{"id":34750,"date":"2025-09-26T08:32:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=34750"},"modified":"2025-11-30T18:22:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T23:22:45","slug":"desktop-minimalism-at-its-finest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=34750","title":{"rendered":"Desktop Minimalism at Its Finest"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t know when I discovered the WMX window manager<\/a>. Probably about the time I discovered CTWM, when I was exploring the weird, old avenues that Linux had once traveled down. I was struck immediately by how different<\/i> it looked.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

Instead of the title at the top of the window, it runs down the side!<\/p>\n

There are no buttons to close, maximize, or minimize!<\/p>\n

When the window isn’t active, the frame detaches from the window!<\/p>\n

No icons! No wallpaper! No system tray or application panel!<\/p>\n

It was stark, unique, and extremely minimalist. Just two menus — one to launch a terminal window or switch between windows, one to launch programs. And all the usual functions one would expect — moving windows around the screen, resizing windows, minimizing windows (which makes them disappear, and they can be returned with that first menu).<\/p>\n

I downloaded the source code, compiled it on Linux Mint Debian Edition 6, and I would occasionally pull it out and play with it. I installed feh<\/code> to add a wallpaper and tint2<\/code>, which can be used for a system tray, to have program launchers. As distraction-free as CTWM is, WMX was even more so, and I would sometimes use it for Diamond work…<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

…or just play backgammon.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

One thing you may notice is that the frames on these windows are sort of off-white, and there’s some texture to them, while the terminal window I showed up top, with the detached frame, is dark and matches the Linux Mint color scheme. Was there a configuration file that accomplished this? A .wmxrc in my home directory?<\/p>\n

No, absolutely not. WMX has no configuration files of any kind. I wanted a dark frame? I had to edit the C source code, create a new background graphic, and recompile. Some experimentation was involved, and this webpage<\/a> proved helpful on changing up the frame background. I compiled a version with a dark and textured frame, and I didn’t really care for that. The flatter look fits the Mint aesthetic better, imho.<\/p>\n

I tried out a Conky configuration with WMX. Yes, it’s nice, especially since there’s no clock on the screen or any indication of network status. But I’m not sure about it.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

I didn’t recompile WMX for LMDE7. It’s just one file, the executable, so I copied it over from the LMDE6 drive to the LMDE7 drive, copied over the files that launched it, and tested whether it worked.<\/p>\n

It did.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

No Conky. No launchers with Tint2. Just the menus, like the open that opens a terminal or switches between windows…<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

…or the one, launched with the mouse wheel, that can launch a program.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

If I wanted to make WMX useful, I suppose I would install Rofi<\/code>, then create an entry for the program launcher menu that launches Rofi, which is used to list and launch programs. I use it on EndeavourOS.<\/p>\n

There are some cool behaviors. Use the right mouse button to switch between open programs, not unlike the Windows alt-tab behavior. Hover over a window, and use the mouse wheel to move the program to a new workspace up or down.<\/p>\n

There are a couple of keyboard shortcuts, but nothing really worth writing home about.<\/p>\n

I’ll keep it around. It’s lightweight (I had a browser open on another workspace in the screenshot at top, hence the memory usage), stylish, and unique. When I want retro brutalism mixed with minimalism, I can go with CTWM. And when I want style with my minimalism, I can fire up WMX.<\/p>\n

It’s good to have options, especially if all I need to do is fire up a text editor and write.<\/p>\n

And year, that game of Othello was very bit as decisive as it appears.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t know when I discovered the WMX window manager. Probably about the time I discovered CTWM, when I was exploring the weird, old avenues that Linux had once traveled down. I was struck immediately by how different it looked. Instead of the title at the top of the window, it runs down the side!Continue reading “Desktop Minimalism at Its Finest”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[763],"tags":[5143,4860,5146,5144,5304],"class_list":["post-34750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linux","tag-ctwm","tag-linux-mint","tag-linux-mint-debian-edition","tag-window-manager","tag-wmx","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}