Configuration for ex-fvwm users

[Hans Georg Schaathun]

On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 04:49:46PM +0000, Hans Georg Schaathun wrote:
> 1.  The keyboard layout selector in the panel was cool.  Much better 
> than the xmodmap hack I used to have to switch layout.  Unfortunately, it
> does not preserve the settings between sessions.  Both the secondary
> layouts and the keybindings to switch disappear at next login.
> What mistake can I have made?

I found the (a?) solution to this.  For anyone else interested:

The keybindings can be set using setxkbmap at login, e.g.
  setxkbmap -option grp:switch,grp:caps_toggle gb,no
  setxkbmap -option compose:lwin
To get compose at left win, and switch keyboards with caps lock.
Once that's done, the panel plugin shows the keyboard layout which
is a useful feature.


> 2. Biff doesn't look good.  I need a simple xbiff application, one
> icon per mailbox (spool type boxes only), so the panel email monitor
> does not do it.  I am used to xbiff, but I cannot figure out how to
> make it sticky, title-less, border-less, etc.  In fvwm, this is a
> feature of the wm by pattern matching on the window title.  I
> cannot find such feature in xfwm.  Is there a different way to do it?

Thanks a lot to houghi for the Devil's Pie solution.  It really solves
all the issues with xload, oclock, xbiff, etc.  I did not like wmbiff,
as it does not (by default) distinguish between new and unread messages.
I like to see if new message has arrived since I last inspected the 
mailbox, and care less about whether there are unread messages in the
box.  If wmbiff can be configured to do that, I would really like it.

> 3.  Is there a way to tweak the keyboard layout, that is, 
> redefining individual keys?  Such as replacing the universal
> currency symbol by a dollar sign on some European layouts.

Seems that this can be done with xkb, for someone with a lot of
time to try and err without a manual.  Does anyone know what to
read?

-- 
:-- Hans Georg