After few years with fluxbox it was time to search for something else. Inspired by a friend of mine i searched for tiling window manager.
The ion has some legal problems, i tried out a fork called notion. After a reading the man page and using the windowmanager for a view hours, it is impressive how great it works out of the box. There is also another fork called anion3, just to mention it.
There is a already builded package for debian/amd64 behind this link.
Thats why i started writing my howto and want to present it to you but also to me ;-). The "mod1" key should be "alt"-left but you can figure it out by calling "xmodmap" on your console.
key
function
General
f1
manpage
f2
xterm
f3
execute
mod1+f3
execute lua code
f4
ssh
f5
file to edit
f6
file to view
f9
create new workspace
Windowmanagement
mod1+,
cycle workspace backward
mod1+.
cycle workspace forward
mod1+c
close current object
mod1+tab
forward focus
mod1+k+tab
backward focus
mod1+k h
maximize frame horizontal
mod1+k v
maximize frame vertical
mod1+r
begin move/reszie mod left -> grow in direction shift left -> shrink in direction
Searching for perfect tools seams to have a long tradition. Also switching from gui tools to cli tools back to gui and so one is a great game. This time i decided to try out some cli file managers.
Since we are working on the cli it is a massive benefit if the software supports vi keybindings.
At first i tried a recommended tool called ranger.
It feels very naturaly when you browse your dictionaries and it looks like the osx finder in console mode - maybe the finder "adopt" his design from a cli tool that i do not know so i do not know if the compare is correct, do not blame me for that ;-).
It still feels a bit under development but it is no wasted time if you give him a try.
A short howto can be found here
Second file manager i tried is vifm. It is definitly a file manager for vi lovers :-).
Vifm provides, if wished, a two panel view like used by mc.
Since i am a vi (i know vi is the center of eVIl), i like working with vifm and with the option of having a two panel layout if feels like mc on (vi) dope :-D. This tool definitely get a "try it out" mark, do it!
A short help can be found here
Another month, another book, but still an apress one ;-).
This time, my eyes were focused on the operation system side. It is sad but after reading this book, i can still feel and see the echo of the wounded heart that oracle made by stopping the open solaris development in 2010.
This os reads and feals really well structured and "like a fresh breeze".
But back to the book. If have already index the book with my sticky markers and from now on i have quick access to the following content.
CLI
SMF
ZFS
Zones
AMP
SVN
DTrace
Links
The book contains 240 pages, so can not bring you in that deep. But it at least it tries, or tries to show you the great world of this operation system.
While playing around in a VM, it still feals that fresh and easy way. The os is well structured and by scratching at the top, all works well. And of course, just for DTrace, SMF and ZFS ... you should give open solaris a try.
The book itselfs is short and well written and shows you the represents you the main benefits of this os.
Because of the fact that open solaris is currently not in well progress, the price is more than cheap. And if not using open solaris, it is good to read about the concepts and the way the os is structured.
Try to mess around with the open solaris environment but don't want to boot up (or download) a fully fledged openindiana?
A answer could be MilaX.
MilaX is a small size Live CD distribution which runs completely off a CD or a USB pendrive. It is based on OpenSolaris and includes its basic features.
Whats on wikipedia about MilaX?
MilaX is an OpenSolaris Live CD distro designed to fit on a business-card sized miniCD. x86 and SPARC versions are downloadable in bootable ISO 9660 and USB disk images. The Live CD can also be used to install the operating system to a hard disk through with ZFS-boot support. MilaX can be successfully loaded in Vmware, Qemu and VirtualBox. Still small, it features light applications such as JWM, Beaver, Urxvt, Vim, Sylpheed, Midnight Commander, Midori, XMMS, ePDFView, VNC viewer, Rdesktop, Conky. By installing the SVR4 and IPS add-ons, you can basically convert MilaX into OpenSolaris. MilaX booted into JWM Desktop in about ~14 seconds on SSD drive.