skippy-xd

[asqwerth]

bl-hotcorner has one advantage over compiz's scale windows that really is good for me, namely that when my VB Virtual Machines are full screen, compiz's hot corners don't trigger so I can't get compiz's window overview (scale).

bl-hotcorners does so nicely with skippy-xd.

[richb]

I do not use VB very much. Compiz has some other nice features other than exposing windows and desktops. You can set mouse clicks on the borders to control brightness or use key strokes. On desktops as opposed to laptops, brightness control with the keyboard without these compiz features does not work. And the same to zoom in and out of portions of your screen, Very useful for small images with text.

[asqwerth]

I do intend, when I replace my second MX15 installation with MX19, to have that one use compiz.

[richb]

I do intend, when I replace my second MX15 installation with MX19, to have that one use compiz.

Please report on the results. Stevo has said it is working well for him and has not experienced the issues I detailed in another post. Different graphics processor and driver.

[catalinux]

On the screenshot posted by asqwerth I can see the windows themselves are no longer minimized when launching skippy-xd, rather the overview is shown as an overlay above them (I also tried in a live MX 19 environment and I had the same behaviour). Has anyone found a way to show only the previews upon launching skippy-xd like on MX-18? or it's simply a bug that needs fixed upstream on skippy-xd itself?

[asqwerth]

On the screenshot posted by asqwerth I can see the windows themselves are no longer minimized when launching skippy-xd, rather the overview is shown as an overlay above them (I also tried in a live MX 19 environment and I had the same behaviour). Has anyone found a way to show only the previews upon launching skippy-xd like on MX-18? or it's simply a bug that needs fixed upstream on skippy-xd itself?

It's not a bug but due to the fact that when I made that screenshot, I didn't realise I was missing the config file which would allow me to configure the look and settings as I chose.

If you don't have a file called $HOME/.config/skippy-xd/skippy-xd.rc, and you can't find the template in /etc/xdg to copy over, then make an empty file with that name, and paste these contents into the same:

Code: Select all

# Copy this to ~/.config/skippy-xd/skippy-xd.rc and edit it to your liking
#
# Notes:
#
# - colors can be anything XAllocNamedColor can handle
#   (like "black" or "#000000")
#
# - distance is a relative number, and is scaled according to the scale
#   factor applied to windows
#
# - fonts are Xft font descriptions
#
# - booleans are "true" or anything but "true" (-> false)
#
# - opacity is an integer in the range of 0-255
#
# - brighness is a floating point number (with 0.0 as neutral)
#
# - if the update frequency is a negative value, the mini-windows will only
#   be updated when they're explicitly rendered (like, when they gain or
#   lose focus).
#
# - the 'shadowText' option can be a color or 'none', in which case the
#   drop-shadow effect is disabled
#
# - Picture specification:
#   [WIDTHxHEIGHT] [orig|scale|scalek|tile] [left|mid|right] [left|mid|right]
#   [COLOR|#FFFFFFFF] [PATH]
#
#   Examples:
#   background = 500x400 tile right mid #FF0000 /home/richard/screenshots/256.png
#   background = orig mid mid #FF000080
#
# - Bindings in [bindings] section can bind to "no" (do nothing), "focus"
#   (focus to window), "iconify", "shade-ewmh" (toggle window shade state),
#   "close-icccm" (close window with ICCCM method), "close-ewmh" (close
#   window with EWMH method), or "destroy" (forcefully destroy the window).
#

[general]
distance = 50
useNetWMFullscreen = true
ignoreSkipTaskbar = true
updateFreq = 10.0
lazyTrans = false
pipePath = /tmp/skippy-xd-fifo
movePointerOnStart = true
movePointerOnSelect = true
movePointerOnRaise = true
switchDesktopOnActivate = false
useNameWindowPixmap = false
forceNameWindowPixmap = false
includeFrame = true
allowUpscale = true
showAllDesktops = true
showUnmapped = true
preferredIconSize = 96
clientDisplayModes = thumbnail icon filled none
iconFillSpec = orig mid mid #909090
fillSpec = orig mid mid #FFFFFF
background = scale #333333

[xinerama]
showAll = true

[normal]
tint = black
tintOpacity = 0
opacity = 200

[highlight]
tint = #444444
tintOpacity = 64
opacity = 255

[tooltip]
show = true
followsMouse = true
offsetX = 20
offsetY = 30
align = mid
border = #4A4A4A
background = #4A4A4A
opacity = 128
text = #ffffff
textShadow = none
# font = fixed-11:weight=bold
font = fixed-12

[bindings]
miwMouse1 = focus
miwMouse2 = close-ewmh
miwMouse3 = iconify

The relevant line is 61. In the template file above, it reads:

Code: Select all

background = scale #333333

where #333333 is the background colour of your choice. If you wanted a picture as background, use:

Code: Select all

background = scale filepath-of-the-picture

In any case, once you add the above config file, you should no longer see the windows themselves.


https://imgur.com/HAEd5AO

Other simple tweaks would include changing the colours/opacity of the highlighted window or the colours of the tooltip text/background.


[OK, maybe the "bug" is that the config file to be found in /etc/xdg was not included as part of the skippy-xd package? ]

[catalinux]

Oh, wow, thank you so much. did not know about the so many options available to configure skippy-xd. I always thought the commands were everything there is.

[OK, maybe the "bug" is that the config file to be found in /etc/xdg was not included as part of the skippy-xd package? ]

I see. I guess that since I will install MX-19 while preserving the home folder then this file will be readily available when I will reinstall skippy-xd there, right?

edit: I found it in /etc/xdg on my current installation. That is one more thing to backup when upgrading, haha.

[asqwerth]

Right, it will still be in /home if you have now created it there.

[asqwerth]

OK, following the directions in the old thread work on MX-19 in VBox - except they leave out the part where you have to start the daemon before the window picker will work.
Please try the skippy-xd package in MX-19 Test and report back.

Tim, in the light of the last few posts above, could skippy-xd for MX19 be repackaged to include the /etc/xdg/skippy-xd.rc config file that is found in the MX17/18 version of the skippy package?

Thanks.

[timkb4cq]

It already includes the same exact /etc/xdg/skippy-xd.rc file that is in the MX-17/18 package.