Re: Semantics of text virtual console vs. xterm

phil-news-nospam@xxxxxxxx wrote:
The third issue is to find a way to rapidly switch between different screens
of text. In text mode, the traditional virtual console involves Alt+FX,
where FX is one of the "F" function keys on the top row of the keyboard.
I have, through keyboard mapping, expanded that to so that Alt+X, where X
is either one of the function keys or one of just about any other key on
the main part of the keyboard (including space and ESC). I have 63 such
mappings to virtual consoles, and use them all. Alt+F10, Alt+F11, and
Alt+F12 are each going to X Windows (I run three instances of X at the
same time). The rest go to one of 60 different virtual consoles, all of
which are logged in and used.

Sheesh. I thought I was a little nuts in the head (I
use 15 virtual desktops), but sir... you take the cake!
;-)

(I hate to think how long it takes to set that up if you
log everything out, or reboot, and have to start it all
again.)

When I press Alt+X the switch is very rapid.
Some people have suggested using screen, but it is awkward to use for this
kind of rapid switching (I sometimes switch back and forth a few times a
second). I would thus want to have some kind of means to do such rapid
keyboard based switching while in X. That would not be switching between
the different instances of X (that's way too slow, anyway). It could be
switching between different windows of xterm, or subwindows within xterm,
or different virtual desktops within the same instance of X. Whichever is
the fastest is the way to go. But how to set that up? Maybe it needs a
new window manager? Or is one already available that can do that.

Non-specific advice won't be helpful. Does anyone have any specific advice?

I use the fvwm2 window manager. As noted above, I have
15 virtual desktops defined. I stack them up in a
single vertical row. I use two monitors, and the right
monitor is for "sticky" things like a clock, a
calculator, xsysinfo, a notepad, and a desktop manager,
etc, while the left monitor is used for applications.
The left monitor, for example, often has anything from
one to three instances of xterm running in each desktop,
plus perhaps XEmacs and maybe something like The GIMP or
whatever.

I often su to different users in different desktops, and
as one example I do that in order to run 4 different
instances of the Opera web browser, each under a
different user, concurrently.

On the right monitor, up against the left edge
(centering it for easy access with the mouse) is the
desktop manager. It has 15 squares and extends from the
top of the screen to the bottom. To switch from any
given desktop to another either of two methods can be
used. One is to click on the square for that screen
with the mouse. The other is to use Control-UP or
Control-DOWN keys. I just timed how long it took to go
from the top to the bottom using keyboard entry, and
moving from window 1 to window 15, and then back, took 5
seconds. I'm sure the time is dependent on how fast I
moved my fingers rather than how fast the switch
actually takes.

Note that while I use a single vertical row, any
combination of vertical and horizontal can be used. The
default is a 3x3 matrix if I remember right.

I don't know what the maximum would be, but if I can
have a 1x15, I'd expect you could do a 15x15 matrix...
Of course if some of what you do can be handled with
multiple xterm windows on the same desktop, you won't
need as many desktops. I don't know if there is a way
to cycle through the windows open on a given desktop
other than using the mouse to cause the focus to change.
(I configure mine to have the focus change if the mouse
stays on a window for 1 second, but many people prefer
to have it change only if the mouse is clicked in the
new window.)

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd@xxxxxxxxxx
.

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