[sf-lug] make my thinkpad into a typewriter

[Matt Price]

On Wed, 2008-09-24 at 17:43 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
> Matt Price wrote:
> > hi folks,
> > 
> > greetings from toronto!
> > 
> > i have a thinkpad x31 -- a medium-powered macine by today's standards
> > -- which is currently running a vanilla ubuntu.  i'm not unsatisfied
> > with it but i'd like to be able to work without all the distracting
> > bells and whistles of the gnome environment.  Thus far any attempts to
> > load a framebuffer module kill my console, which means the console
> > really isn't adequate for doing work -- can't see enough text on the
> > screen.  So  i'm looking for a lightweight window manager with the
> > following characteristics:
> > 
> > - boots very fast
> > - tiled or tabbed interface
> > - easy way to maximize a window to fill the whole screen (so, overriding
> > the tiling).  
> > - fast keybindings that don't conflict with emacs
> > 
> > basically, i want to run a maximized emacs session most of the time, but
> > have other apps in the background waiting in case i need them.  and i
> > wouldn't mind to have some tind of statusbar or something, with say the
> > battery levels and the time displayed -- so i don't have to switch to a
> > terminal just to type "date" or "acpi"    
> > 
> > I will also sometimes need a wireless internet connection, so i was
> > thinking i would need a systray for nm-applet -- but i see that there's
> > a new cnetworkmanager applet for the command line, so maybe i'd just
> > use that.  wouldn't mind the systray though.
> > 
> > i like the looks of xmonad but don't see that there's an easy way to
> > toggle a window between tiled and maximized state.  if anyone has a
> > configuration for xmonad -- or any other lightweight wm -- that does
> > what i'm looking for, i'd love to see it.  thanks as always,
> > 
> > matt
> > 
> 
> 	SliTaz 1.0 is the tool you need and provides a very
> full featured system which can be added to as required
> and uses Joe's Window Manager.  It is only 25 Megabytes
> of download or if you are in SF and handy I will burn you
> a copy.  See SliTaz.org for further information about
> installing and even running it off the CD is faster than
> most live CDs.  Beautiful twin pane file manager as well.
> 

i'll give it a try, maybe on cd to start with.  does it come with emacs?
didn't see it on the package list -- that's pretty much a must for me.
anyway looking forward to seeing it.

i will also probably keep a full-featured distro on the machine as well
-- would like to be able to switch from typewriter mode to
newspaper-reading mode...

matt




> 
>      later
>      Bobbie Sellers
> 
> --
>      bobbie sellers - (Back to Angband) Team *AMIGA* SF-LUG
> 
> "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
>   It is by the beans of cocoa that the thoughts acquire speed,
>   the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
>   It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
>          --from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.
-- 
Matt Price
matt.price at utoronto.ca