Skywave Linux 5 certainly looks somewhat similar to version 4, with the
window manager, and DWM is set up to work much like i3 from
version 4. As before, it is less of a Windows-like "point and click" system
and more of a "hotkeys and motions" based system. You can slice through tasks
very quickly indeed, once your hands have a bit of muscle memory. If you want to
make your own changes to the setup, edit the Simple X Hot Key Daemon (SXHKD)
configuration file or DWM config definitions..
After Start Up
When the boot process completes, you will see a basic desktop: wallpaper and
a status bar along the top edge of the screen. To open up a start menu use the
key combination [Super] + [R]. The super key is
usually the "Windows" key. Rofi is the launcher which will show you a
list of available applications, with the most frequently used at the top. You can
open an app by scrolling to it and pressing [Enter] or by double
clicking it. Also, you can enter the applications name on the top line and Rofi
will filter out apps which don't correspond to the letters you enter.
For example, Twitgrid appears in the menu; putting "twi" on the top line clears
out all of the other items. Hit the [Enter] key and in a split
second you have Twitgrid's first menu. When you know that, pulling up your favorite
apps is easy, fast, and friction free.
Several applications are available without the need for Rofi. These are
opened with combinations of hotkeys. These are often used, and
quickly become second nature in muscle memory:
- Network Manager (Dmenu)... [Super] + [N]
- Bluetooth Manager... [Super] + [B]
- Internet browser Firefox... [Super] + [I]
- File Manager Thunar... [Super] + [F]
- Video and music player Smplayer... [Super] + [D]
- Radio Playlist... [Super] + [S]
- Terminal emulator Alacritty... [Super] + [Enter]
or [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [T]
Workspaces
Nine workspaces are available, numbered 1 through 9. To open a workspace and
immediately go to it, use the hotkeys [Super] + [1 ... 9].
For example, [Super] + [2] opens Workspace 2 and
moves you to it. You can open applications in that workspace and they will remain
there. I often have anywhere from two to four applications running in a workspace.
When things get too crowded I go to another workspace to open any more applications.
To move a window from one workspace to another, you must make it the active
window first. Click it or navigate to it with the keyboard. Try opening a few
windows and navigating through them with [Super] + [H]
or [Super] + [L]. Have
you noticed? Vim keys H J K Lare frequently used for moving about,
as are the arrow keys. Okay back on topic: the active window is moved to another
workspace with the hotkey combination [Shift] + [Super]
+ [1 ... 9]. Try [Shift] + [Super]
+ [4] to move a window to Workspace 4. It moves, but you do not
move with it! You are essentially decluttering your present workspace by moving
windows out to other workspaces. Move yourself to another workspace with
[Super] plus the apropriate number key.
What about closing windows when you are finished with an application? Use
[Ctrl] + [Q] on the active window and the
window will close. If you are in an application which uses tabs, like Thunar,
close the active tab with [Ctrl] + [W].
Your terminal emulator is different, though. It runs in Tmux, the terminal
multiplexer, and [Ctrl] + [Q] closes only the window.
The terminal session behind that window continues to run. So, kill your terminals
with the exit command. The Vim-like
:q also closes a terminal session.
The Scratchpad
There are times when you want a window open and an app working in it, but do
not want it to clutter your screen. Use the scratchpad, the invisible workspace
where you can put windows out of sight. To do it, use [Super] +
[Shift] + [F1]. It is similar to moving an
application to another workspace, but instead of assigning a number, the assignment
is [F1].
To toggle the view of a window in the scratchpad, use [Super] +
[F1]. If multiple windows are in the scratchpad, each view is toggled
on and off with that hotkey combination. To move a window from the scratchpad to
your current workspace, first make it visible with [Super] +
[F1], then unfloat it with [Super] +
[Shift] + [Space].
The Two Column Desktop Layout
The windows are automatically arranged in two columns, similar to the well
known "master and stack" arrangement. There is one large "master" window. If
there is only one window in the workspace, it occupies the whole screen. If more
windows are opened, the first one is resized to take slightly more than half of the
area on the left and the second one occupies the right half. Subsequent new windows
open in a vertical stack, dividing the right column equally. Thus, the master
window keeps its half of the area as one column, but the other column contains all
of the windows opened later.
Any of the small windows in the stack may be "promoted" to master by first
making it active, then using the hotkey combination [Super] +
[P]. The application in the master window will then swap places
with the application in the stack. If you use [Super] +
[P] when the master window is active, it will be demoted,
swapping places with the top window in the stack. Suppose there are only two
windows open in a workspace? They will share the workspace area in a 50/50
two column arrangement. Using [Super] + [P] will
cause the windows to trade places, flipping between the left and right columns.
Resizing and Moving Windows
The column borders may be shifted to the left or right by adjusting the active
window with [H] and [L] keys. Remember: [H]
moves the boundary to the left while [L] moves the boundary to the
right. This is a key difference from the i3 window manager.
Floating Windows
Windows may be pulled up and out of the tiled layout and set to floating mode.
To float any window, first make it active by either clicking in it or navigating
to it with keys. Then, use the hotkeys [Super] + [Shift]
+ [Space] to toggle floating mode. To push the window back down into
the tiles, use [Super] + [Shift]
+ [Space] again. It is the same key combination: you are toggling the floating
mode on and off for the active window.
Use caution, because the floating window is not required to stay active.
Open a new window or click on an existing tiled window, and that one becomes
active, even with any number floating windows above it.
Floating windows are easily moved with the mouse. Hold the [Super]
key and left click on the window, then drag it to a new position on the screen. To
resize a floating window, hold the [Super] key and rignt click on
the window, then drag to resize it.
Shutting Down or Rebooting
To shut down or reboot your machine, you have some options. The most user
friendly way is to use the hotkey combination [Super] +
[Shift] + [E], which brings up an exit dialogue.
Scroll or hit a key: [L] for log out, [S]
for shut down, or [R] for reboot. Enter to make it
happen. Other key combinations bring up the same dialogue: [Ctrl]
+ [Alt] + [Delete].
In the application launcher (Rofi), running System Shutdown will open
the exit dialogue. You can find it easily by entering "sy" in Rofi to filter out
most of the other apps in the list.
Reloading DWM
To kill and restart the DWM window manager, use
[Super] + [Shift] + [R].
Clearing the User Session
Sometimes you may have problems with a troublesome application, or for another
reason you want to clear out the whole session, leave, and be logged back in.
Use [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Backapace].
It will kill your user session and restart it, logging you back in to find an
empty desktop ready to work. Outside of your user session, the system never
stopped: networking continues, root processes continue.
These are a few of many ways to interact with your computer through DWM and
the hotkeys which have been set up for this system. They probably are not
perfect for everyone, but they work well in most cases. To go further, consider
setting up your own persistent Linux system and tweak the hotkeys and SXHKD or
DWM defs for your own usage case.
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