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jbeard4
Asked: 2010-10-29 05:32:24 +0800 CST

Which tiling window manager is easiest to install and use inside of GNOME

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I just tried integrating xmonad with GNOME on Ubuntu 10.04, according to the instructions found here: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Xmonad/Using_xmonad_in_Gnome#Ubuntu_Karmic

Unfortunately, I was not successful at getting it to work. I'm wondering are there any tiling window managers that are easy to install and use inside of GNOME as a replacement for Metacity or Compiz?

Update I just got xmonad working inside of GNOME. This was a two-step process:

First, execute this line inside of GNOME:

gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/session/required_components/windowmanager xmonad --type string

As described here: http://haskell.org/haskellwiki/Xmonad/Using_xmonad_in_Gnome#Setting_up_Gnome_to_use_Xmonad

Second, and most critically (this was the step I was missing), add the following to ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs:

 import XMonad
 import XMonad.Config.Gnome

 main = xmonad gnomeConfig

As described here: http://xmonad.org/xmonad-docs/xmonad-contrib/XMonad-Config-Gnome.html

window-manager xmonad

3 Answers

  1. The only one I can think of that is specifically designed to work within the traditional Gnome setup is Bluetile.

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  2. There's a fairly comprehensive review of available tiling window managers in this AskUbuntu post; any one supporting EWMH will work with GNOME.

    Regarding XMonad specifically, I have it running by placing this single line in my ~/.gnomerc (will work for any window manager, not just xmonad):

    export WINDOW_MANAGER=xmonad

    No need to create a different session type: just choose the standard GNOME one. When you want to revert back to metacity/compiz, remove the WINDOW_MANAGER line from ~/.gnomerc.

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  3. I found Awesome easy to install and use within Lubuntu 12.04.

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