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Show HN: Howm – A Vim-like tiling X11 window manager

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21–30 of 63 posts

Re: Show HN: Howm – A Vim-like tiling X11 window manager

#22
post #21

Really dislike software with configuration baked into the code, every key binding and experiment requires recompilation which prevents managing it sanely through a package manager. I get the appeal of "minimal" in this case, but it just doesn't work for me.

This is kind of a default approach for minimal WMs (probably inspired by DWM).

Re: Show HN: Howm – A Vim-like tiling X11 window manager

#23
post #21

Really dislike software with configuration baked into the code, every key binding and experiment requires recompilation which prevents managing it sanely through a package manager. I get the appeal of "minimal" in this case, but it just doesn't work for me.

Yep, definitely the sort of thing that belongs in a dotfile.

Re: Show HN: Howm – A Vim-like tiling X11 window manager

#26
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hum... Are we talking about the same Windows ? Have you tried other tiling window managers ? i3 [0] comes to mind, but XMonad [1] and Awesome WM [2] are 2 other popular choices in this domain. There are plenty of others to pick from, too [3]. [0] http://i3wm.org/ [1] http://xmonad.org/ [2] http://awesome.naquadah.org/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_window_manager

Thats a great list thank you! I never heard of i3wm I promise to read the docs. Yes, microsoft windows. I use version 8.1 and while most end users loathe the interface I've studied the "windows" key and "context menu" key and found it quite fast to perform all my daily operations (except web browsing) mouse-free. My experience with linux is that some programs are great but too many dont follow standard on very common…

I use awesome WM and I didn't need to customize any of the keyboard shortcuts; it uses the windows key as the modifier key and as far as I know no other program uses it.

Also I don't get how the Windows 8.1 window management comes even close to the 2 programs you mentioned (Ratpoison and Awesome WM). With both of those (or any other tiling manager) you can do much more than just maximize and snap a window to the sides. (you have virtual workspaces, automatic tiling, better switching, etc)

Re: Show HN: Howm – A Vim-like tiling X11 window manager

#27
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hum... Are we talking about the same Windows ? Have you tried other tiling window managers ? i3 [0] comes to mind, but XMonad [1] and Awesome WM [2] are 2 other popular choices in this domain. There are plenty of others to pick from, too [3]. [0] http://i3wm.org/ [1] http://xmonad.org/ [2] http://awesome.naquadah.org/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_window_manager

Thats a great list thank you! I never heard of i3wm I promise to read the docs. Yes, microsoft windows. I use version 8.1 and while most end users loathe the interface I've studied the "windows" key and "context menu" key and found it quite fast to perform all my daily operations (except web browsing) mouse-free. My experience with linux is that some programs are great but too many dont follow standard on very common…

I think serious Linux users going for mouse-free and / or using tiling window managers designate one of the Windows / menu / command / Apple keys as "window manager" key as well.

It's nice though that MS made this a default for Windows, while Linux still wants to ignore that MS ever managed to get those keys added to the keyboard. I've been using them for years, one as wm-key and the other as compose key to be able to write special characters (ë, ø, €, etc.) easily on a default qwerty keyboard. That still leaves one spare key on most keyboards

Re: Show HN: Howm – A Vim-like tiling X11 window manager

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always liked Ion3 a lot despite the conflicts the author had with distros. http://notion.sourceforge.net/ is a fork of it that is maintained.

Another vote for Ion3, I tried dozens tiling wm-s, none of them come even close to ion3.

How does it compare to i3? After evaluating quite some tiling window managers i3 ended up as my favourite. However I can't recall evaluating Ion3.

Re: Show HN: Howm – A Vim-like tiling X11 window manager

#29
post #21

Really dislike software with configuration baked into the code, every key binding and experiment requires recompilation which prevents managing it sanely through a package manager. I get the appeal of "minimal" in this case, but it just doesn't work for me.

Though that's very understandable I have to disagree. I've been using dwm and st for years now with nothing but love for both of them.

Re: Show HN: Howm – A Vim-like tiling X11 window manager

#30
post #4

How does this differ from e.g. xmonad, which uses vi-like keybindings? It's specifically the bulk operators based on movement?

xmonad isn't modal. This apparently has three modes: 'normal', 'floating' and 'focus'. i3 also has modes: 'normal' and 'resize'.

i3 only has two modes by default. You can create whatever modes in i3 you like.

    set $mediamenu "media:  [spc] play/pause [p] prev [n] next"

    mode $mediamenu {
        bindsym space exec "playerctl play-pause; i3-msg mode default"
        bindsym p exec "playerctl previous"
        bindsym n exec "playerctl next"
        bindsym Escape mode "default"
        bindsym $mod+m mode "default"
    }

    bindsym $mod+m mode $mediamenu
Now $mod+m will enter 'media' mode, with its own set of keybindings.
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