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Wow, thanks for blogging this as I never heard of i3 before and it looks amazingly productive. Makes me want Apple to take the Split View further to the next le

Wow, thanks for blogging this as I never heard of i3 before and it looks amazingly productive. Makes me want Apple to take the Split View further to the next level on both iOS and OS X, turn it into a tiling WM like i3.

masklinn 11y ago
> Makes me want Apple to take the Split View further to the next level on both iOS and OS X, turn it into a tiling WM like i3. OSX has third-party tools which go much further than split view. Divvy[0] for instance. They're a far cry from a true tiling WM, but they're way beyond what OSX provides OOTB. [0] http://mizage.com/divvy/ http://mizage.com/divvy/
- rcarmo 11y ago
  I'm rather partial to Moom[0]. Been using it and the same set of hotkeys (left half, right half, move window to next monitor, etc.) for a couple of years now. [0] https://manytricks.com/moom/ https://manytricks.com/moom/
- mikhailt 11y ago
  Thanks, I've used Divvy and others like it before and stopped using them after some problems with OS X upgrades. I'll try Divvy again and see if I can stick with it. i3 just feels like the integrated environment with better shortcuts that forces you to stick with it and get used to it sooner. I'll try to install it in VM and see if I'd like it there.
- makecheck 11y ago
  I use "Window Tidy"; it's about half the price of Divvy and at least as far as I can tell it's just as easy to customize.
- erikcw 11y ago
  Hammerspoon[0] has replaced Divvy for me as an open source, lightweight and scriptable alternative. So far, very happy with it. [0] http://www.hammerspoon.org http://www.hammerspoon.org
doomrobo 11y ago
I highly recommend i3. I used it on my desktop back home and I've tried to emulate it using Amethyst[0] on my Macbook but it's not nearly as featureful or stable. [0] http://ianyh.com/amethyst/ http://ianyh.com/amethyst/
rayiner 11y ago
Use Divvy.
- mikhailt 11y ago
  Thanks! I've used it before and will try it again, hoping OS X doesn't screw me over again with its upgrades.
makecheck 11y ago
It actually drives me crazy that any application should feel it necessary to implement its own tabs and window layout. The OS clearly could provide a way to group any number of unrelated windows with tabs, full screen or not, in any tiled arrangement, with more than a lousy 2 splits that are vertical-only. They just don't do it, and they've had decades to add what amounts to some rectangle management.
keithpeter 11y ago
would X11 for Mac OS and then an i3 installation running under that be any good? I imagine only useful for X11 applications. http://www.xquartz.org/ http://www.xquartz.org/ http://www.nrtm.org/index.php/2011/01/28/tiling-window-manager-on-the-mac/ http://www.nrtm.org/index.php/2011/01/28/tiling-window-manag... (2013 so ancient) I've not used MacOS since around 2011/12 so take this with a pinch of salt.
- peatmoss 11y ago
  No, trying to use OSX seriously with X11 is a pain. In principle, X11 should load up like any other full screen app. And, in practice it does. Keybindings are a bit annoying to coordinate between OSX's GUI and X11, but that's sort of livable. The real pain is in managing the software that you'd want to run on OSX in X11. The best I've found is NetBSD's pkgsrc, but it's not great on OSX. Even if you are okay building from source, you'll find stuff breaks pretty often. Homebrew isn't really geared toward providing X11 versions of apps, so you can forget that. All in all, much easier to use Ubuntu or FreeBSD and get the benefit of a well-integrated package manager and an X11 environment that isn't a step child.

masklinn 11y ago

> Makes me want Apple to take the Split View further to the next level on both iOS and OS X, turn it into a tiling WM like i3. OSX has third-party tools which go much further than split view. Divvy[0] for instance. They're a far cry from a true tiling WM, but they're way beyond what OSX provides OOTB. [0] http://mizage.com/divvy/ http://mizage.com/divvy/

rcarmo 11y ago
I'm rather partial to Moom[0]. Been using it and the same set of hotkeys (left half, right half, move window to next monitor, etc.) for a couple of years now. [0] https://manytricks.com/moom/ https://manytricks.com/moom/
mikhailt 11y ago
Thanks, I've used Divvy and others like it before and stopped using them after some problems with OS X upgrades. I'll try Divvy again and see if I can stick with it. i3 just feels like the integrated environment with better shortcuts that forces you to stick with it and get used to it sooner. I'll try to install it in VM and see if I'd like it there.
makecheck 11y ago
I use "Window Tidy"; it's about half the price of Divvy and at least as far as I can tell it's just as easy to customize.
erikcw 11y ago
Hammerspoon[0] has replaced Divvy for me as an open source, lightweight and scriptable alternative. So far, very happy with it. [0] http://www.hammerspoon.org http://www.hammerspoon.org

doomrobo 11y ago

I highly recommend i3. I used it on my desktop back home and I've tried to emulate it using Amethyst[0] on my Macbook but it's not nearly as featureful or stable. [0] http://ianyh.com/amethyst/ http://ianyh.com/amethyst/

rayiner 11y ago

Use Divvy.

mikhailt 11y ago
Thanks! I've used it before and will try it again, hoping OS X doesn't screw me over again with its upgrades.

makecheck 11y ago

It actually drives me crazy that any application should feel it necessary to implement its own tabs and window layout. The OS clearly could provide a way to group any number of unrelated windows with tabs, full screen or not, in any tiled arrangement, with more than a lousy 2 splits that are vertical-only. They just don't do it, and they've had decades to add what amounts to some rectangle management.

keithpeter 11y ago

would X11 for Mac OS and then an i3 installation running under that be any good? I imagine only useful for X11 applications. http://www.xquartz.org/ http://www.xquartz.org/ http://www.nrtm.org/index.php/2011/01/28/tiling-window-manager-on-the-mac/ http://www.nrtm.org/index.php/2011/01/28/tiling-window-manag... (2013 so ancient) I've not used MacOS since around 2011/12 so take this with a pinch of salt.

peatmoss 11y ago
No, trying to use OSX seriously with X11 is a pain. In principle, X11 should load up like any other full screen app. And, in practice it does. Keybindings are a bit annoying to coordinate between OSX's GUI and X11, but that's sort of livable. The real pain is in managing the software that you'd want to run on OSX in X11. The best I've found is NetBSD's pkgsrc, but it's not great on OSX. Even if you are okay building from source, you'll find stuff breaks pretty often. Homebrew isn't really geared toward providing X11 versions of apps, so you can forget that. All in all, much easier to use Ubuntu or FreeBSD and get the benefit of a well-integrated package manager and an X11 environment that isn't a step child.