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Ctwm desktop setup

Some characteristics of the Ctwm desktop setup:

Focus follows mouse.
When I move the mouse into a window, it gets focus. So I do not need to click in the window first.
Autoraise, with a small delay
When I move the mouse into a window, it gets raised to the front, but only if I have been in the wondow for a short amount (some 500 millisecs) of time. So windows get raised automatically, but not when I accidentally swipe the mouse across.
Minimal decoration for windows.
Decoration does not have added value, and I'm always short on pixels already.
No icons.
Icons have no added value since I seldom see my desktop anyway. The small, compact window/icon list that Ctwm provides is a wonderful compromise between space and functionality.
Multiple desktops.
Not a big desktop that is spread across views, but separate, distinct desktops. This is one of the most significant features of Ctwm (at that time, at least).
Free menus that can pop up everywhere.
While most window managers support a popup menu when clicking on the empty desktop, Ctwm supports popup menus everywhere at all times. This is a very powerful and addictive feature.
Manual window placement.
Windows that do not have an explicit location specified can (must) be placed manually. In the process, the size of the window can be changed as well.

I want my applications to be capable of using all kinds of key combinations, including Alt and Fx keys. In my setup, the the Windows key controls the window and desktop related actions. For example, I switch desktops with W-Left and W-Right, and switch windows with W-Tab. The Menu key is another reserved key, that I use for menu-related operations.

Some screen dumps:

	The normal desktop. On top is the (folded in) Gnome panel. Below that are XPostit, the icon manager, a screen-wide Xload window, a Biff and a digital, colour-coded clock. These are sticky (occur on all desktops). The big white window is a xterm, the yellow window is Emacs. The bottom window is a xterm tailing the system log files.
	Same, but with the Gnome panel folded out.
	Desktop, showing the “Execute” menu. This menu is selected from the root menu that was popped up after a left-click on the desktop. The “Execute” menu can also be popped up as a separate menu at all times with Ctrl-Menu, or with a right-click on the desktop.
	Desktop, showing the “New Window” menu. This menu is selected from the root menu that was popped up after a left-click on the desktop. The “New Window” menu can also be popped up as a separate menu at all times with Shift-Menu, or with a middle-click on the desktop.

Since I use the same desktop on several different computers (with different applications and screen sizes) starting up Ctwm is done by the script wm. I have this in my local bin directory.
wm runs startx which runs .xinitrc. This runs the startup script XStart. This script does most of the work determining the system, features, screen properties, and so on. It then runs ctwm. Ctwm processes ctwmrc by ‘m4’ (a standard Ctwm feature) which includes the files ctwm_exec and ctwm_terms.

Don't worry if you don't understand all, it is the product of 15 years of slow, incremental and often ad-hoc development. And a mess.

The new OpenBox setup

Note that all sample files mentioned on this page are snapshots from a working configuration. They are subject to change without notice.