Combining tiling and floating windows

Bart(t · 2009-08-27 20:48:30

hi all,

I am thinking about buying an external wide-screen monitor for my laptop. I want to use this monitor as a split-screen, but what I want is not entirely a tiling window manager. For example, I want the left side contain an editor and the right side contain the shell, web browser, etc. floating. So in a sense I want a combination of a tiling window manager and a floating window manager (the tiling is only for the split-screen).

I have done a bit of searching and it seems it can be done. The following programs should make it possible:
Tile-windows
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16168

Whaw
http://repetae.net/computer/whaw/

Wumwum
http://wumwum.sourceforge.net/

Stiler
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=25038

And threads about this topic:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=48048&p=1
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=64100

I am thinking about using it with LXDE (i.e. Openbox window manager). My question is: does anybody have experience with any of the above programs (or a similar program not listed above)? I'm interested in how well these programs work and how easy it is to use them.

Last edited by Bart(t (2009-08-27 20:49:57)

Ashren · 2009-08-27 21:46:28

It seems you've overlooked the newest edition: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=78666

Bart(t · 2009-09-05 20:14:53

I tested Whaw, Wumwum, and Pytyler:

Whaw:
Very intuitive to use for split screen (both vertical and horizontal split). Simply move the mouse to the top-left screen and click the two windows you want to view as split-screen. The only downside is that there aren't any keyboard shortcuts. Something like ctrl+l and ctrl+r for placing and resizing a window to the left or right side of the screen would be nice.

Wumwum:
I found wumwum a bit cumbersome to use. I have to cycle through various modes to accomplish the vertical split screen. Secondly, the split doesn't seem split perfectly. The left window is somewhat moved to the right. A bit annoying if the left window has a scroll bar, because only half of the scroll bar is visible then. I also couldn't find an easy way to maximize the window back (there is a full-screen option, but full-screen is not equivalent to maximized)

Pytyler:
Pytyler seems to brings a complete tiling window manger. It immediately places the main window in the left side of the screen and the other windows are vertically stacked in the right side. You can probably accomplish the vertical split screen if you use its workspace feauture, but then it requires more work to manage everything.

Whaw is probaly the best option for simple vertical and horizontal splitting.

Everything was tested on KDE 4.2.3.

Note: The Grid plugin for Compiz also seems to do quite a nice job. There a video of it in action on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9hZb7blbVg

Square · 2009-09-07 00:12:13

XMonad will do what you want. Using the default mode of having a virtual desktop per physical screen, you can have a floating layout on one screen and a tiling layout on the other. This is what I would recommend.

BurntSushi · 2009-09-09 20:10:03

Bart(t wrote:

Pytyler:
Pytyler seems to brings a complete tiling window manger. It immediately places the main window in the left side of the screen and the other windows are vertically stacked in the right side. You can probably accomplish the vertical split screen if you use its workspace feauture, but then it requires more work to manage everything.

A quick addendum: you can utilize vertical/horizontal splitting by changing the number of masters (default key bindings: Alt-period and Alt-comma). PyTyle has support for Xinerama, as well.

opothehippo · 2009-09-09 23:23:44

Square wrote:

XMonad will do what you want. Using the default mode of having a virtual desktop per physical screen, you can have a floating layout on one screen and a tiling layout on the other. This is what I would recommend.

I would recommend this too. XMonad can be integrated in to DE's (if you want, it doesn't have to be) and also has great support for multiple screens. As mentioned above, you can have different layouts on different screens. (It may take a bit of configuring, but it can definetly work.)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-08-27 20:48:30

Combining tiling and floating windows

#2 2009-08-27 21:46:28

Re: Combining tiling and floating windows

#3 2009-09-05 20:14:53

Re: Combining tiling and floating windows

#4 2009-09-07 00:12:13

Re: Combining tiling and floating windows

#5 2009-09-09 20:10:03

Re: Combining tiling and floating windows

#6 2009-09-09 23:23:44

Re: Combining tiling and floating windows

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