TWM TWM: does it pays?

I have been using FreeBSD for almost a year now. And the windows manager TWM along with it.

My goal: keep it simple ... Simplicity and being the basis for other managers led me to start with this and then gradually migrate to KDE, which has always been my final choice.

It turns out that I started using TWM (which I found back in VAX time) and now I no longer felt the need for another tool. As I got used to the gotchas and solved these difficulties, I learned a lot about the system.

This way I leave here some guidelines that I use for my own reference that allowed me to use twm.

- Graham's TWM Page!
- Ch. 10 - Customizing the twm Window Manager (Safari Book)
- Tab Window Manager
- My starting point (.twrc code)
- Index of /twm/tiles
 
Several KDE fans can't be wrong :p

(sorry, only posted because Tri recently posted so I don't risk bumping).

But I honestly did enjoy reading this, thanks for sharing!
 
I believe rufwoof is still a big fan of x11-wm/twm and has a page at my site with screenshots and his config file posted as a .txt file.
I've switched :( over to cwm :)
Code:
# ~/.cwmrc
# 
gap                             1 0 0 0
ignore                          xclock
ignore                          xload
color inactiveborder            Black
color activeborder              "#494949"
color groupborder               "#01a252"
color urgencyborder             "#3d9751"
color selfont                   "#0034A9"
color font                      "#FFFFFF"
color menufg                    "#49F6F6"
color menubg                    "#333333"
fontname                        "News10:size=11:antialias=true"
bind-key CM-comma               "mixerctl outputs.master=-5"
bind-key CM-period              "mixerctl outputs.master=+5"

Only use X now for chromium, so that's maximised, and used as my PDF reader/creator, calculator (html/javascript), text editor (also html/javascript), mp4/mp3 player, online email, calendar, oh! and a web browser. Home page shows the date/time in the tab title, content is all my bookmarks.
s.png
For the rest ... console/tmux/mc with a tput based menu. I have tmux set so F12 steps between tmux windows, F11 creates a new window, ctrl-b tmux control key sequence remapped to backtick (press it twice to print a backtick), as those F keys sit nicely with mc (that uses F1 .. F10).
root.jpg
Fundamentally, OpenBSD base + mc + chromium, and as chromium is pledged/unveiled, anything it runs also falls under that umbrella (in effect jailed). All root setuid's turned off for others, no cron enabled for user (that X runs under).

Despite running chromium, I block all google sites in /etc/hosts (but have a option to copy a unblocked google replacement in for as and when I do need to access something like youtube) .. doing that really makes the browser fly, especially on yahoo pages that otherwise really drag.
 
the way TWM moves and resizes windows doesn't suit me
I quite like the twm resize action where you press the resize button and then roll the mouse pointer into the window and then move it outwards to the frame edge in the direction you want to resize ... any direction, up, down, left, right, diagonals.
 
I just gave vtwm a try and found a random config off Google and it looks and works amazingly. I had no idea so much could be done with this wm.
 

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I have been using twm since the days of Mark Williams Coherent in the early 1990s. Nice and lightweight and does everything I need.

I have used other wms (eg CDE and OpenWindows on Solaris) but I'm a dyed in the wool twm user still.
 
I like vtwm, I like what the zoom can do and so on.
From vtwm version 5.4.6 it's possible to pre-process the configuration file with M4 macro language.
It's easy to use basic macros like define(name, [expansion]) or sinclude().
Secure include a file is the way to create menu hooks and keep the startup file more readable.
Then using vtwm functions and sh scripts is possible to make vtwm more dynamic, something like: Function "VirtualDonw" { f.function "VDtrue" f.function "VDtrue02" f.restart } or change theme: Function "ThemeAzzurre" { !"sh -c '/home/user/bin/vtwm_azzurre.sh' &" f.restart } or open some windows full screen without the title bar and much more.
This can look a little annoying but it result in a WM that do exactly what you need without fancy options.
Of course with xbindkeys you can set keyboard shortcuts or put some icons on the desktop with Idesk or with other utilities.

I start vtwm with exec vtwm -v -m '-I /usr/home/user/.vtwm' > ~/.wm-errors 2>&1 in the .xinitrc
-v let say "verbose"; -m for M4 support; -I include a vtwm 'home' directory where to put all the files and subdirectories.

I use vtwm from many years and I can tell you to backup the startup file every time changes and beware to the M4 addiction.
 
Several KDE fans can't be wrong :p

(sorry, only posted because Tri recently posted so I don't risk bumping).


For sure those KDE users are not wrong. I'm a fan of KDE, but for sake of simplicity I've decided to explore in a "end of wolrd" environment, and perceived I really don't need all that comfort in KDE - I felt was spoiling resource... So I've found myself enjoynig twm and loving it... It's been a year now.
 
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