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DATE : 2020.12.25
TIME : 05:21
AUTHOR :
[email protected]
TITLE : MY WINDOW MANAGER JOURNEY: FROM FLOATING TO TILING
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My window manager journey: from floating to tiling
I started using linux in 1995. From 1995 to July of 2019, whenever
I used a graphical environment, I used a floating window manager.
During that time I mostly used standalone window managers, with the
occasional stint of working in a desktop environment. Best as I can
remember, my linux graphical linux journey started with twm and
progressed roughly as follows: twm; fvwm; window maker; afterstep;
fvwm2; fluxbox; openbox. This progression was occasionally
interrupted spending time in the desktop environments:
enlightenment; cde; ;tkdesk; gnome; kde; lxde; rox; and; xfce. Keep
in mind that this was all over a 24 year period. I was not in a
constant state of changing window managers, I ended up using
openbox with the tint2 panel for the vast majority of this time.
That is more or less how it went, even though I am sure I have left
some out. Each of the above listed standalone window managers, as
well as those used in the listed desktop environments are floating
window managers. What sticks out to me is that: I would rather use
a window manager than a full blown desktop environment; until last
year I operated within the floating window paradigm (even if it may
have hampered my work flow--more on that later); and I tend to over
use semicolon separated lists :-).
Whenever I think of the word paradigm, I think of a deck of cards
being dealt out on a table face up, one by one. If just one of the
clubs in that deck were red, most people would not notice that one
card was the wrong color. People are just used to clubs being
black; the paradigm of suit colors is strong enough, that most
people will not notice the paradigm shift. While my use of the
word, and the whole suit color paradigm example may be flawed, what
I am trying to say is that the floating window manager is all that
I knew; it was just the way the computer graphical interfaced
worked--even if it was not the way I worked.
During this whole time, I found myself using the applications I
used the most maximized to use the whole screen. The apps I used
less frequently would not be full screen, and would only be brought
to the top to float over the full screen applications when needed.
That (and using lots of desktops on dual monitors) is mostly how I
used the graphical environment.
I had heard of tiling window managers, but until I actually spent
time in one I always thought that a tiling window manger would
restrict my work flow by taking the control of window placement
away from me. I assumed that tiling window managers wouldn't let me
work the way I wanted to, that I would be at the mercy of the
tiling window manager's predetermined window placement scheme.
Last July I retired (gave to my wife) my old thinkpad T520 after I
bought a new thinkpad T590 for myself. I put a fresh debian stable
install on T520 for the wife and installed debian sid on the T590.
As with every debian sid install I have done, I use the net
installer and only install what i need/like. What I need/like on a
brand new laptop looks like this: openbox, tint2, and the full
xfce, gnome, and kde dekstop environments. I then disable the
display manager, boot the computer up and then configure it to
start openbox and tin2 when I type the startx command after logging
in. I know that installing 3 full desktop environments that I don't
intend to use is a waste of disk space, but I have the space, it's
a new laptop, and I want the programs.
That being said, I did start kde/plasma, because I had read great
things about it having low resource requirements, and it can be
customized to act the way I want--like openbox/tint2. I lived in
kde/plasma for a month or so, and was on my way back to using
openbox and tint2, when I thought to myself, I should try a tiling
window manager first.
Mainly because the i3 tiling window manager is easily configured
and very well documented, I decided to start my tilling window
manager journey with i3. I will say here that it is VITALLY
important that anyone who, like me, has solely lived within a
floating window manager paradigm, will need to not just TRY to use
a tiling window manager. What is necessary is that you actually USE
the tiling window manager. As Yoda once said, "You must unlearn
what you have learned...No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no
try.". There are two reasons for this: the paradigm shift (windows
are tiled, and do not float by default); and tiling window managers
are largely keyboard driven (you can configure most tiling window
managers to almost never have to use the mouse at all). Of these
two reasons for having to live in and USE a tiling window manager
in order to know if it is right for you, the main one it's keyboard
driven nature. The actual tiling part is a behavior of the window
manager that can be understood with relative ease (especially with
i3 since it is a dynamic tiling window manager as opposed to
manual), but the part that takes time is developing the muscle
memory and learning the keyboard shortcuts that allow you to
interact with and manage the windows.
I won't go into a lot of detail in this post about i3/i3-gaps or
how I have it set up, nor will I explain how to use it since the I3
documentation is most excellent (more on all that in another post).
I will just say, that for my work flow, the I3 window manager,
especially with dual monitors, REALLY fits my work flow. Not having
to use my mouse to move, resize, rearrange, and in all other ways
manage windows is a welcome paradigm shift, and one that I wish I
had made a LONG time ago. I can gladly say that after almost 26
years of using linux on the desktop, I can never see myself wanting
to use a floating window manager again. I wish I had made the
switch much earlier. It is exciting when an old dog learns new
tricks.
--norris
(o\_!_/o)
