Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Here's a quick summary of how I learned to minimize mouse movement while working in Fossapup, Jackalpup, F96, KLV, and KLA.

Having played around with desktop launchers, theming, and window management for the last few years, having employed techniques like wmctrl scripts, Rox panels, Cairo Docks, Rox Iconified Windows, symlink launchers in directories, JWM tray launchers, and Xfce panels, I've come to realize that I can limit the amount of mouse movement by having either a tray, panel, or dock on the upper right side of the monitor which enables a quick movement of the mouse to minimize, open, and manipulate the windows running on the desktop.

I will begin uploading some gifs of examples.

First this is Jackalpup (a fossapup remaster), which comes with Cairo dock built in. I have customized the dock, positioned it at the upper right and activated the Rox Iconified window option. The iconified windows are simply icons placed on the desktop/pinboard when the window is minimized. These iconified windows aren't so necessary when using the Cairo dock, because minimized windows are accessible in the dock. By having the dock at the upper right, a window can be minimized and maximized with minimal mouse movement.

Now I'll shut off Cairo Dock and use a Rox panel in it's place. At the bottom left corner of my desktop is a launcher for a script called xcharm, which is a toggle switch for a Rox panel. Once toggled on, the Rox panel can be configured by right clicking on the panel and choosing "Panel Options." In this scenario, the Rox Iconified windows placed at the upper right allow the same minimizing and maximizing capability as the Cairo dock, with minimal mouse movement.

Rox panels have certain advantages over say a Cairo Dock. Cairo Dock is pretty huge, a bit buggy, prone to crash, etc. Rox panels are lightweight, easy to setup once familiar with them. They can also be copied to other OS's using Rox, though the launchers may not point to existing applications, not a problem, items are easily deleted and added. Icons can be chosen in the usual Rox fashion. A Rox panel won't display applets and fancy clocks, not that I'm aware of. But for launching they are hugely effective. One launcher I have opens a Rox window to /usr/share/applications, where I can launch any application that has a desktop entry. No need to organize a JWM menu, though that of course is still available in fossapup or similar puppy.

So why not just use the JWM tray? For one, the tray in fossapup doesn't seem to be able to be configured vertically. There is a choice for it, but it is greyed out, not available. My JWM tray is still at the bottom of the desktop, fully configured to my taste. So the Rox panel is simply an added convenience, which can be toggled on and off with my xcharm script launched at the bottom left.

Next I will boot into KLV to show how the same flow is achieved with Xfce's deskbar panels.

KLV-airedale comes with Xfce desktop and two preconfigured panels built in. The first panel is a traditional tray at the bottom of the screen, and the second panel is a traditional launcher bar centered at the top.

I've reconfigured both of them choosing the "deskbar" option. I like the deskbar because it can be moved around, resized, etc. I got the brilliant idea to keep the two panels but line them up on the right side of the screen. The tray panel is at the top right and has a clock, cpu bar, and tray with audio/network/notifications etc. At the top of that panel I put three menu launchers, the standard Xfce menu, the Whisker menu, and the Xlunch menu. I can choose any of them to my preference.

The second panel is an application launcher, here it's being moved by grabbing the handlebar:

The way I'm running this desktop, there is no traditional "tray" running the width of the screen, just the two deskbars at the side.

Here you have the best of all worlds, something like an animated dock, but without flash and resource overhead. It's also not buggy.

Below are the three application menus being toggled with the launchers at the top right:

With Xfce deskbar, there's no need for a Rox Iconified window, because the windows are accessible in the top deskbar, where they are stacked vertically, and the text titles are never squashed as the windows stack up. If I need more space for window toggles, I can always extend the deskbars to the bottom of the screen and leave more room.

Again, windows can be minimized and maximized with minimal mouse movement, and another big advantage, like with the Rox panel, is I am able to maximize my desktop space. All open windows occupy the full vertical space of the desktop, and leave the left and right side strips for desktop icons and panels.

Below I will minimize and maximize windows

So that's 3 ways to achieve similar results with quick window and desktop navigation on both a JWM/Rox configuration, or Xfce desktop.

Hi @geo_c :

As we can say about browsers, we can say about desktops... THE BEST IS THE ONE WHICH WORKS THE BEST FOR YOU... jajja

I like you disposition, you have good reasons to use this... but for me, mine is the best (what is the reason?.... I'm used to it).

Some people could dissagree, others could tell I'm wasting resources, screen, memory.... but is the one I need to be faster.

Have a nice day u all.

pp4mnklinux wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2023 6:55 am

Hi @geo_c :

As we can say about browsers, we can say about desktops... THE BEST IS THE ONE WHICH WORKS THE BEST FOR YOU... jajja

I plan to use your distro also. But it will turn out looking like my other distros after I'm done with it!

Different, but the same

@geo_c
I use the Rox panel on the left. I run frequently used applications with it.
When covering the panel with a maximized window, I use "2 pixels on the edge of the screen" (auto-raising) to bring up the panel.
Thank you for asking in another thread how to change the order of apps in the panel (drag with middle mouse button). Very useful to know .

Among other things, I also use the middle mouse click (on the desktop) to access the bookmarks in VanillaDpup. In my case, to frequently used locations in the file system.
Starting applications or a direct path to a certain file or to a certain Internet address can also be set as bookmarks.
I think this is a great feature (at least in my opinion) and it's interesting that I haven't seen any mention of it anywhere. I don't even know if this feature is active in other Puppies.

Feek wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 4:00 pm

@geo_c

Starting applications or a direct path to a certain file or to a certain Internet address can also be set as bookmarks.
I think this is a great feature (at least in my opinion) and it's interesting that I haven't seen any mention of it anywhere. I don't even know if this feature is active in other Puppies.

Bookmarks is something I probably noticed along time ago and forgot about. I'll add a few of those and see how I like them.

I found this awhile back use it all the time now

https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=4954