Best Mouse-free Windowmanager? 36
An Anonymous Coward writes "I've been using fvwm2 for quite some time now as I don't need to use the mouse much. I don't have time to try every window manager under the sun, but are there newer window managers out there that have better 'usability' characteristics when it comes to avoiding the mouse? I still have a mouse handy for browsing, etc. so I don't need to do away with it altogether.). Thanks."
Try Ion (Score:3, Informative)
Good move... (Score:1)
Ratpoison URL (Score:1)
Here's the URL: http://ratpoison.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
wmx (Score:4, Informative)
All the windowing functions can be bound to alt-keys. So, for instance, on my laptop, the otherwise-useless Windows keys pop up menus of commonly used applications and a menu of current windows.
It has multiple virtual desk tops (accessable by key commands. Does gnome/sawfish do that? How? I couldn't figure it out...)
wmx is great for a laptop because of it's unusual window decoration scheme. The title tab is on the left side of each window, not the top. Since vertical screen space is scarcer(sp?) than horizontal, this actually makes sense, though it takes getting used to.
Re:wmx (Score:1)
I use Sawfish. I've turned the Windows key into Super with my own keymap. I have 12 workspaces, and I've bound Super-F1 to Activate Workspace 1, Super-F2 to Activate Workspace 2, and so on. To send windows to different workspaces I just make them sticky, shift workspace, then make them unsticky. For that purpose I bound Super-S to Make Window Sticky and Super-A to Make Window Unsticky.
I have some window toggling commands as well, but in most cases I keep only one window open per workspace. 1024x768 is not enough for two windows of decent size side by side, and I am not going to hide windows behind each other.
Re:wmx (Score:1)
Re:wmx (Score:2)
Instead of your 'sticky window' hack[1] you can also bind a key to 'send window to workspace...' In my case I have ctrl-Fn bound to send a window to workspace n.
[1]don't get me wrong: that is a nice hack.
Stay with fvwm, replace your browser (Score:1)
You won't solve your problem with another wm, if the programs don't comply. Mouseless window managers are most suited for mouseless applications, such as terminal windows and text editors. They all fail for mouse centered programs such as Netscape and GIMP.
I suggest that you to configure fvwm to make use of the keyboard as much as possible and replace your browser with one that is more keyboard aware (recommendations, anyone?). By sticking with fvwm you still have the mouse as a last resort.
Re:Stay with fvwm, replace your browser (Score:1)
A Lynx like console browser.
Supports tables, cookies.
Uses ncurses
Re:Stay with fvwm, replace your browser (Score:1)
Re:Stay with fvwm, replace your browser (Score:2)
Just to make sure everyone reads that the same way: I'd like a list of windows, up in the corner of the screen (growing down), of all windows on the current desktop -- iconized and not -- from which I can (de)iconize them. Kinda like the panel, but using much less real estate -- in total, and per window.
There was/is a framework out on sourceforge for writing those panel/iconbox stype apps, but google searches found exactly zero programs that claimed to use it. what was it called? Plip? Plop? Flack? Something like that.
off the beaten path: sawfish lisp and oroborus (Score:2)
A while ago I ran into Oroborus [blueyonder.co.uk] - it has an
optional component called 'Key Launch' that basically sits there and runs
commands based on key presses. This is completely separated from window
manager and desktop environment, and highly customizable.
The default GNOME window manager as you probably already know is sawfish, and there's a hack that lets you do smooth workspace scrolling [t-online.de] with key commands, which is, um, smooth.
When all is said and done, though, I still usually wind up gravitating back to WindowMaker.
EvilWM (Score:1)
Re:EvilWM (Score:1)
I started using EvilWM lately as well, and quickly hacked the code so I can do ALT-M and have mozilla launch
EvilWM is great on a lower powered laptop, and fast and easy to use. Makes great use of real estate, alhough I've upped the border width to 5 pixels
Windowmaker works for me (Score:2, Informative)
A few years ago I tried out Window Maker [windowmaker.org], as I was looking for an Afterstep alternative. At the time, kde was an infant and gnome was in the same nursery. Afterstep was getting to bloated and slow, and when I tried out Window Maker I was in heaven! It was fast, lightweight and clean. My only complaint is that every time a new app is launched, an icon is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
As far as key bindings are concerned, everything is customizable. I use my keyboard to move virtual desktops all the time. Actually this is one of the things Window Maker wins me with -- I can jump from virtual window 1 to virtual window 3 by just typing "Alt-3" sort of a la Linux virtual consoles. I can also cycle through windows making them active "Alt-tab" or kill windows (read: Netscape annoying javascript banner pop-up adds)
I haven't tried the other window managers people have suggested, but I will be soon. If you want to get something up quick, without having to do a lot of customization, try out Window Maker for a while.
Re:Windowmaker works for me (Score:2)
To deal with this, I use the clip. In the clip options, set it to "Collapsed" and "Autoattract Icons". Any new app icons will just get sucked in there and not be seen. You do have to set this individually for each desktop though.
What I like best about Windowmaker are the various dock apps and being able to minimize a window to an actual icon (aka miniwindow) instead of an actual task bar. Personal preference, I know, but having started on fvwm that's just the right behaviour in my mind.
Re:Windowmaker works for me (Score:1)
To me, this makes mouseless work much easier, as there's no more switching back & forth between virtual desktops, then tab-cycling through windows to get to the right one. Just one keystroke brings up the window I want.
noah
Re:Windowmaker works for me (Score:1)
Blackbox and bbkeys (Score:1)
minimalist type approach, not too resource intensive, looks nice, usually acts nice.
cntrl+shift+numlock to allow you to use the numpad of your keyboard to move the cursor around, 3 button functionality; really cool, i dont have a link handy, but basically hit those three buttons and your numpad becomes a mouse, choose between the 3 mouse buttons by clicking one of the top (nearest to the top of the keyboard) 3 buttons in the numpad, click with 5, click and hold is either 0 or . or something like that... for those apps you still need mouse you still dont have to move your hands off the keyboard...
put these 3 pieces together and you have a relatively good-looking, nice-acting, not-resource intensive, no hand moving between keyboard and mouse for the lazy among us... -donkey
Re:Blackbox and bbkeys (Score:2)
I used to love BlackBox, now I love FluxBox.
link (Score:2)
BTW, this fucking 2 minute counter is incredibly fucking lame goddamnit I hate this fucking counter yadda yadda...
heliwm might be to your liking (Score:1)
Here's the link: http://www.cc.rim.or.jp/~hok/heliwm/ [rim.or.jp]
The thing that I like about it, is that all of the standard window functions are easy to control with different key combinations.
IceWM, 100% controllable by keyboard (Score:1)
With IceWM you get a full featured Window Manager with many bells and whistles but low memory footprint and very fast.
a word on enlightenment (Score:2)
You can script, of course, in the scripting language of your choice (I've never been a big fan of lisp). The script examples aren't terribly pretty but very easy to write.
PLWM (Score:3, Informative)
everything should be possible to do without moving your hands from the keyboard."
That's the pointless bit of PLWM. The window manager is built using a number of Python classes and another idea is that you should be able to configure it exactly as you want it by writing Python-snippets that use the PLWM library to construct your window manager.
Try IceWM (Score:1)
Why has no one mentioned... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why has no one mentioned... (Score:2)
STWM - Shell controllable TWM (Score:1)
PS. He's got some souce code for that standard X Clock with a transparent background. Schway.
ion? (Score:1)
Try FVWM! (Score:1)
Take a look at here [cc.tut.fi] for example. Direction-command is something usefull you may not have noticed.
I use KDE (Score:1)