Desktop environment based on Fvwm

USAGE

First Start

Fvwm-Nightshade checks while your first login if ~/.fvwm-nightshade exist. If not FNS-BaseSetup dialog appears where you can change things like desktop size, used theme and font, which layout, default terminal and browser you want.

After clicking "Apply" your settings will be activated and Fvwm-Nightshade is ready to use. If you want to change the settings again you can do that over the menu point

Configuration -> Fvwm-Nightshade -> FNS Base Setup

Desktop Organisation

Four different desktop layouts are available:

  • Horizontal (default)

  • Vertical

  • G2like (Gnome 2 based)

  • Klike (KDE based)

You can change it via FNS-BaseSetup or over the menu

Configuration -> Fvwm-Nightshade -> Decorations -> Layouts

Below each layout is described in detail.

Horizontal Layout

The Horizontal Layout has 3 elements at the top of the screen. It consists from left to right.

The "Global Iconman" Taskbar

It is a vertical growing winlist holding each window on the current page as a horizontal bar labeled with the name and the title of each window. It moves down if the mouse hovers over the right vertical bar labeled with "Global Iconman". If the mouse hovers over one of the horizontal bars the window related to this bar gets the focus.

There are some mouse bindings available:

  • double clicking or scroll down on a bar iconify the window

  • double clicking or scroll up on a bar deiconify the window

  • right clicking on a bar opens a windows operation menu

The Pager

It is a miniature illustration of up to 10 virtual desktop pages (10x1) with mini windows. By clicking on each of a segment you can change the page. Also you can move each window from one page to another with holding down the middle mouse button. If you hover over a mini window it shows the name and the title of it.

There are also some key combinations available:

  • Shift-Ctrl and Arrow key right/left switch to the next/previous page.

  • Shift-Ctrl and number 1-0 switch to page 1-10.

  • Shift-Alt and Arrow key right/left moves the active window to the next/previous page.

  • Shift-Alt and number 1-0 moves the active window to page 1-10.

The Panel

It contains from left to right:

  • The root menu. It opens by left clicking the Fvwm-Nightshade icon.

  • The systemtray with application applets. The amount of visible applets depends on the screen width. If more applets in the systray than representable a bar on the left and right side appears while hovering over the left or right end of the tray. With scrolling the mouse wheel you can move throug the applets.

  • A cpu graph with percentage. With right click on the applet area an opertion menu appears with the possibility to restart the applet or open the governor-tool FNS-CpuPerformance to handle cpufreq or cpupower settings.

  • A Clock and date applet. With right click on the applet area an opertion menu appears with the possibility to open a calender or an alarm clock. Is it also possible to set the clock and date but root or sudo permission is required. Sometimes this applets have problems to swallow into the panel. With the last point it can tried to restart.

The maximum size of a window is limited by Fvwm its' EwmhBaseStruts. So it will maximum growing underneath the horizontal elements. You can use Alt-F11 to grow the window to the whole screen.

Vertical Layout

The Vertical Layout has 3 elements on the right side of the screen. It consists from above to below:

The Panel

It contains from above to below:

  • A Clock and date applet. With right click on the applet area an opertion menu appears with the possibility to open a calender or an alarm clock. Is it also possible to set the clock and date but root or sudo permission is required. Sometimes this applets have problems to swallow into the panel. With the last point it can tried to restart.

  • A cpu graph with percentage. With right click on the applet area an opertion menu appears with the possibility to restart the applet or open the governor-tool FNS-CpuPerformance to handle cpufreq or cpupower settings.

  • The systemtray with application applets. The amount of visible applets depends on the screen width. If more applets in the systray than representable a bar on the left and right side appears while hovering over the left or right end of the tray. With scrolling the mouse wheel you can move throug the applets.

  • The root menu. It opens by left clicking the Fvwm-Nightshade icon.

  • The winlist. It opens a window with all windows by left clicking on the winlist icon.

The Pager

It is a miniature illustration of up to 10 virtual desktop pages (10x1 or 5x2) with mini windows. By clicking on each of a segment you can change the page. Also you can move each window from one page to another with holding down the middle mouse button. If you hover over a mini window it shows the name and the title of it.

There are also some key combinations available:

  • Shift-Ctrl and Arrow key right/left/up/down switch to the next/previous/upper/down page.

  • Shift-Ctrl and number 1-0 switch to page 1-10.

  • Shift-Alt and Arrow key right/left/up/down moves the active window to the next/previous/upper/down page.

  • Shift-Alt and number 1-0 moves the active window to page 1-10.

The "Global Iconman" Taskbar

It is a vertical growing winlist holding each window on the current page as a horizontal bar labeled with the name and the title of each window. It moves down if the mouse hovers over the left vertical bar labeled with "Global Iconman". If the mouse hovers over one of the horizontal bars the window related to this bar gets the focus.

There are some mouse bindings available:

  • double clicking or scroll down on a bar iconify the window.

  • double clicking or scroll up on a bar deiconify the window.

  • right clicking on a bar opens a windows operation menu.

The maximum size of a window is limited by Fvwm its' EwmhBaseStruts. So it will maximum growing left to the vertical elements. You can use Alt-F11 to grow the window to the whole screen.

G2like Layout

The G2like layout is based on the Gnome 2 layout. It consist two panels - one on the top and one on the bottom of the screen.

The Top Panel

This panel contains from left to right:

  • The root menu. It opens by left clicking the Fvwm-Nightshade icon.

  • The personal/favorite menu. It opens by left clicking the bookmark icon.

  • The systemtray with application applets. The amount of visible applets depends on the screen width. If more applets in the systray than representable a bar on the left and right side appears while hovering over the left or right end of the tray. With scrolling the mouse wheel you can move through the applets.

  • A cpu graph with percentage. With right click on the applet area an opertion menu appears with the possibility to restart the applet or open the governor-tool FNS-CpuPerformance to handle cpufreq or cpupower settings.

  • A Clock and date applet. With right click on the applet area an opertion menu appears with the possibility to open a calender or an alarm clock. Is it also possible to set the clock and date but root or sudo permission is required. Sometimes this applets have problems to swallow into the panel. With the last point it can tried to restart.

  • The Exit menu. It opens by left clicking the exit icon.

The Bottom Panel

This panel contains from left to right:

  • The "Show desktop" button. It iconify/deiconify all windows on the current page.

  • The "Global Iconman" Taskbar. It is a winlist holding each window on the current page as a horizontal bar labeled with the name and the title of each window. If the mouse hovers over one of the horizontal bars the window related to this bar gets the focus.

    There are some mouse bindings available:

    • double clicking or scroll down on a bar iconify the window.

    • double clicking or scroll up on a bar deiconify the window.

    • right clicking on a bar opens a windows operation menu.

  • The Pager. It is a miniature illustration of up to 10 virtual desktop pages (10x1) with mini windows. By clicking on each of a segment you can change the page. Also you can move each window from one page to another with holding down the middle mouse button. If you hover over a mini window it shows the name and the title of it.

    There are also some key combinations available:

  • Shift-Ctrl and Arrow key right/left switch to the next/previous page.

  • Shift-Ctrl and number 1-0 switch to page 1-10.

  • Shift-Alt and Arrow key right/left moves the active window to the next/previous page.

  • Shift-Alt and number 1-0 moves the active window to page 1-10.

The maximum size of a window is limited by Fvwm its' EwmhBaseStruts. So it will maximum growing inbetween the two panels. You can use Alt-F11 to grow the window to the whole screen.

Klike Layout

The Klike layout is based on the KDE layout. It consists one bottom panel.

The Bottom Panel

This panel contains from left to right:

  • The root menu. It opens by left clicking the Fvwm-Nightshade icon.

  • The "Show desktop" button. It iconify/deiconify all windows on the current page.

  • The "Global Iconman" Taskbar. It is a winlist holding each window on the current page as a horizontal bar labeled with the name and the title of each window. If the mouse hovers over one of the horizontal bars the window related to this bar gets the focus.

    There are some mouse bindings available:

    • double clicking or scroll down on a bar iconify the window.

    • double clicking or scroll up on a bar deiconify the window.

    • right clicking on a bar opens a windows operation menu.

  • The Pager. It is a miniature illustration of up to 10 virtual desktop pages (10x1) with mini windows. By clicking on each of a segment you can change the page. Also you can move each window from one page to another with holding down the middle mouse button. If you hover over a mini window it shows the name and the title of it.

    There are also some key combinations available:

  • Shift-Ctrl and Arrow key right/left switch to the next/previous page.

  • Shift-Ctrl and number 1-0 switch to page 1-10.

  • Shift-Alt and Arrow key right/left moves the active window to the next/previous page.

  • Shift-Alt and number 1-0 moves the active window to page 1-10.

  • The systemtray with application applets. The amount of visible applets depends on the screen width. If more applets in the systray than representable a bar on the left and right side appears while hovering over the left or right end of the tray. With scrolling the mouse wheel you can move through the applets.

  • A cpu graph with percentage. With right click on the applet area an opertion menu appears with the possibility to restart the applet or open the governor-tool FNS-CpuPerformance to handle cpufreq or cpupower settings.

  • A Clock and date applet. With right click on the applet area an opertion menu appears with the possibility to open a calender or an alarm clock. Is it also possible to set the clock and date but root or sudo permission is required. Sometimes this applets have problems to swallow into the panel. With the last point it can tried to restart.

The maximum size of a window is limited by Fvwm its' EwmhBaseStruts. So it will maximum growing above the panel. You can use Alt-F11 to grow the window to the whole screen.

Root Menu

The Root menu is the main menu of Fvwm-Nightshade. You can call it in different areas with mouse or key combinations:

  • In the root area with left click or with Alt+F1 or with the left Window key. If icons on desktop are enabled the menu is moved around to the right click desktop menu because PcmanFm offered this feature take the root window is under its' control.

  • In each window area or in an iconified windows with Alt+left click.

Personal Applications

The Personal Applications menu is for your favorite applications. As you open it the first entry is a graphical tool to choose applications or folders from the application menus found on the system. Also it is possible to create own application or folder entries. Entries can be sorted with drag’n'drop.

For more information about the graphical tool see manpage of FNS-MenuBuilder.

XDG Application Menus

Below of the Personal Applications menu all XDG related application menus found on the system are listed. No, not all. Only the important ones. You can configure the choice with "Regenerate (XDG) Menu".

Regenerate (XDG) Menu

The "Regenerate (XDG) Menu" point is to reconfigure or refresh the XDG application menus after software installation.

For information about each possibility hover over the widgets to get a help tip or click on the "Help" button on the bottom. This will open the man page of fns-menu-desktop the main tool behind FNS-MenuConfigurator.

Configuration

In this menu you find parts to configure the look and feel of Fvwm-Nightshade. But also some tools for Gtk and Qt applications if they are installed.

Fvwm

Here you can configure the animation how windows iconify/deiconify and how FvwmForm windows appear (font, color, background).

Fvwm-Nightshade

Here you can configure the background, the composite manager, which theme and layout you want, the look of your Gtk and Qt applications, the base settings and window behaviour of Fvwm-Nightshade.

System

Here you can configure the keyboard, mouse, time and date, xscreensaver and, if you have a multi cpu system your CPU governor settings.

Help

In this menu you’ll find many helps for Fvwm (websites, manpages), Fvwm-Nightshade and other programs like manpage viewers, online helps, etc.

Fvwm modules

In this menu you can start and stop Fvwm modules on the fly. Also a submenu directory exists for useful FvwmForms.

Window Operations

Fvwm-Nightshade have different "WinOps" menus. You can call them on different places but here you find all of them ^^.

Lock Screen

If you have configured xscreensaver you can activate the lock screen by clicking this menu point. Or with the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+L.

Run Command

If you want to run a program you can open a mini window to enter your command. Or with Alt+F2.

Terminal

This menu point opens your favorite terminal set with Fvwm-Nightshades base setup.

Quit

This menu gives you the possibility to restart, refresh, quit, suspend or hibernate Fvwm-Nightshade.

Bindings

Fvwm-Nightshade has some bindings for mouse and keyboard combinations. There are some for general and for theme related purpose.

Below they are all listed.

Mouse

Mouse bindings are assigned to areas:

Root Area

Button 1: Root menu.

Button 2: Window list.

Button 3: Desktop menu. If you have configured icons on desktop there’s a root menu, too.

Windows Area

Button 1: Root menu with ALT + click.

Button 2: Drag + ALT moves window, raise or lower with ALT + click.

Windows Decoration Area
Titlebar, corners and sides

Button 1: Drag moves window, maximize on double click.

Button 2: Drag moves window, raise or lower with click.

Button 3: WindowOpsTrimmed menu with click, MenuWindowOpsFull menu with ALT + click.

Button 4/5: Rolling wheel on titlebar up/down shades/unshades.

Left Button

Button 1: shows WindowOpsTrimmed menu.

Button 2: shows Move to page menu.

Button 3: shows WindowOps group menu.

Close Button

Every button closes the window.

Maximize Button

Button 1: maximize window.

Button 2: maximize window vertically.

Button 2 + Alt: maximize window horizontally.

Button 3: maximize window smart.

Minimize Button

Button 1: iconify window.

Button 2: iconify group of same window resources.

Button 3: iconify/deiconify group of same window resources.

Anywhere

Button 4/5: Switch to page left/right with Shift-Ctrl + rolling wheel up/down anywhere.

Button 4/5: Switch with active window to page left/right with Shift-Alt + rolling wheel up/down anywhere.

Help

With Shift-Ctrl-Alt + Click you get a help of each mouse binding. For example you hold Shift-Ctrl-Alt + click on the minimize button and get a messagebox with all minimize bindings.

If you want to change them you have to edit the bindings in your favorite theme. Create a "themes" folder in the <user> directory and copy the complete theme directory into it. Rename the theme folder. Then open the "decor" file and edit the mouse bindings. After loading your customized theme by clicking its name in

Configuration -> Fvwm-Nightshade -> Decoration -> Decors

you have it ^^

Keys

Key bindings are also assigned to different parts:

Window related

Alt + F4

Close active window.

Alt + F6

Cycle between same resource windows.

Alt + F7

Move active window.

Alt + F8

Resize active window.

Alt + F9

Minimize active window.

Alt + F10

Maximize/restore active window.

Alt + F11

Maximize active window to fullscreen and back.

Alt + F12

Identify active window.

Alt + Tab

Switching focus to next window.

Alt-Shift + Tab

Switching focus to previous window.

Alt-Ctrl + D

Hide/unhide all windows.
Page related

Shift-Ctrl + 1-0

Switch to page 1-10.

Shift-Ctrl + cursor right/left

Switch to page right/left.

Shift-Ctrl + cursor up/down

Switch to page up/down (only used in Vertical Layout).

Shift-Alt-Ctrl + cursor right/left

Scroll right/left by 10% of a page.

Shift-Alt-Ctrl + cursor up/down

Scroll up/down by 10% of a page.

Ctrl-Alt + cursor right/left

Move mouse pointer right/left by 1% of a page.

Ctrl-Alt + cursor up/down

Move mouse pointer up/down by 1% of a page.

Shift-Alt + 1-0

Switch to page 1-10 with active window.

Shift-Alt + Cursor right/left

Switch to page right/left with active window.

Shift-Alt + Cursor up/down

Switch to page up/down with active window (only used in Vertical Layout).
General

Print

Screenshot of the whole desktop (page).

Alt + Print

Screenshot of the active window.

Alt-Ctrl + L

Lock Screen.

Alt-Ctrl + T

Launch your favorite terminal.

Windows

Open root menu.

Alt + F1

Open root menu.

Alt + F2

Launch run dialog box.

Alt + F3

Show window list.

Shift-Ctrl + F1

Open full windows oops menu.

Shift-Ctrl + F2

Launch FvwmConsole.
Help

With Shift-Ctrl-Alt + a special key you get a message box with the related key bindings (the same as with mouse bindings)

Shift-Ctrl-Alt + A

Help message for all Alt bindings.

Shift-Ctrl-Alt + C

Help message for all Ctrl bindings.

Shift-Ctrl-Alt + P

Help message for all Page bindings.

Shift-Ctrl-Alt + H

Help message for summary.

To change the key bindings to your own needs copy <system>/share/fvwm-nightshade/.bindings in the <user> directory and edit it. After a restart of Fvwm-Nightshade the new key bindings are available.