BSPWM (deepish thoughts)

brent

this is all new to me. it's cool.
BSPWM does not run OOTB. I had to configure files and assemble them and mkdir them and cp them for 3 hours in Budgie, and tweak all the configs before I could get this picture. this guy helped me (
I LOVE it.

if you set up a tiling manager you can't use the software on your host. It's just too close and too many things can go wrong. any ways.
Not all the (dependency) packages Solus maintains come with the .conf files so I had to scavenge examples online.

What I did good was set my sxkhd keybindings. But I really hate the polybar config fie (see that wretched taskbar?) and hate hownitrogen (the desktop) is configured too. But I can fix all that. picom is the compositor and I haven't messed with that. I forgot what Dunst did (!) but it had a .conf file.
I really LOVE the way it tiles. I have to learn how to achieve all the variations. I have moved beyond the basic 4 but they get too small after that.

Last thoughts. I can see the appeal of this. I made me think our digital lives are very plain. What do you use most? Terminal, file manager, browser, word or pdf doc and a music player. Why not have them all at the same time?

these beasts were built for people with 2 screens I think. because after 4 open quadrants (windows) on one screen (that's all I own) it gets small and complicated.

I'm going to commit to Solus BSPWM in my spare time. Takes a crapload of prep/config but I think this will be very efficient after one dials it in. It may take me the rest of the year🙂.

EDIT/PS--my other peeve right now is it doesn't follow the budgie dark theme for Nemo. I don't know how to fix this because the BWSPM rendering of Nemo has all the preferences/menu stripped from the GUI as you can see--unless they are in lower left buttons? One thing at a time🙂

synth-ruiner

brent these beasts were built for people with 2 screens I think. because after 4 open quadrants (windows) on one screen (that's all I own) it gets small and complicated.

on i3 I use lots of workspaces. I hate multi-monitor setups, although a tiling keyboard-only setup might make it okay.

I'll have a workspace for chat, email and terminal windows, another one for a web browser, another one for an IDE etc.

I assume bspwm does workspaces too? I can't imagine why not, anyway...

Solarmass

I see it could be useful on ultra-widescreen monitors. On my 16:9 monitor I mostly use 2 windows side-by-side. If you add a 3rd window, it would become less practical. And I prefer to have some apps in maximized window mode, like browsers, or floating window mode for other apps.

brent

Solarmass I see it could be useful on ultra-widescreen monitors. On my 16:9 monitor I mostly use 2 windows side-by-side. If you add a 3rd window, it would become less practical. And I prefer to have some apps in maximized window mode, like browsers, or floating window mode for other apps.

I get what you are saying. If I tailor bspwm it will be with a single-minded plan with a single monitor: a workflow with 3-4 tiles for maximum workflow. I really want to see how the other side lives (🙂) and see if one can accomplish more without a conventional DE.

Or is a tiling manager just a fetish😉.

Solarmass

For me a task list with windows labels on the panel is more efficient. It's like tabs in the browser, can your BSPWM panel do that?

brent

Solarmass . It's like tabs in the browser, can your BSPWM panel do that?

if I amend the conf file, make the superkey+ bindings, then actually remember the bindings, then maybe🙂

ReillyBrogan

FWIW bspwm is unlikely to ever be updated to support Wayland so I'd probably focus on learning a tiling WM that is already Wayland-native like Sway or labwc

brent

ReillyBrogan FWIW bspwm is unlikely to ever be updated to support Wayland so I'd probably focus on learning a tiling WM that is already Wayland-native like Sway or labwc

thank you I will. the selling point of BSPWM is the windows don't butt up against each other. you can always see the desktop behind. I heard no other tiler had this quality. hope I'm wrong.
Same deal with sway? pull in picom, dunst, swaybar etc and manually config?

synth-ruiner I assume bspwm does workspaces too? I can't imagine why not, anyway...

they probably do. aside from my own keybindings I am 99% raw noob. hopefull learn a little every day. If there is workplaces then I can commit to the 3/4-window setting I am envisioning

Solarmass On the screenshot (top-left corner) you can see 10 workspaces.

I had no idea what that was thank you🙂

Solarmass

synth-ruiner I assume bspwm does workspaces too? I can't imagine why not, anyway...

I think every tiling DEs (and non-tiling) have workspaces. On the screenshot (top-left corner) you can see 10 workspaces.

synth-ruiner

brent thank you I will. the selling point of BSPWM is the windows don't butt up against each other. you can always see the desktop behind. I heard no other tiler had this quality. hope I'm wrong.

on i3 you can have gaps, and I think it's the same for sway (I can see some screenshots that look like that). I have a 10px gap, it looks nice (although slightly annoying when hunting for a scrollbar with the mouse)

brent

@ReillyBrogan or anyone really

reading conflicting articles in DDG re: sway (wayland) andlightdm. conflicting as in 'compatible with lightdm/incompatible with lightdm.

can anyone shed some light? graci--

EDIT from sparky linux sway install page

so lightdm is wayland-imcompatible and only runs in X and I have to marry Budgie to GDM to use it as intended?
Do I want to marry Budgie to GDM? that seems uncomfortable. Or SDDM?

craigtoyoracer

brent Budgie is working to Wayland at some point. 🙂

https://buddiesofbudgie.org/blog/wayland

brent

synth-ruiner I have a 10px gap, it looks nice

I forgot: config config config🙂 you could do almost anything.

brent

synth-ruiner when I keep reading that Sway is a "drop in" for I3 what does that mean? the apps just get swapped? and you keep you installed components (picom xx-bar etc) and their configs?

by that measure one would think sway could be a "drop in" for any tiling WM given the person keeps the elements/configs of the stuff they dragged (picom, xx-bar, etc) into the WM. I'm new to this so I will have dumb questions the rest of this year🙂

synth-ruiner

brent I think the idea is that your i3 config files can be copied directly across and used as Sway config files, but I haven't had any success in setting up Sway yet so this is just theoretical as far as I know!