How to set the default terminal and create custom menus in Awesome Window Manager.

Gruber · 03-28-2017, 01:14 PM

Hi everyone,

I am using Awesome window manager and I've got to the stage where I have two things that I would like to setup but I don't know how. I've looked around the awesome manual and many youtube videos but for some reason I'm struggling.

I want to :

Set fish as the default terminal that runs from the Awesome menu when you choose Open Terminal.

Create my own additional menu so that I can list the things that I use regularly on a regular basis all in one menu.

In words these don't seem to much to ask, but looking at the rc.lua in order to make them happen is confusing.

Help much appreciated.

Gruber
(Knoppix 7 with persistant storage layer. Awesome WM on a Lenovo T61.)

ondoho · 03-28-2017, 01:57 PM

this is your second thread about awesome by you, a self-confessed newbie.
why do you torture yourself with a window manager like awesome?

and if you really must, instead of opening a thread everytime you get stuck, why don't you familiarize yourself with awesome in a general way?
i know that its documentation is scattered, so back to my first question: why do you torture yourself with that when simpler, easier, more stable and also more lightweight and better documented window managers are around???

Gruber · 03-28-2017, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

this is your second thread about awesome by you, a self-confessed newbie.
why do you torture yourself with a window manager like awesome?

and if you really must, instead of opening a thread everytime you get stuck, why don't you familiarize yourself with awesome in a general way?
i know that its documentation is scattered, so back to my first question: why do you torture yourself with that when simpler, easier, more stable and also more lightweight and better documented window managers are around???

Well, I'm a newbie to Awesome window managers and only moved to linux about two years ago full time. To answer your question, a tiling window manager makes better use of my slightly limited screen real-estate. I like using the keyboard more than the mouse although I don't particularly want to commit to using Rat Poison. I considered RP but it seemed too much like using Wordstar or WordPerfect for Dos all that Multiple layer key pressing just to do something seemed too much. I looked at I3 and compared it to Awesome and I liked the auto focus on Awesome when you have mulitple windows open and you move the mouse, the window where the mouse is, is active. I like that. Maybe I3 does this too, I'm not sure, I just chose Awesome really. I like the low memory useage, the lack of interface eye-candy and frankly I'm bored with using a WIMP GUI like KDE-GNOME-XFCE etc.

BW-userx · 03-28-2017, 02:50 PM

google is my friend

"Awesome wm menu generation"

two years running -- google has been around for a while too .. just saying.

Switching to the awesome window manager
Keybindings

ondoho · 03-28-2017, 02:59 PM

fair enough.
i3 has MUCH better and more comprehensible documentation.
it can do everything you wish for.
what's RP?

BW-userx · 03-28-2017, 03:13 PM

I'd have to agree with ondoho on that i3 over Awesome having to know lua over plain text config set up i i3. that is what made me pick i3 - I've moved on to fluxbox for now. but i3 is much simpler for sure.

dejank · 03-28-2017, 03:54 PM

For Awesome I can not help, never used it. If you really want it and like it more than I3, then use it. But in case that you would like to give I3 chance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1I63wGcvU4

Watch all 3 parts and you'll also find some links to nice config files. And, as others have already stated, I3 is much better in terms of documentation and easier to configure.

Have fun

Myk267 · 03-28-2017, 05:41 PM

Aw. You don't have to abandon awesome for i3 just yet. If you change direction every time you find an obstacle in you'll get stuck in a valley.

First: I think you want chsh (read the man page) to change your shell from whatever it is now to fish.

Second: Editing the menu isn't too hard. Use your text editor to find the "mymainmenu" variable in lua.rc.

Code:

mystuff = {
	{"Web Browser", "firefox"},
	{"Another Browser", "chromium"}
}

mymainmenu = awful.menu({ items = { { "awesome", myawesomemenu,beautiful.awesome_icon },
                                    { "open terminal", terminal },
                                    { "My stuff", mystuff},
                                  }
                        })

You don't have to put the "My stuff" entry at bottom, that's just where I put it. If you want more entries in the "mystuff" table, just make sure they have the same structure as the ones I wrote, and make sure they're separated with commas.

Here's a nice little resource for lua programming, with it's own set of links to other resources: https://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/lua/

Let us know if you need more help!