Ion3 Window Manager -- Hacking Journal [2006/03/26]
I spent this weekend setting up and playing with my Ubuntu install on my laptop. One of the major things I have changed is the window manager. I had used GNOME on it since the I first installed it but I took some time today to work with Ion and I am impressed.
Ion is not like GNOME at at all, it is targeted to users who want a minimal window manger and who want to use the keyboard as the main input. I have a screen shot of my install but it is just a terminal on the man page plus some simple mods to the lower status bar. My main motivations to using Ion are:
- Keyboard as the primary input interface. This will improve the speed at which I can get things done. I have only started to learn the commands but the basics are easy to pickup (F1 will start
man, F2 will start a terminal session, F3 is an auto completing Run command ( think bash without all the tabbing)) - Very little window manager widgets. There is a small header on the top of each frame and a status bar. Simple, no more messing with themes, icons, or wallpaper.
- Quick access to terminals. It just feels like I am running many ttys in my X server. This is where I shine.
I am also taking a look at wmii, it is along the same lines as Ion (keyboard driven, simple, terminal-like).
Eric Davis
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