Quote:
Originally Posted by
bakunin
I have (in fact several times over) explained in principle how X-Windows works. Use the search function of this forum and you will find a few threads with such explanations.
I searched the forum for "window manager" before I started this topic, but I didn't find any results that seemed relevant. I think I did find a topic on X.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bakunin
OK, but notice: there is a sharp distinguation between a desktop envionment and a window manager. They do different things. You might want to clarify what exactly you are up to first before making further plans.
I want to make a DE. On another site, I found a topic in which someone was asking for advice on DEs, since he or she wanted to develop a DE. The advice given to him or her was to start with a window manager first. Since my end goal is, in fact, a DE, in your opinion, should I disregard the advice this person gave, and actually start with a DE instead? And if so, are there any that you feel are more worthy of starting with? CDE, since it's a traditional DE based on Motif?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bakunin
This is, in general terms, a commendable strategy. However (i don't know aewm at all), i suppose the one you chose to base your studies on is a rather uncommon one (i haven't even heard of it yet) and that may be so for a reason.
One of the main sites I've been referencing lately was the one that wisecracker linked to, and that I alluded to in my OP, but this site's spam-fighting policy prevented me from providing a link (which would have helped, since no one knows what site I was talking about without the link...) to it. And in cases like this, I think the benefit of being able to provide a link (despite how few posts I've submitted on this site so far) would far outweigh the benefits of this site's spam-fighting policy. The site wisecracker linked to explains that many wms have been forked from aewm, hence my desire to start with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bakunin
You might want to look at "mwm", the "Motif Window Manager", which is part of Motif. As far as i ever needed its documentation (conceded, i never thought about writing my own wm) it was very complete. It might be worth a try.
Thank you, I will definitely check it out. The documentation for aewm is nothing to brag about.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bakunin
This is not so bad - most good books on, say, TCP/IP or UNIX architecture - are of the same age. This is because the principles on which many UNIX parts are based upon are so powerful that they - despite their implementation being completely different today - still work the same way they did 30 years ago. If you look at cars you see that they are very different from the ones 30 years ago, but they still have a steering wheel, an accelerator pedal, a clutch, a gearbox, etc. - so, in some sense, they still work the same way they did back then and a book from 1980 about how cars work will - in this respect - still be up-to-date.
I hope this helps.
bakunin
Indeed, just tonight, I did order 4 books which appear to be in the same series from the late '80s through the early '90s from smile.amazon. Yes, you've definitely helped me, so thank you! I really appreciate it!
---------- Post updated at 11:07 PM ---------- Previous update was at 10:58 PM ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by
wisecracker
Hi SirSalt...
It might be worthwhile looking at:-
The Comprehensive List of Window Managers for Unix
A plethora of WMs to guide you along, with source code for many of them.
(Surprisingly even the AMIGA catered for.)
It could be _virtually_ any popular language that they could be written in.
Enjoy the choice...
I admire you for wanting to take the plunge but beware of library updates, OS changes, kernel updates and more as they will hit your development sooner or later. These things break your code and you will have to go back chasing workarounds or rewrites to allow for them. I won't bore you with OSX and Quicktime Player but it has hit me several times on my project.
What should be a smooth development can be a rough ride, but hold in there and don't give in to application fatigue. See your project through to your end goal and beyond if that is what you want.
Good luck...
Thank you, and that's an awesome site. I've been using that for the last week, downloading various WMs.
And about your point where you talk about code getting broken, this article talks about that briefly:
Linux has "only 10 great apps" according to Gnome Creator - gHacks Tech News
Despite that, I'm undeterred. Thanks again for your support!