I can safely be accused of having retro tastes, whether it’s antique cameras, typewriters or hi-fi cabinets. (I recently acquired my parents’ Silvertone Hi-Fi, which seems to be in good working order except for the strong burning smell it emitted when Oldies 1310 started playing an Anne Murray song. Draw your own conclusions.)
This tendency towards the antiquated also extends to my computing habits. While I normally vacillate between fvwm and Xfce, I also often tinker with twm when I want to relive 1989. Recently, though, I stepped even further back and installed uwm (the Ultrix Window Manager) on my laptop. Originally released in 1985 for Digital’s Ultrix brand of Unix systems, it is still available today for most UNIX and Unix-like systems. (I’ve been shacking up with NetBSD lately, and thus was able to download uwm as a binary package.)
I should preface the following by saying that I have absolutely nothing against Linux nor the Linux community. In fact, Linux was my point of entry to the world of Unix, and for that very reason I am thankful it exists. I also see it as an invaluable hotbed for new ideas and permutations.
Over the past few years, however, I have seen just how far and wide the world of UNIX and Unix-like operating systems extends. In this realm there is a legacy of innovation and code-sharing going back 40 years. (In the early years, the code-sharing was done as a matter of unofficial practice, even though it had yet to be codified by way of licenses such the GPL or BSD. Of course, the one legal caveat back then was the requirement to have an AT&T site license.)
Pasted below is a .twmrc file I’ve been hacking the past few days. In conjunction with a simple mod to .xinitrc (see below), it is my attempt at making twm impersonate Plan 9 from Bell Labs as much as possible without adding any extra software or widgets other than those native to X. (For example, the .xinitrc lines suggested below use xload in place of stats from Plan 9.)
The final result equals the looks and sensibilities of Plan 9, but with the behavior and functionality of twm. One glaring omission on the aesthetics side is Plan 9’s big fat pointer arrow. Instead, I’ve opted for a skinny little thing (draft_small) that is much closer to the root window cursor in 9wm.
Just as a reminder, Thursday (August 13) is the second
Thursday of the month.
For those who do not remember, that means the Ottawa-Carleton Unix Users
Group gets together for an evening of conversation, beverages and food
(not necessarily in that order).
We’ve had a couple of thin months, so let see who can make it.
Details:
Colonnade Pizza & Restaurant, 280 Metcalfe (at Gilmour)
18:00 (6:00pm)
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Just as a reminder, this Thursday (February 12) is the second
Thursday of the month.
For those who do not remember, that means the Ottawa-Carleton Unix Users
Group gets together for an evening of conversation, beverages and food
(not necessarily in that order).
It’s traditionally the coldest month here in Ottawa, so come out for hot pizza, hot toddies (or other hot drinks) and see what the hot topics are.