Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Mon, 1 Jan 2007, Lee Forrest wrote:

Regarding ratpoison
> > > This is a pretty small X-window manager (4X swm) modeled
> > > after screen. I use it on debian. Is excellent. Almost all
> > > keybindings. Hardly ever have to touch a rodent.
> >
> > I have it for SW7.1 (or maybe the SW8.1 glibc) and it is less
> > useful with Opera than is icewm, which can be used entirely via
> > keyboard and lets you change focus whereas I needed to use a
> > mouse in Opera with ratpoison.
>
> I am having problems with it. It won't see any aliases (and
> I've tried _everything_) unless I run '. etc/profile' in
> each window. When I converted one of them to a shell function,
> and ran it, it crashed the window.

I have to use scripts instead of aliases in an xterm.  But I don't usually 
run any programs in xterms, I use a virtual terminal instead.

> I am thinking it needs a 'real' xserver, rather than Xvesa.
>
> > You can run X programs without any window manager - check the
> > archives.
>
> Sure. But I run 'xterms' in three windows at startup, and
> sometimes more.

Why not use screen instead?  Or splitvt?  In a virtual terminal.

> > I don't normally run more than one X program at once, but the
> > menu can be handy.

> I hardly ever do, but I'm not booting X just to run one when
> I need to. Takes too long and completely changes the user
> interface. I do enjoy a _small_ indulgence in the aesthetics
> made possible by X.

I don't follow the above.  What takes too long?  To run what?
> I rely heavily on those aliases, although, oddly, the word
> doesn't appear in man ash.

I had the same problem and gave up on aliases under X.

> As an interesting aside:
> Ratpoison with three windows uses about half as much memory as
> swm with three windows, all other things being equal.
> (8M to 15M with nothing much going on.)

Are you using a patterned background in swm?

> But rp is 112K to swm's 20.
>
> Lee
Sindi