ch23.htm

linux-unix130.linux.and.unix.ebooks130 linux and unix ebookslinuxLearning Linux - Collection of 12 E

	or you can start a window manager. For example, to get the Motif Window Manager,

	use the following command in an xterm:

</DL>



<PRE><FONT COLOR="#0066FF">mwm &amp;

</FONT></PRE>

<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading16<FONT COLOR="#000077">Listing 23.1. A

sample startx file.</FONT></H3>

<PRE><FONT COLOR="#0066FF">

$ less /usr/X11R6/bin/startx

#!/bin/sh

# $Xconsortium: startx.cpp,v 1.4 91/108/22 11:41:29 rws Exp $

# $Xfree86: xc/programs/xinit/startx.cpp,v 3.0 1994/05/22 00:02:23 dawes Exp $

#

# This is just a sample implementation of a slightly less primitive

# interface than xinit.  It looks for user .xinitrc and .xerverrc

# files, then system xinitrc should probably do things like check

# for .Xresources file and merge them in, startup in a window manager,

# and pop a clock and serveral xterms.

#

# Site administrators are STRONGLY urged to write nicer versions.

#

userclientrc=$HOME/.xinitrc

userserverrc=$HOME/.xserverrc

sysclientrc=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc

sysserverrc=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xserverrc

clientargs=&quot;&quot;

serverargs=&quot;&quot;

if [ -f $userclientrc ]; then

clientargs=$userclientrc

else if [ -f $sysclientrc]; then

clientargs=$sysclientc

fi

fi

if [ -f $userserverrc ]; then

serverargs=$userserverrc

else if [ if $sysserverrc ]; then

serverargs=$sysserverrc

fi

fi

whoseargs=&quot;client&quot;

while [ &quot;x$1&quot; != &quot;x&quot; ]; do

case &quot;$1&quot; in

/''*|\.*)       if [ &quot;$whoseargs&quot; = &quot;client&quot; ]; then

clientargs=&quot;$1&quot;

else

serverargs=&quot;$1&quot;

fi ;;

--)     whoseargs=&quot;server&quot; ;;

*)      if [ &quot;$whoseargs&quot; = &quot;client&quot; ]; then

clientargs=&quot;$clientargs $1&quot;

else

serverargs=&quot;$serverargs $1&quot;

fi ;;

esac

shift

done

xinit $clientargs -- $serverargs

</FONT></PRE>

<P>Of course, you can run any ol' manager you have--fvwm, twnm, olwm, and so on.

I am simply using mwm as an example. Also note that you are running the mwm in the

background. If you do not do this, you can't issue any commands to the xterm. See

Figure 23.1 for what your display might now look like. Keep in mind that your display

might look quite different from the picture in Figure 23.1 because your startup code

has different applications.



<DL>

	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading17<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>TIP:</B> </FONT>If you are in the

	bash, Korn, C, or any other common shell at this point, and you forgot the <TT>&amp;</TT>,

	press Ctrl-Z to put the job in the background. If you are not running the Korn or

	C shells, you can kill mwm with Ctrl-C and then restart it with the ampersand. 

<HR>



</DL>



<P>Congratulations! You are now running Motif.

<H6></H6>

<P><A NAME="Heading18<A HREF="../art/23/23lnx01.jpg"><FONT COLOR="#000077">FIGURE

23.1.</FONT></A><FONT COLOR="#000077"> </FONT><I>A typical Motif session. </I><BR>

<BR>

Note that a lot of things can go wrong while you're getting to this point. Here are

a few of the most common problems:



<UL>

	<LI>You cannot find the correct files. Ensure that the path includes <TT>/usr/X11/bin</TT>

	or the like.

	<P>

	<LI>You moved the cursor into the window, but now you have to click to be able to

	type commands to your xterm. By itself, X Window gives the focus to a window when

	a cursor is moved onto it. mwm, on the other hand, requires that you actually click

	the left mouse button (Button1) for that window to get focus. Focus means that all

	user input (keyboard and pointer) is sent to that window. mwm changes the color of

	the window border to show that it has received the focus.

	<P>

	<LI>There is not enough memory to run the system. This is especially true if you

	are on a PC-based platform. Typically, you can get away with 4MB of dynamic RAM for

	a simple X Window system, but you almost certainly need 8MB or more to be able to

	get a reasonable response time on a PC. The memory upgrade to 8MB is well worth it,

	given the performance on a 4MB machine. Only a patient person can live with 4MB.

	<P>

	<LI>The configuration does not look right. You have to modify the default startup

	parameters. See the section &quot;Customizing Motif.&quot;

	<P>

	<LI>Exiting the last command in your <TT>.xinitrc</TT> file terminates your entire

	X session. If your last command was an xterm and you logged off that xterm, your

	entire session is terminated. Generally, the last command in your <TT>.xinitrc</TT>

	file would be the window manager so that terminating the window manager will also

	terminate your session.

</UL>



<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading19<FONT COLOR="#000077">Working with Motif

Windows in mwm</FONT></H3>

<P>Take a look at the typical xterm window in Motif, shown in Figure 23.2.

<H6></H6>

<P><A NAME="Heading20<A HREF="../art/23/23lnx02.jpg"><FONT COLOR="#000077">FIGURE

23.2.</FONT></A><FONT COLOR="#000077"> </FONT><I>A typical xterm window. <BR>

</I><BR>

The title bar is the wide horizontal band on the top of the window. This contains

the title for the application. In this case, this is the application itself (usually

either xterm or the name of your shell, such as bash or pdksh). You can modify it

to your needs. Try this:</P>

<PRE><FONT COLOR="#0066FF">xterm -name &quot;I am here&quot; &amp;

</FONT></PRE>

<P>The minimize button is used to iconify this xterm. The maximize button can be

used to resize the window to occupy the entire display area. All corners can be used

to resize the window with the mouse. Note the pseudo-three-dimensional appearance

of the borders.

<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading21<FONT COLOR="#000077">Using the Pointer</FONT></H4>

<P>You will now work with some of the Motif windows you have on the screen. Typically,

you work with a mouse for the pointer, so the text refers to mice at times. You can

always substitute your device name, however, for the word mouse or pointer, and not

lose any of the meaning of the discussion.</P>

<P>Pointers in the mwm environment typically use three buttons, called Button1, Button2,

and Button3. As an affront to left-handed individuals, Button1 is usually referred

to as the left button because it is the most used button of the three. The left button

on a mouse is the one that is pressed with your right index finger. When you take

the pointer to an item and press a button, you are clicking the button.</P>

<P>If you are left handed, you can map your mouse or pointer buttons differently.

See the section &quot;Help for Left-Handed Users: xmodmap,&quot; later in this chapter.

<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading22<FONT COLOR="#000077">Icons and Windows</FONT></H4>

<P>The minimize button enables you to iconify an application. An icon is a small

symbol that represents an inactive window. The contents of that window are not visible,

although they can be updated internally by its process. Icons can be moved around

on-screen, but they cannot be resized. Inactive windows that become active can hide

icons. Icons save valuable screen space when you're using applications that do not

require your constant attention.

<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading23<FONT COLOR="#000077">Iconifying a Window</FONT></H4>

<P>Move the cursor to the minimize button, and press the left button on the mouse.

The window is removed from the screen, and a smaller icon is seen somewhere on the

left side of the screen. The minimize button is the button with the smaller square

near the right side of the frame. The maximize button is the one next to it, with

the bigger square.</P>

<P>To restore an icon to a screen, move the cursor to the icon and click Button1

twice in quick succession. This is known as double-clicking the mouse. Some Motif

icons are shown in the lower portion of Figure 23.3.

<H6></H6>

<P><A NAME="Heading24<A HREF="../art/23/23lnx03.jpg"><FONT COLOR="#000077">FIGURE

23.3.</FONT></A><FONT COLOR="#000077"> </FONT><I>Some typical Motif icons.</I>

<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading25<FONT COLOR="#000077">Maximizing a Window</FONT></H4>

<P>Move the cursor to the maximize button, and press Button1. This action enlarges

the window to the size of the root window. This way, you can have, say, a huge clock

on your screen. Some applications, such as older versions of calc, do not adjust

their internal graphics areas when their frames are resized. This leads to annoying

blank space on a screen.</P>

<P>Use the maximize button as a toggle. Clicking this button on an already maximized

window causes the window to revert to its size and position (also known as geometry)

before it was maximized. Clicking it again remaximizes it.



<DL>

	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading26<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>TIP: </B></FONT>Avoid resizing a

	window when running a vi session under an xterm. This action leads to unpredictable

	results and can cause vi to behave very strangely. 

<HR>



</DL>



<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading27<FONT COLOR="#000077">Sizing a Window</FONT></H4>

<P>The entire frame on a Motif window is a control that enables you to resize the

window. Refer to Figure 23.2 for the size controls. Each of the four corners of the

frame enables you to stretch the window. The four long bars of the frame let you

move the edges of the window with the mouse.</P>

<P>To stretch the window using a corner, move the mouse to that corner. Press Button1

and, while keeping it pressed, move the mouse. The cursor changes its shape to a

double-headed arrow, and a thin border appears, indicating the size and orientation

of the current stretch operation. Size the window by moving the mouse with Button1

pressed. Release the button when you have achieved the desired size.</P>

<P>Note that some applications do not have these sizing controls enabled. An example

is the cute, but not very useful, pointer tracking program called xeyes, or the clock

program called oclock, shown in Figure 23.4.

<H6></H6>

<P><A NAME="Heading28<A HREF="../art/23/23lnx04.jpg"><FONT COLOR="#000077">FIGURE

23.4.</FONT></A><FONT COLOR="#000077"> </FONT><I>The oclock program has a window

without resize borders. <BR>

</I><BR>

To move the edges of the window, move the mouse to one edge. Your cursor should change

shape to a vertical double-headed arrow if you are on a horizontal edge (top or bottom

of the window). As you move the pointer, a thin border appears, indicating the size

and orientation of the current stretch operation. If you are on a vertical edge,

the double-headed arrow is horizontal. Press Button1 and, while keeping it pressed,

move the pointer around. This moves the edge along with your pointer. Release the

button when you have the edge where you want it.</P>

<P>While you are resizing this window, you see a small box come up in the center

of the display. This box contains the size of the window in pixels if it's a graphics

image, or in rows and columns (in number of characters) if it's an xterm. On some

systems, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to achieve precision when resizing

your windows. Remember to keep the button pressed while you use the arrow keys on

your keyboard to do the precise adjustment.

<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading29<FONT COLOR="#000077">Focus and Selecting

a Window</FONT></H4>

<P>You can select a window or an icon to get the focus by moving the pointer to that

item and pressing the left button. This moves the window or icon to the top of the

stack. This way, the window or icon isn't obscured by any other screen item.</P>

<P>When a window has the focus, it collects all the user input from the pointer and

the keyboard. A window can have two types of focus: click-to-type and explicit. The

click-to-type focus requires a user to click a pointer button in a window for it

to get the focus. The explicit focus requires only that the cursor be in the window

for the window to get the focus. Explicit focus is sometimes referred to as real-estate

driven focus.</P>

<P>In some cases, you want to have the focus where the mouse is, without having to

click the pointer button. Sometimes this is not useful for touch typists, because

a single movement of the pointer can send the keystroke to the wrong window.



<DL>

	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading30<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>TIP: </B></FONT>Sometimes it's a

	good idea to click on the frame to get the focus to a window because clicking within

	the window might accidentally press a button or other control in the window. 

<HR>



</DL>



<P>After you give the focus to a client, it collects all typed or graphics information

until the user clicks elsewhere. It has the focus.</P>

<P>Getting the focus also raises the window to the top of the stack. The window frame

color changes at this point. You can set the focus to an icon too by selecting it

with a mouse. The name of the icon expands at that point, and you see the window

menu for that icon. You can move the mouse away from the menu, but the icon retains

the focus until you click elsewhere.</P>

<P>The color-change scheme depends on your site's default colors. You might not see

any color change if the focused and out-of-focus colors are the same.

<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading31<FONT COLOR="#000077">Moving a Window

or an Icon</FONT></H4>

<P>To move a window's location on the screen, complete the following steps:



<DL>

	<DD><B>1.</B> Move the cursor on top of the title bar.<BR>

	<B><BR>

	2.</B> Press and hold down pointer Button1.<BR>

	<B><BR>

	3.</B> Move the pointer to the desired location. You should see an outline of the

	window border move with your pointer.<BR>

	<B><BR>