abarbarian Posted April 15, 2020 Author Share Posted April 15, 2020 (edited) wmArchUp Well I finally found time to make a short video of wmArchUp in action the link is at the top of this post. I started by opening up a terminal and having a dry run of "pacman -Syu" this was to show what a normal update would be and you can see what and how big the update would be. Then I clicked on the wmArchUp dock app showing at the top left of screen. This ran the automatic update with the only intervention needed being a single click for the update to proceed. Everything looked to have completed ok. Back to the normal terminal and I ran "pacman -Syu" again and it showed that there was nothing to do. I did this to double check that wmArchUp had worked properly. As I have several AUR programs I them ran Pacaur to see if any of them needed an update. Seems like my Brave browser did, took an age to compress and instal so I terminated the video before it had finished. The video is 68 MB in .mkv format, I could have trimmed the Brave update out and this would have made the video much shorter but I am lazy and bandwidth is pretty accessible these days. The video is worth a quick look as it shows quite a few dock apps running. I was experimenting with which dock apps worked and left them running if they did work. Enjoy Edited February 20 by abarbarian 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 Nice Abarbarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 Just two screenshots of the same desktop showing the range of customisation available in WM. Have a close look at the title bars in both shots the terminal title bar is the window with focus and is different to the other unfocused title bars. I have posted some excellent examples of customised desktops that are well worth a quick peek on page 5 of this thread. Enjoy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 I like themes that are "different enough to be interesting, but familiar enough to be comfortable". It's a vague description that likely varies from person to person, but the eyes like what the eyes like. If I were to put together a list of criteria for what I consider an attractive theme, my list of exceptions would probably be similar to the criteria list. LOL! I do like your LispMachine theme, even though it's blacks, whites, & greys. But that's "punched up" easily enough. Your pink gradient theme is a little "busy" for my tastes, but I do like the gradient; and I do like that the active window is easily distinguishable from the inactives! Question on the window controls...looks like WM can only close windows? I'm used to (and use quite frequently) the "enlarge/reduce" toggle and the "send to launcher/taskbar" controls. Does WM not have those? Or you just prefer the way shown? I note you also make heavy use of window "shade" function, which could be used as a substitute for the other 2 missing buttons. I use the "shade" function also, but to indicate "active in the background" functionality, as opposed to "active" that I'm currently working in. Thanks for the shares! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 16 minutes ago, Hedon James said: Your pink gradient theme is a little "busy" for my tastes, but I do like the gradient; and I do like that the active window is easily distinguishable from the inactives! It's a nice setup but it's hard for me to look at as it's too bright. I would need to wear shades to sit in front of that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 1 hour ago, Hedon James said: Your pink gradient theme is a little "busy" for my tastes, but I do like the gradient Both of those themes are ones I found on the net. The pink one is called " Lords of Acid " I recon the creator was on the stuff at the time of creation. 1 hour ago, Hedon James said: Or you just prefer the way shown? There are so many ways to do the same thing in Window Maker that it would take me from now to infinity to describe them all. I have the window title bars showing collapsed to let folk see the background and also as clues to where I am at. I'll try an answer yer other queries later on. For now though here is a super unique customised arrangement of dock items. (Elephant Rain theme) https://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?/topic/19407-show-us-your-gnulinux-desktop/&do=findComment&comment=451236 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 On 5/8/2020 at 2:25 PM, securitybreach said: I would need to wear shades to sit in front of that Slap them sunglasses on and buckle up for this glorious theme -Fuzzy Hornet, Did you notice the very nice detailing on the backgrounds to the menu windows and title bars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted May 11, 2020 Share Posted May 11, 2020 2 hours ago, abarbarian said: Slap them sunglasses on and buckle up for this glorious theme -Fuzzy Hornet, Did you notice the very nice detailing on the backgrounds to the menu windows and title bars. That is pretty blinding, especially first thing in the morning. Good thing that I run redshift Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 2 hours ago, securitybreach said: That is pretty blinding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 Here are four examples of how folk have set up their Window Maker desktops. As you can see Window Maker is very versatile. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 Just another four Ways Window Maker has been customised by users. As you can see folk have shown some individuality in the way they have set up their Window Maker. All done with the program itself no extra programs or add-ons needed. Also you do not need to be a geek or have several university degrees to make the changes shown just a tiny bit of reading and a few clicks and you can set up your desktop to suit yourself. Window Maker gives anyone the freedom to show individuality and creativity and ain't that what being a penguin is all about folks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 2 hours ago, abarbarian said: Just another four Ways Window Maker has been customised by users. As you can see folk have shown some individuality in the way they have set up their Window Maker. All done with the program itself no extra programs or add-ons needed. Also you do not need to be a geek or have several university degrees to make the changes shown just a tiny bit of reading and a few clicks and you can set up your desktop to suit yourself. Window Maker gives anyone the freedom to show individuality and creativity and ain't that what being a penguin is all about folks. This one is interesting because of the icons, and the "launchbar" arrangement. It's just my personal preferences, but I don't like icons scattered everywhere, and certainly not on all four sides like a screen bevel. This looks like a Unity launcher to me, thumbs up. Bonus points for the icons. Most WM screenshots have icons that I can't tell what they launch, but these appear to be "theme" style icons and I think I could guess what most of them are without having to mouse over or click. And I'm also guessing the three dots on certain icons are indicating "this program is open & running" somewhere on the desktop. Still wondering about the window controls though. Is "close window" the only option in WM? In every WM screenshot I've ever seen, there's only an "X" in the upper right corner. Just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 6 hours ago, Hedon James said: Still wondering about the window controls though. Is "close window" the only option in WM? In every WM screenshot I've ever seen, there's only an "X" in the upper right corner. Just curious. I'll do a short video showing that sort of stuff at some time. It may take me a while though. 6 hours ago, Hedon James said: Most WM screenshots have icons that I can't tell what they launch, Heck why would I want icons that any hacker or curious visitor could recognise easily. Make the sods work for it I say. 6 hours ago, Hedon James said: I don't like icons scattered everywhere, and certainly not on all four sides like a screen bevel. As a rule I'm with you on that one. Although-------------. 6 hours ago, Hedon James said: Bonus points for the icons Default size for Window Maker icons is 64x64 though you can use, other sizes. The icon backgrounds and icons can be images in png, jpg, xpm. So you can import any icon set and use them. I am not really familiar with any icon sets so can not say if you would need to convert them to the appropriate file extension. 7 hours ago, Hedon James said: And I'm also guessing the three dots on certain icons are indicating "this program is open & running" somewhere on the desktop. Precisely the opposite, Quote Starting an application Double-clicking the icon of a docked application starts the application. An application that has not been launched normally has an elipsis (three dots) in the bottom-left-corner of the icon and appears in full color as shown below. Unlaunched application icon When the application is running, the elipsis disappears from the bottom-left-corner of the icon and the icon becomes highlited. Launched application icon Sometimes, when the application is running, instead of highlited icon, the icon becomes "greyed out", giving a visual cue that the application is already open, and cannot be launched again. Grayed-out application icon A docked icon that continues to show an elipsis and remains "full color" even after an instance of the application is running indicates that the application's settings have been modified to allow multiple launches from one docked icon. To do this you must open the application and modify the "application specific" settings in the commands menu of the application to allow "shared application icons". Using the "launch" command in the "application icon menu" for the icon is another way to start an application from the dock. https://www.windowmaker.org/docs/guidedtour/dock.html An I am going to be a grammer natzi as I do know that you should not start a new sentence with And. An is ok if you are a Yorkshireman an is proper english. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, Hedon James said: Is "close window" the only option in WM? In every WM screenshot I've ever seen, there's only an "X" in the upper right corner. You need to go to Specsavers. View screenshot above with a very powerful magnifier to see why. Edited May 13, 2020 by abarbarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 still not seeing anything...just an X in top right corner. If there IS something else there, can it be made more distinguishable. IMO, window controls should be readily identifiable and accessible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 (edited) On 5/13/2020 at 8:44 PM, Hedon James said: still not seeing anything...just an X in top right corner. If there IS something else there, can it be made more distinguishable. IMO, window controls should be readily identifiable and accessible. TIP - Closing windows Ooooooooooooooooops my bad I'm so used to using WM that what is obvious to me is not to other folks. At the left top corner of the window in the screenshot you can see a small graphic , looks like a folder icon. If left clicked with the mouse the window minimizes and drops a icon down at the bottom of the screen, like you would get if you had a taskbar at the bottom of the screen, of course there is no task bar. If you right click with the mouse the window hides in this case, the Firefox window hides to the Firefox icon at the right of the screen, it reappears when you left click on the Firefox icon. Also you can right click with the mouse on the title bar of the window and you get a self explanatory drop down menue, it is a bit hard to make out the options with this theme. Also you can assign keyboard shortcuts to any action, in Arch the keyboard shortcut for "miniaturize active window" is set as "Mod1+M" easily changed to suit your own needs. Phew I think making a movie would have been easier. Edited May 15, 2020 by abarbarian 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makaba Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 On 5/13/2020 at 10:00 AM, abarbarian said: Here are four examples of how folk have set up their Window Maker desktops. As you can see Window Maker is very versatile. I'm the owner of this screenshot and I use window maker still today. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted August 23, 2020 Author Share Posted August 23, 2020 11 hours ago, Makaba said: I'm the owner of this screenshot and I use window maker still today. Did you mean you are the owner of the screenshot you posted or are you the owner of the screenshot I posted ? Anyways you are one clever person for using the best ever window manager. Have you got any good tips on its use ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makaba Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, abarbarian said: Did you mean you are the owner of the screenshot you posted or are you the owner of the screenshot I posted ? Anyways you are one clever person for using the best ever window manager. Have you got any good tips on its use ? I'm the owner of both I recomend the OneStepBack GTK theme for having an unified widgets look and this dockapp for pulseaudio integration. Edited August 23, 2020 by Makaba 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted August 24, 2020 Author Share Posted August 24, 2020 22 hours ago, Makaba said: I'm the owner of both I recomend the OneStepBack GTK theme for having an unified widgets look and this dockapp for pulseaudio integration. Neat. Your volume app is great I replaced my current one with it. I was using this Volume.app as I really like its look but it stopped working on my Arch set up and I got distracted by other things and installed this AlsaMixer.app which works ok but it has three sliders and I never figured out how or what two of them did. I think it is cool that all three are in the AUR it is just a shame that Window Maker got dropped from the main repos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makaba Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 33 minutes ago, abarbarian said: Neat. Your volume app is great I replaced my current one with it. I was using this Volume.app as I really like its look but it stopped working on my Arch set up and I got distracted by other things and installed this AlsaMixer.app which works ok but it has three sliders and I never figured out how or what two of them did. I think it is cool that all three are in the AUR it is just a shame that Window Maker got dropped from the main repos. If you like rock solid software (like window maker) you should avoid a distro like archlinux. A new version of Window Maker came out a few months ago... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted August 24, 2020 Author Share Posted August 24, 2020 1 hour ago, Makaba said: If you like rock solid software (like window maker) you should avoid a distro like archlinux. A new version of Window Maker came out a few months ago... I keep my Arch install updated at least once a week so my Window Maker is always the current version. Not sure what your on about with the rock solid comment. I have been using Arch for quite some time and it is as solid as a rock no problems whatsoever. Folk get in trouble using Arch when they do not update regularly and when they do not read the update advisories. Looking after a Arch install is a hundred times easier than looking after a Windows7/10 install. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 3 hours ago, Makaba said: If you like rock solid software (like window maker) you should avoid a distro like archlinux. A new version of Window Maker came out a few months ago... I've been using Archlinux since 2007 and its been rock-solid for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturnian Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 Yeah, I've found Arch to be surprisingly solid after having run it for several years here. It's been a bit of an annoyance when some packages I use have gotten moved to AUR (which is apparently what happened with Window Maker), but that hasn't been a major issue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted August 25, 2020 Author Share Posted August 25, 2020 On 8/24/2020 at 7:17 PM, saturnian said: It's been a bit of an annoyance when some packages I use have gotten moved to AUR I believe that the devs have a policy of keeping the main repos as small as possible, this allows them to make sure that the programs they keep are always bang up to date and fully working with no gremlins. This is no small task and requires a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for each program. Obviously they will keep the programs that they are fondest of or use themselves as first choice. So if no devs are using Window Maker then it will be left up to the community to maintain it as a AUR package or allowed to get lost in the mists of time. Its place may be filled by another window manager or not. I doubt if I could keep Window Maker up to date and useable by myself. At a pinch I probably could make a Arch Package from a RPM or DEB package if one was available. So I am not annoyed by its sideways move to the AUR but more like worried that the kind maintainer may not do so. I do not see any of the available alternatives being as easy to use and customise so I would be a bit lost without it. Obviously the Arch devs have made a miscalculation in dropping Window Maker as it will regain and surpass its previous popularity at some time in the future. Long live Window Maker. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) WMAMIXER /proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fraw.githubusercontent.com%2Fgryf%2Fwmamixer%2Fmaster%2Fimages%2Fwmamixer.gif&hash=298757e7cd9aed2db4ade530f7612d8d Seems there are a few intelligent folk out there still using and developing new dockapps for Window Maker. FelIow Highlander Makaba brought this neat little dockapp to my attention and I installed it to replace https://github.com/thinrope/AlsaMixer.app. AlsaMixer still works well on Window Maker but it has three sliders configured as default sources are 'Master', 'PCM' and 'CD' volume, naturally you can customise those to suit. As I only need sound control for one source I made the change to WMAMIXER. https://github.com/gryf/wmamixer Quote -h or --help will display options and exit, -v or --version will display version and exit, -w will use withdrawn state, which will make wmamixer behave like a Window Maker dockapp, -s will make some part of the window transparent, -a will make window a bit smaller. Instead of standard 64x64 pixels, it will be 56x56 pixels, additionally with transparent background. This mode is useful for placing it in AfterStep Wharf, -l with a color as an argument will change led color (default bright greenish), -b with a color as an argument will change background for the led color (default dark greenish). Colors can be specified using X11 color names, or by hexadecimal number in #RGB format, like: Starting wmamixer for the first time you get a blank icon and wmamixer opens in a normal window. To make wmamixer act like a WM dock app simply drag the small icon to the dock, close down the wmamixer window, open settins on the docked app and add " -w " as below. Window Maker taking over the world one desktop at a time. There are Arch packages for both dockapps. https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/alsamixer.app https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/wmamixer/ Edited July 17, 2022 by abarbarian 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 Well IMO, the problem is that WM looks like it is from the 90s or 2000. If they polished and redesigned the look, i bet there would be a big increase in their user base. Granted I have only used it a couple of times but to me, it still looks the way that it did in the 1990s with better wallpapers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 29 minutes ago, securitybreach said: Well IMO, the problem is that WM looks like it is from the 90s or 2000. If they polished and redesigned the look, i bet there would be a big increase in their user base. Granted I have only used it a couple of times but to me, it still looks the way that it did in the 1990s with better wallpapers. You are looking at Window Maker from a modern persons view imho. The see it and install it with one click to use it way. Window Maker was and is for the user who wants to make it to suit themselves. The developers have created a very stable program that uses very little in the way of pc resources which is surely what folk need and want, a program that does what it says on the tin and keeps on doing it with very little input from the user. As to its look you can, add any wallpaper you like and access them easily, change the icons on the dockapps easily from collections, or make your own icons easily, change the look of the windows title bars, make your own themes, and you can do all that sort of customisation with just a few clicks usually. For a lazy individuallist whats not to like about that. You see to me a lot of the alternative offerings look pretty much the same and ultimately pretty boring. For instance these iconsets look pretty much all the same to me apart from slight variations in colour, 25 Best Icon Themes For Ubuntu and Other Linux I can guarantee there is no icon set anywhere on the planet that looks like my present setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 I wasn't referring to themes or title bars. I am talking about the tiles that look like they are from the early versions of GTK2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 WindowMaker on PCLinuxOS - WindowMaker Internals Part 1 Patrick G Horneker (phorneker) Quote This article discusses command line utilities that WindowMaker uses to perform its magic on your desktop. In order to further explain WindowMaker's capabilities, it is necessary to explain the internal workings of the window manager. This will also help when it comes time to explain how to create themes for WindowMaker. An excellent article from the super PCLinuxOS magazine that gives detailed information on how to fiddle around with Window Maker. Why don’t you use Window Maker GNU Step to improve your computer interaction performance A quirky article extolling the many fine attributes of Window Maker. It looks as though the article was published in 2018. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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