The ongoing KDE window manager incompatibilities with Java (I've just downloaded JBuilder5 from Borland and it doesn't work properly) leave me with little choice other than to drop Kwin and use a different window manager. I like KDE, so can anyone suggest a KDE compliant window manager on SuSE-7.1 which will be an unobtrusive replacement?
"D" == Derek Fountain <fountai@hursley.ibm.com> writes:
D> anyone suggest a KDE compliant window manager on SuSE-7.1 which D> will be an unobtrusive replacement? Window Maker, it fully supports KDE hints. Just disable the Dock & Clip in Window Maker's Preference.app if you want to use Kicker, et al. Charles -- "Calling EMACS an editor is like calling the Earth a hunk of dirt." -- Chris DiBona on Dirt (Open Sources, 1999 O'Reilly and Associates)
D> anyone suggest a KDE compliant window manager on SuSE-7.1 which D> will be an unobtrusive replacement?
Window Maker, it fully supports KDE hints. Just disable the Dock & Clip in Window Maker's Preference.app if you want to use Kicker, et al.
I tried windowmaker, but it seems to think the KDE desktop window is a proper, er, window! That is, my KDE desktop with it's background, icons, etc is in a window with a titlebar which covers everything else. Can I make this "window" transparent so it beomes the background as with Kwin? (I tried Blackbox and that did the same thing - what am I doing wrong?)
"D" == Derek Fountain <fountai@hursley.ibm.com> writes:
D> I tried windowmaker, but it seems to think the KDE desktop D> window is a proper, er, window! That is, my KDE desktop with D> it's background, icons, etc is in a window with a titlebar D> which covers everything else. Can I make this "window" D> transparent so it beomes the background as with Kwin? I see what you mean after doing some experimentation (I actually use Window Maker, but run both KDE and Gnome apps with no problems). A work around is to right click on the title bar of the "background window", goto Attributes and check "Disable titlebar", "Disable resizebar", "Disable border", "Keep at bottom", and "Omnipresent", now click "save" and close the Inspector Panel by clicking the x on the titlebar. You might find some additional help in the attached file. Information on Using Window Maker with KDE ------------------------------------------ Window Maker supports almost all KDE/KWM specific client communication protocols, so you can simply replace kwm with Window Maker, if you think these advantages are worthy: Window Maker KWM ============================================================================= Looks NEXTSTEP(tm)/NEXTSTEP(tm) Original, but reminds enhanced Windows(tm) Decoration solid, gradient, multi-color solid, vertical and Textures gradient, pixmaps, textured horizontal gradient, gradient - all gradients are pixmap supported in horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions Configurable No Yes, but not totally Titlebar Buttons Mini CLI Yes, but limited Yes Window Specific Yes In KDE 1.1, yes. Configuration In KDE 1.0, no. Quick Keyboard Yes In KDE 1.1, yes Navigation In KDE 1.0, no. Pager KDE pagers will work as Yes well as GNOME pagers Session Not yet supported, but Yes, old (pre-X11R6) style Management X11R6 style SM is being worked. Dock kpanel, GNOME panel and Dock kpanel Built-in Yes No krootbgwm GNOME support Yes No Memory Usage(1) 1.85Mb In KDE 1.0, 3.13Mb In KDE 1.1, probably more (1) Memory usage was tested by running wmaker and kwm at the same machine with the same windows, on the same screen and similar window texture configurations (at different times, of course). I looked in the output of ps -m, in the SIZE field, right after starting the window managers. Enabling KDE Support -------------------- To enable KDE support in Window Maker, you must compile it after configuring it as follows: ./configure --enable-kde Then, just replace kwm with wmaker in your startkde script. If you are going to use Window Makers sound server, comment out kwmsound in startkde. Also if wmaker sets your root window background, comment out kbgndwm, kde's wallpaper setter. Make sure to disable workspace background setting in KDE. If you wont be using Window Maker themes anyway, you can set WorkspaceBack = (none); in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker Enhancing Integration --------------------- Window Maker adds some extensions to KDE's messaging stuff, so you can run Window Maker specific commands from places like kpanel, krootwm or even kwmcom. Recently KDE developers have kindly added support for these extensions in the more recent KDE versions from CVS. The added stuff are the following kwm like commands: wm:wmaker - select Window Maker support mode wmaker:info - show info panel wmaker:legal - show legal panel wmaker:arrangeIcons - arrange icons wmaker:showAll - show all windows wmaker:hideOthers - hide others wmaker:restart - restart wmaker wmaker:exit - exit wmaker You can test them with kwmcom, like: kwmcom wmaker:info Problems -------- * kpanel will not be kept always on top. That's because kpanel is an OverrideRedirect window, so Window Maker can't do anything about that. Before requesting for a hack to work around that in Window Maker, please request the kpanel author to fix it. * because the KDE protocol for letting the window manager know the usable window region is broken, you might find some problems with the window positioning/maximization code and kpanel's position. * It seems kpanel (and maybe KDE in general) doesn't like dynamically changing the number of workspaces. So, don't create or destroy workspaces while running on KDE, unless you really need. * If kpanel, kwmpager or kpager becomes confused about the number of windows present, restart them. * Wmaker opens windows by default under/over the panel, when the panel is at top or left of screen. Use the GUI configuration tool WPrefs to change this. * Some commands, such as cascade windows and rearrange windows are not yet implemented. Hope this will help you. Charles -- "Even more amazing was the realization that God has Internet access. I wonder if He has a full newsfeed?" (By Matt Welsh)
titlebar. You might find some additional help in the attached file.
Hey, thanks for that! It was quite a revelation having a look at other window managers. I've used Kwin in it's various guises for a number of years now, briefly resorting back to fvwm2 whenever I broke my KDE. Things have clearly come a long way since I stopped taking an interest. FWIW, I fixed the underlying problem by replacing the JDK inside JBuilder5 to 1.3.1. This doesn't have the problem with Kwin, and seems stable, so I'm a happy bunny again - and slightly wiser on a largely unconnected topic. :)
On Tuesday 31 July 2001 07:29 am, you wrote:
The ongoing KDE window manager incompatibilities with Java (I've just downloaded JBuilder5 from Borland and it doesn't work properly) leave me with little choice other than to drop Kwin and use a different window manager. I like KDE, so can anyone suggest a KDE compliant window manager on SuSE-7.1 which will be an unobtrusive replacement?
Derek, what version of Kwin are you running? Perhaps you might try KDE 2.2's version of KWin which has some improvements, and quite possibly could have the bug you refer to fixed (KDE 2.2beta1 is available now, KDE 2.2 final will be out next week). Best, Tim -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy R. Butler Universal Networks tbutler@uninetsolutions.com ICQ #12495932 AIM: Uninettm Free/Open Source Web Tools: http://www.uninetsolutions.com Christian Portal and Search Tool: http://www.faithtree.com ============== "Christian Web Services Since 1996" ==============
Derek, what version of Kwin are you running? Perhaps you might try KDE 2.2's version of KWin which has some improvements, and quite possibly could have the bug you refer to fixed (KDE 2.2beta1 is available now, KDE 2.2 final will be out next week).
It's Kwin from 2.1.1, compiled from source. I actually set about recompiling CVS KDE2.2 last night, but it takes a loooong time, even on my dual PIII box. It hadn't finished when I went to bed so I still don't know if it will work better. The issue has been raised on the KDE development list before (by me actually, when I was trying to get Forte to run). It became an unpleasant sight, watching to see who could get the slopiest shoulders! It seems the KDE guys sloped just a bit more - Blackdown et al have fixed it in the latest JDK release. See my next post...
* Derek Fountain <fountai@hursley.ibm.com> [Jul 31. 2001 05:29]:
The ongoing KDE window manager incompatibilities with Java (I've just downloaded JBuilder5 from Borland and it doesn't work properly) leave me with little choice other than to drop Kwin and use a different window manager. I like KDE, so can anyone suggest a KDE compliant window manager on SuSE-7.1 which will be an unobtrusive replacement?
And now even good old fvwm have KDE compliance. http://fvwm-ewmh.sourceforge.net/ -- Mads Martin Jørgensen, http://mmj.dk "Why make things difficult, when it is possible to make them cryptic and totally illogic, with just a little bit more effort." -- A. P. J.
participants (4)
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Charles Philip Chan -
Derek Fountain -
Mads Martin Jørgensen -
Timothy R.Butler