Tiling Window Managers

detto · 2006-08-08 17:23:18

Excuse me if this is discussed somewhere in between other topcis about wm's, but i think a topic about just those tiling one's isn't there yet (i just dont found one).

Well, if i searched good enough i think tiling wm's exist are: Ratpoison, Ion, Wmii, dwm.
Those are the ones i stumbled across, and now i want to test such a wm, but it would be very nice if u could explain the differences betwenn those 4 (or are there more?).

Which one would be easiest to set up (heard somewhere lua-language is easy? that would be ion then).
With which u have best experience and can recommend to a minimalist-wm-newbie?
Im thankful for any comment/expericen/tip u can give me!

cheers,
detto

postlogic · 2006-08-08 17:30:10

I really recommend wmii. It's fast and easy to use. There's even a thread here about wmii and ruby.

dwm is the author behind wmii's own WM. It's tailored to suit his exact needs. Configing is done through editing the source code. codemac will know more about this.

detto · 2006-08-08 18:53:49

Well, editing source code doesn't sound that easy to me :?
Or am i understanding this wrong?

detto · 2006-08-08 20:00:20

mhh, sounds like wmii fails for me then dwm is configured the same way?
just looking for a "easy configurable & usable wm"

cdhotfire · 2006-08-08 20:21:37

detto wrote:

mhh, sounds like wmii fails for me then dwm is configured the same way?
just looking for a "easy configurable & usable wm"

Try ion3, I'm sure you will like it, the configuration is very easy. But I do suggest after install that you move all the /etc/ion3/ things to your ~/.ion3 so you can change things much easier.

detto · 2006-08-08 20:32:36

Ok will try ion3 then first 8)

Thx for pointing this out for me, wish me luck gonna report about later. cheers!

detto

mucknert · 2006-08-08 20:36:31

detto wrote:

mhh, sounds like wmii fails for me then dwm is configured the same way?
just looking for a "easy configurable & usable wm"

Actually it's dwm you need to configure in the Sourcecode. wmii can be easily customized from the wmiirc-file. But that is rarely needed if you are just starting out with tiling windowmanagers.

detto · 2006-08-09 00:02:22

Well here's the deal after struggling nearly 3 hours with all those tiling wm's:

First off -> Ion3

Definitely a nice one. It has a cute menu, starting apps is pretty easy through the functional auto-completition start bar.
What definitely scared me off was its configuring, also it seemed relatively(!) easy on 2nd look, there were just too many files flying around, and in a whole they all dont were clearly. "ah ok, thats lua...." i thought, and went to next wm. This thing wasnt the one for me, too arduous for me

2) tried ratpoison

DAMN, this thing is small! Not obviously because of its size (all those wm's are comparable damn small) but with configuration too.
Just some standard keybindings that are pretty easy.
No window borders (for what? ) and only one configuration file .ratpoisonrc . All very clean, for starting an app for example i just put in it a line

bind <key> exec <command>

or also actions ratpoison specific, for example split windows with

bind s split

that all goes in this one file as well as autoproperties from frames. (i havent got to this yet ).

3) tried wmii
Also a neat one, this application bar on bottom is kinda neat, ... but not necessary really i thought. Because all windows i have i want to see, that was the point of using a tiling wm for me. I crossed my fingers and looked through the config file. It was relatively easy too! Not that much as ratpoison but configurable to me

The bottom line is im atm with ratpoison, because of:
- only one config file
- very easy to configure (to me! .. probably someone else prefers lua i.e.)
- does what it says, it keeps me away from my mouse

Now am configuring xcompmgr transparency and post a screenshot of my current pre-setup, its all a bit ... new "art" Well im going into it ^^

cheers,
detto

pauldonnelly · 2006-08-09 06:03:03

I love Ratpoison because it's got so few configuration options -- not because it's inflexible, but because there's so little to configure. My config consists of nothing more than setting the border to 0, changing its escape key from C-t to Menu, and binding some keys to the actions I want.

user · 2006-08-09 07:07:34

http://www.nongnu.org/stumpwm
http://hocwp.free.fr/stumpwm/stumpwm.png

rezza · 2006-08-09 12:44:21

yeah, ratpoison is may favorite of the tiled WMs for similar reasons to yours... window titles are a waste of screen estate in a tiling WM imho, and the config is just so damn simple.

phrakture · 2006-08-09 14:22:43

rezza wrote:

yeah, ratpoison is may favorite of the tiled WMs for similar reasons to yours... window titles are a waste of screen estate in a tiling WM imho, and the config is just so damn simple.

Same. Stump is very cool, conceptually. But too much lisp can make you go blind.

detto · 2006-08-09 19:16:31

What i miss atm is workspace support, but they're working on that to work with frames.

When i tile up all the apps, so my whole screen is full, i always have some space (about 0.5 cm or so) that doesnt gets filled, i can use the ratpoison option "shrink" but then windows just get ordered a bit down and i have this free space above them.
I read somewhere else that someone can configure the REAL screen-size in pixels or what else in a file. Does anybody know anything further bout that? IIRC it was someone who uses Openbox and wanted to fill up whole screen but also had those small free space.

Also starting Steam for playing a quick round CS works in Gnome but doesnt in ratpoison. Do i have to set a driver to use in X? Like xv or s.th. else thats possible like in Gnome's video options?

thx in advance, and keep archin

cheers,
detto

codemac · 2006-08-09 20:18:19

Ion is changing a lot of it's underbelly organization with some upcoming releases, so watch out with your configs, folks.

pauldonnelly · 2006-08-10 04:57:43

detto wrote:

Also starting Steam for playing a quick round CS works in Gnome but doesnt in ratpoison. Do i have to set a driver to use in X? Like xv or s.th. else thats possible like in Gnome's video options?

I'm not sure what your trouble is, but Ratpoison probably isn't involved. It doesn't do anything but control where on the screen windows appear.

dadexter · 2006-09-14 13:43:11

ratpoison FTW

Sigi · 2007-01-09 15:16:31

I recently (yesterday) switched to dwm and really like it. It has a nice way to display infos in the "task-bar" it gets from STDIN. Although ratpoison or ion3 may be worth a try I think dwm has all I need right now...

pauldonnelly · 2007-01-09 20:57:18

Sigi wrote:

I recently (yesterday) switched to dwm and really like it. It has a nice way to display infos in the "task-bar" it gets from STDIN. Although ratpoison or ion3 may be worth a try I think dwm has all I need right now...

Must be a new feature... I don't remember anything like that.

caust1c · 2007-01-09 21:28:43

i'm using dwm, and after modifying it to have different layouts on each tag, i really love it <3

Sigi · 2007-01-09 22:16:11

Another small but nice new feature in 2.9 (or in 2.8 already) is the ability to increase (Mod-i) or decrease (Mod-d) the number of windows in the main area. :!:

Arch Linux

#1 2006-08-08 17:23:18

Tiling Window Managers

#2 2006-08-08 17:30:10

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#3 2006-08-08 18:53:49

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#4 2006-08-08 20:00:20

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#5 2006-08-08 20:21:37

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#6 2006-08-08 20:32:36

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#7 2006-08-08 20:36:31

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#8 2006-08-09 00:02:22

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#9 2006-08-09 06:03:03

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#10 2006-08-09 07:07:34

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#11 2006-08-09 12:44:21

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#12 2006-08-09 14:22:43

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#13 2006-08-09 19:16:31

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#14 2006-08-09 20:18:19

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#15 2006-08-10 04:57:43

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#16 2006-09-14 13:43:11

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#17 2007-01-09 15:16:31

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#18 2007-01-09 20:57:18

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#19 2007-01-09 21:28:43

Re: Tiling Window Managers

#20 2007-01-09 22:16:11

Re: Tiling Window Managers

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