FVWM on NetBSD

Bruno

Hi guys, I'm unable to configure menus in FVWM running on NetBSD. Any idea how?
Also, would be better if FVWM was the default window manager for NetBSD instead CTWM. Why? Well, CTWM has some limitations (window switch, aka Alt+Tab, stop working after sometime for example) and is not actively maintained. FVWM has a better window switcher and is actively maintained. And there is FVWM Crystal, the FVWM Desktop Environment, now FreeBSD is bringing KDE as default DE, would be awesome to have a FVWM DE in NetBSD. @nia what do you think?

jmcunx

Bruno

I'm unable to configure menus in FVWM running on NetBSD. Any idea how?

I do not understand the issue, I just edit ~/.fvwm2rc (or ~/.fvwm/.fvwm2rc), example:

DestroyMenu RootMenu
AddToMenu RootMenu	"FVWM"	Title
+	"URxvt"		Exec urxvt256c
+	""		Nop
+	"Applications"	Popup app
+	"Exit Fvwm"	Popup Quit-Verify
+	""             Nop
+	"Pin Menu" TearMenuOff

Also, would be better if FVWM was the default window manager for NetBSD instead CTWM.

Maybe because fvwm2 is more complex then ctwm. Plus fvwm uses more memory then ctwm. A while ago I did memory usage for various window managers, the only one that used less memory then ctwm was icewm. And there was little differences between the 2.

Also fvwm2 is being replaced by fvwm3 with no new development to fvwm2. fvwm3 is still being put together so that could be another reason.

As for the keyboard, as far as I know fvwm2 does not fully mimic Windows "alt-tab". I am not sure about fvwm3.

FWIW, I am a fvwm2 user when using external monitors. But I think ctwm is more in line with NetBSD's philosophy.

nia

ctwm is better than twm, actively maintained, we have a direct line to upstream, it's written in C (rather than C++), and compatible with our licensing goals (fvwm is GPL). That's all there is to it. If you don't like it, install something else. Plenty of people are happy using it as their main desktop.

We'll see how FreeBSD's choice of KDE works out in the long run. I think they'll find they are under-prioritized by upstream.

Bruno

So any idea why ctwm's WindowRing stop working randomly after sometime and how to fix?

jmcunx

Bruno

I have no issues with WindowRing, but I have these items in my ~/.ctwmrc

WarpRingOnScreen
WindowRing
{
"gpicview"
"emacs"
"Mozilla-bin"
"Navigator"
...
}

You can get the name of the item by using f.identify on the window you care about.

I use a windows list because there are some items I do not want in the Ring.

But after checking the manual, I think "WindowRingExclude" would be a better option for me. I did not know "WindowRingExclude" existed 🙂