this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
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I've been using i3wm for long enough that i now can't go back to a user interface that requires me to use a mouse to get stuff done. However, I'm setting up an old laptop that will be used by both me and my SO for mainly media purposes, but also as my general-use computer for basic tasks. He has been using windows since forever, and has no interest in learning all my keyboard combos.

I'm looking for a WM that supports tiling and keyboard control to do all the things, while still having the mouse-centric control options he's used to: something akin to a "start" button where he can get to the applications, a "close" button on the windows themselves, and the ability to rearrange windows with the mouse.

I'm also not interested in having to logout/login just to use a different WM, as i imagine us going back and forth on who is in control of the computer relatively frequently. I know PopOS has tiling support, but my muscle memory is strong, and I found it cumbersome to redefine all the bindings in a GUI to get it more "i3-like", so having keyboard bindings in a config file would be a huge plus for me.

This magical WM may not exist. I may just have to deal with needing a mouse to use this laptop or having two WMs installed. But I figured it was worth asking y'all for recommendations. Thanks!

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[–] igorette@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] kby@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

Whoa, that website has a slick design!

[–] Kruemel@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I3wm with xfce or kde or something? Works really well together. Closing and moving windows, or better toggleling floating mode, can be done with middle mouse button or right mouse button.

You will have start button and gui of xfce but all the control of i3wm for windows. I used it that way before switching to i3 on endavouros.

[–] deo@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

This sounds promising. I think he'd appreciate having the out-of-the-box niceties of a DE, too.

[–] LinuxSBC@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

GNOME with Pop!_Shell, Forge, or Material Shell works well, as does KDE with Polonium.

[–] muhyb@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

Not out of the box but you can use i3 shortcuts on Openbox, and it is Windows-friendly, to some point.

You can also set KDE with i3 shortcuts, even better you can use i3 instead of KWin but that won't have window buttons I guess.

I think KDE with i3 shortcuts would be safer option. Though if you configure enough, anything is possible. :)

I've used Pop_OS Shell. It allows you to use tiling and keyboard navigation on GNOME, but allows you to turn it all off with one key combo/menu item click for those "I just want this window over here for five minutes" moments. How user-friendly you'll find it depends how well you like GNOME; with a few extensions it can have things like a start menu, but you'll want Cinnamon or KDE for a more Windows-like base and I don't know a similar project for those DEs.

[–] Rescuer6394@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago

kde with bismuth: https://github.com/Bismuth-Forge/bismuth

you can set it up to behave like i3, while being on kde.

[–] it_a_me@literature.cafe 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'd consider dual-booting(windows+linux or linux+linux) or just installing a desktop environment. You can login to your wm and they can login to a full de

[–] knobbysideup@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Cinnamon actually lets you do some neat tiling with the keyboard. For example full height left key followed by full width top key will put a window in the top left corner. Same for any position. Run the sequence again to revert. I just discovered double clicks on borders will maximize vertical or horizontal as well.

[–] tun@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I have i3wm, polybar, jgmenu with XFCE.

It works with kb and also mouse.