FVWM-hook

FVWM-Hook is a free Environnement of office easy to use, pleasant with the eye and powerful for the operating systems Linux and the other systems of the type Unix.

It uses the following programs: FVWM is the manager of windows and the heart of the environment, ROX-to slip by or Nautilus as manager of file and to manage the icons on the desk, several terminals like Xterm, Aterm or Urxvt, several readers audio of which MPD, XMMS, XMMS2 or Quod Libet (the support to control these programs is included in Crystal), and different other tools to fill of other functions like the selection from the wallpaper or decorations of window since the menu or the automatic catch of screen printing.

Authors

The author of FVWM-Hook is Maciej Delmanowski. He is also his current maintenor. He started this project in January 2003 and other people helped it to make Hook what he is today.

Principal characteristics

The principal characteristics of FVWM-Hook are the same ones as those of FVWM because in fact FVWM-hook is anything else only one whole of topics for FVWM. To those a whole of files of configuration is added and scripts who allow to have a functional office dice the first launching.

The menu comprises two principal parts: the small hook and the menu of the applications. According to the topic chosen, this menu can be presented in various forms: a single menu, two separated menus, or the small hook and a menu of the applications separated by categories. Each one of these categories is then an independent menu represented by an icon with the screen. All the menus or under menus can be detached. They are then posted in a permanent way and they can be moved anywhere on the screen.

Small Hook

The small hook contains a true program of preferences, but with the difference in the other environments of office the preferences are directly selected in the menu. For example, to choose a wallpaper, those are automatically represented in the forms of icons in this menu and these icons are as many miniatures of the corresponding wallpapers. A simple click on the miniature of paper paints selected selects it and automatically places it like melts of office. It under menu will be rather slow the first time that it will be launched because Crystal will have to generate the miniatures; it will be then as fast as the others.

The others under menus make it possible to control the screen of day before, to carry out immediate or delayed screen printings, to select decorations of windows, the plays of color, the wallpapers as well as the preferences as the receipts used (thus FVWM-Hook indicates its topics) or the policy the x-ray one of the mouse.

Each receipt offers a different lock as well as different functions. Some are very purified with Juste a bar in bottom which is very fine and which gathers the menu, the list of the windows, the button of control of the audio reader, the pager (thus the zone is called which contain the icons of the various virtual offices) the bar system and a clock, others resemble more the traditional FVWM with an enormous pager, some disperse the various elements in zones different from the screen or gather them in a corner.

FVWM-hook makes it possible also to make its own receipts. As the heart of Hook is FVWM, and that this environment succeeded in not sacrificing the possibilities of configuration offered by this last, the possibilities offered are infinite. It is thus possible not only to configure an office which will not resemble any other, but more especially to configure it so that it does what one wants that he makes, and this same if the desired function forever envisaged at the beginning. Any function of an existing program in the system can be associated with an unspecified element with the office, this within the limits imposed by this program. It is also possible to define its own elements of office such as for example a button of control of a program. The audio button includes in hook is an excellent example of such an element. A topic interesting for a laptop is Default with ACPI which contains two buttons which show the state of load of the battery and the temperature of the processor.

Compared to FVWM, the many modules of configuration included in Crystal facilitate much its personalization.

Finely applications

The menu of the applications of hook incorporates the most current applications under Linux. Hook recognizes automatically when an application is installed and incorporates it in the menu. It also makes it possible to incorporate the applications of the menus Gnome and Kde. Those are automatically generated using scripts. Another possibility of this menu is to finely carry out its characteristic by incorporating in the basic menu the missing applications or by modifying the existing applications.

The last version of FVWM-Hook (3.0.5) incorporates fvwm-crystal.generate-menu, a script able automatically to generate the entries and the icons of the menu of the applications of hook starting from the files .desktop and of the icons provided by the applications.

Moreover, this menu can be personalized according to a strategy on 3 levels: system - group - user. This system of menu is very powerful and simple to configure. It not only makes it possible to modify the order associated with a menu, but also to mask or not an entry of the menu, to modify the order of the elements of the menu and to create new elements or sub-menus. The level system corresponds to the menu owing to lack of hook. The levels groups and users are optional and they make it possible to create new entries corresponding to user groups or a particular user. These the last two levels also make it possible to modify the existing entries according to a logic of simplest: Hook will post in priority the entries of the menu user and the corresponding entries of the levels groups and system will be ignored. Then it will post the entries of the level groups and the entries of the level system are ignored. Lastly, when no corresponding entry exists on the levels user or group, it posts the entries of the level system.

Other characteristics

The principal characteristics of FVWM-Hook are:

Interface with transparent elements: the panels, dialogs and small appear in pseudo-transparency (the bottom of the screen is visible but not the windows)
decorations of the windows, the plays of color of the panels and the menus as well as the wallpapers can be changed since the menu; their state is safeguarded for the next sessions.
flexible Decorations of window: several drawings of buttons for the title bars, and various images and functions for these buttons.
Différentes receipts (topic with placement and functions of the panels, functions of the office, choice and functions of the icons of the windows) can be selected since the menu.
advanced Support of the keyboard: associations of keys to control the changes of office, the control of the windows (displacement, redimensioning, x-ray, iconification, closing, etc) - in all, there is nearly 90 associations of different keys.
Support to control the audio readers by using the keyboard or the buttons of the audio panel and its menus.
advanced Support of the windows of terminals: special terminal called " Comfort Quake" accessible with Alt+ (serious) . Consoles can also be open with a click on the desk.
a script Python which generates automatically various panels and menus with the applications installed - it finds the programs automatically and creates the menus and panels corresponding.
Support for nearly 400 different applications - icons, database of entries for the menus, panels and styles of the windows.
Internationalization with Gettext and support of the Unicode.
All the configuration of FVWM is divided into small files in a simple structure of repertory.
special Functions for the loading of the files of configuration - that makes it possible to place these files in various places and to have configurations for the system, user groups or individual users. The files have the same names and the first found in the order user - group - system is used.
System of preferences simple and easy user of employment.
Support for configurations on the level of the system and users. The changes in these configurations are preserved in the event of update of the program.
Non-standard files called receipts. They are similar to the standard model of configuration of FVWM (a configuration - a file), and they authorize different configuration for the same program (for example various audio readers with possibility of changing some with the flight),
Support for various topics and sizes of icons.

See too

FVWM

Bonds external

Site of FVWM-Hook
Screen printings
FVWM-Hook on Ubuntu Dapper Drake

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