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Use a simple taskbar to organize X11 windows UNIX
I routinely have multiple X11 applications running alongside my Aqua apps, using Apple's rootless X11 server. The only thing I've found lacking is the ability to quickly switch between running X programs via a dock-like interface (since they are all lumped under X11.app's Window menu). I want pretty clickable icons!

Luckily, I recently came across a handy dandy little open-source taskbar app called fspanel (f***ing small panel). I hacked it up a bit to add command line options for adjusting size, positioning, etc and fixed a minor bug or two, and I've found it to be a nice lightweight way to help navigate between my X11 windows. Here's a screenshot showing the toolbar in action next to the OS X dock.

If you want to try it out, you can get my modified version here, or you can get the original from their website. To use it, download and decompress fspanel_osx-0.8beta1.tar.gz, copy the fspanel binary into /usr/local/bin (or wherever you wanna put it), and add one of the following lines (or a variation thereof) near the top of your .xinitrc file. For a Windows-ish taskbar along the bottom of the screen (handy if your keep your OS X dock on the left or right side):
fspanel -fn sans-9 -h22 -t&
For a slightly more dock-like taskbar, like the one in the screenshot:
fspanel -j -l600 -h40 -i32 -fn geneva-11 -t&
For a tiny icon-only taskbar that floats above other windows:
fspanel  -r300 -w28 -h22&
fspanel --help will spit out a full list of options. The Gnome or KDE taskbars can be used to the same effect, and have more features, but this one is extremely light on resources and gets the job done (it even has window shade - just right-click a taskbar item).
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doesn't work on the .xinitrc
Authored by: ateles on Jul 28, '03 10:17:56AM

Great little app, but it doesn't matter where I put the fspanel line in the .xinitrc file, the little panel doesn't show up..It works if I run it directly from the command line though....any ideas?

ateles

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Eco-programmer by heart



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doesn't work on the .xinitrc
Authored by: nichrome on Jul 28, '03 11:07:15AM

First, replace the "fspanel" word in the line with the full file path to the executable. Second, prefix the line with exec if it won't work otherwise -- ie. if fspanel is in /sw/bin, use (for example):

exec /sw/bin/fspanel -r300 -w28 -h22&



[ Reply to This | # ]
doesn't work on the .xinitrc
Authored by: ateles on Jul 28, '03 03:23:54PM
Thanks, that works nice. Actually I have a second screen and could put the task bar there by putting a large number on the -l option (my main screen is on the left):

exec /usr/lcoal/bin fspanel -l2000 -w28 -h22&

great gadget!

ateles

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Eco-programmer by heart

[ Reply to This | # ]

This is how I got it to work.
Authored by: c8h10n4o2 on Jul 28, '03 01:22:24PM
I have the Apple X11beta3 system installed and my setup is pretty simple. I noticed that the order the stuff is listed in .xinitrc seems to make a difference. This order worked for me:

# start xterm
xterm &

# add the taskbar
/sw/bin/fspanel -j -l500 -h40 -i32 -fn geneva-11 &

# start window manager
exec quartz-wm

Hope that helps. Howard

[ Reply to This | # ]

doesn't work on the .xinitrc
Authored by: dafuser on Aug 07, '03 12:24:59AM

put exec infront of the command

exec /usr/local/bin/fspanel -r300 -w28 -h22&

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LaterDafuser



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Use a simple taskbar to organize X11 windows
Authored by: cwright on Jul 28, '03 01:22:50PM

Or you could just open a terminal and type "panel &" to use the gnome panel or "kicker &" to use the kde panel.



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Use a simple taskbar to organize X11 windows
Authored by: nathanst on Jul 28, '03 03:53:56PM

That's probably only if you've installed KDE/GNOME via Fink, since I'm pretty sure they don't come with the standard X11 install.



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Use a simple taskbar to organize X11 windows
Authored by: semios on Jul 28, '03 05:02:38PM
Great stuff. It got me thinking of another solution to this problem that doesn't involve using a foreign dock. Imagine having a thin little Cocoa application that was tied to its X counter-part application (probably by the pid). You click it, the X app activates. You kill it, the X app dies. Very simple but gives you that nice application presence without a foreign dock. Here's how I imagine the script would work:

#!/bin/bash
# gimp.sh
#
# starts X11 gimp app with a gimp icon in the dock

gimp_pid=$$
gimp_icon=gimp.icns

# start the X11 wrapper
/Applications/Xwrapper.app/Contents/MacOS/X11 $gimp_pid $gimp_icon &
exec gimp; # start the actual gimp application
Note: the Xwrapper application doesn't exist yet; that's the hard part.

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Use a simple taskbar to organize X11 windows
Authored by: GaelicWizard on Jul 29, '03 08:30:24PM

Dude, I'm sure that a lot of people would love to have this kind of functionality. I'd be more than happy to help debug it if you decide to write it, but I'm prob not much help in the actual writing. (I'm not so great at C)

Good luck, keep us posted as to your progress! (if you do it...?)

JP

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Pell



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Use a simple taskbar to organize X11 windows
Authored by: GaelicWizard on Jul 29, '03 09:40:06PM

I've got a TiBook and my main screen (the one on the laptop) is smaller than my external 19", so when I run it it ends up *under* my TiBook LCD but too far to the left to be visible on my 19". KDE's kicker and GNOME's panel both can understand the pseudo-Xineramics that apple uses. is there a way to make this work with it too?

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Pell



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Use a simple taskbar to organize X11 windows
Authored by: chicorico81@hotm on Aug 06, '03 12:01:10PM

fspanel, being rather lightweight, doesn't have xinerama support right now (though that might be kinda cool to add) - I actually have a similar setup to what you describe (tibook with part-time external monitor), which is why i added command line arguments for setting the panel's position and whatnot as somewhat of an interim solution.
My external monitor, when attached, is above and to the left of my tibook lcd, so i use:
fspanel -j -l 1152 -r 0
this keeps the panel pinned to the right side of the screen bounds (-j)
and it sticks out 1152 pixels from the right screen edge (-l 1152 -r 0) so it always fits on my my tibook screen with or without external monitor...
If there's no "one-size-fits-all" configuration for you, you could stick two or more different command variations in the X11 programs menu; one for with the external monitor and one for without, calling the proper one by hand after starting X11 instead of having it in the .xinitrc file....
hope this helps..



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more fspanel modifications
Authored by: anoved on Aug 18, '03 03:18:50PM

Hi! I thought I'd let you all know that I've made some more modifications to fspanel, to make it more convenient for me to use with OS X (specifically, I added a command line option to place it at the top of the screen automatically - without needing to click anything - where it doesn't conflict with my preferred Dock location).

You can download my modified version or its source at wind.prohosting.com/anoved/sw.fspanel.shtml. I'm glad I stumbled upon this hint - fspanel is just what I was looking for to navigate among my X11 apps.



[ Reply to This | # ]
new URL
Authored by: anoved on Jan 20, '05 09:28:55PM

The address for my modified version of fspanel is now http://bingweb.binghamton.edu/~jdevona0/computers/util/fspanel.html

I've also had luck with the KDE "kicker" panel, installed through fink (although its more feature-fied).



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