Musca
From ArchWiki
Contents |
Introduction
Musca A simple dynamic window manager for X, with features nicked from ratpoison and dwm:
Installation
Method 1: AUR (Recommended)
Musca is available from the Arch User Community Repositories.
Method 2: From Source
Grab the source from the musca web page. Extract the source from the tar ball and run make. Copy the resulting binary into your PATH.
Whichever method you choose, you can either modify the config.h file in the source or use a .musca_start file to set your keybindings and to startup your applications. Using a .musca_start file has the advantage of not having to keep changing the config file on every update.
Tips & Tricks
Musca has quite detailed information on its webpage. This section is only to highlight some of the important features that might not be obvious. Only a subset of features are listed here. For more detailed information, check the musca webpage, especially the documentation which lists all the musca commands and keyboard controls etc.
Sample .musca_start file
#unset all default Musca keybindings. bind off all #set Musca keybindings bind on Mod4+Shift+h hsplit 1/2 bind on Mod4+Shift+v vsplit 1/2 bind on Mod4+Shift+r remove bind on Mod4+Shift+o only bind on Mod4+Shift+k kill bind on Mod1+F4 kill bind on Mod4+Shift+c cycle bind on Mod1+Tab cycle bind on Mod4+Left focus left bind on Mod4+Right focus right bind on Mod4+Up focus up bind on Mod4+Down focus down bind on Mod4+Tab use (next) bind on Mod4+Shift+Tab use (prev) bind on Mod4+Shift+w switch window bind on Mod4+Shift+g switch group bind on Mod4+x shell bind on Mod4+Shift+x command bind on Mod4+Shift+d dedicate flip bind on Mod4+Shift+a catchall flip bind on Mod4+Shift+u undo bind on Mod4+Shift+s stack flip bind on Mod4+Shift+Left swap left bind on Mod4+Shift+Right swap right bind on Mod4+Shift+Up swap up bind on Mod4+Shift+Down swap down bind on Mod4+Control+Left resize left bind on Mod4+Control+Right resize right bind on Mod4+Control+Up resize up bind on Mod4+Control+Down resize down bind on Mod4+Shift+q quit bind on Mod4+Shift+b border flip #bindings to switch between groups bind on Mod4+0 use 0 bind on Mod4+1 use 1 bind on Mod4+2 use 2 bind on Mod4+3 use 3 bind on Mod4+4 use 4 bind on Mod4+5 use 5 bind on Mod4+6 use 6 bind on Mod4+7 use 7 bind on Mod4+8 use 8 bind on Mod4+9 use 9 bind on Mod4+Shift+0 move 0 bind on Mod4+Shift+1 move 1 bind on Mod4+Shift+2 move 2 bind on Mod4+Shift+3 move 3 bind on Mod4+Shift+4 move 4 bind on Mod4+Shift+5 move 5 bind on Mod4+Shift+6 move 6 bind on Mod4+Shift+7 move 7 bind on Mod4+Shift+8 move 8 bind on Mod4+Shift+9 move 9 # dmenu settings #set dmenu dmenu -b -i -nb '#333333' -nf '#a8a3f7' -fn 'terminus-10' set dmenu dmenu -b -i -nb grey20 -nf '#a1b5cd' -fn '-*-dina-medium-r-normal-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*' #set dmenu dmenu -b -i -nb '#0A0A0A' -nf '#A0A0A0' -fn 'helvetica 9' -sb '#285577' -sf '#FFFFFF' manage off stalonetray manage off Conky set window_open_frame empty set window_open_focus 0 set group_close_empty 1 pad 0 0 0 16 exec stalonetray exec xbindkeys exec conky vsplit 40% hsplit 20% exec skype
The above .musca_start uses "Mod4+Shift+key" as the default keybinding so that "Mod4+key" can be used to start applications or for anything else. You can change the default keybindings to anything that you prefer.
Commands
1) musca -c - This command allows you to run any musca command on the fly.
2) hook - This can be extremely useful for chaining Musca commands together or firing off scripts on certain events. For eg.
hook on ^add pad 0 0 0 16
The above will always run the 'pad' command whenever a new group is added using the 'add' command. Therefore, when you 'add' a new group, it will automatically pad it with the given values.
3) Musca has a list of settings that can be altered on the fly using the following command:
set <name> <value>
Other Resources
- Musca -- the official website of Musca
- dmenu -- a simple application launcher from the developers of dwm
The musca home page offers a lot of information on the usage and configuration of Musca.