PCLinuxOS WMii Edition (PCLinuxOS Light)
Why is it?
PCLinuxOS WMii edition is aimed to be as light on system resources as possible there are multiple reasoning for this
First is to be as vastly scalable as possible, to assist install a usable PCLinuxOS installation on computers that may have less than the recomended about of RAM. In this respect it will install and be usable on a machine with 128megs of RAM or more if using the included GUI apps, It will install and be usable in a machine with aprox 64megs of ram if some of the alternate applications are used.
Second is to appeal to the more advanced user, who does not want or need to have a full on desktop environment (DE)
Third is for people to explore an alternative kind of install, with a mix of GUI and CLi applications that make its usage more scalable than other initial installs.
How big is the download?
350.76 megs
What is WMii?
Easiest way to describe this is to quote from the WMii website (
http://wmii.suckless.org/)
WMii is a small, dynamic window manager for X11. It is scriptable, has a 9p filesystem interface and supports classic and tiling (acme-like) window management. It aims to maintain a small and clean (read hackable and beautiful) codebase.
Although that's not the only choice on the iso for the user, also included is dwm (even lighter than WMii and also from the suckless team) and twin (
a Text mode windowing environment)
dwm is a dynamic window manager for X. It manages windows in tiled, monocle and floating layouts.
All of the layouts can be applied dynamically, optimising the environment for the application in use and the task performed.
Twin is a
Text mode windowing environment: it draws and manages text windows on a text-mode display, like X11 does for graphical windows. It has a built-in window manager and terminal emulator, and can be used as server for remote clients in the same style as X11.It can display on Linux console (open a xterm and type twin), on X11 and inside itself.
What Applications are included.
GUI applications include;
Archiving: Simpleburn (CD, DVD, Image burning and more); Xarchiver
Editors:
Scite Nedit
File tools: Bleachbit; PCManFM (with automounting)
Graphics Tools: ImageMagick (image manipulation); GPicView (image viewer); Screenie (screenshot app); SVGpage (jpg-svg-png conversion)
Internet: Jumanji (web browser)
now with link hinting available (press f or F) ; Slypheed (Email Client); Xchat (irc client)
Configuration: PCC; Gparted, PCLinuxOS LiveUSB Creator
Office: Ted Text Processor (Mod+F10); Zathura pdfviewer ; Gclaltool Calculator
Software Center: Dupeclean GUI; Repostiory speed test; Synaptic Package Manager.
Sound: PCLinuxOS FLV Player and convertor, volti
Video: Pymp (Python front end to MPlayer), Flash Plugin.
CLi/CLi driven Apps include
Archiving: Simpleburn (CD, DVD, Image burning and more)
Editors: mcedit
File tools: mc; partimage; photorec; formost; safecopy; twin
Graphics Tools: feh (image viewer and more)
Internet: w3m (web browser); alpine (email client) irssi (ircclient) mcabber (jabber client); iftop ; scapy; kismet; mtr.
Software Center: Apt-Get Package Manager. (if using n X environment please use synaptic)
Sound: moc, cmus
Video: mplayer
monitoring: statgrab-tools (saidar) ; infobash;
Where Can I get PCLinuxOS WMii Edition (Beta): Changes are minor:
Updated to testing
Added Jumanji browser(F1)
Added Zathura pdf reader (either console entry or rightclicking in PCManFM)
Removed Midori
Removed epdfview
Added Ted word processor
New Release Detail:
I am please to announce the release of PCLinuxOS WMii Edition (PCLinuxOS-Light) version 2.59.
The main change in this version is that I have switched to WMii-hg (3.10) - many thanks to Chomp - this brought about some real challenges in reconfiguring the desktop mainly due to a different syntax, there is also some system tray functionality - noted with net_applet and dropbox the small clickable icons applear at the end of the wmii rbar (which will please longtom)
The real benefit is they you can now override the default settings by adjusting the file found at /$HOME/.wmii-hg/wmiirc_local.
Just out version 2.6
Added Cmus Music player, configured volti and net_applet to launch at boot ( as per later posts in this thread), also configured the root account to be garish and uncomfortable for long periods of use ......
Here are the links for the new iso
PCLinuxOS WMii Edition (PCLinuxOS Light) ver 2.60 350.76megs
MD5Sum: 5ac8d1d41e52fbb8de1ca523e15d1858 WMii_2_60.iso
Enjoy
Jase
What follows is a GUI showcase this will all work on an install with at least 112megs - I hope you enjoy
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GDM Login:
Root=Root
Guest=Guest
After booting you will be greeted with this wallpaper (all instructions are on the wallpaper for ease of use)
Ok Lets start with launching Midori & Sylpheed & Xchat, WMii is all about strong keybindings
The "MODKEY" (referred here on as Mod+) is the winkey by default as it has no other sensible use on a Linux box
Should you not have a winkey (like an IBM T42 then please read the workaround at the bottom of this post)
Hold the winkey and then press F1 then F2 and F3
You may find this appears a little cramped so lets send Xchat to a dynamic workspace by hovering over the Xchat tile and using Mod+shift and the number 2
this will cause a dynamic workspace to be made (the no 2 in the lower left) we will come back to that in a bit.
I like to use Midori & Sylpheed side by side to do this hover over one of the app tiles and use Mod+shift+h or l (h=right l=left)
This sends th echosen app to either the right or left of the other (if you use l you can then use mod+shift h twice to swap the sides)
btw to navigate between windows you can use Mod+h,j,k and l
Lets resize Midori & Sylpheed as I like to be able to see the web a little better you can do this in two ways eithe by mouse (find the middle line click and move it to the right/left)
or by using Mod+rightclick(held) and moce the mouse/touchpad in this picture I have minimised the folder view in sylpheed.
lets move to Xchat on workspace 2 you can do this by either clicking the small number 2 in the lower left or simply using Mod+2
ok you want to see all conversations at the same time? then lets detach the channels, in the channel bix right click and select detach of each which leave it like this
Ok so lets send the detached channels to columns hover over one and use the Mod+shift+h/l and repeat with another - this gives a 4sqare look in my example
Lets stack a column this is a lttle like maximising/tabbing while hovering over a window use Mod+S
Back to workspace 1 (use Mod+1)
Lets try somthing different launch two xterms (Mod+enter) in one launch saidar the other htop we are gonna make them float
To use the floating layer you highlight a window and use Mod+shift+spacebar (thisis a toggle on/of)
And finally Full screen mode, jusr highlight a window (whether default,stacked,floating) and use Mod+f
I hope this is of interest
Previously I mentioned a workaround for keyboards that do not have a winkey, to do this launch a DWM session use alt+shift+enter to launch Xterm
then su to root and type mc <enter>
navigate to /etc/X11/wmii3.5/ and edit the file known as wmiirc in the top few lines it offers 3 variations of Modkey comment out MOD4 (winkey and uncoment the one of your choice.
