You are not logged in.

#1 2005-04-03 01:42:53

kipper
Member
Registered: 2003-08-03
Posts: 49

New WMI user, any tips?

I finally, after about 3 years of using blackbox as my window manager dumped it in favour of wmi.  So far I'm loving it and I was wondering if any of the other wmi users out there had any suggestions/advise?

Offline

#2 2005-04-04 14:52:42

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

hmmm... don't use hook-client, as unhook-client doesn't work (I've told the devs, but he doesn't care... wmii-1 is almost out).

You can get wmizer from my repo, as well as the newest snapshot of wmii (it will be change shortly to no longer use cairo, as cairo is really bunk right now)...

ummm... lemme see, what did I wish I found out earlier....
caps-lock will disable actions, so you can use keys bound to wmi actions inside windows (it helps with bb-code which uses alt+{b,i,etc...})
aterm makes things look better because it can have a transparent bg so you can kinda see your wallpaper 8)
you only need to type a few letters of a binary to execute it... i do "alt+e,fir<enter>" to start firefox...
gimp is a PITA 8)
if you lose a transient window (gaim or something), just alt+d (detach) a bunch until you get to the lowest layer, then reattach (alt+a) [I patched mine to have next-transient and prev-transient actions, but again, it's not the main devs concern right now]

only other piece of advice.... try out wmii, as it's really shaping up... (the current one in my repo may crash often giving some "cairo_text_extents" errors.... *punches cairo in the face*

Offline

#3 2005-04-07 16:57:47

kipper
Member
Registered: 2003-08-03
Posts: 49

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

Thanks phrakture.  I'll try out wmii.  It took me a while to realize I needed to "alt+f" to change mode if I wanted to cycle to some windows in wmi.   eg non maximized aterms if I have a couple of maximized terms open already.

Offline

#4 2005-04-19 02:39:02

SavageMessiah
Member
Registered: 2004-03-20
Posts: 76

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

*Face explodes*

I do believe this is the WM I've been looking for forever and ever.

Offline

#5 2005-04-19 04:22:12

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

heh, wmi is fun - you can get the latest wmii from my repo (follow the link in my signature) - it's fairly stable... they're working on changing the layout engine right now, but for the most part it "just works"

Offline

#6 2005-06-09 18:42:28

nggalai
Member
From: Switzerland
Registered: 2004-08-01
Posts: 215
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

*resurrects thread*

Quick question--I'd rather have the Windows key than the Alt key for all those wmi actions. Using Super_L or Mod4 in actions.conf didn't do the trick. Does anybody have any idea how I can use the Windows key for wmi shortcuts?

93,
-Sascha.rb

Offline

#7 2005-06-09 19:02:59

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Offline

#8 2005-06-09 19:33:30

nggalai
Member
From: Switzerland
Registered: 2004-08-01
Posts: 215
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

Thanks, that did it. smile

Offline

#9 2005-06-09 19:38:17

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

I know. :-D  I still use wmi. wmii doesn't resize properly in tiled layouts. But it does have a $MODKEY in its default config so you can set the variable in just one line instead of all through the file.

Dusty

Offline

#10 2005-06-09 19:51:42

nggalai
Member
From: Switzerland
Registered: 2004-08-01
Posts: 215
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

I went back to ion yesterday night, but then I remembered there was quite a buzz about wmi a while ago, here in the forums. So I gave it a shot ... and got immediately hooked. big_smile

Couple of questions, mind:

1) Is there a quicker way to move a "client" from one frame to an other than un-maximising it, dragging it over the frame, re-maximising? wmiremote -p lists various move-client options, but none of them seem to work, i.e. nothing happens.

2) Can I save a frame layout so I have it, "empty," next time I start wmi?

3) How to move a client to another workspace?

4) How to set a background image?

The FAQ on the wmi homepage seems to be about wmii only ... or I am blind.

93,
-Sascha.rb

Offline

#11 2005-06-09 19:58:25

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

nggalai wrote:

1) Is there a quicker way to move a "client" from one frame to an other than un-maximising it, dragging it over the frame, re-maximising? wmiremote -p lists various move-client options, but none of them seem to work, i.e. nothing happens.

move client is to move a floating client in a specific direction.

You can use the swap-client-* options to swap one frame with another.

You can also use detach-client, switch to target frame, attach-client. This is probably the "preferred" method.

2) Can I save a frame layout so I have it, "empty," next time I start wmi?

Not that I know of. Not like ion... but I find I got used to and preferred having my own dynamic layouts in wmi.

wmii has the concept of 'layouts' so you can arrage a certain number of windows in a specific way, this is sort of like your empty frames plan. Its really really cool, problem is the resizing with tiled layouts.

3) How to move a client to another workspace?

detach-client switch workspace attach-client
(alt-d and alt-a are the defaults for deatching and attaching)

4) How to set a background image?

I use qiv -z in my theme.conf for the rootcmd or whatever it is... you can use esetroot, bsetroot, etc as well.

The FAQ on the wmi homepage seems to be about wmii only ... or I am blind.

check the wmi menu.... Documentation, frequently asked questions:

http://wmi.modprobe.de/index.php/WMI/FAQ

Dusty

Offline

#12 2005-06-09 20:15:34

nggalai
Member
From: Switzerland
Registered: 2004-08-01
Posts: 215
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

Excellent! Thanks a bunch! smile

Offline

#13 2005-06-10 05:24:24

nggalai
Member
From: Switzerland
Registered: 2004-08-01
Posts: 215
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

OK, last question and I should be done for a while ...

I'd like to have a couple of things such as my statustext.sh started on startx (I don't use a login manager). I added exec ~/.wmi/scripts/startup.sh to my .xinitrc, but it's not exectued on X startup. startup.sh is executable. Am I missing something fundamental here? e.g. is .xinitrc not rhe right place to do something like this?

Offline

#14 2005-06-10 05:57:53

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

nggalai wrote:

OK, last question and I should be done for a while ...

I'd like to have a couple of things such as my statustext.sh started on startx (I don't use a login manager). I added exec ~/.wmi/scripts/startup.sh to my .xinitrc, but it's not exectued on X startup. startup.sh is executable. Am I missing something fundamental here? e.g. is .xinitrc not rhe right place to do something like this?

try running it as:

/path/to/myscript &

note it's backgrounded and there is no "exec" <- exec is bad unless you're executing the window manager itself...

Offline

#15 2005-06-10 06:09:37

nggalai
Member
From: Switzerland
Registered: 2004-08-01
Posts: 215
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

Thanks, but no dice--error message:

wmi[W 20050610080443]: unknown action '' cannot be performed sequentially.

My startup.sh:

#! /bin/sh

/opt/gnome/libexec/gnome-settings-daemon &
sh ~/.wmi/scripts/statustext.sh &
nvidia-settings -l &

wmi starts, and if I run the script inside wmi, it works, too ...

Offline

#16 2005-06-10 14:30:16

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

what does your .xinitrc look like?

Dusty

Offline

#17 2005-06-10 14:52:54

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

hmmm, can't recall exactly, but isn't there a "startup command" type config line...

I think the problem is that wmi has to be fully initialized before the script is run.... I used to use szs (is that the name?) and couldn't run that before wmi started either...

Offline

#18 2005-06-10 15:02:24

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

This is my .xinitrc:

jedit -background -nogui &
xscreensaver -nosplash &
wmistatus &
exec wmi

It works fine -- wmistatus runs before wmi.

Dusty

Offline

#19 2005-06-10 15:25:59

nggalai
Member
From: Switzerland
Registered: 2004-08-01
Posts: 215
Website

Re: New WMI user, any tips?

Hey, thanks dusty. Putting those commands directly into .xinitrc did it. Weird--using a seperate "startup" script doesn't seem to work ... *shrug* I don't think I'll switch from wmi in a hurry anyway, so, eh. Let's clutter .xinitrc. big_smile

Thanks to everybody's support in this thread. It's much appreciated. smile

93,
-Sascha.rb

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB