[HN Gopher] TWM - Tab Window Manager for the X Window System ___________________________________________________________________ TWM - Tab Window Manager for the X Window System Author : ecliptik Score : 36 points Date : 2023-01-31 05:45 UTC (17 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.x.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.x.org) | squarefoot wrote: | The name brings memories. Without screenshots I can't tell if | it's the same thing, but I have memories of a similarly named WM | from ancient days. | | I wonder if it could be used for a project I had in mind a while | ago, in which a small number of apps would run maximized each one | in its own page in a tab control contained in a single full | screen window, without any controls, so that they can't be closed | or moved by mistake, and the user would use the tabs to bring to | front each one (just like pages in a web browser), then any | alert, file requester or anything opened from one app would open | modal and bring the relevant app to front. The purpose would be | to ease the reach for apps without having to maximize, roll down, | bring to front etc. as quick as possible without having to look | for them. My first use case would be a music synthesizer built | with a Chromebox or similar mini PC in which I would run Alpine | Linux plus Yabridge and a small number of native/WINE plugins, so | that it can be also used live with minimal reload time in case of | problems, power outages, crashes etc. and defaulting to a well | defined state. | dTal wrote: | TWM really had something with the "iconify" management technique | - you could shepherd many more windows than are comfortable on | most modern desktops, provided you were disciplined with | placement. Nowadays I find myself grubbing around alt-tab | entirely too much. Expose-like previewing looks sorta similar, | but I don't find myself using it much because the layout is | autogenerated, and it's hard to sift through your windows when | they're tiny. I liked the spatial management. | egwynn wrote: | The wikipedia page[0] has screenshots. | | [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twm | pengaru wrote: | Funny, I always knew twm as "Tom's Window Manager", which is how | it was called when I learned GNU/Linux in the 90s w/XFree86. | | Indeed, if one scrolls down to AUTHORS the first name is "Tom | LaStrange". I guess they renamed it at some point... | aidenn0 wrote: | I thought the same thing, but Wikipedia says it was officially | renamed in 1989... | Crontab wrote: | I had seen it both ways but I always think "Tom" as well. | [deleted] | ggm wrote: | tvtwm got a lot of traction, when fvwm came out. it was twm with | (t)he (v)irtual desktop. | | uwm did me for a long time. | | INRIA had a staffer who did a LISP WM which was like a shot back | to the Xerox symbolics LISP machine era. Colias Nabahoo? I think | it was called Koala. | | the main reason I liked (tv)twm was size. it was really tiny. | Fvwm was well formulated and easy to drive but it was a memory | hog. | teddyh wrote: | I'm using it as my one and only desktop window manager since | 1995. I've considered moving to ctwm, but the configuration is | not _completely_ compatible, and I've not really had any pressing | need to sort it out. | hulitu wrote: | It is fast, customizable and looks better than Windows 10. | electric_mayhem wrote: | How is there an entire lengthy page discussing it that doesn't | provide any screenshots? | felixgallo wrote: | because man pages don't have screenshots. | jjtheblunt wrote: | it's possible the person asking the question is younger | than good old manpages. | LargoLasskhyfv wrote: | Why would you need screenshots, when all you'd ever do is | running terminal emulators? | | As it seems customary. | rzzzt wrote: | I also need a pair of googly eyes that follow every | movement of the mouse cursor and Neko, the tiny cat to | sleep on it. | kevin_thibedeau wrote: | This is the one true way to validate DISPLAY is set | correctly for remote apps. | guessbest wrote: | man pages don't have screenshots. They typically use a pager, | but they can have formatting. Just type 'man man' in the cli | without the single quotes. Online used to mean documentation | provided on the local system. | | X11R7.6 Manual Pages: Section 1: Commands | | https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.6/doc/man/man1 | rzzzt wrote: | Classic window managers and screenshots can be found on this | page: http://www.xwinman.org/vtwm.php | jhallenworld wrote: | twm is the best, but it's annoying that modern programs are not | compatible with mouse focus (meaning whatever the mouse is | pointing at is the focus for input). We've definitely given up | interface speed in exchange for conformity. | | I used to set it up without title bars. You had to know my | personal shortcuts to use my desktop. | lottin wrote: | What do you mean? I have been using focus-follows-mouse since | the late 1990s and have never noticed a program that was | incompatible with it. | jhallenworld wrote: | It's usually some commercial programs that have issues.. I | was going to try it and give a more specific answer, but | Ubuntu does not let me run twm. I get a blank screen when I | log in with twm selected. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-01-31 23:00 UTC)