Going Retro

As we approach the year 2024, there’s really no need for this.

Linux Mint 21.2, running the CTWM window manager.

I installed CTWM, an old X11 window manager from the early early 90s, on Linux Mint, and it’s not the first time I’ve done this. CTWM is the sort of thing I read about in Byte in those days and never experienced for myself, and I’ve been slowly cobbling together a configuration file based on the colors of the Mint-Y-Dark theme and building a menu based on the Cinnamon default. I started with the configuration file that came with the Debian package, read through it, and started building off of that. The file’s not exactly intuitive, but it’s also not super cryptic. There’s a rhyme and a reason, though I may feel differently when I get into looking at the keyboard shortcuts.

Getting the wallpaper to work, by the way, was a pain in the butt.

You know what, though? It looks pretty sharp. Sure, a 1991 X11 window is clunky and old-fashioned and isn’t any sort of polished as you’d see today, but that’s what makes it cool. No rounded corners. Big, chonky borders. Wireframes you drag around the screen and drop before CTWM launches the app. The strangest window controls you will ever see. It’s a completely different world, and, yeah, it looks pretty dang sharp. 🙂

Linux Mint 21.2, running the CTWM window manager, will windows open to my remote desktop at work and a terminal

More as events develop. Not a priority.

Published by Allyn Gibson

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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