New to FVWM

Introduction

Welcome. So you're new to FVWM and you're wondering what it's all about. Perhaps you want some further information about FVWM but don't quite know where to look. That's fine -- and hopefully this page will help point you to all the right places in getting started.

The first thing to bear in mind about FVWM is that it is nothing like KDE or GNOME. Whilst both KDE and GNOME are often considered "easy" to use, in that they have preconfigured settings and nice integrated applications, choices such as that are left down to the individual when using FVWM. The point about FVWM is choice and expression. Details such as the appearance of windows, which program will act as your file manager, etc., are defined by the user. FVWM won't make that choice for you.

First and foremost, be aware that FVWM is not considered to be a walk in the park. There will often be a lot of work needed on your part. It will require patience, head-scratching, and presumably support. All of which is fine, provided you are willing to put the effort in. No one else can do this but you. If you stick with it, though, you will get something that suits your needs, habits, and tastes much better than most competitors, and that you can continue to modify as those change.

But where do I start?

This is often a daunting question for people new to FVWM. And it's not a question that's easily answered. Most people new to FVWM like to look around first for inspiration. It's never that easy trying to think of how you want your layout to look.

You could, if you had a few months, sit down and do nothing but read the man page for FVWM and attempt to piece everything together. Some people have done this, and they generally feel as though they have learnt a lot from the process.

Of course, if you just install FVWM and have no personal configuration, then you'll end up with the default config that FVWM provides. This is generally something people hate and there are attempts at changing that, although they're still very much in their infancy.

If you don't fancy that much work, then the ''Screenshots and Configs'' section of the FVWM Forums ought to provide you with lots of example screenshots, and where applicable, configuration files. After that, it's a case of customising FVWM to suit your needs, based on the starter config you've chosen.

It seems that many people like to start off with a copy of Taviso's config as a basis. It's a very feature-rich config that has a lot of features (including aesthetics) that many people seem to crave. Definitely worth looking at.

There are, of course, plenty of other places to get more generalised information. (See ?Tutorials.)

Or you may decide that you'd rather not rely on having to hack someone else's config file to do what you want. That's fine, as FVWM has a configuration framework of its own, called fvwm-themes. This has a set of predefined configurations which you can use as well as being able to mix-and-match components of other themes.

OK. I have a config file. Now What?

Good question. This depends entirely on the problem you have, or the next feature you wish to add. If you find reading ''man fvwm'' is not sufficient, then you can of course see some of the ?Tutorials as well as looking at other forms of support (Users). Either way, there's plenty of information out there.

You might, of course, have a question to ask. You can ask on the Mailing Lists, as well as the FVWM Forums, or the Irc Channel.

If you're still not convinced this is for you, take comfort in knowing others do use this window manager via the Testimonials page.