how to start ratpoison?

[evaristegalois]

I downloaded ratpoison and installed it. However, (1) when I start it from the gnome-terminal I get the error message: ``ratpoison: there can be only ONE'' (assuming that it can't be open at the same time as gnome); (2) I go to the system console (Ctrl-Alt-F1) and invoke ratpoison, it complains that it cannot open display. How do I get ratpoison started? [P.S.: I am very new at linux and just want to use emacs on a screen that maximizes screen space -- ratpoison seems to be very good at this.]--evaristegalois

[evaristegalois]

On the other hand, you could just tell me how to make xterm be full-screen. (There is a hacker's solution out there but I'd shy away from that stuff.) --evaristegalois

[Wolki]

Originally Posted by evaristegalois I downloaded ratpoison and installed it. However, (1) when I start it from the gnome-terminal I get the error message: ``ratpoison: there can be only ONE'' (assuming that it can't be open at the same time as gnome); (2) I go to the system console (Ctrl-Alt-F1) and invoke ratpoison, it complains that it cannot open display. How do I get ratpoison started? [P.S.: I am very new at linux and just want to use emacs on a screen that maximizes screen space -- ratpoison seems to be very good at this.]--evaristegalois

Did you install it from the repositories? If you did, it should be automatically added to your login-screen options (under session), at least it does on Dapper. If it doesn't, save the following as /usr/share/xsessions/ratpoison.desktop:

[Desktop Entry] Encoding=UTF-8 Name=Ratpoison Comment=Start Ratpoison as your window manager Exec=ratpoison Icon= Type=Application

On the other hand, you could just tell me how to make xterm be full-screen. (There is a hacker's solution out there but I'd shy away from that stuff.)

In Gnome (with Metacity)? Open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog (system->preferences->keyboard shortcuts), set a suitable shortcut for toggle full-screen, start xterm and use that keyboard shortcut.

[evaristegalois]

I am using Breezy, and yes, you are right, under ``Session'' at login I have the option to start with ratpoison. Thanks for the pointer! Secondly, I was already looking for help on keyboard shortcuts in gnome, and here they are! Great! Thanks a lot. I was astonished, however, to see that my new ratpoison terminal starts out with a gnome menubar(!) -- ratpoison is all about getting rid of clobbery things like menubars. The menubar can easily be removed (Alt-v b), but I imagine in the long run it's cumbersome to have to do that everytime you open a new terminal in ratpoison -- no menubars etc. being the whole point of the operation. Again, great help. Danke.--evaristegalois

[Wolki]

Originally Posted by evaristegalois Secondly, I was already looking for help on keyboard shortcuts in gnome, and here they are! Great!

You can also set custom keyboard shortcuts for commands. You'll have to do that via the gconf-editor however, as a good GUI for this wasn't finished. The relevant parts are under /apps/metacity/global_keybindings and /apps/metacity/keybinding_commands

Thanks a lot. I was astonished, however, to see that my new ratpoison terminal starts out with a gnome menubar(!) -- ratpoison is all about getting rid of clobbery things like menubars. The menubar can easily be removed (Alt-v b), but I imagine in the long run it's cumbersome to have to do that everytime you open a new terminal in ratpoison -- no menubars etc. being the whole point of the operation. Again, great help. Danke.--evaristegalois

I'm not sure if removing menu bars is really ratpoison's point, as many programs don't work without menu bars. In this case, however it's probably because you're using gnome-terminal (the default terminal), use e.g. xterm instead. IIRC the HIG requests for full screen programs to drop their menu bars, so this might be a HIG bug in gnome-terminal.

[evaristegalois]

Thanks. I'll look into this some more.