Subject: FVWM: Ironing out final annoyances

From: Harry Putnam <[email-masked]>
Date: 19 Dec 2000 19:30:02 -0800

Running Redhat Linux 6.2
fvwm2-2.2.4-4
fvwm2-icons-2.2.4-4
fvwm-1.24r-17

Redhat has a non-standard setup for fvwm2 that is hooked in with
AnotherLevel. That is the setup I'm running.  

Running in fvwm95.  I've grown so accustomed to this semi-stark
interface I don't really want lots of revamping.  Its efficient and I
know where most things are if I want to tweak something.
I like running with a large virtual desk top (1600x1268)

One annoyance I have is that when apps or xterms are iconized into the
task bar across the bottom.  There is no clue as to which window they
expand/deiconify in.

There is a popup window on the middle mouse (in root window) that
shows a clickable menu of all the icons, and there geometries.

Here's where it starts to get annoying:  You can't tell which window
these things belong in there either.  In the upper left corner It
tells which window you've clicked in.  In my case either 0 or 1 but
still no way to tell where the icons will enlarge at.

My pager is confusing too. Its laid out like this:

          Desk                    Apps  
____________________________________________________
|           |           ||            |            |
|           |           ||            |            |     
|           |           ||            |            |
|___________|___________||____________|____________|
|           |           ||            |            |
|           |           ||            |            |     
|           |           ||            |            |     
|___________|___________||____________|____________|

Somewhere in the config files I've set 2 as the number of desktops
However: Each square is a whole desktop, for a total of eight. Or so
it seems.  But only the two halves are listed as either 0 or 1.

But still the Middle click menu doesn't give a clue where things belong.

Do these `virtual' areas have addresses of some kind.  display
location or something?

Is there some way to make apps indicate which space in the above pager
they belong in?

Or even better can a user type something in an xterm like:

     xterm -e vim FILE :display in such and such &

That is, open an xterm or app in a specific part of the virtual desk
top areas, from the command line?

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From: "Thomas A. Gardiner" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 08:22:25 -0500 (EST)

I think I can offer a little help...

>task bar across the bottom.  There is no clue as to which window they

Don't know what to tell you; if you want that info, put it in the window's
name...

>these things belong in there either.

Ummmm...  But as you said the geometry is shown in this menu.  The
geometry tells you where the window will be placed when it is
de-iconified.  Works for me...

>My pager is confusing too. Its laid out like this:

Each square is called a page and each enclosing square is called a
desktop.  They are functionally different.  There are two things to set...
in the file fvwm2rc.defines.m4 you will find two defines.

# NUM_DESKTOPS is number of desktops -- each desktop is DESKTOP_SIZE panes
#define(`NUM_DESKTOPS',2)

# DESKTOP_SIZE is a geometry specifying horizontal vs vertical number of
# pages on a desktop
# So 3x3 gives 9 pages per desktop
# define(`DESKTOP_SIZE',2x2)

>Do these `virtual' areas have addresses of some kind.  display

Yes. look at the man pages for more details...

>top areas, from the command line?

Yes, there is an example of this in the man pages...

Tom

---

From: Dan Espen <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 10:08:10 -0500

> task bar across the bottom.  There is no clue as to which window they

In the 2.3.x betas, FvwmTaskBar accepts the "DeskOnly" option.
The taskbar will only show windows for the currently active desk.
That still won't tell you which page a window will go to, unless
you configure 1 page per desk.

I'm not sure what you mean by "running in fvwm95", but if you are using
fvwm95, you are asking questions on the wrong mailing list.

Fvwm2 can also be configured to look just like w95.

--
Dan Espen
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Piscataway, NJ 08854                     Phone: (732) 699-5570
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From: Harry Putnam <[email-masked]>
Date: 20 Dec 2000 08:16:54 -0800

> you configure 1 page per desk.

Ahaaa... Showing only windows for the currently active desk ...
that sounds like just the ticket.. Looking into that now.

That is where the confusion mostly arises... clicking on an iconified
window and having it jerk me to a differnt window than where I
expected.  Sounds like having only the icons from the focused window
will cure that.  And hopefully the middle click menu will still show
them all.

Not to press my luck too far here, but not sure what `FvwmTaskBar'
refers to.  Is it a config file governing that module in the 2.3.x
betas?T

My fvwm2-2.2.4-4 man page refers to it as a Module

> fvwm95, you are asking questions on the wrong mailing list.

This confuses me as well...  I've identified at the top of my posts
the fvwm packages I have installed
However Redhat also uses a related package called AnotherLevel which
contains a `decor' file called:
/etc/X11/AnotherLevel/decors/FVWM95

Its that decor I mistakenly  referred  to as fvwm95.

> Fvwm2 can also be configured to look just like w95.

I have almost no experience with windows.  The default
`fvwm2/AnotherLevel' (on redhat from version 4.1 to 6.2) is what I am
speaking of... From what I've seen on machines running windows it
doesn't look very much like it..  Maybe the taskbar across the bottom
and the `start' button are what earn it the FVWM95 title.

The default I've grown accustomed to.. and like, has a stark
aquamarine background, no icons, docs, wharfs littering the root
window (only a taskbar).

Any Iconization goes to the task bar.  If I want any of the major
applications I call them with key strokes of my own selection, so
nothing is visible unless requested. I work mostly with a couple of
emacs' running and a couple of xterms

---

From: Harry Putnam <[email-masked]>
Date: 20 Dec 2000 08:34:35 -0800

> Don't know what to tell you; if you want that info, put it in the window's

Not much of a solution there since the icon scruntches down the
windows name to the point that it isn't very usefull when Iconified.
Plus bash-2.04 has scripting in stock /etc/bashrc that inserts the
user@host /path as title.  And I like that.

[...]

> de-iconified.  Works for me...

Oh .... yes  I see now.. A little study of the numbers and I start to
know roughly were they fall... I hadn't realized those numbers applied
across the individual panes of the pager, but took them to relate to a
single (smaller) block, each of which, for all intents is a full desktop.

> # DESKTOP_SIZE is a geometry specifying horizontal vs vertical number of

[...] snip nice tutorial

> Yes. look at the man pages for more details...

Searching thru the man page on `address' and `display' I find lots of
hits on `display' but scanning thru them, it doesn't seem to be about
the spaces displayed in my pager.

Do you have a few clues for keyword searching that will help focus the
search? 

[...]

> Yes, there is an example of this in the man pages...

searching the fvwm2 man page for regexp:

/xterm.* -e

yields only one hit:
       AddToMenu menu-name [ menu-label action ]
              Begins or adds to a menu definition.   Typically  a
              menu definition looks like this:

                   AddToMenu Utilities "Utilities" Title
                    + "Xterm"         Exec  exec xterm -e tcsh  <=== HERE

And this is a config file example that isn't about where to display,
not a command line opening a display at specific address on my pager.

Any good clues for keywords to search on?

---

From: "Thomas A. Gardiner" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 12:13:15 -0500 (EST)

Dan,

Harry is using the AnotherLevel package from RedHat which calls one
specific "decors" FVWM95, another MWM, etc.

Harry,

Regarding starting an app. on a specific page or Desk do 
$man fvwm2
and search for "Page"

I get this...

       A  better way to place windows on a different page or desk
       from the currently mapped viewport is to use the StartsOnPage
       style  specification  (the  successor  to  the older
       StartsOnDesk style) in the .fvwm2 configuration file.  The
       placement  is  consistent: it does not depend on your current
       location on the virtual desktop.

       Some applications that understand standard Xt command line
       arguments  and X resources, like xterm and xfontsel, allow
       the user to specify the start-up desk or page on the 
       command line:

            xterm -xrm "*Desk:1"

       will start an xterm on desk number 1;

            xterm -xrm "*Page:3 2 1"

       will  start  an  xterm two pages to the right and one down
       from the upper left hand page of desk number  3.  Not  all
       applications understand the use of these options, however.

and so on...

This is just a snippet to get you located, but you really should look it
over to understand it better...

Tom

---

From: Harry Putnam <[email-masked]>
Date: 20 Dec 2000 09:43:46 -0800

[...]

[...]

> over to understand it better...

Hey,, good.  Right on the money Thomas.... thanks.

I'd already posted some further questions about search strings, but
this instantly solved them....
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From: Dominik Vogt <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 05:52:58 +0100

> refers to.  Is it a config file governing that module in the 2.3.x

FvwmTaskBar is the module that display the task bar at the bottom
of the screen.  It is basically configured in the same file as
fvwm.  Please refer to the FvwmTaskBar man page for details about
its configuration.

Bye

Dominik ^_^  ^_^

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From: Dominik Vogt <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 05:50:19 +0100

> windows name to the point that it isn't very usefull when Iconified.

In the beta versions, the icon title will be expanded to full size
when you move the pointer over it.

Bye

Dominik ^_^  ^_^