Re: Q: Debian, fvwm, virtual desktops and howto place specific programs at startup

[Matthew Weier O'Phinney <matthew@weierophinney.net>]

-- Lukas Ruf <ruf@rawip.org> wrote
(on Tuesday, 29 October 2002, 04:51 PM +0100):
> I make use of fvwm on Debian unstable and start fvwm with startx.  I
> have seveal virtual desktops.  On some, the first thing I do after
> starting fvwm is placing the same programs every time, e.g. jpilot on
> the first virtual desktop.
> 
> My question:  Is there a way to specify for startup of fvwm where to
> place which programs, i.e. can I automate the launching of jpilot on
> the first virtual desktop?
Use .xinitrc to start programs on startx. In terms of getting them to
place in specific areas, if the program has a --geometry option, this
would be the way to go. As an example,

    #!/bin/sh
    # Start up some important servers...
    numlockx &
    xscreensaver -no-splash &
    exec fvwm

Make sure that the last line executes your window manager, and that you
precede it with "exec"; also, be sure that any programs preceding this
line are executed in the background (e.g., are followed by the "&"
operator).

In blackbox, there's two tools, bblaunch and bbappconf, that can
configure which workspace (note: *not* virtual desktop) a program starts
on. A patch for bbappconf, located at
    http://xor.orodu.netbb/bbappconf.move_resize_fix_iconify.patch
also allows you to specify geometry for an application that doesn't have
a --geometry option.

I *don't know* if either of these tools work with other window managers.
They might be worth looking into, however.

-- 
Matthew Weier O'Phinney
matthew@weierophinney.net