[NCLUG] common tasks

[Chad Perrin]

On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 05:52:26PM -0600, Sean Reifschneider wrote:
> On 05/26/2011 04:35 PM, Chad Perrin wrote:
> >>
> >> * what about find a file?
> >> * open mouse settings
> > 
> > Interesting choices.
> 
> Actually, some I'm having problems with in xmonad are:
> 
>    Run the ATI configuration program (I can't remember what it's called
>    except that it's got 3 Cs in it, and I can find it in KDE but always
>    struggle in xmonad because I'm having to remember the name).
> 
>    Run anything like the "settings" tool, similar to above.

I . . . have no idea, unless you want to alias it.  I know nothing about
this configuration program, off the top of my head.

If you're talking about changing mouse settings, xset can do that from
the command line.

By the way, your opening line is looking a little dyxlecis.  I think you
must have had an editing problem.


> 
>    Adjusting the volume (it doesn't come included, and I haven't
>    configured it to deal with it).

What kind of volume are you talking about -- alsamixer?


> 
> Here are some other items:
> 
>    Write an e-mail.
> 
>    Minimize a window and then get back to it.  Again, another thing I
>    haven't figured out how to do in xmonad yet.

In general, tiling window managers don't have a concept of "minimizing"
windows (though that is not a universal fact).  Instead, store different
applications on different workspaces, and switch to the workspace for the
application(s) you need at any given time.  Workspaces tend to obviate
the need for a "taskbar" -- it's just a different way of doing things.

Trying to do stuff like "minimize" a window is basically using the WIMP
(Window, Icon, Menu, Pointer) model of GUI environment, as opposed to the
keyboard-driven tiling WM model.  My preferred model is more like WoWiK
(Workspace, Window, Keyboard), and more recently WoTWik (Workspace, Tile,
Window, Keyboard).  Because there's no pointer in such a model, there's
no need for a visual application storage location on the screen.  Because
you have workspaces, you can just switch workspaces if you don't want to
see a particular application.

This does not mean there are not other mechanisms that can be used to
provide similar "ignore that window" capability, however.  For instance,
this is my current workspace while I write this email:

    http://apotheon.net/tmp/workspace.png

The right-hand side has a terminal tile that, for my current font config,
allows up to 85 columns in Vim.  The rest of the screen is where I'm
dealing with email.  If you look at the top, you should see that a small
fraction of the titlebar area (20%) is blue, while the rest is dimmed.
That's because I have five windows stacked in tabs.  Using tabs like this
is a way to get something akin to the taskbar model, but within a given
tile in the workspace and more manageably keyboard-driven than a standard
taskbar.

You might think I have a taskbar at the bottom of the screen, but that's
really just a bit like a thin variant on the conky idea that sits at the
bottom of my screen at all times.

Now . . . I don't know how to do all this in xmonad.  I've never used it.
I'm pretty sure you can, though, because it's probably more capable than
what I'm currently using (i3) in pretty much every way.  The one benefit
to i3 over things like wmii and xmonad is that it's a bit friendlier to
newbies to the world of tiling -- and the reason I'm not using wmii or
xmonad instead is, simply put, that haven't restarted X in months.

I actually wrote an article about i3 as a beginner's intro to tiling
window managers.  It's scheduled for publication on 2 June at this URI:

    http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=2518

. . . if you're curious.  Sorry it's not available yet; I actually
submitted it to the editor some time ago, before I had any idea there was
going to be a GUI environment "shootout" at NCLUG.


> 
> > comfortable on a warm day, and which is more likely to keep rain off your
> > feet.
> 
> There's more than an ounce of truth to what you're saying...
> 
> >> * how can you hide current window;  hide current app?
> > 
> > As long as the test in question is assumed to conform to the usage
> 
> I'm expecting that it will be more about how you do things, or
> demonstrations, than of doing a pixel-perfect reproduction of some specific
> thing.

Yeah -- see above, re: hiding windows.  In the end, outside of things
like checking RAM usage, how quickly things open and close, and CPU
spikes, all that a GUI environment shootout is going to "prove" is the
relative merits and flaws of different ways of doing things.  If you
prefer fire effects when closing windows, swoopy cube spinning, and
point-and-click to do everything, GNOME+Compiz is probably much better
than any tiling window manager.  If you like fastest-possible response,
absolute minimal storage and RAM usage for the whole GUI environment, and
keyboard-driven productive efficiency, I don't know of anything that
beats dwm (which is basically a smaller, more spartan wmii, where
changing configuration requires recompiling).

I can tell you that no matter how many fire effects you have on your
screen, I would have a damned fit trying to deal with something like KDE
or GNOME every day.  I'd feel like I had a lodestone around my neck,
concrete boots on my feet, and a complete Big City largest-size (What do
they call that again -- Dune Sandworm?) burrito in my belly while I'm
trying to win a triathlon (and I gotta say, I'm already at a
disadvantage; I ain't in the shape I used-ta be).  Your mileage may vary
by dozens of leagues.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]
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