FVWM

DemoDoG said:
KDE4 is just for show. In my eyes this is true beauty:
http://www.boomkracker.com/screenshots/OpenBSD-FVWM2.png
but that´s just my disturbed kind of taste :)

no that ain't good... lol
however, it's not beauty behind my fvwm config. I wouldn't count my config as very beautiful. I made it, because i wanted unique desktop, that's why i'm still thinking about sharing my config.

The best part of my config, is how it feels when you use it.
I can't use anything else, now, i'm so used to it, that everything else, just ain't right for me.
I'm addicted to my config
 
killasmurf86 said:
however, it's not beauty behind my fvwm config. I wouldn't count my config as very beautiful. I made it, because i wanted unique desktop, that's why i'm still thinking about sharing my config.

The best part of my config, is how it feels when you use it.
I can't use anything else, now, i'm so used to it, that everything else, just ain't right for me.
I'm addicted to my config

Ugh. I wish you'd post it :(.
 
Its´ interesting to see how many posts for fvwm2, gotta be the most used wm by freebsd users :) except for terminal perhaps hehe.
 
I would like to script fvwm2 to only have a pager at the bottom thats all, and no borders around it. Anyone got a nice config for that?
 
Okay I will try with the help of google :) I would also like to know how I can get only 4 squares in the pager instead of 9.
 
DemoDoG said:
Okay I will try with the help of google :) I would also like to know how I can get only 4 squares in the pager instead of 9.

it depends....
Code:
DeskTopSize 2x2
this will create 1 big virtual desktop (like one monitor split to 4 parts, each at size of your monitor)


Code:
DesktopSize 1x1
DesktopName 0 "Internet"
DesktopName 1 "Active"
DesktopName 2 "Active2"
DesktopName 3 "Background"
this will create 4 virtual desktops
 
thanx it worked good and I got the pager transparent too. there is a problem though, when I click on a desktop it gets black but when I click on another, the old one statys black. so if I click on them all they are all black. I want them to return to transparent again. I guess there is just some miss in the config I have made.
 
screenshot11.png

Here is my FVWM config, I've created it after 3 years of FVWM usage as my main WM (FVWM is very fast and stable WM!), some functions were found on the web, thanks to FVWM resources. I think it'll be pretty useful for someone (it's commented pretty well and contains functionality from modern WMs and even more!). Also topic starter asked for FVWM config more than 10 years ago, back in 2008 :) It is intended to use with Vertex GTK theme by horst3180 and it uses some of its colors and titlebar buttons images. Most of icons were taken from Vivacious-Full-Dark icon theme by RAVEfinity.
(UPDATED 13.01.2020)

0. Install FVWM # pkg ins x11-wm/fvwm2, if it isn't installed yet.

1. Download Vertex.zip attachment (for GTK 3.22 or newer) and extract Vertex dir to your ~/.themes directory.
OR
1. Fetch, build and install Vertex GTK theme and its dependencies:
Execute # pkg ins automake autoconf pkgconf gtk-murrine-engine gdk-pixbuf2 git-lite and % git clone https://github.com/horst3180/vertex-theme --depth 1 && cd vertex-theme.
For GTK 3.22 or newer use % ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr/local --with-gnome=3.22
If you use older GTK version, just use % ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr/local
Then install it — # make install
2. Install x11-themes/lxappearance, launch it and choose Vertex theme.

3. Download my config, fvwm.zip attachment from this post, and extract .fvwm dir from archive to your home dir (~/.fvwm).

4. Remove old FVWM configuration (like ~/.fvwm2rc) and also install following applications to have a fully working dock and some functions:
# pkg ins wmsystemtray wmmemload wmmoonclock wmclock sbxkb dmenu py36-xdg lxmenu-data liberation-fonts-ttf rxvt-unicode vim xtrlock

5. ???

6. Profit! Launch FVWM and enjoy!

As screen locker I'm using x11/xtrlock (Press escape, enter your password and press enter to unlock). To lock screen automatically, it's possible to use x11/xautolock with it (add xautolock -locker xtrlock -time 60 & to ~/.fvwm/autostart).

Also it is possible to use this config with GNU/Linux!
For example, for Debian based distros, like Devuan, you should install following packages:# apt install wmsystemtray wmmemload wmmoonclock wmclock suckless-tools python3-xdg lxmenu-data fonts-liberation rxvt-unicode-256color vim xtrlock
To shutdown or reboot via "Quit..." dialog in Linux, you also need to do the following:
1. Add your user to the staff group - # gpasswd -a user_name staff, relogin and
2. execute # chown root:staff /sbin/shutdown, then
3. execute # chmod 4554 /sbin/shutdown.
As tray keyboard indicator it is possilble to use fbxkb, install it and add "fbxkb &" to ~/.fvwm/autostart.

After you launch FVWM using following config, you should generate your XDG menu (applications menu):
While using this config, execute % FvwmCommand "FvwmPerl -l fvwm-menu-desktop-config.fpl" command, you'll see menu generator
3g5Mstp.png

Tick appropriate options (do not change default "Output path" and "Top Menu Name"!), press "Export Menu" (or "Save Menu" if you use FVWM 2.6.7 or older). Then, when FVWM will be restarted, XDG menu should be available via root menu (right desktop click). If your locale is configured correctly, this menu should use your native language. (Also it is possible to add your custom .desktop files to ~/.local/share/applications, .desktop files without "NoDisplay=true" inside will be also added to menu as well).

Window menu, "Options" menu, root menu — "Applications" menu, "Quit..." dialog, icon menu:
menu.png

Menu numbers may be used as menu hotkeys. To use russian language in menus with my config, just replace ~/.fvwm/menu with ~/.fvwm/menu.ru :)

Some tips and keybindings:
It is possible to configure FVWM edit command, terminal emulator command, tray and fonts pretty easily, just edit first few lines of ~/.fvwm/config and restart FVWM:
Code:
# Set FVWM font, terminal emulator (xterm or urxvt), edit command and dock tray application
# Eg:   InfoStoreAdd font 'xft:Cantarell'
#       InfoStoreAdd titlefont 'xft:Noto Sans:size=10:bold'
#       InfoStoreAdd terminal xterm
#       InfoStoreAdd edit geany
#       InfoStoreAdd tray stalonetray
#       InfoStoreAdd traycommand 'stalonetray --geometry 2x2 --max-geometry 2x2 --scrollbars horizontal --scrollbars-size 5 --scrollbars-highlight "#4986FB" --background "#454749" --icon-gravity NE --dockapp-mode simple --kludges force_icons_size'
InfoStoreAdd font 'xft:Liberation Sans'
InfoStoreAdd titlefont 'xft:Sans:size=9:bold'
InfoStoreAdd terminal urxvt
InfoStoreAdd edit '$[infostore.terminal] -g 90x30 -name vim -e vim'
InfoStoreAdd tray wmsystemtray
InfoStoreAdd traycommand 'wmsystemtray --non-wmaker'
ZJk7A6O.png

Left pager border click should minimize all/restore all minimized applications (or use ctrl+alt+d). Right pager border click should open "Options" menu, middle click — "Applications" XDG menu, mouse wheel should raise/lower dock. Also it is possible to move applications via pager with middle mouse click. Some useful keybindings: super+w — maximize, super+a — iconify, super+q — close, super+s — raise/lower window, super+d — toggle dock layer, super+c — deiconify prev iconified app, super+tab/shift+tab — next/prev window, alt+tab... If left mouse click will be holded while icon is under cursor — you'll see popup window with application info inside, such as class, name and geometry. Icon middle mouse click will close iconified app. See "KEYBINDINGS" section of ~/.fvwm/config for more.

Also it is possible to configure 4 dock application buttons and its actions pretty easily:
GpqgFY5.png

Via "Options" menu — "Edit" — "Dock Buttons" (restart FVWM after editing it via "Options" menu — "Restart") —
~/.fvwm/dockbuttons:
Code:
# 4 dock application buttons
# 1st dock button icon and click actions
InfoStoreAdd top_left_icon 'dock_term.png'
InfoStoreAdd top_left_icon_left_click 'Exec exec $[infostore.terminal]'
InfoStoreAdd top_left_icon_middle_click 'Exec exec xterm'
InfoStoreAdd top_left_icon_right_click 'Exec exec $[infostore.terminal] -e sh'
# 2nd dock button icon and click actions
InfoStoreAdd top_right_icon 'dock_web.png'
InfoStoreAdd top_right_icon_left_click 'Exec exec firefox'
InfoStoreAdd top_right_icon_middle_click 'Exec exec firefox --private-window'
InfoStoreAdd top_right_icon_right_click 'Menu BrowserMenu root o100-94p o100-62p WarpTitle'
# 3rd dock button icon and click actions
InfoStoreAdd bottom_left_icon 'dock_fm.png'
InfoStoreAdd bottom_left_icon_left_click 'Exec exec pcmanfm'
InfoStoreAdd bottom_left_icon_middle_click 'Exec exec pcmanfm -f'
InfoStoreAdd bottom_left_icon_right_click 'Exec exec $[infostore.terminal] -e ranger'
# 4th dock button icon and click actions
InfoStoreAdd bottom_right_icon 'dock_cloud.png'
InfoStoreAdd bottom_right_icon_left_click 'Exec exec vncviewer'
InfoStoreAdd bottom_right_icon_middle_click 'Exec exec $[infostore.terminal] -e nethogs wlan0'
InfoStoreAdd bottom_right_icon_right_click 'Exec exec $[infostore.terminal] -e iftop -i wlan0'

Also you need to set initial geometry of embedded drop-down terminal (to show/hide press f1):
Edit ~/.fvwm/config and change "185x33" after "-geometry" flag according to your screen resolution:
Code:
Key F1        A    N        DropDown '$[infostore.terminal] -name drop_down_term -geometry 185x33' drop_down_term 100 61 0 0
If you want to change drop-down terminal keybinding, for example, to alt+f1, replace "Key F1 A N…" part with "Key F1 A M…" or with "Key F1 A C…", if you want to use ctrl+f1 instead of alt+f1. To use alt+tilde ("~") as drop-down term hotkey, use "Key Grave A M…".

To use transparency with some apps and shadows:
x11-wm/compton should be installed (to use just transparency, install x11-wm/xcompmgr and add "xcompmgr &" to ~/.fvwm/autostart). Here is my ~/.config/compton.conf:
Code:
backend = "xrender";
vsync = "opengl";
detect-transient = true;
detect-rounded-corners = true;
detect-client-opacity = true;
detect-client-leader = true;

shadow = true;
clear-shadow = true;
no-dnd-shadow = true;
no-dock-shadow = true;
shadow-ignore-shaped = true;
shadow-opacity = 0.9;
shadow-radius = 4;
shadow-offset-x = -5;
shadow-offset-y = -5;
shadow-exclude = [
    "window_type = 'desktop'",
    "class_g = 'conky'",
    "argb && (override_redirect || wmwin)",
    "_GTK_FRAME_EXTENTS@:c" ];

fading = true;
fade-delta = 6;
no-fading-openclose = false;
fade-in-step = 0.06;
fade-out-step = 0.06;

wintypes:
{
    tooltip = { opacity = 0.8; };
    popup_menu = { opacity = 0.8; };
    dropdown_menu = { opacity = 0.8; };
    utility = { opacity = 0.8; };
    menu = { opacity = 0.8; };
};

If you want to use left scrollbar with some applications:
ShMXZh3.png

For GTK2/3 apps, add the following line
Code:
gtk-scrolled-window-placement=top-right
to ~/.gtkrc-2.0 and to ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini .

To use left scrollbar with www/firefox, open about:config, search for "layout.scrollbar.side" and set it to "3".

To disable iconify/deiconify animation:
Comment apropriate line in StartFunction in ~/.fvwm/config and restart FVWM.
Code:
AddToFunc StartFunction
    + I Module FvwmBanner
    + I Module FvwmCommandS
    + I Module FvwmButtons
#    + I Module FvwmAnimate
    + I Module FvwmEvent

As cursor theme I'm using default X11 cursor theme with few little improvements (e.g cursor shadows, "watch" cursor pixmap, "hand" cursor color) — X11 Default Black Cursor Set.
 

Attachments

  • Vertex.zip
    1.2 MB · Views: 484
  • fvwm.zip
    100 KB · Views: 504
Last edited by a moderator:
Yesterday I submitted a port -- x11/wmsystemtray, that was approved by tobik@ today,
so update your ports tree and you'll be able to install it. wmsystemtray is a system tray dock app,
that uses freedesktop.org system tray protocol, it doesn't require any additional configuration
after installation. To use it outside of WMaker WM, use "--non-wmaker" flag.
m8HXM2G.png
 
Last edited by a moderator:
fvwm! What a blast from the past.... Nice to see some window manager biodiversity.

wmmoonclock does something that casuses X to use ~ 5 percent cpu on my skylake system. It also makes compton waste a few more percent so that the system sitting idle has about 10 percent cpu usage. (wmcpu does not work so great, always underestimating compared to top; maybe it is unaware of multiple cores?) I notice this because my system has irritating fan noise even at low speeds. Probably needs a heat sink repaste.

pcmanfm says unsupported operation and dumps core when I double click the trash can.

I did not install vertex because I like the old fat window borders.
 
Never had any of your issues on several installations.
Probably your problem isn't with these applications.
wmmoonclock, pcmanfm and others you've listed are working
without any issues for me on FreeBSD, as well as on GNU/Linux
for more than a year, never noticed any problems.
But also I didn't try to use "skylake system", so maybe it is the problem.

P.S.: To use x11-fm/pcmanfm trash, you should install devel/gvfs,
if it is already installed, launch x11-fm/pcmanfm from console and try to "google"
output, that appears when pcmanfm is crashing, 99,9% you'll find what's causing this
on your system. IMO you got something misconfigured. Because in my experience
x11-fm/pcmanfm is the most stable GUI file manager on FreeBSD.

Also, it is very easy to replace any of dockapps in config file, just replace it in ~/.fvwm/config.
 
Oh, devel/gvfs wasn't in the list above..... I don't have it installed. I'll give it a try. I'm using x11-fm/rox-filer but it has some (fixable, with mouse button reassigning in ~/.fvwm/config) problems with fvwm when rox is providing the desktop ("pinboard").
 
Oh, devel/gvfs wasn't in the list above..... I don't have it installed.

It shouldn't be there, also there is no pcmanfm in that list.
Because it is a "how to" for FVWM window manager and not
for pcmanfm file manager. ALL applications in my config are
replaceable, so use anything you want, just replace it in config file.
 
what is the difference between the graphic window managers, FVWM or TWM and IceWM or JWM? Which is the most complicated of configure?
All those WM you mentioned are dynamic window managers so they all do the same thing, more or less. The hardest to configure and more complex then others WM it's FVWM but this one can be configured in ways which can be limited only by your imagination.
 
ILUXA, what is the difference between the graphic window managers, FVWM or TWM and IceWM or JWM? Which is the most complicated of configure?
It is 4 different WM-s, its configuration is different, design, etc.
TWM is very old and outdated, IMO there is no good reason to use it nowadays. Never was a huge fan of IceWM, so I cannot say much about it. JWM is pretty new WM, its configuration file uses XML like format, but it is pretty limited in its configuration, anyway, I like JWM much more than Openbox, for example, another one WM that is worth to try is Fluxbox. And FVWM is powerful, stable, lightweight and highly customizable WM, it is my personal favorite, with FVWM it is possible to re-create any function from any other WM, so with FVWM you'll never be limited with design or functionality. My secondary WM, which I'm using for my vnc sessions, for example, is x11-wm/vtwm, it's twm with virtual desktop support and extended configuration options, I like it also pretty much.
 
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......for example, another one WM that is worth to try is Fluxbox. And FVWM is powerful, stable, lightweight and highly customizable WM, it is my personal favorite, with FVWM it is possible to re-create any function from any other WM, so with FVWM you'll never be limited with design or functionality.
Apparently its graphical manager, it displays excellent configuration, it is quite rudimentary to see the type of icons. I didn't know that FluxBox was WM, the FluxBox window manager is quite complicated, practically everything is written and configured by hand in a text editor, even though it doesn't recognize the guest's video driver in virtualbox-ose-additions. In your window manager, how would you proceed to make the user's window look with a dark style theme?
 
how would you proceed to make the user's window look with a dark style theme?
To make windows use dark GTK theme, it is possible to choose dark theme via x11-themes/lxappearance, for example, while if you want to change window decorations color, like title bar color, buttons background color, etc, you should edit configuration file by hand, there is no GUI configuration for FVWM. But it is very easy and very quickly to do so, if you know how things work in FVWM, personally I don't need any graphic configuration utilities for FVWM. Just use % man fvwm and you'll be able to see all FVWM options.
it doesn't recognize the guest's video driver in virtualbox-ose-additions.
Any window manager shouldn't "recognize" your video driver, Xorg server should do it,
I'm not sure how vbox integration works, but it doesn't depend on your WM for sure.
BTW, stop using *nix OS-es only via VirtualBox, install it on your real hardware.
it's a waste of time and you'll never move from novice level if you'll use vbox only,
notice how many years you read this forum, how many years you use vbox,
but your questions are still quite silly, you should improve your knowledge,
but it isn't really possible when using VirtualBox only.
 
BTW, stop using *nix OS-es only via VirtualBox, install it on your real hardware.
it's a waste of time and you'll never move from novice level if you'll use vbox only,
notice how many years you read this forum, how many years you use vbox,
but your questions are still quite silly, you should improve your knowledge,
but it isn't really possible when using VirtualBox only.
Is he angry and only scolding? Due to lack of support or FreeBSD drivers for the real machine, I try to use the system for daily use on the virtual machine. FreeBSD has been a project for 25 years and has not attracted most users because it is very difficult. I don't often ask questions, and I don't understand why they bother with questions that are asked out of ignorance, and you, how many years will it take in the forums and in the free software world? I'm still new, little by little, I'm learning something, because unfortunately, the politics of the powerful have imposed their philosophy with their funds on education, imposing only closed-source windows in the learning in education from a very young age. Don't be amgry and smile at life with the few who try an idea of free software. :)
 
There is x11-themes/fvwm-themes if you want to be able to choose themes ( collections of colorsets, backgrounds, window decorations, and the FvwmButtons) from a preconfigured menu. Most of applications on the default menu are for computer archaeologists studying the 90s so it is better to make your own automatic menu. Anyway, getting back to themes, it is also possible to mix theme parts (select colors from theme A, window decorations from theme B, etc.) using only the menu. I start fvwm from my .xinitrc with fvwm -f ~/.fvwm/themes-rc. (I don't how to start fvwm with a specific config file from a display manager.)

You can customize themes by copying files from /usr/local/share/fvwm/themes/whateverpart.cfg to ~/.fvwm/themes/personal/ and then selecting the Personal theme (or just parts of it) from the menu.

For example, you might have something like this in ~/.fvwm/themes/personal/menus-extra :

Code:
DestroyMenu MenuFvwmPersonal
AddToMenu   MenuFvwmPersonal "Personal" Title
#Essentials
AddToMenu MenuFvwmPersonal "Firefox" Exec exec firefox
+ "xterm" Exec exec xterm
+ "xfe"   Exec exec xfe
+ "Clementine" Exec exec clementine-player
+ "VLC" Exec exec vlc
+ "Calibre" Exec exec calibre
#read automatic menu from XDG
PipeRead 'fvwm-menu-desktop --enable-mini-icons --insert-in-menu MenuFvwmPersonal'
 
If it's not too much trouble, could someone explain some of the reasons why you picked FVWM over Openbox? (aside from nostalgia) I've only had experience with tiling wm, but lately I've been really interested in trying out a stack wm, but FVWM seems like such a daunting wm to learn to configure.

Does FVWM have certain features that simply do not exist in some of the other more user friendly stacking wm, such as Openbox?

ILUXA: your fvwm looks lovely by the way! :D
 
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