Other Distros

[Colonel Panic]

I'm posting from the latest beta of Mint (18.3, Cinnamon) and although I haven't installed it yet you wouldn't know it wasn't a full release from what I've seen so far. Everything is working just as it should be.

[Colonel Panic]

There's a new release of Pardus out now, based on Debian but using XFce as its window manager and, as before, developed with the support of the Turkish government for use in some of its agencies.

I've been trying it this weekend and so far it looks pretty competent; the only problems I've had with it have been a brief inability to save a draft of a message in Thunderbird, and Softmaker Office's not working until I installed 32-bit libraries in the distro (which is 64-bit).

[rufwoof]

Another vote for twm.

I've installed twm in SUSE now and it's working well.

For me under OpenBSD if I set a maximise/restore windows title button to run f.fullzoom then it maximises with a single click, but requires two clicks to restore back down again (first click the mouse cursor changes to a mouse).

A workaround that works for me was to define a function

Function "fullscreen" { f.fullzoom f.winrefresh }

and use that instead, such as

LeftTitleButton "maximize.xbm" = f.function "fullscreen"

I've also switched over to using tab like windows titles instead of full window width titles i.e. have SqueezeTitle defined in .twmrc. What's really nice with that is even when a window is maximised there's some desktop space showing to the right of the window title tab that can be left mouse pressed in order to (obviously) present the normal menu that is shown when the desktop is left mouse pressed, when otherwise no desktop space would have been showing.

I also have it configured such that right mouse click on the desktop or a window tab/title raises the icon manager (like a tasklist) and my mouse scrollwheel volume control (that by default I have dropped in the bottom left corner, but that can be alt-mouseclickdragged around if desired), so you can switch between maximised windows or adjust the volume quickly/easily.

[Billtoo]

I installed linux mint 18.3 to the hard drive of my Acer desktop pc,

bill@bill-Aspire-M5620 ~ $ inxi -bw
System: Host: bill-Aspire-M5620 Kernel: 4.10.0-40-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.6
Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine: System: ACER product: Aspire M5620 v: R01-A4
Mobo: ACER model: G33T-AM v: 1.0 Bios: American Megatrends v: R01-A4 date: 12/19/2007
CPU: Quad core Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 (-MCP-) speed/max: 1603/2403 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GF108 [GeForce GT 430]
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 driver: nvidia Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz, 1920x1080@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: GeForce GT 430/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 384.90
Network: Card: Intel 82566DC-2 Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e
Drives: HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (3.3% used)
Weather: Conditions: 48 F (9 C) - Overcast Time: December 4, 8:37 PM EST
Info: Processes: 224 Uptime: 2 min Memory: 648.8/7981.3MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35
bill@bill-Aspire-M5620 ~ $

It's working well so far.

[Colonel Panic]

Another vote for twm.

I've installed twm in SUSE now and it's working well.

For me under OpenBSD if I set a maximise/restore windows title button to run f.fullzoom then it maximises with a single click, but requires two clicks to restore back down again (first click the mouse cursor changes to a mouse).

A workaround that works for me was to define a function

Function "fullscreen" { f.fullzoom f.winrefresh }

and use that instead, such as

LeftTitleButton "maximize.xbm" = f.function "fullscreen"

I've also switched over to using tab like windows titles instead of full window width titles i.e. have SqueezeTitle defined in .twmrc. What's really nice with that is even when a window is maximised there's some desktop space showing to the right of the window title tab that can be left mouse pressed in order to (obviously) present the normal menu that is shown when the desktop is left mouse pressed, when otherwise no desktop space would have been showing.

I also have it configured such that right mouse click on the desktop or a window tab/title raises the icon manager (like a tasklist) and my mouse scrollwheel volume control (that by default I have dropped in the bottom left corner, but that can be alt-mouseclickdragged around if desired), so you can switch between maximised windows or adjust the volume quickly/easily.

I agree, SqueezeTitle's good. I've got IconManager on my middle button although on mine it brings up a menu for it rather than the icon manager directly (I also have options to sort and hide it, as well as left and right).

Here's the configuration file. The basic file here was copied from someone else's a while back although I've made a few changes (I like dmenu, for example, so there's a menu entry for that).

The whole look is a bit 1990s though, especially compared to yours (you've got brighter colours than I have). I was mainly concerned with having something that works, with a good range of functions. I might change the look if I get time.

#
# Default twm configuration file; needs to be kept small to conserve string
# space in systems whose compilers don't handle medium-sized strings.
#
# Sites should tailor this file, providing any extra title buttons, menus, etc.
# that may be appropriate for their environment. For example, if most of the
# users were accustomed to uwm, the defaults could be set up not to decorate
# any windows and to use meta-keys.
#

NoGrabServer
RestartPreviousState
DecorateTransients
TitleFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*"
ResizeFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*"
MenuFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*"
IconFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-100-*-*-*-*-*-*"
IconManagerFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*"
#ClientBorderWidth

# Add buttons to a window's titlebars
#
# First, remove the defaults from the window titlebars.
# And get rid of the annoying titlebar hightlighting effect.
#
NoDefaults
NoTitleHighlight
TitleButtonBorderWidth 2
#
# I like SqueezeTitle. The titlebar only occupies as much space as needed.
# Reminds me of BeOS.
# If you want to have standard titlebars, remove or comment out this line.
#
SqueezeTitle
#
#IconifyByUnmapping iconises windows to the icon manager without drawing
#their icons on the desktop, which makes for a tidier if more spartan interface.
#
IconifyByUnmapping
#
# Now add our buttons.
#
LeftTitleButton "/etc/X11/twm/icons/resize1.xbm" = f.resize
#
# Note that declarations are from left to right in the order they'll
# be displayed on the right upper corner.
#
RightTitleButton "/usr/share/X11//twm/icons/minimize.xbm" = f.iconify
RightTitleButton "/usr/share/X11//twm/icons/maximize.xbm" = f.fullzoom
RightTitleButton "/usr/share/X11/twm/icons/close.xbm" = f.delete

Color
{
BorderColor "slategrey"
DefaultBackground "midnight blue"
DefaultForeground "antique white"
TitleBackground "midnight blue"
TitleForeground "antique white"
MenuBackground "midnight blue"
MenuForeground "antique white"
MenuBorderColor "slategrey"
MenuTitleBackground "lime green"
MenuTitleForeground "midnight blue"
IconBackground "midnight blue"
IconForeground "antique white"
IconBorderColor "antique white"
IconManagerBackground "midnight blue"
IconManagerForeground "antique white"
}

#
# Define some useful functions for motion-based actions.
#
MoveDelta 3
Function "move-or-lower" { f.move f.deltastop f.lower }
Function "move-or-raise" { f.move f.deltastop f.raise }
Function "move-or-iconify" { f.move f.deltastop f.iconify }

#
# Set some useful bindings. Sort of uwm-ish, sort of simple-button-ish
#
Button1 = : root : f.menu "defops1"
Button2 = : root : f.menu "defops2"
Button3 = : root : f.menu "defops3"

Button1 = m : window|icon : f.function "move-or-lower"
Button2 = m : window|icon : f.iconify
Button3 = m : window|icon : f.function "move-or-raise"

Button1 = : title : f.function "move-or-raise"
Button2 = : title : f.raiselower

Button1 = : icon : f.function "move-or-iconify"
Button2 = : icon : f.iconify

Button1 = : iconmgr : f.iconify
Button2 = : iconmgr : f.iconify

IconDirectory "/etc/X11/twm/icons"
#
# And a menus with the usual things
#

menu "defops1"
{
"Twm" f.title
"Xterm" f.exec "exec xterm &"
"Dmenu" f.exec "exec dmenu_run &"
"Gkrellm" f.exec "exec gkrellm &"
"" f.nop
"Kill" f.destroy
"Delete" f.delete
"Restart" f.restart
"Switch" f.startwm "blackbox"
"Exit" f.quit
"" f.nop
}

menu "defops2"
{
"Twm" f.title
"Show Icon Manager" f.showiconmgr
"Sort Icon Manager" f.sorticonmgr
"Hide Icon Manager" f.hideiconmgr
"Back Icon Manager" f.backiconmgr
"Forward Icon Manager" f.forwiconmgr
"" f.nop
}

menu "defops3"
{
"Twm" f.title
"Iconify" f.iconify
"Deiconify" f.deiconify
"Resize" f.resize
"" f.nop
"Zoom horizontally" f.horizoom
"Zoom vertically" f.zoom
"Zoom top half" f.topzoom
"Zoom bottom half" f.bottomzoom
"Zoom left half" f.leftzoom
"Zoom right half" f.rightzoom
"Zoom in both directions" f.fullzoom
"" f.nop
"Move" f.move
"Force Move" f.forcemove
"Raise" f.raise
"Lower" f.lower
"Circle Up" f.circleup
"Circle Down" f.circledown
"" f.nop
"Focus" f.focus
"Unfocus" f.unfocus
"" f.nop
"Refresh all" f.refresh
"Refresh window"f.winrefresh"
"" f.nop
}

[rufwoof]

I use randomplacement so you don't have the wire-frame positioning when you open a window.

This is my messy (not tidely aligned) current Debian .twmrc version. The colouring is nice once set up as its more of a visual prompt for launching things, but unfortunately does involve having to define colours for one window/program in multiple places

Code: Select all

NoGrabServer
RestartPreviousState
DecorateTransients

#   This font supports font size 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 34 values
#   and bold or medium weights (r regular and i italic slants)
#   -b&h-lucida-medium-r-*-*-20-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-14

TitleFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*"
ResizeFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*"
MenuFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*"
IconFont "-b&h-lucida-medium-r-*-*-34-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-14"
IconManagerFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-100-*-*-*"
#ClientBorderWidth

###############################################

TitleFont 									"-b&h-lucida-bold-r-*-*-20-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
ResizeFont 									"-b&h-lucida-medium-r-*-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
MenuFont 									"-b&h-lucida-medium-r-*-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
IconFont 									"-b&h-lucida-medium-r-*-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
IconManagerFont 							"-b&h-lucida-medium-r-*-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
ShowIconManager
IconManagerGeometry 						"500x900+470+64" 1
NoDefaults									# Using own title button definitions
SqueezeTitle								# shorter window titlebar (like tab)
# can justify tab ... left, center right particular windows
#{
#                       "xterm" right 0 0
#}
TitleButtonBorderWidth 						0
TitlePadding 20

OpaqueMove			
RandomPlacement

#########################
IconifyByUnmapping							# No Icons shown
# I've set no icons, however some apps when you minimise the help, about or
# search boxes still appear as icons. Some can be large so I've set the known
# ones to show just a X logo icon. firefox, pcmanfm, mtpaint, galculator all
# move to iconmgr ok, geany, libre (soffice) don't (they iconify). Think gnumeric
# also moves to a icon but I haven't got that installed.
# Weird behaviour. If iconify a help window, and shows the above X logo icon and
# then iconmgr minimise that window and restore it, the icon is restored to the
# window size again, but can be behind (hidden) the main window and lost focus
# (seems like keyboard is locked from entering things into the main window because
# the hidden window has focus).
IconDirectory 								"/mnt/sda2/home/ff/.twm/bitmaps"
ForceIcons   # force usage of our icons rather than apps
Icons
{
        "pcmanfm" 	"xlogo64.xbm"
#        "geany" 	"xlogo64.xbm"
        "leafpad" 	"xlogo64.xbm"
        "soffice" 	"xlogo64.xbm"                       
}
#########################

NoTitle 
{ 
		"stalonetray" 
		"TWM Icon Manager" 
#		"xmessage" 
		"xload" 
		"oclock" 
		"xclock" 
		"WorkSpaceManager" 
		"xeyes"
		"gkrellm"
#		"yad"
		"Vol "
#		"Conky"
}
NoBorder
{
		"stalonetray"
#		"gkrellm"
		"TWM Icon Manager"
		"mpv"
		"xmessage" 
        "xload"
		"WorkSpaceManager"
		"oclock" 
		"xclock" 
		"xeyes"
		"yad"
#		"Conky"
}

NoHighlight 	# global

IconManagerDontShow 		
{ 
		"stalonetray" 
		"xmessage" 
		"xload" 
		"oclock" 
		"xclock" 
		"xeyes"
		"WorkSpaceManager" 
		"gkrellm"
		"Programs"
		"Vol "
#		"Conky"
}

Color
{
    DefaultBackground						"#000000"
    DefaultForeground						"white"
    # Title default Title colour ... then with selective programs having other colours
    # Use xprop and/or xwininfo commands to identify WM names such as XTerm ...etc.

    BorderColor 							"#000000" 
		{
 			"galculator" 						"#004900"
 			"galculator" 					"#004900"
			"Firefox-esr"	 					"#DD5D25"
			"mtpaint"						"orange"
			"leafpad" 						"#00B6FF"
			"pcmanfm" 						"#E3D0B5"
			"osmo"						"#7399B7"
			"masterpdfeditor3" 				"#CF3638"
			"libreoffice-writer" 					"blue"
			"libreoffice-calc" 				"#006D00"
			"xterm"		 					"#494949"
			"soffice" 						"#DCDAD5"
			"LibreOffice" 					"#006D00"
			"xclock" 						"#000024"
			"Conky" 						"#000024"
			"stalonetray"					"#000024"
			"gkrellm" 						"#0067F6"
			"yad"							"#5E0707"
			"Audacity" 					"#F5D922"
			"openshot" 					"#A0D6F1"
			"recordMyDesktop" 				"#6D006D"
		}

    TitleBackground 						"#494949" 
		{
			"galculator" 						"#004900"
			"galculator" 					"#004900"
			"Firefox-esr"	 					"#DD5D25"
			"mtpaint"						"orange"
			"leafpad" 						"#00B6FF"
			"pcmanfm" 						"#E3D0B5"
			"osmo"	"#7399B7"
			"masterpdfeditor3" "#CF3638"
			"libreoffice-writer" 			"blue"
			"libreoffice-calc"  				"#006D00"
			"xterm"		 					"black"
			"mpv" 							"black"
			"xclock" 						"SteelBlue4"
			"yad"							"#5E0707"
			"Audacity" 					"#F5D922"
			"openshot" 					"#A0D6F1"
			"recordMyDesktop" 				"#6D006D"
		}

    TitleForeground 						"white"   
		{
			"mtpaint"						"black"
			"leafpad"							"black"
			"pcmanfm"						"black"
			"openshot"					"black"
			"Audacity"					"black"
		}		
    MenuBackground 							"#020a09"
    MenuForeground 							"#00ff00" # "#2EFCED"
    MenuBorderColor 						"slategrey"
    MenuTitleBackground 					"#3400FF" # "#005B5B"
    MenuTitleForeground 					"white"
    IconBackground							"#020a09" 
    MenuShadowColor							"black"

    IconForeground							"gray85" 
		{
			"galculator" 						"#004900"
			"galculator" 					"#004900"
			"Firefox-esr"	 					"#DD5D25"
			"mtpaint"						"orange"
			"leafpad" 						"#00B6FF"
			"pcmanfm" 						"#E3D0B5"
			"osmo"	"#7399B7"
			"masterpdfeditor3" "#CF3638"
			"libreoffice-writer" 			"blue"
			"libreoffice-calc" 				"#006D00"
			"xterm"		 					"white"
			"soffice" 						"#DCDAD5"
			"LibreOffice" 					"#006D00"
			"xclock" 						"SteelBlue4"
			"yad"							"#5E0707"
			"Audacity" 					"#F5D922"
			"openshot" 					"#A0D6F1"
			"recordMyDesktop" 				"#6D006D"
		}

    IconBorderColor 						"#000000"

    IconManagerBackground					"#151515" 
		{
			"galculator" 						"#004900"
			"galculator" 					"#004900"
			"Firefox-esr"	 					"#DD5D25"
			"mtpaint"						"orange"
			"leafpad" 						"#00B6FF"
			"pcmanfm" 						"#E3D0B5"
			"osmo"	"#7399B7"
			"masterpdfeditor3" "#CF3638"
			"libreoffice-writer" 			"blue"
			"libreoffice-calc"  				"#006D00"
			"xterm"		 					"black"
			"soffice" 						"#DCDAD5"
			"LibreOffice" 					"#006D00"
			"xclock" 						"SteelBlue4"
			"yad"							"#5E0707"
			"Audacity" 					"#F5D922"
			"openshot" 					"#A0D6F1"
			"recordMyDesktop"				 "#6D006D"
		}

    IconManagerForeground					"white" 
		{
			"mtpaint"						"black"
			"leafpad"							"black"
			"pcmanfm"						"black"
			"Audacity" 						"black"
			"openshot" 						"black"
		}

    IconManagerHighlight					"slategrey"
}

Cursors
               {
                       Frame           "top_left_arrow"
                       Title           "top_left_arrow"
                       Icon            "top_left_arrow"
                       IconMgr "top_left_arrow"
                       Move            "fleur"
                       Resize          "fleur"
                       Menu            "sb_left_arrow"
                       Button          "hand2"
                       Wait            "watch"
                       Select          "dot"
                       Destroy "pirate"
               }

###############################################
#Color
#{
#    BorderColor "slategrey"
#    DefaultBackground "rgb:2/a/9"
#    DefaultForeground "gray85"
#    TitleBackground "rgb:2/a/9"
#    TitleForeground "gray85"
#    MenuBackground "rgb:2/a/9"
#    MenuForeground "gray85"
#    MenuBorderColor "slategrey"
#    MenuTitleBackground "gray70"
#    MenuTitleForeground "rgb:2/a/9"
#    IconBackground "rgb:2/a/9"
#    IconForeground "gray85"
#    IconBorderColor "gray85"
#    IconManagerBackground "rgb:2/a/9"
#    IconManagerForeground "gray85"
#}

#
# Define some useful functions for motion-based actions.
#
MoveDelta 3
Function "move-or-lower" { f.move f.deltastop f.lower }
Function "move-or-raise" { f.move f.deltastop f.raise }
Function "move-or-iconify" { f.move f.deltastop f.iconify }
#Function "click"		{ f.warpto "stalonetray" f.warpto "TWM Icon Manager" }
Function "deiconify-raise" 	{ f.deiconify f.raise	 	  	  }
Function "fullscreen" { f.fullzoom f.winrefresh }
Function "Reveal"	{ f.warpto "stalonetray" f.warpto "Vol " f.warptoiconmgr "" }

# Title buttons
#LeftTitleButton 		"minimize2.xbm" 	= f.menu "Ops"
LeftTitleButton 		"resize5.xbm" 		= f.resize
LeftTitleButton 		"minimize2.xbm" 	= f.iconify
LeftTitleButton 		"maximize2.xbm" 	= f.function "fullscreen"
LeftTitleButton 		"close2.xbm" 		= f.delete

#
# Set some useful bindings.  Sort of uwm-ish, sort of simple-button-ish
#
Button1 = m : root : f.move

Button1 = : root : f.menu "defops"
#Button2 = : root : f.function "Reveal"   # f.warpto "Vol " # f.menu "Volume"
Button3 = : root : f.function "Reveal"   # f.showiconmgr #f.function "Reveal" # f.warpto "TWM Icon Manager" #f.showiconmgr # f.function "click"

Button1 = m : window : f.move
#Button1 = m : window|icon : f.function "move-or-lower"
Button2 = m : window|icon : f.iconify
Button3 = m : window|icon : f.function "move-or-raise"

Button1 = : title : f.function "move-or-raise"
#Button2 = : title : f.raiselower
Button2 = : title : f.warpto "Vol "
Button3 = : title : f.showiconmgr # f.function "Reveal" # f.warpto "TWM Icon Manager" #f.showiconmgr  # function "click"

Button1 = : icon : f.function "move-or-iconify"
Button2 = : icon : f.iconify

Button1 = : iconmgr : f.function "deiconify-raise"
Button2 = : iconmgr : f.delete
Button3 = : iconmgr : f.iconify

###############################################
# Keys

"Tab" 	  = 			m : all 			: f.circleup
"Print"	  = 			  : all 			: f.exec "/mnt/sda2/home/ff/bin/snap3sec &"
"Menu"    = 	 	 	  : all	 			: f.exec "/usr/bin/env LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 xterm &"
"Super_R" = 			  : all 			: f.fullzoom
"Left"    = 			m : all 			: f.warptoiconmgr ""
"Up"      = 			m : all 			: f.upiconmgr
"Down"    = 			m : all 			: f.downiconmgr
"Right"   = 			m : all 			: f.function "select"

###############################################
#
# And a menus with the usual things
#
menu "defops"
{
	"Twm"					f.title
	"Files" 	( "black" : "#E3D0B5" )	!"pcmanfm &"
	"Firefox-esr" 	( "white" : "#DD5D25" )	!"firefox-esr &"   #f.function "ff-fullscreen"   # !"firefox-esr &"
	"Text Edit" 	( "black" : "#00B6FF" )	!"leafpad &"
	"Terminal" 	( "white" : "black"   )	!"xterm &"
#	"Spreadsheet" 	( "white" : "#006D00" )	!"libreoffice --calc &"
#	"Writer" 	( "white" : "blue"    )	!"libreoffice --writer &"
#	"masterPDF"	( "white" : "#CF3638" )	!"/mnt/sda2/home/ff/bin/masterpdfeditor &"
	"Calculator"	( "white": "#004900"  )	!"galculator &"	
	"mtpaint" 	( "black" : "orange"  )	!"mtpaint &"
#	"osmo"		( "white" : "#7399B7" )	!"osmo &"
#	"Diary" 				!"/mnt/sda2/home/ff/bin/YAD/diary &"
	"Alarm" 				!"/mnt/sda2/home/ff/bin/YAD/alarm &"
#	"galculator"	( "white": "#004900"  )	!"galculator &"
#	"LBC" 					!"/mnt/sda2/home/ff/bin/lbc &"
	"Weather" 				!"/mnt/sda2/home/ff/bin/weather &"
#	"kcheckers"				!"kcheckers &"
#""	f.nop
	"Exit"		( "white" : "red"     )	f.quit
#	"Kill"					f.destroy
#	"Resize"				f.resize
#	"Move"					f.move
#	"Delete"				f.delete
	"Utilities"				f.menu "utils"
#	""					f.nop
#	"Refresh"				f.refresh
#	""					f.nop
#	"record desktop" ("white" : "#6D006D" )	!"gtk-recordmydesktop &"
#	"audacity"	( "black" : "#F5D922" )	!"audacity &"
#	"openshot"	( "black" : "#A0D6F1" )	!"openshot &"
#	"Volume"    	( "#00FFFF" : "black" )	f.menu "Volume"
}

menu "utils"
{
	"Utils"					f.title
	"Twm Windows" 				f.menu "TwmWindows"
	"Yad Volume"				!"/mnt/sda2/home/ff/bin/YAD/volume &"
	"(Re)Start"				f.startwm "twm" # f.menu "Restart"
	"Utilities"				f.menu "Utilities"
	"Window Ops "    			f.menu "Window Ops"
	"Preferences" 				f.menu "Preferences"
}

menu "Utilities"
{
	"Utilities"				f.title
	"Top"					!"xterm -T Top -n Top -e top &"
	"htop"					!"xterm -T htop -n htop -e htop &"
	"Xcalc"					!"xcalc &"
	"Xman"					!"xman &"
	"Xmag"					!"xmag &"
	"Editres"				!"editres &"
	""					f.nop
	#"XEmacs"				!"xemacs &"
	#"Mail"					!"xmh -font fixed &"
	#""					f.nop
	"XLock"					!"xlock -mode random &"
	"Reset X defaults" 			!"xrdb -load $HOME/.Xdefaults"
}

#menu "Ops"
#{
#	"Iconify"				f.iconify
#	"Resize"				f.resize
#	"Move"					f.move
#	"Raise"					f.raise
#	"Lower"					f.lower
#	"Delete"				f.delete
#	"Focus"					f.focus
#	"Unfocus"				f.unfocus
#}

menu "Window Ops"
{
	"Win Ops"				f.title
	"Iconify"				f.iconify
	"Resize"				f.resize
	"Move"					f.move
	"Raise"					f.raise
	"Lower"					f.lower
	"Delete"				f.delete
	"Focus"					f.focus
	"Unfocus"				f.unfocus
	"Show Iconmgr"				f.showiconmgr
	"Hide Iconmgr"				f.hideiconmgr
	"Identify"				f.identify
}

menu "Volume" 
{
   "Volume"					f.title
   "   0%"      ( "#00B6FF" : "black"   ) 	!"amixer set Master 0%"
   "   5%"      ( "#00B6FF" : "black"   )  	!"amixer set Master 5%"
   "  10%"      ( "#00B6FF" : "black"   )  	!"amixer set Master 10%"
   "  15%"      ( "#00B6FF" : "black"   )  	!"amixer set Master 15%"
   "  20%"      ( "#00B6FF" : "black"   )  	!"amixer set Master 20%"
   "  25%"      ( "#00B6FF" : "black"   )  	!"amixer set Master 25%"
   "  30%"      ( "#00B6FF" : "black"   )	!"amixer set Master 30%"
   "  35%"      ( "green" : "black"     )  	!"amixer set Master 35%"
   "  40%"      ( "green" : "black"     )  	!"amixer set Master 40%"
   "  45%"      ( "green" : "black"     )  	!"amixer set Master 45%"
   "  50%"      ( "green" : "black"     )  	!"amixer set Master 50%"
   "  55%"      ( "green" : "black"     )  	!"amixer set Master 55%"
   "  60%"      ( "green" : "black"     )	!"amixer set Master 60%"
   "  65%"      ( "green" : "black"     )	!"amixer set Master 65%"
   "  70%"      ( "red" : "black" 	)	!"amixer set Master 70%"
   "  75%"      ( "red" : "black" 	)	!"amixer set Master 75%"
   "  80%"      ( "red" : "black" 	)	!"amixer set Master 80%"
   "  85%"      ( "red" : "black" 	)	!"amixer set Master 85%"
   "  90%"      ( "red" : "black" 	)  	!"amixer set Master 90%"
   "  95%"      ( "red" : "black" 	)  	!"amixer set Master 95%"
   " 100%"     	( "red" : "black" 	)	!"amixer set Master 100%"
}

menu  "Preferences" 
{
   "Preferences"   				f.title
   "Bell Loud"     				!"xset b 80&"
   "Bell Normal"   				!"xset b on&"
   "Bell Off"      				!"xset b off&"
   "Click Loud"    				!"xset c 80&"
   "Click Soft"    				!"xset c on&"
   "Click Off"     				!"xset c off&"
   "Lock On"       				!"xset led on&"
   "Lock Off"      				!"xset led off&"
   "Mouse Fast"    				!"xset m 4 2&"
   "Mouse Normal"  				!"xset m 2 5&"
   "Mouse Slow"    				!"xset m 1 1&"
   "Monitor Power Saving OFF"			!"xset s off;xset -dpms&"
   "Monitor Power Saving ON"			!"xset s on;xset +dpms&"
}

I've added in stalonetray and have yad installed, so that I could move less often used programs to there. For instance a volume control so that the scrollwheel can be used to adjust the volume

Code: Select all

GEO="--geometry 44x160+0-0"

# retrieve current volume level
VALUE=`amixer get Master |grep % |awk '{print $5}'|sed 's/[^0-9]//g'`

yad --scale --vertical --title="Vol " $GEO --value=$VALUE --no-buttons --print-partial | while read x ; do x=`echo $x*1 | bc`; x=`printf "%.0f\n" "$x"`;amixer set Master ${x}% ; done

and a notification icon in the tray (stalonetray)

Code: Select all

yad --notification \
--no-middle \
--text="" \
--image=applications-office \
--separator="\\n" \
--menu="PulseAudio!pavucontrol!/usr/share/icons/gnome/16x16/apps/multimedia-volume-control.png
htop!/mnt/sda2/home/ff/bin/ht!/mnt/sda2/home/ff/.twm/icons/htop16.png
kcheckers!/usr/games/kcheckers!/usr/share/icons/Adwaita/16x16/apps/preferences-system-sharing.png
MasterPDFEditor!/mnt/sda2/home/ff/bin/masterpdfeditor!/usr/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/masterpdfeditor3.png
Audacity!audacity!/mnt/sda2/home/ff/.twm/icons/audacity16.png
OpenShot!openshot!/mnt/sda2/home/ff/.twm/icons//openshot16.png
Record Desktop!gtk-recordmydesktop!/mnt/sda2/home/ff/.twm/icons/gtk-recordmydesktop.png" \
--command='/home/user/bin/choosefile' &

so that when right clicked its menu pops up (I also have radiotray, libreoffice --quickstart and osmo in the tray so that they each have their own right click pop up menus to launch things from).

With the tab titles leaving visible desktop space I have it set so a left click of the desktop shows the volume, icon manager and stalonetray, and right mouse press shows the normal twm menu, so easy to get to other things when a window is maximised (and no real need to have multiple desktops as you can just have multiple maximised windows and easily flip between those).

Like twm a lot, have it installed as the default now in both Debian and OpenBSD. Of the two Debian (Linux) runs quicker for things like libreoffice moving charts around and has more programs in its main repository. I'm tracking Debian oldstable i.e. I'll still be using Jessie for a while yet, until Stretch drops into being old stable (when Jessie will start seeing security updates no longer being provided). Nicer having 2 years between releases, rather than OpenBSD's 6 monthly upgrade intervals.

[Billtoo]

I installed Ubuntu-17.10 to the hard drive of my Compaq-Presario:

System: Host: bill-AU194AA-A2L-CQ5123F Kernel: 4.13.0-19-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: MATE 1.18.0
Distro: Ubuntu 17.10
Machine: Device: desktop System: Compaq-Presario product: AU194AA-A2L CQ5123F serial: N/A
Mobo: MSI model: Boston v: 1.0 serial: N/A BIOS: Phoenix v: 5.24 date: 06/19/2009
CPU: Dual core Pentium E5200 (-MCP-) speed/max: 2000/2500 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel 82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics Controller
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.5 ) drivers: intel (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel G33 version: 1.4 Mesa 17.2.2
Network: Card-1: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller driver: r8169
Card-2: D-Link System AirPlus G DWL-G122 Wireless Adapter(rev.C1) [Ralink RT2571W] driver: rt73usb
Drives: HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (1.8% used)
Weather: Conditions: 27 F (-3 C) - light showers snow Time: December 10, 11:33 AM EST
Info: Processes: 151 Uptime: 48 min Memory: 486.8/3938.0MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.37

It's working well so far.

[rufwoof]

Rearranged my OpenBSD, twm, yad layout so that the volume bar is next to the program bar, and the icon manager is next to the volume bar (as well as making the icon manager much wider)

Right click on the desktop (such as to the right of a maximised windows tab title) and up pops the program/volume/iconmanager set ready to switch to another window, launch a program or adjust the volume


(animated gif, click for larger version)

[Billtoo]

I installed MX-17 to the hard drive of my HP desktop:

System: Host: mx1 Kernel: 4.13.0-1-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3
Distro: MX-17_x64 Horizon December 15, 2017
Machine: Device: desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HPE-410f serial: N/A
Mobo: FOXCONN model: 2AB1 v: 1.00 serial: N/A BIOS: American Megatrends v: 6.02 date: 07/21/2010
CPU: 6 core AMD Phenom II X6 1045T (-MCP-) speed/max: 1400/2700 MHz
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Redwood PRO [Radeon HD 5550/5570/5630/6510/6610/7570]
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.2 ) drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
OpenGL: renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD REDWOOD (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.13.0-1-amd64, LLVM 3.9.1)
version: 3.3 Mesa 13.0.6
Network: Card-1: Ralink RT3090 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe driver: rt2800pci
Card-2: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller driver: r8169
Drives: HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (0.8% used)
Weather: Conditions: 41 F (5 C) - Overcast Time: December 19, 4:14 PM EST
Info: Processes: 214 Uptime: 3 min Memory: 436.0/7987.0MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.53

I've only tested it for a short time but I like it so far.

[Moat]

I installed MX-17 to the hard drive of my HP desktop:

Next choice on my "hopping" list - previous versions being one of my favorite Linux distros! But what I really wonder is if anyone has been able to do a successful, good-running and usable install to a USB flash drive (with persistence), as the included MX-specific flash drive installation tools purport to do. I've tried to do so in the past, and did end up with a running/saving system - but it was just too slow and even non-responsive at times.

Guess it's about time to try again.

Bob

[belham2]

Hi Billtoo, Moat and all,

I really think MX-Linux (and Peppermint) has to be up for Distro(s) of the year (or even past two years). They put together a really nice, simple yet powerful distro. Their included apps are great. Heck, just from looking at Billtoo's desktop OS pic, it reminds me how MX-Linux screams elegance & sophistication.

Moat, funny you mention about MX-17 on a stick . I am in the process of doing this today (or in the next few days). Like you, had did it before, and face horrible performance problems. Then I realized I needed to use one of my better read/write USB sticks (I'm still on 2.0, and Sandisk Extremes, on my systems, are pretty fast). Still, after getting on one of the supercharged Sandisk Extremes, MX-16 noticeably struggled. I don't know, maybe I am just too spoiled all these years expecting pup/ddog-like performance.

Anyhow, going to do it again with MX-17 on one of the Sandisk Extremes, and report back if anything has changed. Either way, I also keepa full-install of MX on one of my SSDs along with the aforementioned Peppermint, and also Bodhi, Fedora, Manjaro and Anterogos. Surprisingly they all co-exist peacefully on one multi-boot SSD as long as I let Manjaro go last in updating & also ruling the roost in terms of grub2.

What I've been most let down by is Solus. A nice OS albeit only when installed by itself. The Solus team has done something proprietary with their boot process where, no matter what I do, as an OS (even letting it rule the roost with grub) it will not co-exist peacefully with either ubuntu/debian OSes and/or arch/redhat OSes. So, no time for those kind of games and said goodbye to it.

[Moat]

Hey Belham!

... Their included apps are great...

Moat, funny you mention about MX-17 on a stick

Yeah, bingo - like they're thinking on the same wavelength or something ; many of the included apps and overall tweaks are spooky in-line with just what I like to install/tweak, myself. Saves quite a bit of headaches in setting up!

And yes - getting this nice, complete Xfce distro running fast and (possibly?) Puppy-like on a USB stick is my intention as well. Downloaded last night and gave it a quick try, and thing is - running it as the default initial Live session... it flies! Just hoping that excellent display of performance somehow can/will carry over to a persistent flash stick install (which - like you - I could not get it to do with MX-16). I recall them mentioning somewhere that it'll "out-Puppy Puppy" or something along those lines, so the hope springs eternal...

Will try just that, too - if/when I get the chance here...

Great distro, and my initial impression is even more favorable than MX-16 (which itself was truly excellent) - they've been polishing away on this one.

Bob

[Billtoo]

@Moat @belham2

I did another install of MX-17 to a 32gb usb-3.0 flash drive which is plugged into a usb
3.0 port:

System: Host: mx1 Kernel: 4.13.0-1-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3
Distro: MX-17_x64 Horizon December 15, 2017
Machine: Device: desktop System: HP product: 260-p029 serial: N/A
Mobo: HP model: 81B4 v: 01 serial: N/A UEFI [Legacy]: AMI v: F.04 date: 05/10/2016
Battery hidpp__0: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh
hidpp__1: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i3-6100T (-MT-MCP-) speed: 3200 MHz (max)
Graphics: Card: Intel HD Graphics 530
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.2 ) drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 530 (Skylake GT2) version: 4.5 Mesa 13.0.6
Network: Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: r8169
Card-2: Realtek RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter driver: rtl8723be
Drives: HDD Total Size: 2031.9GB (0.4% used)
Weather: Conditions: 16 F (-9 C) - Partly Cloudy Time: December 21, 9:38 AM EST
Info: Processes: 209 Uptime: 46 min Memory: 557.1/3817.1MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.53

No problems so far.

[belham2]

Hi Bill & Moat,

The past few hours I've been working on a complete puppy-style frugal-install (with live persistence for everything and ask-on-shutdown-save), running off a USB disk, and I finally got it working.

Mind you, I only downloaded MX-Linux-17.iso inside a pup (Rakdy's dpup_stretch), clicked on the iso, dragged over what I thought was needed (discarding all the other junk, especially the uefi stuff), and started having a go.

Let's just say I WHOLEHEARTEDLY do not recommend going this route, lol . MX/AntiX has made this (i.e. frugal) all easy by just doing everything when booting up a live USB that you've installed the iso to. Me and my harebrained ways notwithstanding . Via boot options it is simple to configure boot options to set up all kinds of parameters that hold across the live-boots.

Anyway, despite myself (haha), it's all working. Have the linuxfs file running fully in RAM, persistence for everything, and MX responds well. Even installed some things (i.e. mtpaint). And the response speed is good, really good. And I am even on a mediocre USB of only ~17 read and ~10mb write. If I go to one of my Sandisk Extremes USBs, all I can say is: vroom, VROOM for MX-Linux Live!

Huge kudos to the MX-Linux team....they need to celebrate this holidays (thinking back to some years ago when they first started, this has really come a long, long way).

[Moat]

Excellent, guys! I'm just gonna have to make the time to give this a shot within the next few days... very promising, indeed.

Thanks @ Billtoo & Belham for the reports/info!!

Bob

[belham2]

Hey, guys, justed wanted to give you a heads up about this (Backi just posted it in another thread, the XenialDog thread).

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... -Corrupter


You might want, if you've got a laptop with Intel in it, to steer away from any and all distros that either are actually Ubuntu 17 itself and/or have Ubuntu 17 in them as their base.

It seems Ubuntu released a kernel (or something) that can frack (permanently) the laptop's BIOS.

Unbelievable.

[Moat]

Yea, was just reading up on that... quite a terrible flub. So much for talkin' all my friends into trying out the latest Ubuntu......
.
.
.
Nah... I'd never do that! Puppy only!!

Meanwhile, got a persistent MX-17 running very nicely on an 8 Gb USB converter/SD card, using the included Live-usb Maker tool - very slick! The many, save-able boot code options @ splash screen are a fantastic feature, running this way (via USB). Clearly a lot of thought and time went into these tools. Next thing to try are the remaster/iso build utilities...

Boots to about 1.7 Gb RAM, though - so the "toram" option wouldn't be viable on older, low-RAM hardware (4 Gb, here - seems more than adequate - very snappy!).

Bob

[ally]

I had a play and thought it nice but ran slowly when installed fully (with persistence) to a usb

[Billtoo]

I installed MX-17 on my Acer laptop:

System: Host: mx1 Kernel: 4.13.0-1-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3
Distro: MX-17_x64 Horizon December 15, 2017
Machine: Device: laptop System: Acer product: Aspire 7740 v: Rev serial: N/A
Mobo: Acer model: Aspire 7740 v: Rev serial: N/A BIOS: Phoenix v: V1.15 date: 12/25/2009
Battery BAT0: charge: 48.8 Wh 100.0% condition: 48.8/48.8 Wh (100%)
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i5 M 430 (-MT-MCP-) speed/max: 1333/2267 MHz
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Park [Mobility Radeon HD 5430/5450/5470]
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.2 ) drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1600x900@60.00hz
OpenGL: renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD CEDAR (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.13.0-1-amd64, LLVM 3.9.1)
version: 3.3 Mesa 13.0.6
Network: Card-1: Broadcom Limited NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe driver: tg3
Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) driver: ath9k
Drives: HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (1.6% used)
Weather: Conditions: 16 F (-9 C) - light snow low drifting snow Time: December 22, 9:36 AM EST
Info: Processes: 194 Uptime: 1:25 Memory: 473.7/3818.1MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.53

Works great.

[belham2]

I had a play and thought it nice but ran slowly when installed fully (with persistence) to a usb

Hi Ally,

Yes, it will run slowly (any Linux OS will) if you full install it to a USB.

But, if you frugal-install MX-Linux (which no one else really offers except it's brother AntiX), which means plopping the ISO on a USB stick (you can even use grub4dos, might need to make sure the Label on your USB is "antiX-Frugal" before starting all this, as grub4dos won't do it and mx-linux boot requires it), and booting it like you are just trying it out----but here's the beauty: on that first boot, notice in the boot menu (at bottom) F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, and F8 where you can make choices how and what you want to do, MX-Linux becomes lightening quick off a USB as 'frugal-install with persistence', if you take a few secs & and set stuff at this boot, just like any puppy and/or ddog. It's so easy that it boggles the mind other distros don't do this.

Hit F1 - choose your language, hit enter to save

Hit F2 - choose your timezone/location

Hit F3, (I choose "ToRam", which install the huge linuxfs (which is identical to a puppy's main ".sfs") because since it loads into RAM, everything is that much more quicker (again, just like a pup loaded fully in RAM)

F4 - misc options

F5 - I choose 'Frugal-Persistence" (there's a ton of choices in all of these, and it's all well documented)

F6 - nothing here I need to mess with, as it is failsafe booting and video options

F7 - same here, this is for setting text console

F8 After all the above, Hit F8, use arrow to go to Save & then hit enter, and that's it! Mx-Linux will now remembers all of these from here on out.

(https://mxlinux.org/user_manual_mx15/MX_bootloader.html)

Then, as you hit to boot MxLinux, during the actual boot process, it is going to ask you and create rootfs, homefs, etc, (just hit "auto" for each), then importantly it will ask you how about persistence saving, and I choose "Semi-Automatic", which means it saves nothing during the session until asking you at the end during shutdown whether you want to save the session or not (again, just like Puppy).

It is quite something, for a medium-sized but full-featured Linux distro to do this. And it is hard not to appreciate what the AntiX/Mx-Linux team has done. Now I know why I always see Anticapitalista here-----he (and Mx team) have taken the best puppy has to offer and integrated the good stuff into their already good distro.


So don't install it fully to a USB. That is so yesterday Heck, even when I full install puppies and ddogs, as opposed to frugal, they many times run like crap. Frugal is the here and now, and future.