Hah... first time I installed Gentoo years ago, I didn't sleep the whole weekend, and went to work on Monday looking like a heroin-addicted refugee ... and I still broke the install after all that >_<


Forgot to tell you that you'll need alsa (or alsa-base) for sound.

Never used SLIM before. It's always been standard startx or XDM for me. Try this;
http://rustyshacklefordslibrarycard.wordpr...debian-squeeze/

For wireless, install wicd. Then type "wicd-curses" to set up your wireless.


I dunno. I remember reading something about it (you'll have to blacklist your pc-beep speaker), I'll search for the solution tomorrow.... I cannot stay awake already... very tired X_X

This post has been edited by G-17: Mar 8 2011, 09:04 PM

Yup, i got alsa up pretty fast. SLiM is done too. I'm reaching limit already. Gotta sleep. Good nighte man

---

Added on March 5, 2011, 9:27 pmAlright, I'm stumped. I can't get transparent xterm on scrotwm. What other x-terminal-emulator is there which supports transparency?

This post has been edited by farkinid: Mar 5 2011, 09:27 PM

I use URxvt (rxvt-unicode package in Debian repos) which can easily do pseudo-transparency. The scrotwm.conf I shared is configured to open URxvt, and the .Xdefaults are configured for URxvt also. If you want something a bit easier to configure (as in right-click and use the GUI) then xfce4-terminal is pretty decent.

Note: If you decide to go for URxvt, then download them via apt-get for your system, and then go here and grab the package available for Sid/Unstable;
http://packages.debian.org/sid/rxvt-unicode
That version has support for 256-colors (good for certain VIM themes) as well as real transparency if you have compositing installed and enabled in your WM/DE. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and grab the deb package for your architecture. You'll need gdebi installed to extract .deb files, obviously. Dependencies should be satisfied already if you installed the prior version via apt.

This post has been edited by G-17: Mar 6 2011, 12:41 AM

hmm that sounds good but I can't find the scrotwm.conf here.

Also, I've already played around with SLiM and Midnight Commander. Just don't have the brain power to handle Scrot right now. Will appreciate your conf file.

create 1 in ~/

refer to this post by G
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...&#entry38616789

Gaah ... sorry... just realized I didn't actually post the link >_<

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1637124/+121
Read, download and place the config where it's supposed to go.
Also includes a basic .Xdefaults with one of my colorschemes to match the .scrotwm.conf colors, and also a .bashrc if you want (it's pretty basic though ... I haven't used a bashrc in a while since I migrated to zsh)

Edit: you might need to modify some of the quirks that control the floating behaviour, since I configured it for other people who use Nautilus as their primary FM.

---

Added on March 6, 2011, 5:18 amEdit2: Regarding that speaker beep you mentioned yesterday, I found I had a similar issue on my old ThinkPad earlier today. This was in Gentoo, but should work universally on any Linux system.

As root, open up your /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf with your desired editor.

Then add this to the end;


Save.

Fire up your terminal and do this to unload the pcspkr module.


Worked for me, and I hope it does the trick for you too.

This post has been edited by G-17: Mar 6 2011, 07:49 AM

thanks man

yup, I've done the annoying beeps already. thanks.

As for the scrotwm.conf, I wonder whats going to happen since I already chose to use Midnight Commander as my file manager. Its pretty lightweight and highly configurable but really configuration heavy.

Well, you just comment out the Nautilus quirk (I think I only put 1 in there), since you'll usually start MC in a term, or if you want a keycombo to launch it, you can do "urxvt -e mc" (if you're using urxvt, that is).

As for Midnight Commander, it all depends on the user's level of comfort. I used to be a huge fan or Norton Commander (which MC is based on), so transitioning to MC was natural for me. Recently, I've gotten more mileage with Ranger (you'll have to install from source) with it's Vi keybindings and simple layout. Other CLI file managers you can try are Vifm and FDclone, both are in standard Debian repos. I prefer CLI, but one disadvantage some people might not be able to live with is the lack of USB/SD-card hotplugging support. Depends on the user.

There's nothing wrong with using a graphical file manager, but most people who use lightweight window managers tend to prefer lighter types like Thunar, Gentoo or PCmanFM.

If you need any other assistance with regards to ScrotWM (or any other WM, for that matter), feel free to ask. Some people have had trouble getting their startup apps and wallpaper to when when starting ScrotWM, for example. It's just a matter of creating a simple script, making it executable, and have your GDM/SLIM/.xinitrc config point to it.

Cheers~

This post has been edited by G-17: Mar 6 2011, 07:56 PM

Thanks man. I've already gotten the wallpaper up and running. I know how to get the startup apps running (I think) but I haven't done it because I don't really want anything running on boot. Basically I've decided to let SLIM do the startups.

---

Added on March 7, 2011, 12:15 pmOh crap, need some help with midnight commander. I can't seem to open .zip files. I'm not sure what software to use. For .tar.gz files MC uses utar. Oh wai... i got it..... nvm...

On a side note, Arch users are called Archers. Slackware guys are called Slackers, what about debian guys then?

Oh great, another problem. I just realized my touchpad is either scroll enabled or tap-click enabled. On default installation, the scroll on the touchpad was working. But after I managed to get my tap-click, the scroll has been disabled.

Tried using gpointing-device-settings to enable both at the time but it doesn't seem to find the touchpad. 'sudo tpconfig' shows that Synaptic touchpad found, firmware 8.96. Pretty confused now.

This post has been edited by farkinid: Mar 7 2011, 04:43 PM

Huh what?!
Can or not?


Human beings. Debian is the "Universal Operating System" after all.
I tend to use Archtards and Debtards (from Retard) and Slackbums.
I have no idea what I am, though... seeing as I have all these (and more) installed on various systems.... Maybe B*stard or Pariah


Hmm ... I'm unfamiliar with gpointing device (been years since I used that syntax).
I mostly use synclient (not sure if your touchpad supports it or not, but should be since you said it found Synaptics pointing device on your system) and have the variables in a script I use to start ScrotWM (or relevant autostart files for other wm)

For example, I have my power manager, screensaver, touchpad synclient variables, wallpaper (with feh) and thunar daemon (for when I need USB drag n drop) included to start right before I start scrotwm. I name the script "scrotwm.sh", put it in my $PATH (/bin in my case) and make it executable, and have an "exec scrotwm.sh" line in my .xinitrc (you can do the same for SLIM or GDM, though I'm not sure if the 'exec' is required)

Here's an example;


You don't really need this script if you can just figure out how to insert the relevant synclient variables in your SLIM config. I just posted that for future reference, just in case.

You can do "synclient -l" in terminal to see what variables are enabled/disabled. There's also the more modular method of editing the synaptics.conf file. See here; https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Touchpad_Synaptics

TBH, I don't really bother with touchpad functionality, since one can almost completely forget about the mouse in Tiling WMs ..... except for browsing certain sites that aren't Pentadactyl/Vimperator compatible, or apps like Gimp/Inkscape/etc.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Btw, you might want to rename the thread title (if possible), since it's morphed from "Ubuntu GDM Login Broken" to "Farkinid's Adventures With Debian & Tiling WMs"

This post has been edited by G-17: Mar 8 2011, 03:02 AM

Ok, thread renamed. Enjoy

As for the touchpad, the following works :-

Now I gotta make it run on boot. I've figured out why it didn't use to work though. I had created touchpad.conf and placed it into the modprobe.d folder. That managed to get my click-tap on but disabled scroll. Once I deleted the conf and ran synclient, it worked.

I'm curious though, if I put the synclient command into touchpad.conf, will it work? We'll find out later today I guess.

---

Added on March 8, 2011, 11:22 amOh, 1 more thing. I'm stumped. How do I take a screenshot? (stop laughing at me). I tried using screenshot.sh and put it in ~/bin. But when I do that, instead of getting a screenshot, I get the same buzz I used to get before I blacklisted pcspkr.

This post has been edited by farkinid: Mar 8 2011, 11:22 AM

Why would I laugh at you?


Are you sure your ~/bin is in your $PATH

To see what's in your current $PATH, do this in terminal;


...and to add your~/bin to $PATH, do this;

Replace 'xxxx' with your user name

With regards to screenshots, I don't use ScrotWM's included screenshot script. I prefer simple scrot.
Note: scrot and scrotwm are totally different packages. the former is a screenshot taking tool and the latter is the wm.

just "apt-get install scrot" and then use it from terminal

Examples:
scrot = takes instant screenshot
scrot -d x = takes screenshot after x delay (replace x with a number for seconds)
scrot -cd x = same as above, but it displays a visual countdown for you. (see my last screenshot in the screenshot thread here)

You can do "man scrot" in terminal for more variables, or refer here = http://pwet.fr/man/linux/commandes/scrot



P.S
Could you remove the "Hosted by" part from the thread title. Very embarassing/paiseh/malu lah.

This post has been edited by G-17: Mar 8 2011, 12:42 PM

Yup, my path is definitely ~/bin. I checked before I cp-d the script there.

I also already have scrot. The screenshot.sh bash script uses scrot to take the picture. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong though. Will read through man scrot. (I hope my boss doesn't realize that I'm pretending to work instead of actually working).

As for the title... NO! I like it there
Having your name there will give newbies comfort that they are getting info from a guru instead of just farkinid.

Edit : ok after reading thru the man. I think i got it. Attached is result

This post has been edited by farkinid: Mar 8 2011, 01:06 PM


Attached thumbnail(s)

^ Wah!! ... that's a very serious looking desktop, girl!!

Now you should start theming it.
Start with your .Xdefaults
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=51818&p=1
http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic/99...ith-screenshot/

I assume you're on the default bash/dash shell (rather than zsh or ksh)
Look here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Color_Bash_Prompt

Edit: to theme MC, look here:
http://plug-and-pray.blogspot.com/2009/09/...ders-color.html

Also try these wonderful Term Apps;

IRC: Weechat, Irssi

IM : CenterIM, Finch

RSS/Atom Feeds: Newsbeuter, Snownews, Raggle

Mail: Alpine, Mutt
Alpine is easier to set up. Mutt can be a b*tch, but is highly customizable

Browser: Elinks, W3m, Links2

Audio: MoC, MPD/Ncmpcpp, Cmus, Orpheus
I personally use MoC because of it's in-built EQ, but many people like Ncmpcpp

Video: Mplayer. use "mplayer -msgcolor -msgmodule file.extension" to get colored output like this. You can set an alias for it in your ~/.bashrc

Editor: Vim

Here's a great blog by a friend from the Arch/Ubuntu forums.
http://kmandla.wordpress.com/

This post has been edited by G-17: Mar 8 2011, 09:56 PM

Just want to share my Great Debian Tiling Wm Adventure.. hosted by G-17

1. My Volume buttons won't work out of the box. I had to add this lines into .scrotwmconf to enable it.



2. Instead of "feh --bg-scale <insertpath>" i use "sh ~/.fehbg" to change my wallpaper so i don't have to reedit the path in my startup script everytime i want to change it.

3. I had to put "cpufreq-set -g ondemand" in my startup script to set my cpu scaling to Ondemand. Default is Performance.

@farkinid
do you have dmenu installed?

Thanks, I like serious looking desktops. Makes me look like a serious computer geek & virgin for life

Yes actually, I do have dmenu. Thanks for the keyboard volume shortcuts. I was wondering how to do it but wasn't high on priority (being forced to listen to myFM everyday makes me play my music loud)

This is actually a vety good suggestion. Thanks for pointing this out.
I thought most recent versions of Debian came with cpufreq defaulting to "ondemand" via Kernel parameters. "cpufreq-info" in terminal has always showed "ondemand" being selected for most Debian installs I've done this past year or so.
Maybe it doesn't default for AMD processors... Hmmm

Doesn't apt automatically pull in dmenu when you install the scrotwm (or dwm) package? It would be strange if it didn't, seeing as the default scrotwm.conf already has a dmenu launching entry in it, and scrotwm's bar is designed to seamlessly transition to dmenu.

___________________________________________________________________________

BTW, since this is tilingWM thread, I have some old DWM, Awesome and Xmonad configs lying around. I don't use these WMs anymore, but I can post them if anyone wants to try em out one day. I offer no support though, especially for Awesome (cos it's a pain in the a**)

Cheers.

OK, you guys have been a great help. But I have to ask a really really really really noob question now. I've been trying to get

to run on boot the last 4 days with no luck. What am I missing?

I'm a little confused with xinit, xsession and slim.

1. I had to set it on Ubuntu Maverick before. No problem in Crunchbang.

2. Oh yeah i forgot about that.

It's not a noob question. Nothing to be embarassed about, dear.

xinit usually means .xinitrc ..... It's a file people create to start X manually via typing "startx" in your tty upon boot.

xsession usually means /usr/share/xsession directory. here you create relevant .desktop files for GDM to pick up. If you had GDM installed before you installed scrotwm, then apt would most probably create a scrotwm.desktop entry there for you.

slim, I'm not so sure, as I've never used it before (I'm mostly a .xinitrc guy)
Maybe you can paste your slim config file here and I'll see what I can do.
You remember the script I showed a few posts above. You can try creating one and put your relevant start daemons in it like I showed you (make sure you end with the sleep and scrotwm lines) and make it executable and put it in /bin (or anywhere, actually) and then set your slim to start that script instead of the scrotwm executable.