-.Disclaimer: read this first, please.-

Note that this is now a "bit" old, I do not use this config anymore, and it might be a bit buggy and not on sync with the current fvwm features. This is completely unsupported, and unmaintained. I keep it only for historical purpose, and, well, because the screenshots add a bit of color and candy to the web site :p

-.Index.-

-.TNG.-

Is this a "Versatile II"? Well, that is hard to say. If you look at the screens, you will find that the aspect is not the same. It is different in many regards. TNG has been developed using as a base the Versatile release dated on May 24, 2007. So, it has inherited a lot from Versatile. No doubt. Versatile was born from a need, and, Versatile-NG is born from another need: adapt Versatile (which is a very useful configuration, for me) to be much lighter, quicker, and to more accurately serve my needs. It is by far, a more personal thing than versatile. Still, I put it here, in case you find it useful, or just as a mere example on what you can achieve with FVWM.

Versatile Default

Versatile served me well, and in a certain way, it was a playground for me to try some concepts and ideas. Some of them have been revised and included into this new version. Some others have been dropped, like the side panel, which wasn't that useful, and added most of the weight of Versatile. The icons have been also totally removed from the config, so, the only pictures now shipped with the config are the default background, and a 2x1 transparent svg image, that is used to generate the side line in the menus. This new icon-less style, reminds me a lot of fluxbox, and, maybe, in a certain way, the feature was inspired by that nice window manager. I realised that I never look at the icons anyway, so, they are no help for me at all. I usually even repeat a lot of times the same icon.

This new theme was made seeking to achieve total control of the WM using just the keyboard, though the interaction with the mouse is still possible. More features has been added, and some, has been removed. For example, everything related to iconification of windows. The taskbar never was my friend, so, the default panels do not ship it swallowed. Though you are free to make a custom panel and include it. The kuake now is on the left side of the screen, where I think the space is better used, because a wide terminal was mostly empty a big portion of the time. Another new is that the kuake console doesn't need to be embedded into FvwmButtons anymore. A function now calculated the width of the border, so it can fill the whole height of the screen even with consoles that doesn't tipically do that, because their geometry is character-based, and not pixel-based. Now, the thing looks like this:

Versatile Default

There you see another panel (also shipped on the default config) and the kuake panel in all its glory. You get the maximum power out of it, if you have GNU Screen installed. Any terminal should do. The configuration has a number of hardcoded terminals, if none is found (on a tipical setup, at last xterm should exist) you can still define the default applications by looking into user_defined_vars.config, and obeying the instructions into it. Versatile-NG still aims to be more powerful than Versatile was, but without all the overhead. I took out of the config all the features that I considered to be useless (for me).

Memory usage has been a concern. More panels means more FVWM Modules running in the background, so I made a new panel, reusing components from many of the old panels and wiped the kuake panel, as I already described above. The config is still perfectly capable of addapting itself to any arbitrary resolution.

The locale support has been (and will be) maintained from Versatile. So, don't worry. If you liked Versatile, and like Versatile-NG, you will still be able to continue using the same locale. Translators are always wellcome. I promise you it is an easy task. So, if there is no .po file for your language, and you would like to contribute a translation, get in touch with me (mail at the bottom of the page) and I will gladly give all the needed guidance to get it done.

In addition to the side panels, the tray has also been droped. I never used a system tray, and most of the time I had it empty, or, at most, with my IM icon living there (I don't IM too much either, so...). The xrandr menu was also wiped, because xrandr seems to act differently on each version, and anyway, I never used that menu for anything. It was also slowing down the whole configuration menu.

-.I don't like to read much, a feature list?.-

Yeah, yeah, I know, I should have started here. As with Versatile, it helps to use the new-test-conditions patch that is available in my file repository. Though is has not that much relevance as it did in the old Versatile.

If one feature that was in the previous version, is not listed here, do not assume that it IS in Versatile-NG, because most likely, it is not there. Or not in the same way that it was.

-.Key bindings.-

The key bindings are a very important piece of Versatile-NG, and are still being worked on. Stay tuned.

-.Frequently asked questions.-

A - Why doesn't your config has a {README,CREDITS,CHANGELOG} file?

Someday I will do/update the documentation. When I have the time (TM).

B - Why don't you import feature XXX from PERSON_X's config?

In case that feature is not Taviso's thumbnailing, just drop me a mail, and I will consider it. If it is Taviso's thumbnailing function, well, then put it yourself. I don't plan to incorporate desktop thumbnailing because a) is slow, and an superfluous overhead, and b) I find it stupid to have stuff below your windows. Everything you need is on the panels. Stuff below a window is useless stuff for me.

C - Will you support karamba/superkaramba/whateverdesklets in your config?

They are as supported as they can be. There is a folder to put scripts, and there is a file to put your custom stuff (mods_start.config). If you are asking about any other kind of integration, reffer to B: NO.

D - Can I send you a patch/diff/suggestion?

Of course. That is no guarantee that it will be merged in the config, though. Patches are always welcome, and I have already merged several that people sent me via email. New colorset files, font themes and decorations (please, compatible with the config structure) are always welcome. Translations are good to have as well, look into the locale directory to see the locale files. You can take the english one (or any other you understand) and translate it to your locale language, then send me the file if you want it to be included upstream.

E - How can you write such a bad english?

You know... I must confess that it's not my mother tongue. :P

F - Why don't you have pixmaps in your window decorations?

I don't like them, I don't use them. I don't make them. Feel free to submit any deco which uses them, and if it works and I don't have to do any effort but to merge it into the config, I will include it. If you plan to do so, put the deco into the decorations/ directory, and the pixmaps into a subdirectory with the same name of the .deco file (except for the extension, that is). Please, don't mess up my bindings.config file if you want to make something fancy with your deco. Each deco file has to include all the bindings for the buttons that that deco provides. If you need additional support contact me if you want your deco to be included upstream. Nothing is carved in stone.

G - Some of the configuration menus are really slow

A pity, but it is the price to pay for portability. Since most dinamic stuff that is not doable thought pure FVWM is handled via bash, there is no fix for this slowness. The wallpapers menus uses identify and convert from imagemagick, those tools are not the fastest ones available out there, I know, but they are almost standard in most Linux systems. That is why I use them.

H - And so, why don't you use language X which is cooler/faster/better to do so?

"A pity, but it is the price to pay for portability. Since most dinamic stuff that is not doable thought pure FVWM is handled via bash, there is no fix for this slowness..." I'm sure you get the idea, ;) I will not add any more dependencies to my configuration.

I - Feature X doesn't work, you are a lier!

I know that I am, but in this case, probably, you are wrong. Probably you did not read all I said above, and now you are suffering the consequences. ^_^

J - How would I go about configuring the applets?

Copy one of the panels with a new name into the panels subdirectory, edit it, change it, save it, and load it from the configuration menu. If you send me the panel, and it works fine, I will inclue it into the upstream and give credit to the author of the panel.

-.Thanks.-

To Robert Nation for being the father of FVWM and RXVT, without him, FVWM would not exist, and RXVT-Unicode wouldn't either. So, thank you.

To all the FVWM developers and contributors, that made it possible to get to its current status. Oh! and I don't forget about their cats. I am pretty much sure that the fvwm-cats are a core piece of FVWM.

To all the people in the FVWM lists and forums, they helped me much, and I continuosly stole inspiration from all of them. Special mention to Nick Fortune, Thomas Adam and Taviso in no special order, and to MasterOne, didgeridude and Swimmer for their help with german and dutch translations and some diffs and fixes. Those translations are from the original Versatile, but they are used in Versatile-NG. Thanks also to everyone that helped me here and there to understand better this wonderful Window Manager, a big THANK YOU!. If I forget anyone, just let me know, I can't remember everyone, but I feel thankful anyway :)

And finally, a special mention of honour to Clara García, whose help was unvaluable with the translations, the refactoring of many core parts of the config and the UI design, at which I also suck. I almost forget, thanks also to my own cat, of course :P

-.Licenses.-

-.Screenshot gallery.-

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