Echinus window manager, historical & recent github versions

[sunburnt]

It was just a gripe about more desktop icons. The HotPup drive icons would be great on a slide out panel (Xfce).

I put this .png file in the download and it came up like this???

[disciple]

The HotPup drive icons would be great on a slide out panel (Xfce).

Yes!
A slide out panel from a tray icon would be best, as it would be supported by (almost) all panels... it shouldn't be too hard to make ... but then we could just have a panel icon to launch a fast starting pmount-type application.

[musher0]

Do you mean something like this?

I know, it's not a panel, but it seriously reduces the number of disk icons while maintaining access to them.

Then again, you could put these two icons or programs in a ROX panel or a XFCE panel, and open the menus from there, so you'd have even less clutter on your screen.

[musher0]

Or like this?

This menu -- and the following -- illustrate access to the linux directroy structure on your system, through a menu.

[musher0]

Sorry... (double post).

[musher0]

Or even like this? If you like this idea, I could upload something before the end of the day. (I'm at work right now.)

[sunburnt]

I like the panels that slide out from the sides of the screen.
Also ROX panels are dead pan ugly, Xfce`s panels are much nicer.
Xfce`s panels can be used in Puppy with JWM and ROX.

My idea is thin colored strips on the sides of the screen each about 20% of screen height.
So now the panel that will slide out is identified by color, and a label running down it.
So each side of the screen could have 5 or 6 different panels come out of it.
That could reduce the desktop clutter to nothing! Yessssss...

[musher0]

Are you working on some form of program or script to achieve this?

As you may know, the default jwm desktop for Puppy 4.2.1 (Willson Warren version) has something very similar. Would you be expanding on that?

[musher0]

Sorry, double post. (A glitch happened.)

[musher0]

FYI, I've uploaded another screen capture for echinus here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... h&id=22431

The full-screen desktop is in tile mode. Main zone has scalc. Tiled programs in right column are opera, and 2 ROX panels.
Full screen in a tiled desktop is achieved with the Ctrl-Alt-b key commands.

Enjoy.

[sunburnt]

musher0; The ROX panels don`t slide out that I can see. And they`re ugly...
Maybe JWM has some panels that I haven`t seen yet (I don`t think so though).

Also you have to remember to use the [URL] button to show the url as a link.
Funny, because years ago it wasn`t that way, a url just showed as a link.

[musher0]

Hello, again, sunburnt.

As for me, I've learned how to make the ROX pretty (:-), through a gtkrc-mine file in /root. This allows you to define colours and even pictures to show in the ROX-panel. It's not well publicized, but the instructions are all in the ROX help file or on its web site.

Also, if you don't use a full-width taskbar, such as fbpanel, you can keep the fbpanel in front most of the time, and since you have left part of the ROX-panel uncovered, when you hover your mouse over that area, voila, the ROX-panel appears in front of fbpanel, ready for you to use. So you can hide the "ugliness" to a point.

Myself, I find the xfce panels a bit "spartan", and complicated to configure. But hey!, to each his own, of course, and I agree that xfce panels can be pretty too: if that's what you like, go for it!

I'll gladly try your stuff when you upload it!

I have to get back to work now!

[sunburnt]

yes... You touched upon my main gripe about Xfce and many other WMs.
XML or XML "like" code, it sucks and it`s hard to figure out why it`s used.

[disciple]

Maybe JWM has some panels that I haven`t seen yet (I don`t think so though).

jwm does support horizontal menus now, if that's what you're asking sunburnt

[musher0]

@sullysat:

In answer to the question you asked last Tuesday, here are some home-made "benchmarks", taken with htop, of six smaller window managers. echinus comes in 2nd , after oroborus. The "hungriest" of the six was qlwm.

The details are in the attached gnumeric table (also provided in html format).

Sincerely,

[musher0]

Hello all.

I've encountered a freeze of Gparted under echinus, just as it's going to apply the changes to the partition. Both in Puppy 4.12 and in dpup482 beta5.

Can anybody confirm this, or is this just a case of the cobbler's son?

Same Gparted worked fine under jwm. Strange...

Sincerely,

[musher0]

Updated Nov. 5, 2013, 1 p.m.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, all you echinus fans out there!

I've made available a pet of the new version of echinus (v. 0.4.9) here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 167#731167

It's intentionally that I've posted it in the LucidPuppy thread, since this
echinus does not work completely in wary-5.5 or wolx-5.5. In those
Puppies, the win keys are only activated if you have specified a 105-keys
keyboard, but the rest runs ok. Therefore "not completely".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edit, Nov. 8, 2013 -- Member Médor reports that he had no problem using
echinus on wolx-5.5.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... ost#735659
I made another test on wary-5.5, which remained partially unsuccessful.
Even with a pure "pc105" keyboard-type setting, the Win keys in echinus
remained dead in PuppyWary-5.5.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But you can use the author polachok's default configuration or create
your own, substituting the Win keys for Alt+Shift, for example.

polachok's own description of the echinus configuration file can be found
at: https://github.com/polachok/echinus. Scroll down to the
"README" section. It contains some additional parameters not used here.

I'm also including here my echinuxrc file, with comments. This may help
to understand better how to use echinus with the most profit for the user,
because echinus is hard to find on the web, and echinus experiences
and/or echninus documentation files are even harder to find.

My echinusrc config call up various spm menus (aka aemenus), which are
not necessary for echinus to work properly. I'll provide these menus if
there is a request.

I also discovered one undocumented behavior, concerning bringing back
a maximized window to its previous size in floating mode.

The comments are in French and in English in the same file. Lazy me, I
didn't want to do the work twice! (Hopefully, it will also give echinus
more exposure.)

If you've also discovered some undocumented behaviors in echinus, or
generally want to share your experience of it, this is the place!

So there you go. Enjoy!

musher0

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Code: Select all

# musher0's echinusrc file / fichier echinusrc de musher0
# # # # 2009-07-27 # # # #
# # #  Rév. : 2013-10-21 # # 
# # # # # # # # # # # # #

# Couleurs et décorations de la barre de titre et des bordures /
# Colors and décorations of the title bar and of the borders.
# fenêtre active / active window
Echinus*selected.border: #938993
# "#262626" # autre / alternative

Echinus*selected.button: #FFFFFF
# "#d3d7cf" # autre / alternative

Echinus*selected.bg: #938993
# "#B9A9A9" # "#262626" # autre / alternative

Echinus*selected.fg: #FFFFFF
# "#d3d7cf" # autre / alternative

# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

# fenêtres passives / passive windows
Echinus*normal.border: #000000
# "#938993" # "#B9A9A9" # "#262626" # autre / alternative

# couleur des icônes de contrôle / color of control buttons
Echinus*normal.button: #FFFFFF
# "#8B0000" # "#262626" # autre / alternative

# couleurs du fond et du texte / colors of background and foreground
Echinus*normal.bg: #262626
Echinus*normal.fg: #b0b4ac

# Épaisseur des bordures / Thickness of borders
Echinus*border: 3	 	# 1
# En / in pixels

# Icônes des boutons de contrôle / Control Button Icons
Echinus*button.left.pixmap: iconify.xbm
Echinus*button.center.pixmap: max.xbm
Echinus*button.right.pixmap: close.xbm

Echinus*sloppy: 0
# focus de la souris / mouse focus

Echinus*opacity: 0.7
# opacité / opacity

# décorations en mode pavant / decorations in tiling  mode
Echinus*decoratetiled: 1
# 1= oui / yes # 0 = non / no

Echinus*hidebastards: 0
# cacher les barres "étrangères" / hide extraneous ("foreign") bars

Echinus*titleposition: 1 	# 0
# position du titre / position of title
# 1 = gauche / left # 0 = milieu / middle

############################
# barre indiquant les bureaux / bar indicating desktops
Echinus*tagbar: 0 # 1 
# 0 = off 
# Si 0, contrôlé par ourico (suggestion) / If 0, controlled with ourico
# (la barre propre à echinus) / (echinus' own bar)

Echinus*mwfact: 0.85
# Facteur de déplacement ? / Displacement factor ?
Echinus*nmaster: 1
# ?

Echinus*font: Aerial-11
# fixed-13 # autre / alternative

Echinus*title: 17
# épaisseur de la barre de titre / thickness of title bar 
# en / in pixels

############################
# Nombre et nom des bureaux / Number and name of desks
Echinus*tags.number: 5

Echinus*tags.name0: central
# gestion / general management
Echinus*tags.name1: cli
# lignes de commandes / command line programs
Echinus*tags.name2: web
# applis Internet applications
Echinus*tags.name3: bureau
# bureautique / Office apps
Echinus*tags.name4: mus&gfx
# musique, dessin et médias / music, drawing and medias

# Echinus*tags.name5: divers
# misc
# Echinus*tags.name6: dev
# développement / development
# Echinus*tags.name7: bof 
# pour les jours de ras-le-bol ! :-) / for those "what-the-heck" days!

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
# Styles du gestionnaire / WM style
# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# # Comportement par défaut / Default behaviour
Echinus*deflayout: f # i
# # flottant / floating
# # comme / like icewm et / and jwm
# # Layout applied to tag if not explicitly set by tags.layout later.
# # Type du bureau si non défini explicitement par "tags.layout" plus tard.
# # L'un des suivants / One of the following: 
# # i - ifloating / i-flottant, f - floating / flottant 
# # OU : t - tiled / en pavés,
# # Pour le comportement en mode pavés :
# #  b - bottomstack / empilés depuis le bas
# #  m - maximized / maximisé.
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

Echinus*tags.layout0: f
Echinus*tags.layout1: f
Echinus*tags.layout2: f
Echinus*tags.layout3: f
Echinus*tags.layout4: f
Echinus*tags.layout5: f
# Echinus*tags.layout3: b # ???
# Tous mis en mode flottant pour imiter un gest. de fen. ordinaire. /
# All put in floating mode for now, to imitate an ordinary wm.
#
# C'est plus facile de s'initier si on vient de jwm ou icewm. /
# This is easier for a newbie used to jwm or icewm.
#
# Quand on sera plus habitué, on voudra que chaque bureau ait son style.
# After gaining some experience, you'll want each desk to have its own style.

#################################### 
# Combinaisons de touches pour echinus, v. 0.33 
# Key combinations for echinus, v. 0.33
#
# Adaptation par musher0 : la touche A[lt] est remplacée par C[trl]+A[lt]
# 	Cela permet de conserver la touche A[lt] pour activer
# 	les fonctions des programmes, comme dans OpenOffice,
# 	par exemple, où A[lt]-F active le menu "fichiers".
#
# Adapted by musher0: the A[lt] key is replaced with C[trl]+A[lt]
#	This preserves the A[lt] key to activate
#  	the program functions, such as in OpenOffice,
#	where A[lt]-F activates the "files" sub-menu.
#
# Echinus*modkey: A # polachok's default
# (Voir ci-dessous.) / (See below.)
Echinus*modkey: C
# La touche Ctrl est la touche de modification principale. / 
# The C[trl] key is the main mod key.

###
# Pour enlever les barres externes / To remove strut bars
Echinus*togglestruts: CA + b

###
# Pour donner la préséance à une fenêtre / To give focus to a window
Echinus*focusnext: CA + j
# à la prochaine fenêtre / to the next window

Echinus*focusprev: CA + k
# à la fenêtre précédente / to the previous window

###
# Pour aller d'un bureau à l'autre / To go from one desk to the other
Echinus*viewprevtag: A + Tab
# Bureau précédent / Previous desk

Echinus*viewlefttag: CA + Left
# Bureau à gauche (Ctrl+Alt+flèche gauche)
# Desk to the left (Ctrl+Alt+left arrow)

Echinus*viewrighttag: CA + Right
# Bureau à droite / Desk to the right

###
# Combinaisons de touches pour fermer / Key combinations to close
Echinus*quit: CA + q
# tout / everything

Echinus*restart: CS + q = echinus
# fermer et redémarrer echinus / close and restart echinus

Echinus*killclient: CS + c
# un programme / a program

# Alternance du mode flottant et du mode pavant # Important pour les novices !
# Alternating between floating mode and tiling mode # Important for newbies!
Echinus*togglefloating: CA + space
# Echinus*iconify: A + i
#	# dans / in version 0.321
Echinus*zoom: CA + Return
# pour amener la fenêtre x dans l'espace principal du bureau, en mode "pavant" /
# to bring window x in main desk space, in tiling mode

# Pour passer d'un bureau à l'autre / To switch from one desk to the next
# Echinus*view0: CA + F1	
# Non, car active le "screen" 1,  le "login" de Puppy. On se rabat sur la touche Alt. /
# No, this activates the number 1  screen, Puppy's login. Let's be contented with the A[lt] key.
Echinus*view0: W + F1
# AW + F1
# 	Non: Laissées tel que dans l'original, parce que  / No: left as in the original, bacause
# 	cette combinaison n'est en général pas utilisée / this combination is in general not used
# 	par les logiciels.                                                    / by programs.
Echinus*view1: W + F2
Echinus*view2: W + F3
Echinus*view3: W + F4
Echinus*view4: W + F5 
# Echinus*view5: W + F6 
# Echinus*view5: W + F7
# Add as many as there are desks. / Ajouter selon le nombre de bureaux.

# Envoyer une fenêtre dans le bureau x / Send a window in desk x
Echinus*tag0: AS + 1
Echinus*tag1: AS + 2
Echinus*tag2: AS + 3
Echinus*tag3: AS + 4
Echinus*tag4: AS + 5
# Echinus*tag5: AS + 6
# Echinus*tag5: AS + 7 
# Same comment as above. / Même remarque que ci-dessus.

Echinus*toggleview4: A + F4
Echinus*focusview6: A + s
# Fait quoi ? / What does this do?

# Diverses mises en place des fenêtres en mode pavant / 
# Various window layouts in tiling mode
# # One of / L'un de : 
# i - ifloating, f - floating, t - tiled, b - bottomstack, m - maximized.
# (Voir ci-dessus. / See above.) 
Echinus*setlayoutm: CA + m
Echinus*setlayoutf: CA + f
Echinus*setlayouti: CA + i
Echinus*setlayoutt: CA + r
Echinus*setlayoutb: CA + w

# Pour augmenter ou diminuer la largeur de la bande de droite, en mode pavé. /
# To enlarge or reduce the width of the windows at the right, in tiling mode.
Echinus*moveright: CA + d = 5
Echinus*moveleft: CA + a = -5
Echinus*moveup: CA + w = 0 -5
Echinus*movedown: CA + s = 0 5
Echinus*resizedecx: AS + a = 0 0 -5 0
Echinus*resizedecy: AS + s = 0 0 0 -5
Echinus*resizeincx: AS + d = 0 0 5 0
Echinus*resizeincy: AS + w = 0 0 0 5

# Important
# En mode flottant, pour réduire une fenêtre maximisée à sa taille antérieure :
# Ctrl + clic gauche sur le côté gauche ou droit de la fenêtre (Non documenté)
# 
# In floating mode, to reduce a maximized window to its previous size:
# Ctrl + left-click on either the left or right side of the window (non documented)
#
# Pour ouvrir un menu, une console ou un programme : /
# To open a menu, a console or a program:
# 
# Ci-dessous, tous des "aemenus" avec touche Win (gauche ou droite) /
# All the menus below are "aemenus" called with the left or right Win key.
#
# Les touches Win sont déjà activées dans les LucidPuppy. Problématiques dans 
# les wary. / Win keys are already activated in the LucidPuppies. They are a bit
# of a problem in the wary's. 
#
Echinus*spawn0: W + a = /root/.pekwm/spm2-w12n -m
# 	menu des programmes # aragon's simple Puppy menu

Echinus*spawn1: W + q = /root/my-applications/ae/Sorties.sh
# 	menu de sortie / to quit

Echinus*spawn2: W + z = /root/my-applications/ae/disques-aragon-mod.sh
# 	menu des disques / disks (partitions) menu

Echinus*spawn3: W + s = /root/my-applications/ae/GE.sh
# 	menu de contrôle du bureau / screen control menu

Echinus*spawn4: W + w = /root/my-applications/ae/menu-roxpanel.sh
# 	menu général / meta-menu

Echinus*spawn5: W + x = /root/my-applications/ae/boussole.sh
# 	boussole / compass

Echinus*spawn6: W + b = a-droite.sh
# ROX panel at the right / panneau ROX à droite
###
# Pour augmenter ou réduire la largeur du petit pavé à droite /
# To enlarge or reduce the width of the smaller tiled programs at the right
Echinus*decmwfact: CA + h = -0.05
Echinus*incmwfact: CA + l = +0.05 
# Si le petit pavé est en bas / If the smaller tiled programs are at the bottom.
Echinus*decnmaster: AS + j = -1
Echinus*incnmaster: AS + k = +1

###
# Changer la ligne qui suit pour appeler un aemenu au lieu de la console. /
# Change the following line to call an aemenu instead of the terminal.
Echinus*command: console-hdr.sh
# (Une console urxvt personalisée / A customized urxvt console.)
# Ou / or "xterm". Ou / or "spm" (Simple Puppy Menu).
# Echinus*terminal: xterm # Obsolète. Remplacé par Echinus*command.

###
# Règles pour que tel programme s'affiche lance dans tel bureau /
# Rules to get a certain program to display in a certain desk.
#
Echinus*rule0: Firefox.* web 0 1
Echinus*rule1: opera web 0 1
# Signifie qu'opera se lancera dans le bureau "web" /
# Means that opera will launch in the "web" desk.
Echinus*rule2: Icecat.* web 0 1
Echinus*rule3: gmplayer.* mus 1 1
Echinus*rule4: mtpaint.* mus 1 1
Echinus*rule5: DOSBox.* cli 1 1
Echinus*rule6: Abiword.* *bur 1 1
Echinus*rule7: Soffice.* *bur 1 1
Echinus*rule8: Notecase.* *bur 1 1
Echinus*rule9: dir-mus.sh mus 1 1
#
# Also can apply with programs running under wine: /
# Peut aussi s'appliquer à des programmes tourninant sous wine.
# Par ex.: / For ex.: 
# Echinus*rule5: screamer039b-XP.* mus 1 1 
# Echinus*rule6: nPOPuk.exe misc 1 1
# Echinus*rule7: realplay.* mus 1 1
# 
## 30 ##

[musher0]

As a footnote, here's a screenshot of what you can do with the new echinus-0.4.9:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... ost#731168
and more specifically:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... h&id=71259

[musher0]

Hello, all.

I've edited my suggested echinusrc file today. Please see two posts up.
Thanks for your understanding and have a great day!

musher0

[musher0]

Hello all.

Please find attached an updated echinus from its github echinus-master
zip file. I downloaded and compiled it on Dec. 10, 2015, hence the name.

I didn't publish it immediately because I wanted to test it beforehand.
I've been using it for six days now and it works great. I also tested the
echinus-"abs" fork, but it behaved weirdly when moving windows in
floating mode, so I decided against this "abs" fork.

If you type

Code: Select all

echinus -v

in a terminal, you will see that the version number was left at "version
0.4.9, 2011". However the github page shows that developer Alexander
Polachok edited some of echinus' components closer to today's date.

The pet file of this echinus-master-2015-12-10 contains the companion
ourico taskbar and an ourico startup script. It also contains a ready-made
stalonetray configuration, specially designed to "clip" itself to the right
side of the ourico bar on top of the screen (please see capture). However
stalonetray itself is not included in this package. You may want to get it
from here.

When you do, please be careful not to squish the "specially designed"
config file.

Finally, I've included an echinusrc file that, on right click, calls a package
I authored recently, called CatApps. (See the echinus*command line in
the "specially designed" echinus config file.)

CatApps is a "menu and launch base" based on less; it offers

• 1) a complete menu (similar in function to icewm or jwm menus),
  2) the default apps menu typical of Puppy',
  3) a list of +/- 40 directories to go to,
  4) a memo list of dirs and URLs, and
  5) a generic echinus config file to use as refence or "how-to".

The latter shows only when using CatApps with echinus. (Because you
can use CatApps as a companion utility with any window manager.)

The URL for the most recent CatApps script is here. Two more screenshots
of CatApps operating as a companion script to echinus can also be
viewed here.

If you don't like CatApps to show up on right-click, the original echinus
config file and the config from aragon's earlier compilation of echinus
are also included.

Any and all constructive questions and comments are welcome. Enjoy!

musher0

~~~~~~~~~
P.S. Anyone who'd know where the source code for ourico is now
deposited, please ring in? I looked all over the place (I think) and the
ourico source code seems to have gone to never-never land. (Luckily,
we had copies of the executable in *.pet packages on this forum.)
Thanks in advance.