[TAG] One for Ben

[Ben Okopnik]

On Wed, Jul 14, 2004 at 08:44:56AM +0530, Kapil Hari Paranjape wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 13, 2004 at 06:25:19PM +0100, Thomas Adam wrote:
> > On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 12:31:44 -0400
> > Ben Okopnik <ben at callahans.org> wrote:
> > 
> > > IceWM is small, fast, and lacks nothing in features that I want from a
> > > WM. From Thomas' previous rantings :), I gather that FVWM is much the
> > > same sort of thing. It's like having a spoon that you bought for a
> > 
> > Kind of. But there are a _lot_ of things Fvwm does that IceWM does not,
> > and while I am not going to outline the individual merits of each, you
> > cannot, for instance, in IceWM do event actions. And while I have used
> > IceWm, it just doesn't have..., well, it lacks *something*. :)
> 
> Since we're onto desktop/window manager wars ... :-)
> 
> My latest "standard" for how good such a thingy is has been:
> 
> (a) Can it emulate "ratpoison"?
> (b) Can it improve on "ratpoison"?
> (c) Can it do the above without bringing a low-end machine to
>     a screeching, grinding, *thrashing* halt?
 
Yay! I _like_ your standard. If "ratpoison" didn't try to size
_everything_ to full screen (e.g., Netscape error message dialogs), it
would be a very close second in the "my favorite WM" category.

> It turns out that (in combination with GNU "screen") FVWM, ICEWM and even
> (surprise) Gnome2+Metacity can do this. I haven't tried with KDE.
> 
> Some notes of explanation:
> 
> (a) in combination with "screen" what this really means is that you
>     should be able to maximize a window *without* title bars, menubars,
>     borders, handles and all that fluff. This is what you *really* need
>     when you are doing a deep hack or writing a paper.

Or just want to have all the display you paid for! The first time you
run, say, Mozilla that way, it can be quite dramatic. (Those who want to
cheer, salute, or recite the Pledge of Allegiance, please refrain. We
know it's wonderful.)

> (b) means that you should be able to "switch" in and out of this
>     ratpoison mode with some key combination (don't touch that mouse
>     yet!). In the "real" GUI mode you should be able to use GIMP (which
>     is ratpoison disabled or vice versa) and other such programs that
>     require a mouse and/or graphical interface and non-mazimized
>     windows.

'Twould be nice if ratpoison itself handled those things perfectly...

> (c) is reasonably clear---low on memory usage for (a) but could use more
>     memory in (b). 
> 
> I might be able to write a little piece on how this is done but I
> wouldn't be able to withstand that flamage that might result :-)

Hey, some guy on Freshmeat wrote a good article on ratpoison being the
ultimate WM (that's what got me looking at it), and didn't get flamed.
Lots of positive comments, actually, IIRC.

Ooops, I feel a 2-cent tip coming up. :)

> Besides my ESP-enabled fortune signature generator has something to say
> about the time I've spent on doing all this configuration... (See
> below).
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Kapil.
> -- 
> If a 'train station' is where a train stops, what's a 'workstation'?

Back when, Xerox clearly acknowledged this by producing what they
referred to as "Work-Less" workstations (I used to repair those things.)
Of course, we referred to them as "worthless" workstations...


* Ben Okopnik * okopnik.freeshell.org * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette *
-*- See the Linux Gazette in its new home: <http://linuxgazette.net> -*-