25 replies to this topic

[securitybreach]

I used this windowmanager briefly when I first installed Slackware back in 2004 as it was one of the options OOTB. Amazing enough, WindowMaker has been around since 1997. It is great that they restarted the development of this great lightweight environment. I may have to install it on Archlinux and play around:

"A new team of developers have recently picked up development of WindowMaker, and they've added many new features, including improved support for the freedesktop standard menu layout and Mac OS X style application and window switching from the keyboard, culminating in a new release, 0.95.2. A basic changelog is available on the newly redesigned website."

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/02/16/17...ease-since-2006

Window Maker is a window manager (WM) for the X Window System. It is designed to emulate the NeXT user interface as an OpenStep-compatible environment, and is characterized by low memory demands and high flexibility. As one of the lighter WMs, it is well suited for machines with modest performance specifications.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Window_Maker

Also, here is a screenshot from the WindowMaker website although it looks quite old and I imagine it looks more polished now. The one major part of windowmaker are the tile widgets you see on the side of the screen that can be launchers or interactive widgets:

http://windowmaker.org/screenshots/NeXT-Retro.png

[securitybreach]

I just installed it but I have to go to work soon. So maybe a screenshot when I get home and set it up:

CODE

╔═ root@Cerberus 03:31 PM
╚═══ ~-> pacman -S windowmaker

resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...

Targets (1): windowmaker-0.95.2-1

Total Download Size:    1.45 MiB
Total Installed Size:   6.37 MiB

Proceed with installation? [Y/n]
:: Retrieving packages from extra...
windowmaker-0.95.2-1-x86_64                                                                  1489.3 KiB   560K/s 00:03 [########################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                                                                                        [########################################################################] 100%
(1/1) loading package files                                                                                             [########################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                                                                                       [########################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking available disk space                                                                                     [########################################################################] 100%
(1/1) installing windowmaker                                                                                            [########################################################################] 100%

[Temmu]

light weight is good.
let us know how it turns out!

[abarbarian]

Looks kinda cute.  

[abarbarian]

I just installed it but I have to go to work soon. So maybe a screenshot when I get home and set it up:

CODE

╔═ root@Cerberus 03:31 PM
╚═══ ~-> pacman -S windowmaker

resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...

Targets (1): windowmaker-0.95.2-1

Total Download Size:    1.45 MiB
Total Installed Size:   6.37 MiB

Proceed with installation? [Y/n]
:: Retrieving packages from extra...
windowmaker-0.95.2-1-x86_64                                                                  1489.3 KiB   560K/s 00:03 [########################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                                                                                        [########################################################################] 100%
(1/1) loading package files                                                                                             [########################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                                                                                       [########################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking available disk space                                                                                     [########################################################################] 100%
(1/1) installing windowmaker                                                                                            [########################################################################] 100%

Have you got this up and running ? I can not get it to work. It seems to have installed ok. An I think I have followed the Arch  Wiki but nada.



I think I have tracked down the missing link.
Will give it a try and post back.  

Edited by abarbarian, 19 February 2012 - 10:23 PM.

[securitybreach]

Have you got this up and running ? I can not get it to work. It seems to have installed ok. An I think I have followed the Arch  Wiki but nada.



I think I have tracked down the missing link.
Will give it a try and post back.  

Sorry, I have been visiting with my cousin all day. Anyway, here is what I did to install/run WindowMaker:

CODE

# pacman -S windowmaker

CODE

$ mkdir /home/username/GNUstep

Add this to /home/username/.bashrcexport:

CODE

GNUSTEP_USER_ROOT="/home/username/GNUstep"

Then to initalize WindowMaker:

CODE

$ wmaker.inst

Lastly, I commented out my previous entry in /home/username/.xinitrc and added this:

CODE

exec ck-launch-session wmaker

I ended up playing with it for a few minutes but was not happy with it so I removed it.

[abarbarian]

Sorry, I have been visiting with my cousin all day. Anyway, here is what I did to install/run WindowMaker:

CODE

# pacman -S windowmaker

CODE

$ mkdir /home/username/GNUstep

Add this to /home/username/.bashrcexport:

CODE

GNUSTEP_USER_ROOT="/home/username/GNUstep"

Then to initalize WindowMaker:

CODE

$ wmaker.inst

Lastly, I commented out my previous entry in /home/username/.xinitrc and added this:

CODE

exec ck-launch-session wmaker

I ended up playing with it for a few minutes but was not happy with it so I removed it.

You never need to apologise fo rspending time with family  

Well I followed thw Arch Wiki including this,

Set the GNUSTEP_USER_ROOT variable to your GNUstep settings directory. You can set this variable in a file such as $HOME/.bashrc.

export GNUSTEP_USER_ROOT="~/GNUstep"

and it did not work.

I did not have a /home/username/.bashrcexport so I created one and did this,

Add this to /home/username/.bashrcexport:
CODE
GNUSTEP_USER_ROOT="/home/username/GNUstep"

and it did not work,

As I had done this,

Once installed create or edit the file $HOME/.xinitrc as follows:

exec ck-launch-session wmaker

As you and the Arch Wiki suggested and it did not work for me.

I tried,

Once installed create or edit the file $HOME/.xinitrc as follows:

exec wmaker

carried on with,

Run the Window Maker settings installation program to setup the default settings.

$ wmaker.inst

To start Window Maker:

$ startx

An blow me down with a feather Windowmaker appeared. So after dowloading FF which failed to download as a "package version x" could not be found I had to "pacman -Syy for the fourth time in this install. This allowed me to download and install FF and here I am posting from me new Arch.     

As why my experience was different to yours I can not say. Thanks for the help though that "/home/username/.bashrcexport" was the key.

I wanted a light weight WM as I am holding off on E17 till I have the system tuned up and saved in a backup.I have a few q's that need answering about E17 before i install it.

As I was reading your Arch install walkthrough to pick up some missing info that should have been in the Wiki I decided to read this,

Arch Linux Team

an after reading that they thought Arch could be installed and set up in half an hour or even fifteen minutes I nearly went to drown in the river but it was raining so I persevered  

[LilBambi]

Good work abarbarian! Looks like your persistence paid off. Bruno would be proud!

[securitybreach]

an after reading that they thought Arch could be installed and set up in half an hour or even fifteen minutes I nearly went to drown in the river but it was raining so I persevered  

Well you also have to remember that the statement depends on what you call a "fully set up system". Remember Xorg is not one of the included packages so in their eye a WM may not be needed. I think they are referring to the initial installation and then running pacman -Syyu to update.

Good work abarbarian! Looks like your persistence paid off. Bruno would be proud!

Definitely

[securitybreach]

BTW nice link:
Interview: Arch Linux Team

[abarbarian]

BTW nice link:
Interview: Arch Linux Team

It was one of yours and I thought a bit of advertising would not go amiss.

Well you also have to remember that the statement depends on what you call a "fully set up system". Remember Xorg is not one of the included packages so in their eye a WM may not be needed. I think they are referring to the initial installation and then running pacman -Syyu to update.

Oh well in that case I'm up there with the big boys then   as my post from 4 days ago shows,

Feb 16 2012, 11:48 PM
Well it took 27 minutes and 38 seconds for me to install Arch on ordinary partitions with Grub and that was including rebooting to make sure it had all worked. All I have to do now is a bit of installing and tweaking and its Arrr arr Arch Ooooooooooooooooooooooh time.

I think I may have sufferd from burn out since as it has taken me 4 days to install a WM and FF. At this rate I'll have a fully functioning os by  Christmass 2999  

Good work abarbarian! Looks like your persistence paid off. Bruno would be proud!

That is very nice of you to say so  

[securitybreach]

I think I may have sufferd from burn out since as it has taken me 4 days to install a WM and FF. At this rate I'll have a fully functioning os by  Christmass 2999  

Well normally it wouldn't take anywhere near that length of time to install and setup Arch. I can have a fully working system(updated and all apps installed) in less than an hour with backed up configs or a couple of hours from scratch

[V.T. Eric Layton]

[abarbarian]

Well it took me a long time but I figured out how to put a customised image on the desktop.Used a command line tool called scrot for the screenshot and even made the directories with the command line. Found a light weight file manager called qtFM which is a bit odd as it opens files in FF which puzzles me a bit.
Have a look at me new desktop shot in the appropriate thread. Looks a bit odd as the image has been reproduced four times but it looks kinda cute.Yet another puzzle.

[securitybreach]

Well it took me a long time but I figured out how to put a customised image on the desktop.Used a command line tool called scrot for the screenshot and even made the directories with the command line. Found a light weight file manager called qtFM which is a bit odd as it opens files in FF which puzzles me a bit.
Have a look at me new desktop shot in the appropriate thread. Looks a bit odd as the image has been reproduced four times but it looks kinda cute.Yet another puzzle.

Use nitrogen to set your wallpaper!! I have been using it for years on WMs that do not set the wallpaper (openbox, Xmonad, etc). It is very easy to use and works beautifully on a multi-monitor setup as you can set different wallpapers for each monitor or span an entire image. You simply install it:

CODE

# pacman -S nitrogen

then run:

CODE

nitrogen /path/to/wallpaper/folder

choose your wallpaper(s)/options and add this to ~/.xinitrc to autostart it:

CODE

nitrogen --restore &

NOTE: You may run into trouble on window manager that set the wallpaper (gnome, kde, xfce4, etc.) unless you disable their wallpaper function.

[abarbarian]

Use nitrogen to set your wallpaper!! I have been using it for years on WMs that do not set the wallpaper (openbox, Xmonad, etc). It is very easy to use and works beautifully on a multi-monitor setup as you can set different wallpapers for each monitor or span an entire image. You simply install it:

CODE

# pacman -S nitrogen

then run:

CODE

nitrogen /path/to/wallpaper/folder

choose your wallpaper(s)/options and add this to ~/.xinitrc to autostart it:

CODE

nitrogen --restore &

NOTE: You may run into trouble on window manager that set the wallpaper (gnome, kde, xfce4, etc.) unless you disable their wallpaper function.

I'll put it in my Possible Apps list. Now that I have cracked WindowMakers change feature I'll see if I can get a full screen cover with it first. It probably is just a alteration needed in a config file.  

[LilBambi]

Cool! Looks like Nitrogen is available for Debian too: http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=nitrogen

[abarbarian]

I'm sticking with WindowMaker for a while and I thought it needed a bit of sprucing up. So I designed some new icons for my file manager. Don't know which one to use though. Feel free to use them if you fancy.  

[securitybreach]

I'm sticking with WindowMaker for a while and I thought it needed a bit of sprucing up. So I designed some new icons for my file manager. Don't know which one to use though. Feel free to use them if you fancy.  

Excellent!! Very cool

[abarbarian]

I made them and jiggled with me backgrounds from the command line with ImageMagick. Found it suprisingly easy which came as a shock to me.  

As I had to use ,

Once installed create or edit the file $HOME/.xinitrc as follows:

exec wmaker

rather than,

Once installed create or edit the file $HOME/.xinitrc as follows:

exec ck-launch-session wmaker

Do you think it is worth while telling folks.I do not know how to put the info up on the wiki or how to go about this sort of thing.I guess a lot of folks could work out which code to use but it would be a shame if folks are trying WindowMaker out for the first time and stumble at the first fence.  

[securitybreach]

Actually I used ck-launch-session wmaker when I starterd it and always use ck-launch-session as it is needed to mount drives and such:

If you experience trouble with automounting, try inserting ck-launch-session between the exec statement and the DE/WM statement.
For example: exec ck-launch-session gnome-session

Note: This requires that you have the consolekit package installed.

The ck-launch-session part ensures that the various environment variables are set correctly by starting a clean ConsoleKit session. ConsoleKit is a framework for keeping track of the various users, sessions, and seats present on a system. It provides a mechanism for software to react to changes of any of these items or of any of the metadata associated with them. It works in conjunction with D-Bus and other tools.

The ck-launch-session starts a clean consolekit session needed for power management, automounting, shutting down/rebooting etc. ConsoleKit/PolicyKit capable display managers such as gdm do this for you automatically.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinitrc#Getting_started

[abarbarian]

Ha ha I read all of that  and the WindowMaker page but it did not make a great deal of sense as my problem was that ,

exec ck-launch-session wmaker

did not work for me. All the instructions are for if " exec whatever"  does not work. I also did not realise  that consolekit was needed and so had not got around to installing it.
I have installed consolekit and altered me ~/.xinitrc so I'll see if ot works for me.

I'm still finding me way around and learning about some of the basic stuff and it can get very confusing reading up about things when you do not have a very vlear idea of what does what etc.

It is jolly good fun though and I am enjoying  playing with this WindowMaker.  

[securitybreach]

Glad you are enjoying WindowMaker

Let us know if you run into any issues.

[abarbarian]

Well I followed the above and I can "startx" so taht looks like it has worked.  

However I did as suggested here and things have changed but I do not know if it is a good change or not.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=136242

In the menue there is a " customise WindowMaker" which throws up a error " could not execute command: WPrefs"  and my WPrefs folder is empty. So I do not know what is going on there. I could never get this to work before either though it was called something else. That is this feature I am on about,

http://main.linuxfocus.org/~georges.t/prefs.html

Also before the change I could make a Dock and now that option seems to have disappeared. I think that is tied in with the missing " customise WindowMaker" feature.

Anyways I'm late for getting ready to go away for the weekend so maybe things will have changed by the time I get back.

WindowMaker may not be the slickest stick in town but it is easy to play with and funk up so it is going to be a keeper for now.

Edited by abarbarian, 23 February 2012 - 12:29 PM.

[securitybreach]

Did you run  wmaker.inst when you initally setup WindowMaker?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Window_Maker