[H-GEN] Desktop wars ..... (no not really)

[Jason Parker-Burlingham]

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Mark Suter <suter at zwitterion.humbug.org.au> writes:

>     #!/bin/sh
>     xset m 4/3 0
>     unclutter &
>     xwrits +breakclock +clock &
>     xscreensaver -no-splash &
>     exec flwm -x -bg darkblue -fg lightblue

Since we're sharing X configurations:

   #!/bin/sh
   xsetroot -solid steelblue4
   esd &
   eval `ssh-agent`
   xrdb -merge ${HOME}/.Xresources
   xset b 50 1250 50
   xwrits &
   unclutter &
   pwm
   eval `ssh-agent -k`

Note how the ssh-agent processes bracket the whole thing[0].  The
first call starts the agent and prints some environment variable
settings to STDOUT, which are captured by the backticks and evaluated
into the environment.  The same program, run with the -k arguments,
emits shell code to unset those variables, and kills the agent.  In
this way I don't have stray SSH agents hanging about and I can type my
passphrases whenever I remember after logging in.

I also highly recommend unclutter for anyone who finds their mouse
pointer to be a pain in the butt---if there is no mouse movement for a
few seconds, the pointer is hidden until required again, which
eliminates another source of distraction.

The various xsetfoo commands set up my backdrop (steelblue4 really
*is* a nice color) and if you are not already using xwrits you
probably should be.  Frequent typing breaks are essential.

Oh, and this is the X resources file, sans comments:

   WTerm*scrollBar:      False
   WTerm*font:           6x10
   
   XDvi.expert:          True
   XDvi.shrinkFactor:    9
   
   Emacs.font:           6x13

Wterm is a pretty useful terminal emulator, though I wish I had
smaller fonts available to me.  Certainly I don't think the GNOME
or KDE terminals are much snuff.

I find it useful to keep my X session file and other files (like my
crontab and procmailrc) in files named like ~/XSESSION and ~/CRONTAB;
that way the dotfile form can be a symlink to said file and the whole
mess can easily be kept under RCS in ~/RCS.  I haven't had to mess
about remembering what I last did to these files in a long, long time
now.

The other benefit is that ~/XSESSION has links to it from ~/.xsession
and ~/.xinitrc, so I'll have exactly the same environment if I start
the X server from the console by running startx or so.

Oh, and pwm is probably one of the lightest window managers out
there:

   $ ps awwux | grep [p]wm
   henry      618  0.0  0.5  2504  668 ?        S    Jun17   0:03 pwm

It manages windows, offers a tabbed interface (drag the title bar with
the middle mouse button to some other window and both windows will
share that frame from then on---useful to manage your emacs windows
and terminals, say), and has a quite straightforward config file for
setting key bindings if you don't want to have to use a rodent.

Combined with my .screenrc and my .emacs (not included), that's my
whole environment.  Nifty, no?

jason, sad to have left ion far behind *sniff*

[0] : Looking at my process list just now I'm not sure that Debian
      isn't running ssh-agent for me, so this may be a bit moot.  But
      the idea is sound and will work on any system, I think.
-- 
Stay up-to-date on what I'm doing lately:
                                 http://www.panix.com/~jasonp

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