jayemef
19th November 2004, 06:12 AM
I decided to give WindowMaker a try, and so, as with any other thing I haven't done before, I checked here to see if anyone had any tips or how-tos. Didn't see any, so I figured I'd do it and post one. Took a while to get it working, but it's not too hard, though there is probably a better way to do it. Now, onto the how-to.
Install WindowMaker
+Method One+
Probably the easiest method for installing WM is to use yum.
yum install windowmaker
I personally had no luck with this. Tried both windowmaker and wmaker, and both came up with nothing found. I'm probably just missing the right repos though.
+Method Two+
The second method is to use apt. I don't use apt myself, so I didn't test this, but the command would look something like
apt-get install windowmaker
+Method Three+
This is the method I used, so I can guarantee it works. First, you'll need to download WM. Go to http://www.windowmaker.org/ and download the latest source (looks something like WindowMaker-0.91.0.tar.gz). You may save it to whereever you like. Once the download completes, you will want to extract it. Open a terminal, navigate to the directory your file is stored in, and enter
gunzip WindowMaker-0.xx.xx.tar.gz
tar -xf WindowMaker-0.xx.xx.tar
Now that the file is extracted, you should see a new directory. Navigate into it. The next step is to compile and install. Open a terminal and enter
./configure
make
Some notes. When compiling the source, you may decide you want to specify where wmaker installs to. If you do, use the command ./configure --prefix=your_directory.
Now that you have done that, you will need to become root and install.
su
make install
WindowMaker is now installed.
Configuring Files
We are not done yet. Now that WindowMaker is installed, open another terminal and enter
su
cp /usr/local/bin/wmaker.inst /home/your_user_name
exit
Navigate to your home directory and run
./wmaker.inst
A script will now run that will configure files. Respond to it as you wish.
Now, try running
switchdesk wmaker
You probably got a message saying WindowMaker isn't installed, right? no problem. That's a lie. Afterall, we just installed it. This is just a bug. Go to your home directory and check to see if you have the directories .Xclients and .Xclients-default by running
ls -a
If you do not, enter
switchdesk twm
If you don't have TWM installed, try other window managers/desktop environements until the .Xclients and .Xclients-default files have been created. Once they have, open .Xclients-defaults and go to the line that reads WM="xxx". Comment it out and replace it with a line that reads WM="wmaker". You are now set. Close any running programs and log out. Log back in, and you should be in WindowMaker.
Here's a nice guided tour on using it: http://main.linuxfocus.org/~georges.t/
HAVE FUN! :)
Install WindowMaker
+Method One+
Probably the easiest method for installing WM is to use yum.
yum install windowmaker
I personally had no luck with this. Tried both windowmaker and wmaker, and both came up with nothing found. I'm probably just missing the right repos though.
+Method Two+
The second method is to use apt. I don't use apt myself, so I didn't test this, but the command would look something like
apt-get install windowmaker
+Method Three+
This is the method I used, so I can guarantee it works. First, you'll need to download WM. Go to http://www.windowmaker.org/ and download the latest source (looks something like WindowMaker-0.91.0.tar.gz). You may save it to whereever you like. Once the download completes, you will want to extract it. Open a terminal, navigate to the directory your file is stored in, and enter
gunzip WindowMaker-0.xx.xx.tar.gz
tar -xf WindowMaker-0.xx.xx.tar
Now that the file is extracted, you should see a new directory. Navigate into it. The next step is to compile and install. Open a terminal and enter
./configure
make
Some notes. When compiling the source, you may decide you want to specify where wmaker installs to. If you do, use the command ./configure --prefix=your_directory.
Now that you have done that, you will need to become root and install.
su
make install
WindowMaker is now installed.
Configuring Files
We are not done yet. Now that WindowMaker is installed, open another terminal and enter
su
cp /usr/local/bin/wmaker.inst /home/your_user_name
exit
Navigate to your home directory and run
./wmaker.inst
A script will now run that will configure files. Respond to it as you wish.
Now, try running
switchdesk wmaker
You probably got a message saying WindowMaker isn't installed, right? no problem. That's a lie. Afterall, we just installed it. This is just a bug. Go to your home directory and check to see if you have the directories .Xclients and .Xclients-default by running
ls -a
If you do not, enter
switchdesk twm
If you don't have TWM installed, try other window managers/desktop environements until the .Xclients and .Xclients-default files have been created. Once they have, open .Xclients-defaults and go to the line that reads WM="xxx". Comment it out and replace it with a line that reads WM="wmaker". You are now set. Close any running programs and log out. Log back in, and you should be in WindowMaker.
Here's a nice guided tour on using it: http://main.linuxfocus.org/~georges.t/
HAVE FUN! :)
