Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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fvwm is super-old-school but incredibly flexible.
Thanks, I'll try this. I think with a bit of config and a better theme this would be great
Try pop_os. It's gnome tiling can be enabled and disabled from the top bar and it's defaults are sane and easy to change.
Thanks, but I'm trying to avoid DEs for the most part. I'll keep this in mind though
Ah, like bspwm then.
If I was younger, I'd jump on the idea to be able to configure everything to my liking and making a "perfect" setup. However, I want to reach a compromise between a lean system and something which has sane defaults OOTB. Your setup seems fantastic but it's going to take me a week or so, which is not what I want to do. Thank you for mentioning your project though.
OpenBox & Xfwm. I'm keeping an eye on labwc, which is a new openbox clone for wlroots. It's already suitable for everyday use.
Thanks for the suggestions. Do you think I can get away with running just xfwm4 instead of the entire XFCE DE? I'm trying to stay light, which is why I would like to avoid DEs for the most part.
Isn't labwc just a compositor?
I've run plain ol' openbox without a desktop environment on top of it, and it's quite nice. IIRC I also had a standalone status bar application, but I can't remember which one I used.
There are a couple utility programs (obconf and obkey?) that help to configure everything comfortably.
Ah, I thought that xfwm4 wouldn't work without XFCE, but I'm wrong. This is a good idea, thanks a bunch! I'll have to look at panels/status-bars and see what I like. I'm not really one to configure GUI so this might be a learning curve
xfwm4 could work w/o Xfce, though I doubt that it would be worth the effort to script the missing bits by hand. Xfce is pretty modular; once you turn off the tracker/indexer, and whatever useless package manager gui the distro may have included (e.g., 'dnfdragora'), it's pretty lightweight. You can also turn off the compositor. The stock xfce4-panel is also miles ahead (IMHO) of various independent panel programs, both in functionality, as well as looks -- and its widgets are also entirely modular.
labwc is a window manager in the vein of openbox; I guess under wayland a window manager has to be a compositor too (?); but it's no different from sway in this regard.
There's also wayfire; which is a bit more beefy, and aims to preserve all the compiz plugins. Some of those are notorious for being silly eye candy (windows that burn down on close; wobbly windows, etc.) but others are pretty useful (esp. those that emulate the exposé view from OS X; pinning/grouping windows, etc.) -- though in my experience it isn't as stable as labwc; which is understandable because it's a lot more complex.
Thanks for the comment. I haven't played around with XFCE enough, but it doesn't seem as light on resources in recent years as other, leaner WMs (that is to be expected, but XFCE is no longer the bastion of "DE with Low RAM usage" like it and LXDE were).
I'll look into the other options you mentioned. Thanks!
You'll also want a root window and other essential features. This is provided by xfdesktop4 (or you can use an equivalent from another DE). You can use just the window manager if you want but you won't like it. Or you can use something like Openbox which includes everything needed (it's a tiny complete DEs not just a window manager).
Thanks, I'm looking at OpenBox, IceWM and FWM for now. I believe there are some other niche floating window managers too, but after attempting to configure ratpoison a while back (after which I realised that it was no longer supported) I don't want to configure as much for a WM to work.
Awesome or Hikari. Depends on X11 vs Wayland.
Thanks!
This stick I use so that my window doesn't slam closed
For X, I'd probably go for Openbox. For Wayland, I have tried Hikari, but it reminded me why I don't like floating window managers, so I don't use it, but it seems really cool! Also, there is labwc which is supposed to be an Openbox replacement for Wayland, but I can't tell you anything about it cuz I haven't tried it.
The Xfce one. I don't see the point of simple WM for floating windows. I use a WM because it is the only solution for a proper tiling window manager.
I suggest jwm!
Thanks, I'll take a look
dwm for anything other than gaming. no close competition imho
What about dwm makes it a more appealing choice compared to XMonad? (Excluding the C vs Haskell argument)
i dont have much experience with xmonad but i tried every wm at some point. usually the things that keep me with dwm is that i found a build with very sane defaults and a number of patches i appreciate like swallowing, fake fullscreen(so you can fullscreen a program inside the assigned window) or xresources/pywal integration . i also love the scratchpad implementation and the tag system with a tag 0. i also like dwmblocks for the status bar . now im sure some of this features are available on other wm but i never found all of them in one like on DWM.
i also use ST as terminal and it works great with dwm while it gives me issues with other WM(usually resizing issues)
XMonad has most of the features you've listed though: window swallowing, fake fullscreen (other solutions exist: tabbed layout, fullscreen...), xresources (other solutions exist, just not familiar of them tbh), scratchpad, tags, taffybar and many more features in xmonad-contrib!
Does XMonad have a master-slave layout?
Do you have an image at hand that showcases that layout? The only images I am finding from a little DDG'ing are similar to XMonad's XMonad.Layout.ThreeColumns, but I am not sure if that is what you are looking for.
Master-slave layout essentially splits your screen into just two windows. Any new window opening gets automatically assigned as the new master and other windows get demoted to slave and moved down the stack.
I also quite like the stack layout dwm offers. It allows me to navigate through my windows with just up and down keys instead of left/right + up/down.
I've looked for dwm alternatives before but haven't found anything that does everything dwm does. XMonad is interesting but seems daunting to set up (also Haskell)
EDiT: A quick search tells me that you can indeed have a master-slave layout on XMonad.
What you are describing for the master-sleve layout can be achieved with either, XMonad.Layout.Grid or Tall layout (more likely, other ways to achieve this).
The stack layout on the other hand can be achieved through the XMonad.Layout.Accordion? And if you are not a fan of that you could always refer to the XMonad.Layout.Tabbed.
Extra:
- mirror functionality where you can rotate your layouts. Mirroring
XMonad.Layout.Tabbedresults in a stack-like layout. - magnifying glass for your layouts and much more!
- Not a fan of a specific layout and want to adjust it a bit? XMonad.Layout.LayoutModifier is your friend!
- XMonad.Actions.WindowBringer to bring window into focus on demand.
- XMonad.Layout.ToggleLayouts toggle desired layout on specified binding.
dwm's so good. It has pretty much everything one would need and once you've set it up, no need to change anything.
Why would you use dwm for floating windows?
oops