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Window Managers for the un-initiated

As I'm about to start renewing and expanding the computer fleet in my house I decided I want to have a machine solely for my personal use, where I can use some solutions no one else will feel comfortable with in the house.

I've been wanting to try window managers for a while but after researching on it for a bit I'm none the wiser on which to choose.

There are a few distros out there that already deliver this kind of experience but I want to use the opportunity to learn and start from a stock Debian and build from there to where I want to get to.

I'm fully capable of setting up my computers as is but I'm aware WMs require a bit more involvement, so having at least good documentation is a must.

I'm also not averse to learn some coding, even more when considering I want to have a fully costumized conky, but I've never coded before.

The machine will be used essentially for writing, web surfing and email and, if possible, running Stardew Valley.

Any advice will be welcome.

Thanks in advance.

This entry was edited (1 year ago)

don't like this

in reply to qyron

Baut [she/her] auf.
Baut [she/her] auf.
• •
Sway has a pretty well commented default config. It's pretty polished and mature, and since it's Wayland it's far more secure than Xorg.
$ sudo apt install sway swaylock swayidle

Check the example configuration file for the default terminal emulator (probably "foot") and just install that as well for now. You can pretty much also skim that config to learn the most important keybindings or edit them to suit you better.
There's a pretty good wiki page detailing its configuration: wiki.debian.org/sway
I'd assume you'd need xwayland for Stardew Valley?

sway - Debian Wiki

wiki.debian.org
This entry was edited (1 year ago)

PseudoSpock doesn't like this.

in reply to qyron

jennraeross
jennraeross
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If you want a tiling window manager, I’d also take a look at sway. In most regards, it works just like i3, so there’s a good amount of documentation available by proxy, but it uses Wayland instead of x11 (so probably don’t use it if you have an nvidia card)

Edit: ninja’d

This entry was edited (1 year ago)

PseudoSpock doesn't like this.

in reply to qyron

eshep
eshep
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Maybe look at #e16, #openbox, #fluxbox, or #awesomewm, as they will be completely usable without any pre-configuration. Those will all give you a pretty well rounded feel for the comparison of window manager vs desktop environment. All are quite easy to hack on and decently documented. The appilcations menu for e16 should be auto-generated on first login, both openbox and fluxbox will most likely need to be generated manually, and awesome should just be ready to use as-is.
#awesomewm #openbox #fluxbox #e16
in reply to eshep

mvirts
mvirts
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I can recommend awesome, never got too crazy with the configuration and eventually went back to gnome 3 but it's a fun experience and is really efficient for keyboard oriented work.

Vincent Adultman doesn't like this.

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