Fullscreen Window Manager For Mmenu

[Coder_TimT]

Having windows decorations while using minimenu bothered me so I decided to rectify the situation. First I attempted to just go without the window manager and quickly discovered this wouldn't work as many X apps default resolution was only half the screen. So then I decided to look for the easiest way to get a fullscreen window manager in place. Since matchbox is in the Angstrom repository and the window manager is a separate package from the rest of the components it was the obvious first choice. So I started out with pulling down matchbox window manager...

#if you haven't updated from a fresh firmware flash run the update command first
sudo opkg update

#get the matchbox window manager
sudo opkg install matchbox-wm

This will get the window manager and a couple of libs it needs. Nothing too big to worry about adding to the NAND.

You then need to update the startup script to use the new window manager. I could probably find a cleaner way to killoff the window manager when we're done, but this seems to work.

#or use an different editor of your choice if you like...and I think it has the .sh extension....might just be startmmenu...
sudo vim /usr/bin/startmmenu.sh

#!/bin/sh
matchbox-window-manager -use_titlebar no&
mmwrapper -f/usr/bin/mmenu
killall matchbox-window-manager

And that's it. Now you'll have fullscreen apps with no window decorations in minimenu. Simply use the Pandora button to close anything that doesn't have a close/quit option. There will be some apps or dialogs that aren't well behaved, but it works for the most part...

 

[SomeGuy99]

Any chance of screenshots?

Also, can you tell me the packages I need? I install my ipkgs manually. B)

 

[Coder_TimT]

Screenshot pretty much looks like an app...with no window decorations. Want to see anything in particular? Here is evince with the file dialog open.

View attachment 435

Here is what was installed when I install the window manager. There is a possibility I could have pulled some other dependency with some earlier install, but this is what I know of ...

Installing matchbox-wm (1.2-r6.5) to root...
Downloading http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/feeds/unstable/ipk/glibc/armv7a/base/matchbox-wm_1.2-r6.5_armv7a.ipk.
Installing libmb1 (1.9-r6.5) to root...
Downloading http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/feeds/unstable/ipk/glibc/armv7a/base/libmb1_1.9-r6.5_armv7a.ipk.
Installing libxsettings-client0 (0.17-r2.5) to root...
Downloading http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/feeds/unstable/ipk/glibc/armv7a/base/libxsettings-client0_0.17-r2.5_armv7a.ipk.
Configuring libxsettings-client0.
Configuring libmb1.
Configuring matchbox-wm.

 

[mali]

Awesome
Now we just need a nifty task switcher like telescope http://www.youtube.com/user/DenielOlivo#p/u/10/k7xVOC8zI8o

 

[Caine]

Actually, what we need is awesome.

 

[Pleng]

this looks really good. I shall attempt this myself. One question. Where is the startup script to add the code too?

 #!/bin/sh
 matchbox-window-manager -use_titlebar no&
 mmwrapper -f/usr/bin/mmenu
 killall matchbox-window-manager

(that code!)

 

[EvilDragon]

Very nice

I think I will integrate the switch to that WM in the next HotFix

 

[Coder_TimT]

this looks really good. I shall attempt this myself. One question. Where is the startup script to add the code too?

 #!/bin/sh
 matchbox-window-manager -use_titlebar no&
 mmwrapper -f/usr/bin/mmenu
 killall matchbox-window-manager

(that code!)

That is in /usr/bin/. Editing original post to reflect that...

 

[Kimundi]

You could also simply hit Alt+F11... h34r:

 

[Coder_TimT]

You could also simply hit Alt+F11... h34r:

Son of a.... :lol: Will have to play with this and see how things such as open/save dialogs behave. It also bugs me when those dialogs open up larger than the available screenspace and I have to drag them around.... Matchbox-window-manager behave nicely in this regard, so I'll have to check after work...

 

[Pleng]

What would be really nice, along with the removal of window decorations, would be if somebody could hack a basic panel along the bottom of the the WM which gave basic info as date/time and (crucially) battery life remaining. I would have no idea how to accomplish something like that

 

[HackModford]

What are the settings used to revert to the orgiginal configuration? I have a bug I need to confirm is related to matchbox and don't remember what the original setting was...