Re: FVWM: Help me please. Long time KDE user. I don't know where should I start.

From: Dominik Vogt <dominik.vogt_at_gmx.de>
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2004 09:35:37 +0200

On Wed, Aug 04, 2004 at 07:51:18PM -0700, Jayson Alvarez wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have some few problems regarding desktop
> environment.
>
> Here's my scenario:
>
> I'm using KDE and I never used any other desktop
> environment before.
> I already know that KDE consists of the following
> which I need in accomplishing my daily tasks:
>
> -an internet browser/file manager
> -an office suite
> -and a Window Manager
>
> Now, what I always wanted to do is to try to use any
> other desktop environment which didn't came up in a
> package like KDE, meaning, a separate internet
> browser, window manager, file manager etc, and learn
> how these sorts of stuff work together.
>
> I've already installed FVWM 2.4.18 in my FreeBSD 4.10.
> After successful installation and through careful
> guessing, when I typed startx, I landed on a pink
> desktop with a rectangular bar in the lower right with
> a clock at the far right corner of it.

For a nice initial fvwm setup, you may use the fvwm-themes
package from http://fvwm-themes.sf.net/. You can them modify the
configuration.

> I have browsed the xman and found a very little help.
> I have few questions in this list.

fvwm and all the modules have man pages.

> How should I install a file manager,

> or a web browser.

> If I will do it in the xterm, where will the newly
> installed app, be placed?

That depends on the program. Personally I use the midnight
commander as a text based file manager. It comes with virtually
all distributions, so you don't have to worry about where it is
installed.

If you use mozilla as your browser, you can download the latest
.tar.gz package from www.mozilla.org (current version: 1.7.2) and
unpack it to /usr/local/mozilla. Then add

  PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/mozilla"

to your PATH settings.

> And where should I begin if
> I would want to have a beautiful desktop like what the
> screenshots in fvwm.org is displaying?

http://fvwm-themes.sf.net/

> For ease of instruction, please advice me based on
> what desktop components you are using right now(eg;
> file manager, web browser..) and I will just make my
> own choice regarding those components when I am
> already familiar in putting those things up and
> running in FVWM.

Many people want most of the following components on their
desktop:

 * A clock. I use xclock, but there are many others: rclock,
   asclock, daliclock, kclock ...
 * A system meter, for example xload, xosview, ...
 * An icon manager that displays and controls iconified windows.
   Fvwm offers a couple of alternatives: the modules FvwmIconMan,
   FvwmWinList, FvwmIconBox or FvwmTaskBar (I recommend
   FvwmIconMan) or the WindowList command.
 * A mini representation of the desktop and the windows. This is
   done by the FvwmPager module.
 * A bar that swallows other modules and applications, and has
   buttons to invoke menus, and other actions. Use the
   FvwmButtons module. My FvwmButtons contains xload, xosview,
   xclock FvwmPager and FvwmIconMan and has a number of buttons
   and menus.
 * The FvwmConsole module. Start it from a root menu entry or put
   a button in the FvwmButtons box. It is a console window that
   allows you to issue fvwm commands without restarting the window
   manager. Very useful.
 * An X console window to display X and fvwm error messages.

Some other useful modules

 * FvwmAuto to raise/lower windows automatically.
 * FvwmBacker to set the desktop background.
 * FvwmIdent to display some window information (for debugging)

Ciao

Dominik ^_^ ^_^

 --
Dominik Vogt, dominik.vogt_at_gmx.de
Reply-To: dominik.vogt_at_gmx.de


--
Visit the official FVWM web page at <URL: http://www.fvwm.org/>.
To unsubscribe from the list, send "unsubscribe fvwm" in the body of a
message to majordomo_at_fvwm.org.
To report problems, send mail to fvwm-owner_at_fvwm.org.
Received on Fri Aug 06 2004 - 02:44:43 BST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Mon Aug 29 2016 - 19:37:57 BST