PekWM

Dusty · 2005-09-11 19:15:52

Whoops.... Gullible's post about PekWM themes made me decide to try this window manager. All of a sudden, wmii doesn't look so hot! PekWM isn't just another *box-like window manager, which is what I thought it was. So far it seems quite stable. Here are some features I like:

pixmap themable, so it can look cool
chained keybindings so I can do whatever I want
keyboard can move, resize, windows
grouping -- better than wmii multilayout for some reason
nice mouse interaction, not that I use it a lot, but its there when I'd rather have it
FIT TO SPACE
* this is a godsend. This feature basically causes a window to fill the space it is in currently. Basically, it allows you to create a tiled-appearing layout without being constricted to it. It sort of bridges the gap between tiled and non-tiled workspaces.
nice config syntax that is the same in all files

I know several people have mentioned this as a nice wm and I kind of laughed, given the screenshots and descriptions I've seen. I think I may have been wrong. ;-)

So, to those who haven't tried this because it looks like its nothing special, give it a shot. I'll be using it for a while now, see if it gets in my way or not. It seems to be more useable than wmii-2 at the moment, but wmii-3 or 4 might change that.

Dusty

ozar · 2005-09-11 20:07:18

Agreed... I've been using pekwm for about a month now, and like it very much.

It actually feels snappier in performance than any of the other WMs I've tried. There aren't very many themes available (that suit my tastes) just yet, so I've been working on customizing the clearlooks theme.

At any rate, it's probably one of the most overlooked/underrated WMs out there.

mpie · 2005-09-11 20:13:41

if it get's any more popular it could be an alternative archWM.......

can see it now pacWM......

actually just wanted to say a) it is a great wm
b) very underated

Dusty · 2005-09-11 20:47:52

actually, pek makes more sense than fvwm for an archwm base. Its much simpler to configure than fvwm, and Arch focuses on simple configuration. Plus it is extremely extensible, but doesn't include features that people will never use.

Dusty

Gullible Jones · 2005-09-11 21:33:05

From my brief experience with it, I'd say it actually feels a bit snappier than Openbox, with windows opening perceptibly faster. :shock: Now if I can just get the damn theme I like to work with it, I think OB might be out the window....

iBertus · 2005-09-11 21:36:16

Does PekWM support translucent windows like fluxbox (ie the out-of-focus windows are transparent)? I'm looking for something to replace flux on my system, and this may be what I've been looking for.

I used to be a GNOME zealot and 2.12 may lure me back to that path if I don't find something good and quick 8)

Dusty · 2005-09-11 21:40:16

question... how can I make a menu disappear automatically when the cursor moves it. I tried this:

Menu {
    Enter = "Any Any" { Actions = "Focus" }
    Motion = "Mod1 1" { Threshold = "4"; Actions = "Focus; Raise; Move" }
    Leave = "Any Any" { Actions = "Close" }
}

in the mouse config file, but the leave line doesn't seem to be doing what I expect. :-/

Dusty

mpie · 2005-09-11 21:40:38

http://adresh.com/pekwm/014_docs/html/index.html

loads a info 8)

Dusty · 2005-09-11 21:47:08

I already read it cover to cover but I can't figure out this particular problem...

Dusty

lanrat · 2005-09-12 14:38:22

Dusty wrote:

It seems to be more useable than wmii-2 at the moment, but wmii-3 or 4 might change that.

This is exactly my conclusion from my private wmii-2 vs ion3 vs ratpoison vs (special guest) pekwm wm championships :-)

I still need to tweak my pekwm config but it seems quite easy. Also I'd like to have more control over wmii layout (like adding an additional small frame on the left side to "main" frame in tiling layout) and docapp/gkrellm/dock support (for psi). So I'm waiting for next wmii versions while using xfce4/pekwm.

paranoos · 2005-09-12 20:19:10

Dusty, I've been running PekWM for quite some time, and while I love it, it has quite a few bugs. If it's not behaving as expected, try the SVN version, and file a bugreport. Unfortunately, they don't always get fixed as fast as you'd like

Still, go pekwm! I'm impressed that more people are using it here now. All this time I thought I was the weird one for not wanting to run a tiling / minimal wm, or a *box.

ozar · 2005-09-12 21:05:08

One thing that I run into now and then with Pekwm is that when I have two rox-filer windows open and try to drag a file from one window to the other, instead of getting the little "move or copy" dialogue box allowing me to make a choice, the file just jumps back to the original window. If I move both windows around a bit and/or keep trying to drag the file, it will usually work after a while.

This isn't too big a problem, though, because the same thing happens in wmii2 and a couple other WMs. No problem at all with this in Fluxbox, however.

Perhaps a window focus issue?

mpie · 2005-09-12 22:31:44

just had a brainstorm dont know why not thought of it before.....

simple addition to menu and a decent way to choose your backround..

Entry ="Wallpaper" {Action ="feh /path/to/wallpapers" &)

now if i wanna change i can preview them all first!!

BTW update in testing and so far all my themes work....

Gravity
industril
greyworld
winter-re39
wire-dev
OpusOS-Deep
QNX 5 pack

smoon · 2005-09-12 22:49:53

ozar wrote:

One thing that I run into now and then with Pekwm is that when I have two rox-filer windows open and try to drag a file from one window to the other, instead of getting the little "move or copy" dialogue box allowing me to make a choice, the file just jumps back to the original window. If I move both windows around a bit and/or keep trying to drag the file, it will usually work after a while.
This isn't too big a problem, though, because the same thing happens in wmii2 and a couple other WMs. No problem at all with this in Fluxbox, however.
Perhaps a window focus issue?

I have exactly the same problem with Openbox and Nautilus. I always thought this was specific to this wm/fm combination. But it seems to be a more common problem.

In terms of pekwm: I tried it several times but something always annoyed me. Yesterday evening I decided to give it yet another try, read through the FAQ and the docs, configured all to my needs and even created a theme since I was not able to find one that suits my needs 100%. All in all it's a nice wm, but there was one thing that worked not properly: I'm used to switch through my desktops with the mousewheel when I read a webpage (which I scroll through with the mousewheel as well) on one desktop and follow an IRC discussion on another desktop - or something similar. I was able to make pekwm behave like the default Ob3 setup in this regard, but sometimes pekwm confused mouse-button-4 (wheel up) and 5 (down) so I ended up on a desktop which I didn't expect which is really confusing, and sometimes pekwm did not recognize mouse wheel action on the root window at all.
After about an hour I was really frustrated and replaced pekwm with good old Openbox.
But since Ob's styles get really boring after a few years of using nothing else I think I'll give pekwm another try soon.

*Edit*
Another major problem I experienced was that shaded windows display artifacts of the bottom window border right under the titlebar - really ugly.

rasat · 2005-09-13 16:11:42

Dusty wrote:

actually, pek makes more sense than fvwm for an archwm base. Its much simpler to configure than fvwm, and Arch focuses on simple configuration. Plus it is extremely extensible, but doesn't include features that people will never use.

I took a look at Pek. The configure is simple and nice to use. But for an archwm base I cannot find anything to configure. Either I am missing something or Pek doesn't have modules like pager, taskbar, panel and iconbox. I only found the basic elements.

[autoproperties] [config] [keys] [menu] [mouse] [start] [x_keys]

About the menu. In an archwm base two options are required for users to choose: (1) panel menu same as in Windows, or (2) screen menu by right or left mouse click.

What I read, PekWM has a scope of extending with modules by recompiling the source (./configure --enable....) but then we cannot call Archwm Base but Archwm From Scratch.

Again, mybe I am wrong.

Dusty · 2005-09-13 16:45:00

rasat wrote:

Either I am missing something or Pek doesn't have modules like pager, taskbar, panel and iconbox.

That's why its so great. You could set up pekwm as the based window manager. Then you can use external tools as *modules* for the pager, taskbar, panel, iconbox, desktop icons, wharf, buttons and so on.

For example idesk and pypanel fulfil some of those roles, and pager applications are abundant as well.

This means that modules are external programs, which means any programmer can write one without learning an API. The really cool thing would be if you customized some of the standard programs so that they use pekwm-like configuration syntax!!! (because its so simple).

To me, this is very KISS and Unix-like. Unix doesn't like big programs (like open office) that try to do everything. Unix likes small programs that can be combined in any way to do big things easily.

About the menu. In an archwm base two options are required for users to choose: (1) panel menu same as in Windows, or (2) screen menu by right or left mouse click.

You can customize the menu any ways you like, I think. I'm not sure if you could call a pekwm menu from inside ie: pypanel or not. You can make as many types of menu entries as you want though.

What I read, PekWM has a scope of extending with modules by recompiling the source (./configure --enable....) but then we cannot call Archwm Base but Archwm From Scratch.

Yeah, that would just suck too much. Unless you created a pekwm module to load external modules....

I would be capable of getting really excited about an archwm based on pekwm...

Dusty

rasat · 2005-09-13 17:42:18

Dusty wrote:

You could set up pekwm as the based window manager. Then you can use external tools as *modules* for the pager, taskbar, panel, iconbox, desktop icons, wharf, buttons and so on.

I got your idea which is same as what I did with Fvwm. I removed all modules from Fvwm and uploded them in repo for users to make external packages (modules).
http://user-contributions.org/projects/ … /pkg/Libs/

A module (library) is a stand-alone task object. To customize it as per user choice, layout and style, is done by a script. The idea is to have one generic module for a particular task and as many scripts for the module as per users' liking.

If we make Pek as the base, it requires only to modify the rc.wminit. As I said, the base is easy to change. Only hindrance is the language. If I understood correctly, Pek reads Bash or something similar. I will try. If it works then we need to look for modules to make few test.

wain · 2005-09-13 18:36:12

I'm using Pekwm for 1 month now. It's faster than fluxbox and more configurable than openbox.

Pekwm is the best choice for the archwm base 8)

ozar · 2005-09-13 22:30:59

smoon wrote:

I'm used to switch through my desktops with the mousewheel when I read a webpage (which I scroll through with the mousewheel as well) on one desktop and follow an IRC discussion on another desktop - or something similar. I was able to make pekwm behave like the default Ob3 setup in this regard, but sometimes pekwm confused mouse-button-4 (wheel up) and 5 (down) so I ended up on a desktop which I didn't expect which is really confusing, and sometimes pekwm did not recognize mouse wheel action on the root window at all.
*Edit*
Another major problem I experienced was that shaded windows display artifacts of the bottom window border right under the titlebar - really ugly.

Yes, I've experienced the mouse wheel / desktops issue, too, but haven't noticed the shaded windows problem, just yet. Will have to look for that.

smoon · 2005-09-13 22:51:35

ozar wrote:

smoon wrote:
I'm used to switch through my desktops with the mousewheel when I read a webpage (which I scroll through with the mousewheel as well) on one desktop and follow an IRC discussion on another desktop - or something similar. I was able to make pekwm behave like the default Ob3 setup in this regard, but sometimes pekwm confused mouse-button-4 (wheel up) and 5 (down) so I ended up on a desktop which I didn't expect which is really confusing, and sometimes pekwm did not recognize mouse wheel action on the root window at all.
*Edit*
Another major problem I experienced was that shaded windows display artifacts of the bottom window border right under the titlebar - really ugly.
Yes, I've experienced the mouse wheel / desktops issue, too, but haven't noticed the shaded windows problem, just yet. Will have to look for that.

I took a screenshot of that problem: http://nooms.de/node/83?size=_original. I just tried with different themes and it seems like this only happens with themes which have a border at the bottom of a window.

ozar · 2005-09-13 22:55:49

Okay, yes I have noticed this. I recognized it immediately with your posted image.

It seems that the window doesn't roll up completely, and the small dot on the right is a portion of the top dot on the Firefox throbber.

keevn7 · 2005-09-14 03:21:44

So does anyone know how to make Pekwm actually raise on focus and stop making focus follow the mouse? I do not remember it doing that when I used it way back in the day, but if that is stoppable then it would be great.

ozar · 2005-09-14 03:43:55

Comment out all the "Enter =" lines that use the action "Focus" in ~/.pekwm/mouse:

#    Enter = "Any Any" { Actions = "Focus" }

ozar · 2005-09-14 03:59:02

...I should add that if you also want to "raise" the window with a mouse click, look in the "client" section of the same file for instructions on how to do that:

    ButtonPress = "1" { Actions = "Focus" }
    # or ButtonPress = "1" { Actions = "Focus; Raise" } if you want windows to raise when you click on the client area.

keevn7 · 2005-09-14 04:28:30

Okay, one final issue then. When I start stuff, I have to choose it via the client list menu or else it will not show up. Any ideas?

Arch Linux

#1 2005-09-11 19:15:52

PekWM

#2 2005-09-11 20:07:18

Re: PekWM

#3 2005-09-11 20:13:41

Re: PekWM

#4 2005-09-11 20:47:52

Re: PekWM

#5 2005-09-11 21:33:05

Re: PekWM

#6 2005-09-11 21:36:16

Re: PekWM

#7 2005-09-11 21:40:16

Re: PekWM

#8 2005-09-11 21:40:38

Re: PekWM

#9 2005-09-11 21:47:08

Re: PekWM

#10 2005-09-12 14:38:22

Re: PekWM

#11 2005-09-12 20:19:10

Re: PekWM

#12 2005-09-12 21:05:08

Re: PekWM

#13 2005-09-12 22:31:44

Re: PekWM

#14 2005-09-12 22:49:53

Re: PekWM

#15 2005-09-13 16:11:42

Re: PekWM

#16 2005-09-13 16:45:00

Re: PekWM

#17 2005-09-13 17:42:18

Re: PekWM

#18 2005-09-13 18:36:12

Re: PekWM

#19 2005-09-13 22:30:59

Re: PekWM

#20 2005-09-13 22:51:35

Re: PekWM

#21 2005-09-13 22:55:49

Re: PekWM

#22 2005-09-14 03:21:44

Re: PekWM

#23 2005-09-14 03:43:55

Re: PekWM

#24 2005-09-14 03:59:02

Re: PekWM

#25 2005-09-14 04:28:30

Re: PekWM

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