diff --git a/content/rambles/windowmanagers.md b/content/rambles/windowmanagers.md index b7bf7c8..e42bd11 100644 --- a/content/rambles/windowmanagers.md +++ b/content/rambles/windowmanagers.md @@ -14,46 +14,50 @@ always kept coming back to. I think it's because it's pretty much the only one that felt completely different from what the rest of the world was doing. It helped me with thinking about Linux as being different from windows. After this first year though, I came across a few videos about tiling window managers and -wanted to try one. The first one I installed was i3. +wanted to try one. The first one I installed was [i3](https://i3wm.org/). I hated it. -I had a hard time configuring it as I didn't really know what I was doing. Other -than that, I found it plain awkward to use. The way it tiles windows -- and how -you _still_ have to babysit pretty much every last one of them -- drives me away -from i3 to this day. I'm sure it has the potential to be a great window manager. -It's just _really_ not for me. Which is a shame, I would really like to properly -live in Wayland with Sway for at least a little while. +I had a hard time configuring it as I didn't really know what I was doing. +Other than that, I found it plain awkward to use. The way it tiles windows -- +and how you _still_ have to babysit pretty much every last one of them -- +drives me away from i3 to this day. I'm sure it has the potential to be a great +window manager. It's just _really_ not for me. Which is a shame, I would really +like to properly live in Wayland with [Sway](https://swaywm.org/ "Sway is like +i3 in Wayland") for at least a little while. After a few hours of trying to get things to work in i3, I went back to GNOME. -Some time later, I came across AwesomeWM. It was being recommended as a fairly -easy window manager to start with -- it having window decorations and it's own -menu system. The first thing I did was try-and fail to rip out said menu system -and window decorations. I was putting too much on myself trying to learn the -basics of both using a tiling window manager and Lua. +Some time later, I came across [AwesomeWM](https://awesomewm.org/). It was +being recommended as a fairly easy window manager to start with -- it having +window decorations and it's own menu system. The first thing I did was try-and +fail to rip out said menu system and window decorations. I was putting too much +on myself trying to learn the basics of both using a tiling window manager and +Lua. -Some time after that, I came across BSPWM. This was the first time where I felt -like I _really_ managed to get a tiling window manger to do what I wanted it to -do. For some odd reason, there are people out there who consider BSPWM a more -"advanced" window manger. I really don't get why. To this day, I am of the -opinion that SXHKD's configuration syntax is some of the best out there. I think -it took me around 10 minutes to wrap my head around the basics. Somewhere around -an afternoon later, I had a config that served me well for the next few months -to come. +Some time after that, I came across +[BSPWM](https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm). This was the first time where I +felt like I _really_ managed to get a tiling window manger to do what I wanted +it to do. For some odd reason, there are people out there who consider BSPWM a +more "advanced" window manger. I really don't get why. To this day, I am of the +opinion that SXHKD's configuration syntax is some of the best out there. I +think it took me around 10 minutes to wrap my head around the basics. Somewhere +around an afternoon later, I had a config that served me well for the next few +months to come. -A while after BSPWM, I decided to give suckless' DWM a shot. Despite my lack of -knowledge of C, this very quickly became my favorite window manager at the time. -There is just something about the insanity of using diff files to configure your -piece of software when perfectly functional configuration libraries and -languages exist that got it's hooks in me. I also caught the minimalism bug -around this time, so DWM's nearly non-existent memory footprint was also great. -Despite this really being the first really "advanced" window manager, I had an -easier time configuring it than AwesomeWM or i3. It was also the first time -where I could appreciate the master-stack layout properly and not having to -think about keeping track of windows in two dimensions anymore. It made me -realise that I want to have to think as little as possible about window -positioning. It was the reason I couldn't deal with i3's paradigm and shifted -away from BSPWM the moment I found DWM. +A while after BSPWM, I decided to give suckless' +[DWM](https://dwm.suckless.org/) a shot. Despite my lack of knowledge of C, +this very quickly became my favorite window manager at the time. There is just +something about the insanity of using diff files to configure your piece of +software when perfectly functional configuration libraries and languages exist +that got it's hooks in me. I also caught the minimalism bug around this time, +so DWM's nearly non-existent memory footprint was also great. Despite this +really being the first really "advanced" window manager, I had an easier time +configuring it than AwesomeWM or i3. It was also the first time where I could +appreciate the master-stack layout properly and not having to think about +keeping track of windows in two dimensions anymore. It made me realise that I +want to have to think as little as possible about window positioning. It was +the reason I couldn't deal with i3's paradigm and shifted away from BSPWM the +moment I found DWM. I ran DWM as my main window manger for over a year before having issues with some fullscreen applications and the JetBrains suite, which I had to use for @@ -77,7 +81,8 @@ arsedly maintain an Alpine package of my fork). For quite a long time I used DWM and AwesomeWM depending on whether I was planning on frequently using fullscreen applications and how strong the machine in question was; AwesomeWM being noticeably slower than DWM on _really_ old -machines (like RejuvinatedBrick). Until at some point, I came across XMonad. +machines (like RejuvinatedBrick). Until at some point, I came across +[XMonad](https://xmonad.org/). I tried it for an evening.