Salix Ratpoison 13.37beta1

[tsuren]

I can report that Whaaaw!!'s performance seems to be erratic. One .avi file played with no problems, another caused it to crash. I tried two actual DVDs, and both played ok, but with no sound. This isn't because of some zero volume default - I checked alsamixer and the program's own volume control was at about two thirds; and anyway, The Big Sleep had sound.

This is interesting, as I also found Whaaw (or whatever it is called) performing erratically. And I got no sound with DVD playbacks (on fluxbox, though).

[mimosa]

A nice tip I found. Put the following in .ratpoisonrc:

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bind y ratclick 2

and C-t y acts as though you clicked the middle mouse button. It pastes to where the mouse is pointing, but if you are using a terminal, the text appears at the cursor anyway.

See http://box.matto.nl/ratpoisontips.html

EDIT

Another thing - C-t q to quit ratpoison, as per the man page, doesn't seem to work. I get a message

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readkey: unbound key 'q'

[tsuren]

@mimosa
could you please send me a clean screenshot of salix ratpoison? i will put it in the startup guide.
many thanks in advance

[klanger]

I'm using salix-ratpoison on my netbook and it work very well.

I don't know who is the target for this salixOS version, but for laptop/netbook users xfce4-power-manager added as default app to an iso file would make life a bit easier. Same is with lm_sensors and fancontrol

Is some thing wrong with VLC/mplayer that it is not used by salixOS users (or not added to an iso)?
You can use keyboard to navigate through VLC menus & mplayer is very usable in CLI

As a base, salixOS-ratpoison is fantastic, thanks for your hard work on SalixOS!

@mimosa
could you please send me a clean screenshot of salix ratpoison? i will put it in the startup guide.
many thanks in advance

It is just a plain SalixOS-13.37 wallpaper. If you have salixOS-13.37 on your machine, then you have to have this wallpaper on your system.
.

[gapan]

I don't know who is the target for this salixOS version, but for laptop/netbook users xfce4-power-manager added as default app

No way. That needs xfce.

Same is with lm_sensors and fancontrol

Not sure if most people need them. They can be installed quite easily for those that do.

Is some thing wrong with VLC/mplayer that it is not used by salixOS users (or not added to an iso)?

Yes. They require codecs that cannot be distributed in the iso.

[klanger]

@gapan

Don't get me wrong, I do really enjoy SalixOS and this ratpoision edition is just awesome (even in beta1)!

I did some checking & to install xfce4-power-manager you don't need to install all XFCE4. IIRC up to SalixOS 13.1/2 there was an XFCE4 meta-package and it was impossible to add only one app from XFCE4, not any more

All is clear now about VLC/mplayer

I don't know if you ever used CrunchbangLinux, but there is a cool cli script that pop-out just after the 1st boot and it allows the user to customize fresh OS with only few "YES" or "NO"

Of course one can install any app from the repo, but since a distro has a "target" it should aim at that "target"

Cool, have a great weekend!

An update:

Just read "The SalixOS-13.37 guide" and it says that SalixOS is optimized for desktop PCs, in that case xfce4-power-manager is not needed at all. OK, sorry for that OT.

[mimosa]

@gapan

tsuren has asked me to write a couple of pages for the new guide on ratpoison

... and there are a couple of points I'd like to resolve. I think I've already mentioned that C-t q to exit ratpoison doesn't seem to work. The shortcut is described in the man page but absent from the C-t ? list. Is it missing from the beta itself, or have I deleted it or something?

This must be easy enough to set up manually, but I imagine it can be fixed.

The second point is partly in the nature of a feature request: but if it can be done, I'd like to show how in the walkthrough I'm writing. Or maybe it could even be the default.

The C-t escape key can be changed to C-anything with a line in the config file, but that's still two keystrokes and will still conflict with something somewhere. (There is a "meta" option to do C-t t and get the functionality of C-t in the app rather than the WM, but that's inelegant.)

In xmonad the default escape key is ALT, which leads to conflicts. But you can change it to any single key you like, such as the so-called "Windows" key. And it's only one keystroke.

Can this be done for ratpoison, either through configuration or by tweaking the code? I think the ergonomic benefit would be considerable, and one of the main attractions of ratpoison is its ergonomic efficiency.

[gapan]

... and there are a couple of points I'd like to resolve. I think I've already mentioned that C-t q to exit ratpoison doesn't seem to work. The shortcut is described in the man page but absent from the C-t ? list. Is it missing from the beta itself, or have I deleted it or something?

This must be easy enough to set up manually, but I imagine it can be fixed.

Right. It is actually mentioned in the manpage but it is disabled by default. It was probably enabled by default in previous versions but it is now disabled. I'm guessing the reason is that people would easily confuse it with "C-t Q", which makes the active frame the only one on screen and forget to use the shift key, so they would end up exiting ratpoison instead of maximizing their app. That would be really frustrating. You can bring it back by adding:

Code: Select all

bind q quit

in the ~/.ratpoisonrc file. Or just type "C-t :quit". Or use the ratmenu entry.

The second point is partly in the nature of a feature request: but if it can be done, I'd like to show how in the walkthrough I'm writing. Or maybe it could even be the default.

The C-t escape key can be changed to C-anything with a line in the config file, but that's still two keystrokes and will still conflict with something somewhere. (There is a "meta" option to do C-t t and get the functionality of C-t in the app rather than the WM, but that's inelegant.)

In xmonad the default escape key is ALT, which leads to conflicts. But you can change it to any single key you like, such as the so-called "Windows" key. And it's only one keystroke.

Can this be done for ratpoison, either through configuration or by tweaking the code? I think the ergonomic benefit would be considerable, and one of the main attractions of ratpoison is its ergonomic efficiency.

I don't think we should change the default command key. Since C-t is the one mentioned in all ratpoison documentation that is the one that we should go with. But it is very easy for someone else to change it. Keep in mind that the command key in ratpoison is not the same as a "meta" key. It should not be used at the same time as other keys. You hit it first, get into command mode and then hit the key that corresponds to the command that you want to issue. So you can't replace "C-t c" for example with "Alt c".

[mimosa]

Point taken about quitting - I hadn't even looked for this in the ratmenu.

I understand that "C-t c" can't become "Alt-c" (pressing simultaneously) as I suppose it must be in xmonad. But couldn't it be, say, "ç c" (I have a cedilla on my keyboard), with "ç ç" giving you the actual character if you want it? I see why it's better to stay with the existing default, but if there is a way to replace "C-t" with a single keystroke (that "Windows" key would be ideal, but maybe it can only be "meta"), I'd like to put it in the walkthrough as an example of changing the configuration. Moving between tiles, for instance, is just so much easier in xmonad; and when I do use tiles (rarely more than two), it's because I want to copy and paste between them or whatever, so it's a frequent, rapid action. I imagine most circumstances that might make you want to split the window will tend to involve quite intensive use of the associated features, otherwise you'd just stick with the one frame.

An unrelated point is that I'm having trouble with mounting, both the dvd drive and my external hard disk. When I open Whaaam, it mounts them correctly, even without playing anything. I managed to mount the dvd manually, but not the hard drive, because I'm unsure of its device name. It would be good to have this working better in the released version - assuming it's not just me.

[gapan]

Point taken about quitting - I hadn't even looked for this in the ratmenu.

I understand that "C-t c" can't become "Alt-c" (pressing simultaneously) as I suppose it must be in xmonad. But couldn't it be, say, "ç c" (I have a cedilla on my keyboard), with "ç ç" giving you the actual character if you want it? I see why it's better to stay with the existing default, but if there is a way to replace "C-t" with a single keystroke (that "Windows" key would be ideal, but maybe it can only be "meta"), I'd like to put it in the walkthrough as an example of changing the configuration. Moving between tiles, for instance, is just so much easier in xmonad; and when I do use tiles (rarely more than two), it's because I want to copy and paste between them or whatever, so it's a frequent, rapid action. I imagine most circumstances that might make you want to split the window will tend to involve quite intensive use of the associated features, otherwise you'd just stick with the one frame.

You can use the escape command to bind any key to the command key. For example:

Code: Select all

C-t :escape less

will make the "<" sign the command key. Same effect if you put it in your ~/.ratpoisonrc:

Code: Select all

escape less

EDIT: or you can use the (left) win key if you like:

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escape Super_L

one of the F keys might also be preferable by some:

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escape F2

An unrelated point is that I'm having trouble with mounting, both the dvd drive and my external hard disk. When I open Whaaam, it mounts them correctly, even without playing anything. I managed to mount the dvd manually, but not the hard drive, because I'm unsure of its device name. It would be good to have this working better in the released version - assuming it's not just me.

Nothing is automatically mounted. DVDs play because they don't need to be mounted to play. Use pmount (or pmount-hal) from a terminal to mount anything you want using its device name or its label.