Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

> James wrote:
> > 
> > Of course the mouse is still needed for other crucial tasks.  
> 
> Which crucial tasks are you thinking of?  Moving/resizing
> windows may be convenient, but not crucial.  The position
> and size of a window can be set as parameters when an
> application is first called.

Things you cannot do without a mouse:
Use the calculator.  Even if it were possible to type in numbers the focus 
is not on that window, at 640 resolution (the X is to the right).
Edit the menu at 800 resolution - X is not on that window.
Change wallpaper and then do something else - no menu.
Run more than one program in a row from the menu - you exit the one 
program and lose the menu.  Even editing the menu loses the menu.

e3pi behaves differently when editing the menu - why?
It has a cursor, and when you hit Ctrl-X you lose rxvt.

If you run e3pi from the menu/xterm, no cursor, and Ctrl-X exits e3pi but 
not the rxvt.  

I have no mouse plugged into this computer, and it would be difficult for
me to plug one in as I would need to climb up on the desk and somehow
reach over two monitors and hunt by feel for the serial port.  So I am
testing without a mouse and it is a real pain.

It did help to get my arrow keys working since that lets me do something
other than xterm from the menu.  Nice setup and it probably all works well 
if you have a mouse plugged in.

Alt-Tab to switch between windows is not very usefu when you can only run
one program at a time, if you don't have a mouse to retrieve the menu
with.

Alt-F4 twice exits X (unless you have the earth.gif on the screen, why?)  
The first one removes the menu or the program, the second removes X.  
Easier than Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.

Other than maybe the calculator, do any of the programs in the swm menu
need a mouse to use them?  xev?  Is it possible to save any space by not
having a mouse driver, or is it part of some other program which is needed
anyway for X (such as Xvesa)?  I am considering removing the mouse driver
if possible and replacing the window manager if I can compile ratpoison.  
I could not find anything that looks like a mouse driver for X, just
/dev/mouse lines in setupX.

Would the full-screen window in ratpoison use the regular console fonts 
for console programs, rather than X fonts?  There are no colored strips or 
scroll bars in ratpoison.  I am hoping for something that still provides a 
scroll buffer (for use with Kermit).

Please don't take this as a criticism of the way BL3 is put together, 
Steven.  It is a lovely toy to play with and should also be highly 
adaptable to various useful uses too.  And very educational.

Sindi

> 
> Cheers,
> Steven