WMFS - New Tiling Window Manager (Linux)

[sixty]

Yet another new tiling window manager for Linux... http://wmfs.info/projects/wmfs/
Have been using WMFS since about two weeks at work now, I like it very much. There are a few features missing that I would like to see, but luckily its written in C and not some obscure language like some of the other tiling wms... I mean really.. Haskell?!

Anyway, anyone else using it here? Or another tiling window manager?

I know that HaaTa has written a tiling manager for windows.. if im not entirely confused. One day I gotta still try that too.

[7bit]

I took a look at the screenshots. => I doubt I would like it.

As I understand, there are no overlapping windows, and no icons if a window is iconified, right?

[webwit]

I'm a full screen addict.

[HaaTa]

I know that HaaTa has written a tiling manager for windows.. if im not entirely confused. One day I gotta still try that too.

It was sorta half complete before I got side-tracked and moved to Japan (and discovered more keyboards...).
Anyways, the difficult parts of bringing out the Windows MFC (and Linux xcb) functions is done (so you can do your typical tiling calls). But I never got around to linking it back into the Qt commands.

I did write/make sane a Terminal Emulator as well (which is quite usable); there's an AUR build script that should work (haven't tested it with the most recent versions of Qt though). My goal was to port it to Windows, so it didn't matter what OS I was on; my environment was the same. Also, one of the planned (and sorta working) features, was to make it scriptable as well (so you could use the same script across different OSs).

Now I just want Linux everywhere .

My ancient website: http://baulk.sf.net
I probably won't be working on it anymore, unless someone (with coding experience) shows some interest. In which case I'd be able to spare some hours.

An existing (and working) tiling window manager for Windows https://github.com/ZaneA/HashTWM

[Minskleip]

I used dwm when I used OpenBSD on my desktop, but now I'm on Windows.

What's wrong with Haskell? I'm learning Common Lisp and Scheme at the moment hi hi

7bit: I can't say for WMFS, but tiling window managers in general resize and move the programs around for you. For instance, you have a large area for the main window you're working with, and the rest are smaller windows on the size. Then if you need to move a small window to the main area you push a button and the wm rearrange everything for you. I miss having this on Windows all the time. And sloppy focus too!

[7bit]

I used dwm when I used OpenBSD on my desktop, but now I'm on Windows.

What's wrong with Haskell? I'm learning Common Lisp and Scheme at the moment hi hi

7bit: I can't say for WMFS, but tiling window managers in general resize and move the programs around for you. For instance, you have a large area for the main window you're working with, and the rest are smaller windows on the size. Then if you need to move a small window to the main area you push a button and the wm rearrange everything for you. I miss having this on Windows all the time. And sloppy focus too!

I'm just old-fashioned! I don't like it when everything re-arranges by itself. I love the screen with 20 or 30 or even more windows open;-)

ps: Learning Lisp is OK!

[Minskleip]

Lisp is old fashioned

When you have so many windows open in a tiling wm, you have to group them somehow, like virtual workspaces or something.

[webwit]

If you learn Lisp and C, you have learned all programming languages, in a way. Unless you like old fashioned assembler.

[Minskleip]

I have a nice beat up and annotated hardcover of The C Programmin Language (2. ed), but I think it's just too low level. I don't want to null terminate my strings and malloc. I like Perl.

[7bit]

Lisp is old fashioned

When you have so many windows open in a tiling wm, you have to group them somehow, like virtual workspaces or something.

No, Lisp is one of the oldest programming languages but still very modern!

If you learn Lisp and C, you have learned all programming languages, in a way. Unless you like old fashioned assembler.

ACK!

[Minskleip]

Lisp is old fashioned

When you have so many windows open in a tiling wm, you have to group them somehow, like virtual workspaces or something.

No, Lisp is one of the oldest programming languages but still very modern!

I didn't mean that it's inferior because it's old. I like old superior technology

[webwit]

My first programming language was ZX Spectrum BASIC, because BASIC was the OS. Then ZX Spectrum assembler, then Amiga assembler. Man, people who dared to use something puny as C instead of assembler in the Amiga scene was called a lamer (the worst possible insult) and banished with nothing else left than join some Atari ST community. I only started learning C in college in my second year of Computer Science. First year was more Pascal, Fortran kind of languages. Nowadays I only use very abstracted languages like PHP or python, frowned upon by "hardcore" (especially php). I'm an abstracter, and it's the natural evolution of things. Maybe they just want to hang on to what they know. In the end, it will be like Star Trek, concept only. You tell the computer what you want. Hardcore will tell you they know this idiot carpenter who turned php developer overnight to code his own website, the outrage. I tell you this is exactly what makes it great. Me, don't bother me with memory pointers, garbage collection, etc. Those are nuts and bolts, but I'm building space ships man!

[itlnstln]

The way I see it, people who bitch about easy-to-learn programming languages are scared of change and want to hang on to something that, as they see it, ensures their employment to maintain some antiquated, out-dated system/software until they finally retire after masking their laziness and ineptitude by knowing some kind of lost, dead language that the young punks can't handle, thus proving how invaluable to their employer they truly are. We have a few of these people handling our mainframe. Anything that makes technology more accessible to everyone is a good thing.

[instantkamera]

Im not really a tiling WM kinda guy, but I like that this is C-based, I have heard a ton of complaints from friends/co-workers that customization can be a bitch, and learning an entire language is not always feasible just to have something that agrees with your workflow. My next question is, how well maintained will the project be? I have never seen so many abandoned projects as in the tiling window manager space, although many people dont care because something "just works".

itln: I agree, with the caveat that we dont assumer "old" is automatically "out-dated". Some systems ARE implemented in a technology that may Have fallen out of favour with the tech community at large, this does not mean they aren't up to the task and/or need to be replaced. Sometimes the best solution DOES require a rare skill to administer.

EDIT:
What I mostly agree with is that people should be encouraged to learn, and I don't think a tool that makes that easier should be discouraged/frowned upon.
An example: I get made fun of (ever so rarely) by perl guys because I know next to fuck-all perl, but love python. Python happens to be an EASY language to learn, but it's also a very powerful tool (perl is too mind you, I just have never seen the need to really learn it - or remember it after I have banged out a script or two).

[daedalus]

I might try this out... Tried Awesome once, but never really was inspired by it enough to get over the learning curve. At the moment, I bounce between Gnome and KDE depending on whatever mood I happen to be in at the time.

[Brian8bit]

The way I see it, people who bitch about easy-to-learn programming languages are scared of change and want to hang on to something that, as they see it, ensures their employment to maintain some antiquated, out-dated system/software until they finally retire after masking their laziness and ineptitude by knowing some kind of lost, dead language that the young punks can't handle, thus proving how invaluable to their employer they truly are. We have a few of these people handling our mainframe. Anything that makes technology more accessible to everyone is a good thing.

This is all kinds of stupid my brain filled with fuck.

[daedalus]

Of course, in some situations, the confusing/complicated stuff IS the best thing to use.

[Brian8bit]

The out-dated and antiquated languages are also the most efficient in that they're low level. High level is fluff that masks the laziness and ineptitude of those unable to debug low level code. When you run something like MenuetOS you realise how beautiful operating systems could be. You wouldn't need an SSD.

[itlnstln]

All I am trying to say, is that there are people whose whole role with their employer is hinged on knowing something antiquated and out-dated because they don't want move on personally, and they don't want to be fired. Yes, instantkamera, there are older technologies that are still relevant. We still rely heavily on mainframes, but most of our stuff has been migrated to Focus, and some of the old-timers bitched and complained because they didn't want to learn something new or have their jobs replaced because of it.

[instantkamera]

The out-dated and antiquated languages are also the most efficient in that they're low level.

I can agree with that, but I can argue it too. We all share the same definition of "efficient", but how it plays out in our lives is different.

High level is fluff that masks the laziness and ineptitude of those unable to debug low level code.

Now you are being obtuse. It's ACTUALLY called abstraction (not FLUFF), and it's what keeps wasted man-hours low, as it avoids unnecessary debugging due to errors introduced through repetitive and needless coding. Im not even arguing this from my own standpoint, but rather that of many people who spend far more time developing software than I. I have had this conversation with some of them, where _I_ actually took your standpoint. The truth is that it is not as simple as "everything must be done at the lowest level possible" OR "High-level is the most accessible and therefore the best", so having such a polarized view of computing, either way, is ridiculous.

When you run something like MenuetOS you realise how beautiful operating systems could be. You wouldn't need an SSD.

Yes, and because the OS is written in assembly, that means no one will write software for it in a higher level language, right?

[Brian8bit]

Now you are being obtuse.... so having such a polarized view of computing, either way, is ridiculous.

Deal with it.

Yes, and because the OS is written in assembly, that means no one will write software for it in a higher level language, right?

I didn't say that.

[itlnstln]

I tell you this is exactly what makes it great. Me, don't bother me with memory pointers, garbage collection, etc. Those are nuts and bolts, but I'm building space ships man!

This is truth right here. I don't have time to mess around with bricks when I need to build a city. That's where the abstraction layer comes in. I need some higher-level functions to take care of the brick laying, I just want to tell the program what bricks and when/where to lay them; not actually do it myself.


I say all this, and the most programming I do is SQL (if you call that programming) and basic web apps in ASP.NET (VB.NET).

[keyboardlover]

As a developer, I appreciate the SPEED at which I can produce VALUE for customers using higher level languages and frameworks like java and .net. I can code well in C++...I just don't really enjoy it.

[instantkamera]

I can code well in C++...I just don't really enjoy it.

I think technically if you take the "old" view, C/C++ would also be considered "high-level" languages. Brian8bit's mention of menuetOS supports that theory.

[itlnstln]

I can code well in C++...I just don't really enjoy it.

I think technically if you take the "old" view, C/C++ would also be considered "high-level" languages. Brian8bit's mention of menuetOS supports that theory.

When I was in college, C/C++ was considered high-level. My how times change.

[keyboardlover]

I guess for me I think of low level as having to worry about memory management

[daedalus]

Writing operating systems in assembly A) means they become next to impossible to port and B) may not necessarily be optimal for later iterations of the machine architecture.

Of course, you could do what DEC (and later HP) did with VMS, and make a VAX assembly compiler for other architectures.

[webwit]

I'm filled with emotion and pride. Our first little flame war.

[daedalus]

To the family photo album!

[webwit]