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Warpnow
February 4th, 2008, 02:25 AM
Why don't we hear more about FVWM-Crystal? I installed it and its very nice.

I can't figure out how to really customize it yet, like the menus seem to leave things off and are confusing, but its a very good DE.

It seems really light on resources...but I haven't measured it extensively...its much nicer than ICEwm or Fluxbox in my opinion, and it would compete well with XFCE if I could find a good way to edit the menus and options.

Any idea why it seems to be less discussed than other WMs and DEs?

jrusso2
February 4th, 2008, 04:47 AM
Why don't we hear more about FVWM-Crystal? I installed it and its very nice.

I can't figure out how to really customize it yet, like the menus seem to leave things off and are confusing, but its a very good DE.

It seems really light on resources...but I haven't measured it extensively...its much nicer than ICEwm or Fluxbox in my opinion, and it would compete well with XFCE if I could find a good way to edit the menus and options.

Any idea why it seems to be less discussed than other WMs and DEs?

I like it too but th reason you don't see it used more is just what you pointed out its difficult to set up and customize.

chris4585
February 4th, 2008, 05:49 AM
I like it too but th reason you don't see it used more is just what you pointed out its difficult to set up and customize.

i agree with you, i love fluxbox, and fvwm-crystal, but fluxbox is a bit easier to configure

urukrama
February 4th, 2008, 11:41 AM
Why don't we hear more about FVWM-Crystal? I installed it and its very nice.

Because FVWM is so hard to configure for people that are not used to it. I use FVWM once in a while (not crystal, though, as I don't like the crystal themes that much). It takes a lot of work to set it up the way you want it, and that turns many people of.

There is a well populated forum (http://fvwm.lair.be/) for fvwm users though.

graabein
February 4th, 2008, 01:00 PM
Threads like these are much better with screenshots. Most of us know how to google but it's easier for the OP to include some linkage.

OT: I've never tried it.

detgar
February 4th, 2008, 01:38 PM
Threads like these are much better with screenshots. Most of us know how to google but it's easier for the OP to include some linkage.

Here's the screenshot section of the official page: http://fvwm-crystal.org/screenshots.html

It looks very interesting.

chris4585
February 4th, 2008, 05:58 PM
i have some images on my old thread http://www.backports.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=661064

corney91
February 4th, 2008, 07:30 PM
What's the difference between FVWM-Crystal and, say, Fluxbox, besides being harder to customize?

jviscosi
February 4th, 2008, 08:57 PM
What's the difference between FVWM-Crystal and, say, Fluxbox, besides being harder to customize?

FVWM-Crystal doesn't have a Slit (http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docbook/en/html/chap-slit.html), for one thing. Also, if you're into that sort of thing, Fluxbox knows how to take advantage of a composite manager for drop shadows and transparency; FVWM-Crystal didn't, the last time I used it, although it's pretty enough out of the box.

urukrama
February 4th, 2008, 09:10 PM
The difference between Fluxbox and FVWM is that FVWM is much more flexible. You can set it up exactly like you want, and have control over nearly every aspect of it: window decorations and buttons, menus, desktop, pagers, docks, taskbars, clocks, window behaviour, animation, etc. The possibilities are nearly endless.

FVWM is modular, so you can easily add modules (pagers, taskbars, menus, iconbox, alt-tab dialog, dock, etc.) and the configuration options are very large, so you can have these modules behave and look in the way you want it. Fluxbox, Openbox, Enlightenment or Icewm don't give you that flexibility.

The downside is, as has been pointed out, that the configuration is therefore much harder.


FVWM-Crystal doesn't have a Slit (http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docbook/en/html/chap-slit.html), for one thing. Also, if you're into that sort of thing, Fluxbox knows how to take advantage of a composite manager for drop shadows and transparency; FVWM-Crystal didn't, the last time I used it, although it's pretty enough out of the box.

You can load dockapps in FVWM if you want. FVWM can also handle pseudo-transparency, like Fluxbox. I also believe it is possible to use xcompmgr in FVWM, though not as smoothly as in Fluxbox or Openbox. I have never attempted it, though, but I've seen others report it.

justin whitaker
February 4th, 2008, 09:23 PM
This thread has me thinking about FVBuntu, the FVWM version. :)

jviscosi
February 5th, 2008, 03:01 AM
You can load dockapps in FVWM if you want. FVWM can also handle pseudo-transparency, like Fluxbox. I also believe it is possible to use xcompmgr in FVWM, though not as smoothly as in Fluxbox or Openbox. I have never attempted it, though, but I've seen others report it.

You can run xcompmgr, but I don't think it's as easy to set transparency levels of windows as it is in Fluxbox. You still get the shadows and stuff though. I haven't played with FVWM in a long time so my experience is outdated. (I don't use xcompmgr anymore anyway.)

Is there a way to organize your DockApps in FVWM and have them be automatically sticky like in the Slit? If there is, I might try playing with it again ... I just have to have my DockApps. :-)

On a side note, the Metisse (http://insitu.lri.fr/metisse/) project uses a hacked version of FVWM for their window manager. I haven't played with that in a long time either, but it's kind of neat if you're looking for something a little different.

Brian96
February 5th, 2008, 05:39 AM
I realize this isn't a FVWM-Crystal forum, but can anyone tell me why so many programs are missing from the menus? I can live with (and really kind of like) the look of the recipes pre-installed in Crystal, but I can't live without access to the bulk of my applications.

I realize the "beauty" of FVWM is supposed to be its ultra-configurability, but I have not been able to crack the FVWM manual to figure out how to solve this (or any other) issue.

Thanks for your help.

justin whitaker
February 6th, 2008, 06:08 AM
I realize this isn't a FVWM-Crystal forum, but can anyone tell me why so many programs are missing from the menus? I can live with (and really kind of like) the look of the recipes pre-installed in Crystal, but I can't live without access to the bulk of my applications.

I realize the "beauty" of FVWM is supposed to be its ultra-configurability, but I have not been able to crack the FVWM manual to figure out how to solve this (or any other) issue.

Thanks for your help.

I haven't played with Crystal, but if it keeps the FVWM tradition, you need to get out a text editor and edit the menu file. A good guide is this one:

http://www.zensites.net/fvwm/guide/menu.html

As you can see, it's broken up into different sections, regulating the color, style, root menu, programs menu, and help actions. You need to add the programs you want into the Programs Menu.

Brian96
February 7th, 2008, 03:45 AM
I haven't played with Crystal, but if it keeps the FVWM tradition, you need to get out a text editor and edit the menu file. A good guide is this one:

http://www.zensites.net/fvwm/guide/menu.html

As you can see, it's broken up into different sections, regulating the color, style, root menu, programs menu, and help actions. You need to add the programs you want into the Programs Menu.

Thanks, I'll look into that. I've looked at other pages, but can't locate the config files in the directories the howtos usually indicate.