Skip this msg if you're happy with Windows, and PowerPro.
Hi there, Maybe you noticed, I'm not much active in this group anymore; though I'm still moderating full-time. I've switched to Linux as my primary OS a while ago. After countless hours and sleepless nights with Debian, Suse, Redhat, Gentoo and Slackware, I've finally settled with Ubuntu for the exactly right combination of power, hardware support and ease of use. Well I'm still using Windows and PP at the office but I was desparetely searching for a PowerPro pendant under Linux and OS X (soon I'll have a Mac Mini :). So, I found a few programs and thought it'd be good to share them in case you're in the same situation. The closest program to PP I know under OS X is called *Butler*. It doesn't do much eye-candy, like one can do with PP if you want, but it has lots lots of features, which should satisfy even the seasoned PP-User, e.g. keyboard shortcuts, macros, sending keys to other programs, clipboard extensions, launchers, bookmark management, extensibility, etc. The other one under Linux is a different story. When I say *FVWM*, some would say "OMG, I've seen the screenshots at fvwm.org, not that b*ttugly thing!" but then, would you switch to PP just by looking at the screenshots at ppro.org today? No? Exactly my point. FVWM is the only program (academically speaking a window manager) which you can extend and customize without limits, just like it is with PP. FVWM has lots of modules like taskbar or vdesks (though you can build your own too), allows you to customize mouse and key events, grab external programs into itself (like a clock, terminal, even web page), change window decorations like Windowblinds, it is scriptable and extendable with nothing less than Perl :), and it *is* blazingly fast and lightweight. Before switching to Windows, I used to use FVWM under Solaris million years ago; believe me it gets a real obsession tweaking it... again just the way it is with PP. FVWM's is not for the faint-hearted, it is like a crossbreed of PP and Litestep, i.e. a toolkit for the powerusers. It's one of the oldest winmgrs so you'll come across lots of ugly screenshots back from B.C. but take my word for it, the amount of eyecandy is only limited with your imagination. I'll be posting my screenshots in the FVWM forums soon. Yet if you stick to Metacity (Gnome's default workhorse winmgr) then you may be interested in this tiny dedicated program to automate window events, which is called *Devil's Pie*. It corresponds to PP's Autorun list. With DP you can move/resize/bringtofront/etc. as soon as a window with window class/title such and such pops up. It runs pretty stable and fast on my desktop. To have Konfabulator-like scriptable eyecandy you might use *SuperKaramba* (under KDE) or *gDesklets* (under Gnome). Lastly, in order to assign actions to key & mouse events only, one usually uses *xmodmap* (to remap keys) and *Xbindkeys* (to assign actions), both are independent of desktop environment. I hope this helps someone. I'm sorry for the OT but it'd be too bad if you discover these gems after some wasted years. Contact me privately if you wanna talk or maybe know even better programs! Peace and greetings to all :) Cü ps: Bruce, thank you for file.runas(), it's a lifesaver! ps 2: BTW, how about a plugin for encrypted password storage, like Pageant? Maybe it could be used to extend PP as a full-featured password manager... Just thinking aloud. URLs: http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?section=butler&layout=default http://mac.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/Butler-Screenshot-5970.html http://www.fvwm.org/ http://www.zensites.net/fvwm/guide/ http://fvwm.lair.be/viewforum.php?f=39 http://www.burtonini.com/blog/computers/devilspie http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=75749&highlight=devil%27s+pie http://hocwp.free.fr/xbindkeys/xbindkeys.html http://gdesklets.gnomedesktop.org/ http://gdesklets.org/ http://netdragon.sourceforge.net/ssuperkaramba.html http://www.superkaramba.com/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JV_rlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Attention: PowerPro's Web site has moved: http://www.ppro.org Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/power-pro/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
