[rescue] desperately need a window manager

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

> keyboard.  it's PC style, i don't like it.  any recommendations on a good
> PS/2 keyboard that i may like?  what i'd really like to do is get my Sun
> Type5c hooked up.  that would own.

I use an IBM Model M keyboard.  It's big.  It's heavy, and it's the
grand-master of clicky keyboards.

Atop that, I use xmodmap to put ctrl, esc, and caps lock where God meant
them to be.  4Dwm is too stupid to understand that shift-esc is tilde on
my layout (it's trapped as the frame menu), so I have to deal with tidle
being as the keyboard manufacturer intended.  I'm reasonalby happy.

> mouse.  don't like mechanical mice.  do the USB->PS/2 adapters work on the
> Octane?  i've grown to like the logitek optical mice.  but mine is PS/2.

Octanes have only PS/2 ports.

> windowmanager.  this is the killer.  i LOVE OpenLook Virtual Window Manager.
> i don't like this big chunky Motif thing.  any suggestions?

I actually kinda like 4Dwm.  If it did virtual desktops in a more
accessible fashion, and didn't use such large-ass icons for iconified
windows, I'd like it a lot more.  Also, customing the backdrop and such
are more trouble than they should be, especially if you want it exposed
through the control panels.

I'm going to try IceWM later today.  I remember liking it.

> other than that, i can't wait to get this thing hookup up with software.
> so far freeware.sgi.com is doing me good, except i'm going to have to roll
> my own mutt so that i can build in IMAP support.

freeware.sgi.com is very very nice, but some of the package dependencies
are downright retarded.  TeTeX depends on the SOCKS-5 proxy!!

> i don't have the third head on since i don't have room on this table really
> and i'm NOT putting the Octane on this dirty ass floor.  plus, the guy i
> got it from said that SGI does not recommend putting three SI cards in the
> Octane do to overheating issues.  so where do i stick the extra fans so i
> can get three heads going and not have to worry about heat?

The Octane isn't very hackable.  Amuse yourself by completely 
disassembling it, if you'd got a few spare hours to poke around.  It's an
impressively-designed machine, but there is no free space, and you're 
-not- going to want to drill through the hull.  There's a very good reason
that machine weighs so much, for being so small.

> also, ts at novastarsolutions.com is an AWESOME ebay seller.  this Octane came
> with a damn warranty.  that's no a common ebay thing.

I bought mine from him too, but not through eBay.  We had issues with the
courier (my Octane arrived -=twisted=-[1]), and my second one arrived with
a dead time-of-day clock, but he got it all resolved in due time.  Tom's
an excellent guy to deal with.

I'd rather have bought from Reputable, but I tend to bow to the almighty
dollar on personal hardware purchases.

--Jonathan
[1] I wish I had taken pictures.  I nearly choked.  But, then again, these
    are the same guys that mangled two SSA 100-series arrays.