3 ms·

How is i3 for a general purpose desktop? For coding it sounds great, but the same machine is used when I'm browsing the web or playing games or whatever.

• mxvzr 10y ago
  I've been using awesomewm for a few years now, and while it's not i3 I believe it's close enough that I can answer that: A tiling wm is very viable for a general purpose desktop. It's also extra useful if you have a multi-monitor setup. Applications that works in fullscreen (mpv, vlc, video games) requires you to set them fullscreen/floating, either yourself with a keybinding (Mod+f on awesome) or through the wm's config file. Some applications do not like tiling at all, some java gui apps from what I remember, but there are so few of them that I can't actually give you any example. I say give it a shot, but beware: controlling your desktop entirely from your keyboard is addictive.
  • flukus 10y ago
    Keyboard is great sometimes, but do they have mouse control too? If I'm watching videos when I'm in bed I'm pretty mouse reliant, but if I'm coding then the more I can do on a keyboard the better
    • mxvzr 10y ago
      Some things can be done with the mouse: selecting a client, moving to another workspace, changing the layout, moving/resizing a floating (ie. not tiled) window (awesome 4.x is more mouse friendly than awesome 3.5: in addition to the above, you can also change a few client modes with the mouse: float/tiled, maximize, stick (ie. display on all workspaces), on-top, close.) Keyboard only: adding/removing columns/masters, moving a client to the master area, resize master area, move client to another workspace/screen.
      • flukus 10y ago
        Thanks, I'll put it on my ever growing list of things to try out.