Hour 8

Exploring Other X11 Window
Managers

In this hour you'll learn about several alternative window managers for the X Window System. There are more than 50 different window managers for X11, each with different themes, desktop colors, and decorations (for example, window controls). You're sure to find one you like. These window managers range from simple to complex, and some can be a challenge to install and configure.

Choosing a window manager is a matter of personal preference. Each window manager discussed in this hour handles terminal windows, but is different in ease-of-use, convenience, size, and style. These windows managers visibly demonstrate the graphic flexibility of the X Window System. You'll soon learn that there are no "standards" for the standard X11 graphical user interface.

Obtaining, Installing, and Configuring Other Window
Managers

Installing other window managers can be a daunting task. You won't find any of the following window managers installed on your book's CD-ROM. You'll have to find the software yourself, and either install pre-compiled versions, or build and install the software on your own.

Fortunately, you can easily find these window managers by either using your favorite Web search engine, or browsing to Matt Chapman's site, which has a number of links to the sources:

http://www.plig.org

At this site the source code for many window managers is just a mouse-click away, along with beginner-UNIX tutorials and loads of details about X11 window managers.

The Motif Window Manager

The mwm, or Motif window manager, is part of the Motif software library distribution from The Open Group. Unlike the X11 XFree86 software installed on your system, Motif is distributed under a license, and you must pay for your copy. There are several Motif distributions for Linux, and many Linux users buy Motif to create Motif clients (which support drag-and-drop, along with other advanced features), or to run programs that require the Motif software libraries.

Unfortunately, you need to buy Motif to get the mwm window manager (see Figure 8.1). But you'll also receive a toolkit of programming header files, libraries, demonstration programs, and more than 600 manual pages. If you're interested in using mwm and Motif, you can find one version from Red Hat Software, Inc. at the following site:

http://www.redhat.com

Other companies also sell Motif for Linux besides Red Hat, and you can check their Web sites as well:

Caldera, 

http://www.caldera.com

InfoMagic, 

http://www.infomagic.com

Linux Systems Labs, 

http://www.lsl.com

Metro Link Incorporated, 

http://www.metrolink.com

Xi Graphics, Inc., 

http://www.xig.com

If you do a full installation of Red Hat's Motif, make sure there's at least 20 megabytes of free hard drive space on your Linux partition. You can get by with five megabytes of space if you install just mwm and the other Motif clients and libraries. Follow the instructions included with your distribution for proper installation.

Figure 8.1.
The Motif window
manager, mwm, is part
of a commercially
licensed Motif sof-
tware distribution, and
provides decorative
borders and controls
for windows, as well
as virtual consoles.

After installing, customize mwm by editing a file called .mwmrc in your home directory. You'll find a copy, named system.mwmrc, under the /usr/lib/X11 directory. This file contains numerous settings you can change to customize how mwm handles your mouse, windows, and desktop menus.

Installing and Using the LessTif mwm Window Manager

Don't want to spend money for a commercial distribution of Motif? You can try LessTif, an alternative software library, designed to be compatible with Motif version 1.2 and distributed under terms of the GNU General Public License. This software library comes with a window manager called mwm, along with the software libraries required to run many Motif programs.

You can download the source for LessTif and build it on your own, or your can get a binary distribution if you'd just like to try mwm. The latest copies of LessTif usually reside at the following Web site:

http://www.lesstif.org

This site also features' programming hints and a list of Motif clients that work with LessTif. To install the binary version of the LessTif distribution, move all of the unpacked directories to a single directory. Make sure you're logged in as the root operator, then type the following:

# gunzip lesstif-0.81-linux.tar.gz

# tar xf  lesstif-0.81-linux.tar

# cd less*

# mkdir /usr/local/lesstif

# mv * /usr/local/lesstif

Edit your /etc/ profile, and add the following lines:

PATH=/usr/local/lesstif/bin:$PATH

LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lesstif/lib

Save the file. To enter the new environment variables (see Hour 6, "Using the Shell") right away, use the bash shell's source command:

# source /etc/profile

Once you've used this command, either create a .xinitrc file in your home directory or comment out your current entries and use mwm as the last entry in the file. The next time you use the startx command, you'll be using the mwm window manager.

The LessTif version of mwm also uses a .mwmrc resource file in your home directory, so you can define your own Root menu (displayed when you hold down your right mouse button when your cursor is on the desktop).

You also can change how LessTif's mwm works by editing the file Mwm, located under the app-defaults directory (which you'll find under the LessTif directory).

Starting the Common Desktop Environment

The Common Desktop Environment, or CDE, is a graphical interface with many features common to other commercial operating systems. But it's much more than that: it is without