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#1 2012-07-09 11:42:05

Onyros
Member
From: Lisbon, Portugal
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 307

Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Telescope is a task switcher first developed by user Mitrandir (on Maemo Talk forums) for the Nokia N8xx line of internet tablets running Maemo OS (debian based), to give users of the legacy Maemo OS 2008 some of the functionality added to the OS on the N900s.

It was comprised of both a launcher and a task switcher, which draws (dynamic) thumbnails of all open windows, on all desktops, at the press of a key. Launcher has been disabled on the desktop version because it's still problematic. Other than that it's incredibly fast and very, very lightweight.

Enough talk, here's a screenshot of Telescope in action:

tZW91bA

And a small video:

3.jpg

I have created an AUR package for Telescope (please feel free to have a look and offer any corrections, it's my first one to date). * Use at own risk, yadda, yadda, yadda *

It has been tested on Arch i686 and Arch Linux ARM (running beautifully on the Raspberry Pi - video coming up), on DWM (somewhat buggy, but works), Fluxbox and Awesome (old build). Currently * not working * on Openbox.

General configuration is done on /etc/telescope.conf, with the following options:

hotkey = <hotkey name (default=F5)>
background.filename = <path to wallpaper>
background.mode = <stretched|centered|scaled|cropped>
background.color = <color in #ffffff notation>
border.width = <border width in px>
text.font.size = <caption font size (default=24)>
test.yOffset = <caption Y-axis offset (default=-7)>
show.desktop.thumbnail = <on|off — show desktop as one of thumbnails. Switching to it doesn't work on Ubuntu but worked on KDE. Needs to be fixed>
show.desktop.iconify = <on|off — show desktop by minimizing all windows. Ugly but useful if default _NET_SHOW_DESKTOP method doesn't work for particular WM>

Further keybindings (after the task switcher is invoked) can be changed on /etc/telescope.keys.

I'm only sharing this with you girls and guys, because I find it useful, very lightweight & fast, and for which there isn't an alternative - other than running Compiz. There are and there will be bugs, if anyone cares to address them. Remember it was developed for the N8xx internet tablets, but it's already working pretty well on the desktop.

All credit due to Mitrandir, don't bother the bloke too much, he has already mentioned he may not have time for feedback/suggestions and only offered a desktop version because I badgered the guy wink

Last edited by Onyros (2012-07-09 17:32:21)

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#2 2012-07-09 12:12:37

kaptenen
Member
Registered: 2009-12-06
Posts: 287
Website

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Nice memories.

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#3 2012-07-09 16:41:24

Onyros
Member
From: Lisbon, Portugal
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 307

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Old Maemo user, kaptenen? smile

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#4 2012-07-09 22:14:45

kaptenen
Member
Registered: 2009-12-06
Posts: 287
Website

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Oh yes, still hanging around the forum even due I sold my N900 some months ago. smile

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#5 2012-11-26 18:35:07

runa
Member
Registered: 2012-02-19
Posts: 8

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Onyros, sorry for the stupid question: I installed it and ran it but when i press f5 it does not do anything. Am I doing smth wrong? I am using i3wm but it does not work also in dwm.

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#6 2012-11-26 21:42:00

Onyros
Member
From: Lisbon, Portugal
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 307

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

I haven't tested in i3, but I'm sure it works in DWM. Any output from the terminal you may be getting? I haven't used it as much as I thought I would myself, maybe it does need an update, though I'm just the "messenger", not the developer. wink

Try running it with

telescope &

and try changing the default hotkey, check whether it is indeed running on htop (or your process viewer of choice!).

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#7 2012-11-27 18:40:44

avx
Member
Registered: 2011-07-05
Posts: 71

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Did a checkout of the latest tip, running make gives me this:

make
g++ -c -Wall -Werror -O2 -DMAEMO4 -DDBUS -DLAUNCHER `pkg-config --cflags x11 xcomposite xdamage xrender imlib2 xft dbus-1 glib-2.0` -pthread XEventLoop.cpp -o XEventLoop.o
XEventLoop.cpp: In member function ‘void XEventLoop::eventLoop()’:
XEventLoop.cpp:90:34: error: ‘int dbus_watch_get_fd(DBusWatch*)’ is deprecated (declared at /usr/include/dbus-1.0/dbus/dbus-connection.h:451) [-Werror=deprecated-declarations]
XEventLoop.cpp:90:59: error: ‘int dbus_watch_get_fd(DBusWatch*)’ is deprecated (declared at /usr/include/dbus-1.0/dbus/dbus-connection.h:451) [-Werror=deprecated-declarations]
XEventLoop.cpp:99:21: error: ‘int dbus_watch_get_fd(DBusWatch*)’ is deprecated (declared at /usr/include/dbus-1.0/dbus/dbus-connection.h:451) [-Werror=deprecated-declarations]
XEventLoop.cpp:99:21: error: ‘int dbus_watch_get_fd(DBusWatch*)’ is deprecated (declared at /usr/include/dbus-1.0/dbus/dbus-connection.h:451) [-Werror=deprecated-declarations]
XEventLoop.cpp:99:21: error: ‘int dbus_watch_get_fd(DBusWatch*)’ is deprecated (declared at /usr/include/dbus-1.0/dbus/dbus-connection.h:451) [-Werror=deprecated-declarations]
XEventLoop.cpp:99:21: error: ‘int dbus_watch_get_fd(DBusWatch*)’ is deprecated (declared at /usr/include/dbus-1.0/dbus/dbus-connection.h:451) [-Werror=deprecated-declarations]
cc1plus: all warnings being treated as errors
make: *** [XEventLoop.o] Error 1

(not an Arch system, but maybe someone can help).

Applying the Makefile.patch from the AUR-tarball works, but then only gives

make
Makefile:83: depend: No such file or directory
g++ -M -MM -MG -MP -Wall -Werror -Wno-error=narrowing -O2 -DDESKTOP -DDBUS `pkg-config --cflags x11 xcomposite xdamage xrender imlib2 xft dbus-1 glib-2.0` -pthread TeleWindow.cpp Main.cpp XTools.cpp Thumbnail.cpp Settings.cpp Mapping.cpp Mappings.cpp Resources.cpp DBus.cpp XEventLoop.cpp Image.cpp >depend
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
cc1plus: error: -Werror=narrowing: no option -Wnarrowing
make: *** [depend] Error 1

Somehow complaining about ./depend

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#8 2013-01-07 03:40:11

zeltak
Member
From: New England
Registered: 2010-08-07
Posts: 168

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

thx Onyros!

as an old n900 user which loved my device i really like it alot , its great!

i was wondering if one coul use keystorkes to quick jump to clients (IE press F and if firefox is the only one starting with f it would autoselect it and switch etc..)

thx alot


Its super great!


Z.

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#9 2013-01-07 21:41:47

Onyros
Member
From: Lisbon, Portugal
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 307

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Ah, sorry, if you're interested in venturing into further functionality, you probably have to fork the code or something, as I'm not the developer - as I mentioned in the first post smile

As for the error in compiling Telescope, avx, just make sure all dependencies are met, may need some trial and error as deps and packages tend to be named differently from distro to distro. I distinctly remember compiling in Debian, then again Maemo was deb-based, too.

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#10 2013-01-15 06:13:51

anonymous_user
Member
Registered: 2009-08-28
Posts: 3,059

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Just a small question but is /etc/telescope.conf supposed to be blank/empty?

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#11 2013-01-15 12:02:35

Onyros
Member
From: Lisbon, Portugal
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 307

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Nope, here's what's in mine

hotkey = Menu
background.filename = ~/Images/Wallpapers/arch_wall_new.png
background.mode = stretched
text.font.size = 10

There are other options, as noted on the first post smile

BTW, I've been using it with a hot corners script I found here and it works pretty, pretty well - both in DWM and Fluxbox, which are the only two I ever use.

Last edited by Onyros (2013-01-15 12:04:59)

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#12 2013-01-15 20:14:04

anonymous_user
Member
Registered: 2009-08-28
Posts: 3,059

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

But did you add those options to the file or were they included?

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#13 2013-01-15 22:07:46

Onyros
Member
From: Lisbon, Portugal
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 307

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

There's no conf file included, so you have to populate it with your own options.

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#14 2013-01-18 17:42:03

Next7
Member
Registered: 2011-12-07
Posts: 44

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Could somebody give an example of configuration working for dwm? I mean dwm's "config.h" and Telescope's "telescope.conf".

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#15 2013-02-11 02:44:42

Ikem
Member
Registered: 2012-08-10
Posts: 10
Website

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

I like to add, you don't need the hotkey to trigger Telescope.

You can use dbus instead:

dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.telescope /Telescope org.telescope.Telescope.Show

Last edited by Ikem (2013-02-11 02:48:55)

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#16 2013-02-11 13:50:33

Thorsten Reinbold
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2011-12-06
Posts: 353

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Does not build:

/home/XYZ/AUR/telescope/PKGBUILD: Line 19: cd: /home/XYZ/AUR/telescope/src/telescope: no such file or directory

Last edited by Thorsten Reinbold (2013-02-11 13:51:04)

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#17 2013-02-28 11:43:59

Skorpy
Member
From: Finland
Registered: 2013-02-28
Posts: 1

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Can't get this to work. It installs and starts just fine but nothing happens when I press F5, or any key assigned as the hotkey.
I'm using DWM with proprietary radeon drivers and composite works too.

Output from telescope:
[Opt]    'background.color' = '#000000'
Background color: #000000
[Opt]    'hotkey' = 'F5'
[Opt]    'show.desktop.thumbnail' = 'off'
[Opt]    'show.desktop.iconify' = 'off'
Loading background from ''
Background mode: 0
Cannot load background
rgb = (0, 0, 0)

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#18 2013-04-03 08:14:12

AdamCDunlap
Member
Registered: 2013-04-03
Posts: 11

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

I changed it a little to not segfault when started on an empty dwm tag and repackaged it here: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/telescope-git/ It still doesn't close windows with the x with dwm, and I'm looking for a way to get that to happen. I tried XKillClient but that shut down urxvtd and thus all my terminals which was not intended.

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#19 2013-04-04 15:26:40

Onyros
Member
From: Lisbon, Portugal
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 307

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

That's really cool big_smile I'm glad someone picked it up! As I mentioned in the original post, I just submitted the package and did not create the application myself - nor do I have the knowledge or the time to even troubleshoot it.

Thanks, Adam smile

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#20 2013-04-08 18:05:43

edmael
Member
Registered: 2012-07-19
Posts: 54
Website

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

Telescope is a life-saver for those (like me) who wants a nice Exposé feature on Xfce.
It's fast and lightweight, too bad the previews are often buggy.

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#21 2013-04-09 06:45:32

AdamCDunlap
Member
Registered: 2013-04-03
Posts: 11

Re: Telescope - Blazing Fast Task Switcher à la Exposé/Scale/Skippy

I'm not sure the standard way to post patches but here's one to make dwm properly fullscreen telescope (and all other "splash" windows) so it doesn't become just another window in tile mode:

diff --git a/dwm.c b/dwm.c
index 7a203de..a4dd931 100644
--- a/dwm.c
+++ b/dwm.c
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ enum { CurNormal, CurResize, CurMove, CurLast };        /* cursor */
 enum { ColBorder, ColFG, ColBG, ColLast };              /* color */
 enum { NetSupported, NetWMName, NetWMState,
        NetWMFullscreen, NetActiveWindow, NetWMWindowType,
-       NetWMWindowTypeDialog, NetClientList, NetLast };     /* EWMH atoms */
+       NetWMWindowTypeDialog, NetWMWindowTypeSplash, NetClientList, NetLast };     /* EWMH atoms */
 enum { WMProtocols, WMDelete, WMState, WMTakeFocus, WMLast }; /* default atoms */
 enum { ClkTagBar, ClkLtSymbol, ClkStatusText, ClkWinTitle,
        ClkClientWin, ClkRootWin, ClkLast };             /* clicks */
@@ -1705,6 +1705,7 @@ setup(void) {
 	netatom[NetWMFullscreen] = XInternAtom(dpy, "_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN", False);
 	netatom[NetWMWindowType] = XInternAtom(dpy, "_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE", False);
 	netatom[NetWMWindowTypeDialog] = XInternAtom(dpy, "_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DIALOG", False);
+	netatom[NetWMWindowTypeSplash] = XInternAtom(dpy, "_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_SPLASH", False);
 	netatom[NetClientList] = XInternAtom(dpy, "_NET_CLIENT_LIST", False);
 	/* init cursors */
 	cursor[CurNormal] = XCreateFontCursor(dpy, XC_left_ptr);
@@ -2161,7 +2162,7 @@ updatewindowtype(Client *c) {
 	Atom state = getatomprop(c, netatom[NetWMState]);
 	Atom wtype = getatomprop(c, netatom[NetWMWindowType]);
 
-	if(state == netatom[NetWMFullscreen])
+	if(state == netatom[NetWMFullscreen] || wtype == netatom[NetWMWindowTypeSplash])
 		setfullscreen(c, True);
 	if(wtype == netatom[NetWMWindowTypeDialog])
 		c->isfloating = True;

you can also see it on my dwm github:
https://github.com/adamcdunlap/dwm

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