web, as it was written from a user's perspective. Next up, 2MD in 30 fonts in 30 days!

EnochRoot · 2012-04-03 20:05:57

Yeah was a great thread, kudos to 2MD for all his efforts

gensym · 2012-04-04 10:41:44

Hats off for succesfully finishing your quest!

safetycopy · 2012-04-04 21:39:40

Good job @Doggy - I'm going to be trying a few of these out as soon as I get time. Thanks for not being "all mouth and no trousers" big_smile

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-04 23:53:12

Thanks for the kudos everyone -- I tried to do what I could. And in case you're still wondering, musca is now the default WM on my athlon machine (the one I boot first every morning). I'll post a scrot, but it's boring; and that's the way I like it.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2012-04-05 11:13:24)

kri5 · 2012-04-05 13:53:11

@2MD..

..and here I was thinking I was the only person using Musca, glad to see I'm not alone. lol

I have a question for you, I was thinking of editting my 'musca_start' file so that I have two groups, the first would be a tiler and the second a stacker but I'm not sure if this is possible. There are commands via the command menu 'Mod+m' called 'Stack on' and 'Stack off' as well as the 'Mod+s' keybind to toggle.

I was wondering if it was possible to do something similar to what you have done:

add one
add two
add web
add code

use one
vsplit 2/3
focus down
hsplit 2/3

bind on mod4+t exec sakura
bind on mod4+shift+w exec luakit

but add:

use two
stack on

or something like that. Not on my machine at present so I can't try it out.

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-05 14:13:45

kri5 wrote:

but add:
use two
stack on

Yes, that works.

kri5 · 2012-04-05 14:39:55

@2MD..

Great, shall have a go at that tonight. Just need to check now to see if I can edit the config so that specific programs like Gimp open in group 2 without me having to be specifically in group 2 at the time.

The wife will be happy! lol

servingwater · 2012-04-06 10:45:01

So this epic journey has come to an end.
Very well done and thank you very much for this thread.

I bet you, too have learned a lot.....

doxanthropos · 2012-04-06 10:51:45

+1 to the nomination. This thread has been one great adventure to follow. Like many others I have learnt a lot in this short time.

SabreWolfy · 2012-04-06 11:04:07

@2ManyDogs: A question about tiling window managers... I typically have a browser, Emacs and a terminal open most of the time, with all three maximized (sometimes on different workspaces as needed). From your recent journey through window managers, can you talk to the usefulness of tiling window managers. I love the idea in principle, but haven't used them very much. Surely the benefit of having several windows visible at once is offset by the fact that the windows can get quite small. Is a tiling window manager only really useful on large(r) displays?

Last edited by SabreWolfy (2012-04-06 13:39:43)

m5 · 2012-04-06 12:38:39

@2ManyDogs : Well done.This thread is a great resource.

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-06 12:55:29

SabreWolfy wrote:

@2ManyDogs: A question about tiling window managers... I typically have a browser, Emacs and a terminal open most of the time, with all three maximized (sometimes on different workspaces as needed). From your recentl journey through window managers, can you talk to the usefulness of tiling window managers. I love the idea in principle, but haven't used them very much. Surely the benefit of having several windows visible at once is offset by the fact that the windows can get quite small. Is a tiling window manager only really useful on large(r) displays?

The short answer to your question is "no, in my opinion, a tiling window manager is not only really useful on larger displays." Buit in reality the answer is much more complicated. I use both types, so I don't want to start a war over which is better, tiling or stacking, and the truth is that there is often very little difference between them. For example, if you're using maximized windows, you could use either a stacker or a tiler in "monocle" mode and you would not be able to tell the difference. In fact I think monocle mode is how a lot of people use tilers on small displays, but as gutterslob pointed out, many people use evilwm (a stacker) in full-screen mode on small displays and get the same effect. Most tilers can float windows, and most stackers have some sort of tiling mode where they try to overlap windows as little as possible.

A tiling window manager also doesn't always have all of its windows visible at once -- musca and ratpoison are considered tiling window managers, and they can have many "hidden" windows that are only made visible when necessary. Other tilers like wmfs and i3 have "tabs" and can have several hidden windows in a tabbed area. Even when a tiler like dwm or spectrwm is used in side- or bottom-stack mode, tiny windows can be "zoomed" into and out of the master area (to make them bigger or smaller) as necessary.

For me, what makes a tiling window manager more useful is that I don't have to think about how big a window should be nearly as much as when I'm using a stacker. I don't spend a lot of time resizing windows and flipping through the stack to find the right one. If I'm using dwm or spectrwm I usually do have several windows visible at once, and I don't have a particularly large display. I'm using musca these days and I usually run everything in full-screen mode unless I need to see more than one window -- right now I have geany in the top half (where I'm typing this) and luakit with your question open in the bottom half.

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but I think it really all comes down to personal preference and work style. I'm going to start another thread, called "do you tile or stack, and why?" to get some input from the community.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2012-04-06 13:31:48)

SabreWolfy · 2012-04-06 13:37:08

^ Thanks for the insights; I think it's actually a great answer to my question smile

Last edited by SabreWolfy (2012-04-06 13:39:26)

SabreWolfy · 2012-04-06 13:45:33

@2ManyDogs: Could you give us your personal choice in each of the three categories of WMs you reviewed -- stacking, tiling and other? I guess for tiling, your choice would be musca? (Basically, I want to try a few out, but don't have the time to look at all 30 of them... smile )

Last edited by SabreWolfy (2012-04-06 13:46:16)

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-06 14:03:17

If you want to try a tiler, I'd recommend starting with spectrwm. It's in the repos (it's still scrotwm in the stable repo), it has a plain-text config file that it can reload while it's running, and has very sane default key bindings. DWM is great too and has good defaults, but it must be rebuilt when it is reconfigured. I would not recommend starting with musca -- I like it but it's a little weird and you have to build it.

In the stackers, if you just want a little change from openbox you could try jwm or fluxbox. If you want a lot of change try flwm or windowlab.

SabreWolfy · 2012-04-06 14:05:49

^ Thanks. Was thinking of spectrwm and was just about to install it, so now I will. Just (re)reading your review of it first... smile

[Tried stumpwm a few weeks ago, but it kept hard-restarting on me and dumping me back at the login screen, so I gave up on it.]

Last edited by SabreWolfy (2012-04-06 14:07:23)

2ManyDogs · 2012-04-06 14:06:02

SabreWolfy wrote:

^ Thanks for the insights; I think it's actually a great answer to my question

You're welcome. Ivan brought up a good point in the other thread -- most tiling window managers have great keyboard control. For example, you can go from full-screen mode with only one of four windows visible to tiling mode with all four visible (and no overlap) with a single keystroke. Some stackers can do something like this, but you usually have to add it -- with the tilers good keyboard control is designed in.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2012-04-06 14:07:33)

SabreWolfy · 2012-04-06 14:08:20

^ Ah, that's a great benefit then. The less need to use the rodent, the better!

simgin · 2012-04-06 21:59:51

I am speechless after these 30 days smile I have finally stopped being a distro hopping junkie ,and now I'm being fed a new drug wink Well done 2ManyDogs , very well done!
I'm a linux rookie , so this WM insight you have given to the #! people , has really opened my eyes. I'll be trying one of these "tilers" that you have reviewed. But I am a little nervous, cause I don't want to dive into the deep-end just yet. For a complete *tile* beginner , what should I choose ?
Some of the config files scared me a bit to be honest smile I can't do Lua or Haskell, but textfiles and xml is no problem.

Cheers

ivanovnegro · 2012-04-06 22:02:59

^ Definitely Spectrer, I mean Scrotwm if you install on Stable. Has a text file, really simple, really good choice and sane defaults. Give it a shot, it was my first love.

simgin · 2012-04-06 22:08:15

Cool thanks Ivan, smile I'll be trying that then.

Cheers

cJones · 2012-04-07 07:25:07

A great finished product 2Many! I learned quite a bit but got distracted on a few so haven't read all of them big_smile

CrunchBang Linux

SEARCH

#576 2012-04-03 19:27:42

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#577 2012-04-03 19:29:52

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#578 2012-04-03 19:59:15

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#579 2012-04-03 20:05:57

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#580 2012-04-04 10:41:44

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#581 2012-04-04 21:39:40

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#582 2012-04-04 23:53:12

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#583 2012-04-05 13:53:11

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#584 2012-04-05 14:13:45

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#585 2012-04-05 14:39:55

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#586 2012-04-06 10:45:01

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#587 2012-04-06 10:51:45

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#588 2012-04-06 11:04:07

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#589 2012-04-06 12:38:39

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#590 2012-04-06 12:55:29

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#591 2012-04-06 13:37:08

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#592 2012-04-06 13:45:33

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#593 2012-04-06 14:03:17

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#594 2012-04-06 14:05:49

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#595 2012-04-06 14:06:02

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#596 2012-04-06 14:08:20

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#597 2012-04-06 21:59:51

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#598 2012-04-06 22:02:59

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#599 2012-04-06 22:08:15

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

#600 2012-04-07 07:25:07

Re: 30 Window Managers in 30 days

Board footer