[comp.windows.x.motif] mwm with virtual desktop?

bob@odi.com (Bob Miner) (05/01/91)

Has there been any hint that OSF will be adding a virtual desktop
to mwm in the future, as in vtwm, tvtwm and swm?  It would seem a
sensible thing to do, assuming there aren't any legal complications.

Bob Miner
bob@odi.com

toml@marvin.Solbourne.COM (Tom LaStrange) (05/01/91)

> Has there been any hint that OSF will be adding a virtual desktop
> to mwm in the future, as in vtwm, tvtwm and swm?  It would seem a
> sensible thing to do, assuming there aren't any legal complications.

If somebody does this please consider doing it with a seperate virtual
root window rather than moving all the windows around ala vtwm and olvwm.
IMHO it's the right way to do this and makes panning the desktop MUCH
cleaner and faster.  I'm somewhat biased, but even the author of vtwm now
agrees that the tvtwm approach is the way to do this.  Yes, fewer clients
break with the vtwm/olwvm approach, but moving the windows around is simply
working around a problem rather than trying to solve it.

Once again, IMHO.

Now let's see, where's my source to mwm...

--
(I kid you not)Tom LaStrange        toml@Solbourne.COM

nazgul@alfalfa.com (Information Junkie) (05/02/91)

> If somebody does this please consider doing it with a seperate virtual
> root window rather than moving all the windows around ala vtwm and olvwm.

My only problem with this is that it seems to suck up a large amount
of memory.

toml@marvin.Solbourne.COM (Tom LaStrange) (05/02/91)

> > If somebody does this please consider doing it with a seperate virtual
> > root window rather than moving all the windows around ala vtwm and olvwm.
> 
> My only problem with this is that it seems to suck up a large amount
> of memory.

I'm not sure why it would unless backing store is enabled on the virtual
root window.  The latest patch to tvtwm sets the backing store hint to
NotUseful.  I did a couple of experiments on my Graphon and found the
following memory usage:

With one xterm and one xclock

tvtwm without the virtual desktop	101310 bytes used
tvtwm with the virtual desktop		143228 bytes used

I then started one more xterm		157136 bytes used

I don't see it as that expensive.

--
(I kid you not)Tom LaStrange        toml@Solbourne.COM