Introduction to PWM

[theotherdave]

homepage: http://modeemi.cs.tut.fi/~tuomov/pwm/

before I start, I would just like to point out that I am not an expert/know it all on the subject of pwm, but I think I've got far enough with it that I'm posting a guide that may help anyone just starting with this wm, or thinking of switching to another one.. but enough of me blabbing about my inadequcies :p

Introduction to PWM:

PWM is one of the more uncommon window managers out there (if the lack of screenshots in the monthly Desktops thread that featrue it is anything to go by, that is :p)

PWM doesn't use a taskbar or desktop icons. PWM is also ultra lightweight. I've heard fluxbox and many others called "lightweight" (which to fair, they are) but PWM loads up in under a second for me, whereas fluxbox can take 10 seconds or more... talk about impatiance...

Unfortunately pwm in not EWMH compliant, meaning that it may not work with many desktop pagers and panels, programs to enable desktop icons etc. This "feature" may well put people off..

As for system trays etc. I find that if a certain app was designed to work with a systray / dockapp in another wm, it will work for pwm. eg both Rhythmbox and Gaim work with the Gnome panel (whch I'm now using as systray / clock). The same can't be saud for desktop and window pagers..

Having said that, I like pwm for a number of reasons:

-It uses tabs (titlebars that can be shorter than the width of the window)

-Mutiple windows can be attatched to the same frame

-It is very unobtrusive

-Mouse actions are *very* configurable

This is a screenshot of my own desktop using pwm (and yet another picture from the lake district in England, as usual :p)

Note the mutiple xterms in the same frame (middle right) and the docker (bottom left).

I use xclock as there is no default panel (and no panel that in my experience works correctly).

I've arranged the tabs into a make-shift taskbar (which I find works really quite well) and have most of my windows shaded at any one time. I've also changed my theme to make sure that a tab / titlebar of a window will not exceed 0.3 of the length of the window itself..

Using PWM:

Menus:

The default way to access the main PWM menu (root menu) is by right clicking the desktop (or root window, or root context). Although as mention above, this mouse action is configurable.

You actually have to click the labels on submenus to get them to open (this took me a minute to figure out :p). I've gotten to like this feature however. It means that I can't accidentally roll over the Debian --> Apps --> System submenu and have my desktop flooded with said huge submenu..

Alternatively you can hold the mouse button down, navigate through the menu and release on the itme you want. (This is the behaviour the client window menu uses). I'm not going to go into exhaustive detail on how to use menus however, I trust most of you to work it out ;)

Middle clicking the desktop will bring up the "Goto Window" menu.

Move and Resizing windows:

As usual, you can move windows by dragging their taskbar, and resize them by stretching the borders. PWM also supports Alt-dragging the left or right mouse button on any part of the window to move or resize it, as many window managers now do. As always, this behaviour is completely configurable.

To shade/maximze/iconfy a window, use use the appropriate option of the client window. There are no buttons on the titlebar / tab as with with many other wms. The default double click on a tab action is to shade the window.

Yet again, all these options can be changed.

Multiple Desktops (or workspaces):

The main complaint I have with pwm is the way it handles this. You can send a window to another workspace from the "send to ws" submenu of each client window's menu. However, the only way to goto another workspace (aside from keyboard shortcut Alt-1 to Alt-6 - 6 workspaces by default) is to call up the Goto Window menu (middle click on desktop by default) and select a window that is already in another workspace.

Multiple Windows in the same frame:

Use the middle mouse button to drag the titlebar / tab of one window ontop of another, and they will merge into the same frame, taking up as much space as just one window. To reverse the process, middle button drag one window onto a free area of the desktop. Alternately, use the client window menu (right click window frame) and use the attach / detach options.

When two windows are sharing the frame, middle click the part of the appropriate part of the titlebar / tab to make that window visible.

Configuring PWM

And now, the bit you probably haven't been waiting with baited breath for... Configuring pwm involves editing the raw text files, so it will help if you are used to doing that sort of thing..

On the other hand, backup all the pwm .conf files and you could get some really handy practise with editing raw configuration text files for your own needs - a really useful skill under any *nix system - in an enviroment as harmless as getting your wm to look nice ;)

pwm.conf : Use this file to point to your other config files (menus.conf, keys-default.conf and buttons-default.conf by default). You can also choose your pwm theme with this file.

The other neat thing that can be achieved with this file is making all windows of one type of app appear in the same frame by default. (You may like to have all your xterms confine themselves to the same frame so they don't fill the entire screen).

#
# PWM sample configuration file
#

include "menus.conf"
include "keys-default.conf"
include "buttons-default.conf"

screen 0 {
	include "look-brownsteel.conf"

	workspaces 2

	dock "-0-0"
}


# Uncomment the below to have all netscape main windows placed in the
# same frame.
#
# winprop "Netscape.Navigator" {
#	frame 10
# }

menus.conf : Use this to define the submenus and entries for your root menu and context menus. You can also include other menu .conf files if you wish.

The syntax for an entry in a menu is as follows:

entry "label", "keyword"

You can also use the following syntax to define an entry that will execute any shell command:

entry, "label", "exec", "my_custom_command"

-edit- When you write a menu that is to be a submenu of another, make sure the parent window is *below* the submenu. -/edit-

keys-default.conf : This file contains all the keybindings that you can use in pwm. The syntax is very similar to that of the menu.conf file. Just look at the default enties to find the keywords and the syntax understood by pwm, and change or recreate them to your own needs.

buttons-default.conf : This file contains all the mouse-button bindings to be used in pwm. You can define actions for different buttons in any context (eg top left corner) and keyboard modifiers as well. You could have your own custom menus come up when you click a certian part of the window frame or anything, really.

Look carefully at the syntax used in this file, you really can do a lot with all the various options you're given. Again, look at the keywords etc given by the default button bindings - I'm not gonig to explain them here. (Indeed - I have to look at the mouse button bindings already there to remember the exact keywords available).

Custom Themes:

Since themes are just plain text files, it would be easy to write your own.

Again, my advice would be to look carefully at the syntax and keywords used by existy theme files, and copy them and change the values to create your own themes.

You can basically change the text font / colour and the colours on the frames and tabs.

Conclusion

I hope this guide will give you an insight into the lightweight window manager that is pwm. Hopefully someone may try pwm and not get stuck so quickly as a result of this guide.

Thanks for taking the time to read it ^.^

Corrections / Suggestions:

If anyone notices anything incorrect, or if you can add any information, or if you can help me re-word certain parts (writing not being my strong point...) please feel free to reply to this thread, pm or email me. All suggestions / corrections much appreciated.

Edited August 29, 2005 by theotherdave

[markwolfe Veteran]

Wow. And I thought *box was pretty minimalistic! :p (not so much any more, as I see people using desktop icons - which I find I dislike - in flux and such).

I remember uisng TWM (?) early on with my first time using Linux, and this reminds me of an advanced version of that.

[theotherdave]

You've started me on a journey, mark... It was your fluxbox thread that convinced me to try that... then I tried other things (open box, enlightenment etc).. I'll be using login terminals in no time :p

[chavo]

Wow. I remember mucking around with config files on my Linux box. Back in the day.

Now I just get stuff done.

[ootput]

Wow. I remember mucking around with config files on my Linux box. Back in the day.

Now I just get stuff done.

586377514[/snapback]

:whistle:

[n3urotic]

I have a few quick questions for you. Are you using PWM2 or PWM? Is PWM2 unicode complaint, displays for CJK fonts etc? Does it have some basic preference editing interfaces?

[theotherdave]

I'm only using PWM, I'm afraid. PWM2 was essentially a wm designed to handle "desktops with floating windows" for the Ion wm.

As far as I know, PWM2 is also only available as part of the Ion wm package, not as a standalone wm.

Configuring PWM2 involves learning the Lua scripting language. While PWM2 looks like PWM (and is obviously based on it), configuring them is completely different. There are also a few minor behavioural differences that have made me stick with the original PWM.

Basically, *I* wouldn't use PWM2, and this guide certainly only applies to the original.

If it helps, PWM is Unicode complient, but has no config tools that I have come accross. It would be easy enough to write menu editing GUIs or whatever, if you wished, as all options are stored a plain text files..

[n3urotic]

It sure looks promising, but I just noticed it's missing for amd64 lol, doh.

[theotherdave]

If you fancy compiling it, there's a link to the source tarball here.

Just right click my link and click save as.

[n3urotic]

Mmm, I dont fancy compiling it from source, don't want to muck up stuff with non-ebuilds.

I did emerge ion3 to give it a try. I found it pretty cool. But I'm wondering how did you get the gnome-tray and how did you get windows to float like that?

[theotherdave]

If you're using debian, you can do

sudo apt-get build-dep pwm
--or-
sudo apt-get install pwm

to install with no hassle. I'm sure other package managers will install pwm just as easily. It's just a matter of finding a repository for it.

As for the gnome tray, I installed 'docker' which is a window maker dock-app that acts a systray.

As for getting the windows to float.. how do you mean? I just move them..

If you mean in Ion, you can create a new "floating workspace" by pressing F9, giving your workspace a name and then choosing WFloatWS to create a workspace using PWM2 as the wm.

[n3urotic]

Yea I use Gentoo. That float thing apparently works for ion3 as well. Had a bit of fun with Ion3, cute idea of a WM. It definitely takes a bit of getting used to. I definitely love how F1 opens prompt for man, F2 opoens terminal, F3 prompts you to run a command etc, that is really neat. However my monitor is 1280x960 and if you split the windows, they become a bit small to work with. PWM would definitely be a bit useful to allow some kind of cascading-grouping features.

[mr_demilord]

edit: oops, :boo: