====== Ratpoison Window Manager ======

As I've used emacs more and more, after a few months trying to compose LaTeX documents with LyX, I'm enjoying less and less using non-keyboard input devices (so-called "mice"). So I was intrigued by Ratpoison, a Linux((and probably BSD, but I haven't checked because I'm not currently using a BSD)) window manager called ratpoison. I learned of it via [[http://www.zedlopez.com/strangeloopiness/2010/03/what_i_do_after_installing_ubu.html|Ubuntu Lite]] installation, which also provides lots of other interesting suggestions.

[[http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/| ratpoison]] landing and link page, found via search engine, which includes a download link for the stable release (tar.gzip) and a link to [[http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/ratpoison| the ratpoison project page]].


Ratpoison takes some getting used to, learning the shortcut keys, but first one has to get it to work.

===== Synaptic (Canonical) Package =====

The "easy way" is to use the Synaptic package manager. As of today (2 September 2011) the current version for Ubuntu 10.10 is 1.4.5-2. The problem with the easy way is that after the installation, ratpoison is not an option in the login screen of Gnome. The reason seems to be a file that is not installed in '/usr/share/xsessions/' with the initial configuration settings for a desktop.

For instance, gnome (on my system) has this configuration file

  cat /usr/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop
  [Desktop Entry]
  Name=Ubuntu Desktop Edition
  Comment=This session logs you into GNOME
  Exec=gnome-session
  TryExec=gnome-session
  Icon=
  Type=Application
  X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=gnome-session-2.0

One such file for ratpoison found (at [[http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/Ratpoison|Gentoo Wiki archives]]) looks like this:

  cat /usr/share/xsessions/ratpoison.desktop
  [Desktop Entry]
  Type=Application
  Version=1.3.3.7
  Encoding=UTF-8
  Name=RatPoison
  Comment=Minimalistic Window Manager
  Exec=ratpoison
  
The one I ended up installing, and works (though I make no claims that it is the *right* way to configure), is

  $ cat ratpoison.desktop
  [Desktop Entry]
  Encoding=UTF-8
  Name=Ratpoison
  Comment=Start Ratpoison as your window manager
  Exec=ratpoison
  Icon=
  Type=Application

==== starting ====

As per instructions seen somewhere and promptly forgotten because the information is so obvious once one knows the answer, the way I start ratpoison is the easy way. It is certainly possible to do otherwise, switching window manager without restarting everything, but I'll have to find out how before //sharing//. Maybe killing or halting gnome, then starting ratpoison, but need one also restart X11? Later.

Easy way: restart the session and, on the (Gnome) Ubuntu login screen, locate a little fly-up menu in the gray bar at the screen bottom with proposed window managers: choose ratpoison, then log in.

==== stopping ====


===== Custom configuration =====

According to the ratpoison documentation, it is possible -- for those with way too much time on their hands and very special needs or desires -- to customize ratpoison. I suppose, and intend to investigate soon, that maybe I can replace the standard invocation prefix ''C-t'' by something requiring less stretching. For instance, why not use the ''menu'' key often nestled between the ''Ctrl'' and ''Alt'' keys?
FIXME : figure out how to do this.