.\" t .\" @(#)afterstep_faq.1 01/13/2023 .TH afterstep_faq 1x "AfterStep v.2.2.12" "Jan 13 2023" "AfterStep X11 window manager" .UC .SH NAME \fBafterstep_faq\fP\ \- This document is an ever growing set of questions, statements, ideas and complaints about AfterStep version 2.0 .SH 1\&. General Information .SS 1\&.1\&. About this Document\&. This document is an ever growing set of questions, statements, ideas and complaints about AfterStep version 2\&.0\&. You can get this FAQ at the following locations: http://www\&.afterstep\&.org/ The rest of this document assumes you are running AfterStep 2\&.0\&. If you are running a version of AfterStep prior to version 2\&.0, this document will suggests only one thing: upgrade\&. .SS 1\&.2\&. What is AfterStep? AfterStep is a Window Manager for the X Window System (hereafter referred to as X)\&. It was started to emulate the look and feel of NeXTSTEP(tm), but has evolved into something that while still being able to emulate NeXT, can do much much more\&. Without using much memory or cpu time, AfterStep provides all the features one could want in a Window Manager\&. .SS 1\&.3\&. What is AfterStep's history? Original AfterStep was a continuation of the BowMan Window Manager which was originally put together by Bo Yang\&. BowMan was based on the fvwm Window Manager, written by Robert Nation\&. Fvwm was based on code from twm\&. And so on\&.\&.\&.\&. Idea was to emulate some of the look and feel of the NEXTSTEP(tm) user interface, but overtime it evolved to include other concepts, as dictated by end user needs\&. It is that unholy direction that made Alfredo Kojima abandon project in 1997 and create a Window Manger of its own \- Window Maker, which had a goal of strict adherance to NEXTSTEP interface ideas\&. After releasing version 1\&.8\&.11 it became aparent for developers that old AfterStep codebase had reached its limits and required a substantial redesign\&. Such redesign began with development of radically new image handling library libAfterImage, introducing high quality image manipulation, blending, TrueType fonts, XML image scripting, and more\&. Building off of libAfterImage and incorporating new developments in X Window management, AfterStep 2\&.0 was born and released in September, 2004\&. As of now AfterStep code base contains none of the original fvwm parts, and association to fvwm, twm and BowMan remain only in history\&. .SS 1\&.4\&. Fine, what if I'm not running AfterStep 2\&.0? Is there a FAQ for me? Yes\&. There should be a version of the AfterStep FAQ available within your specific AfterStep distribution\&. If you are using a version earlier than 2\&.0, it is strongly suggested you upgrade\&. .SS 1\&.5\&. What is X? What are these "window managers" ? "X" is shorthand for The X Window System\&. It is a basis for building graphical user interfaces for UNIX (it is available for non\-UNIX systems, but wasn't designed to be as such)\&. "X" is not the interface itself, just a foundation for one\&. For more information, check www\&.x\&.org \&. A Window Manager is a program that manages your windows during your X session\&. AfterStep is one of many available window managers \&. .SS 1\&.6\&. What are AfterStep's main features? .IP "The Wharf" Similar to NeXTSTEP's(tm) Dock, it allows applications to be Swallowed, shortcuts with icons, and many other things\&. .IP "The Pager" Shows a miniature view of the Afterstep desktops, you can move between them, and move windows around in the Pager as though it were a miniature desktop\&. .IP "The WinList" A list of all the windows, clicking on the items can show that window, destroy it, shade it, or anything you might want\&. .IP "Configurability" Almost anything can be changed\&. .IP "XML image scripting" AfterStep allows XML scripts to be used to assemble complex images for things like buttons, frame sides, etc, from other, simpler images or graphical primitives\&. .IP "TrueType fonts support" Antialised TrueType fonts could be used to render window titles and other labels\&. .IP "Unicode, UTF8 and other encodings support" Most international character encodings are supported as long as fonts provide glyphs\&. .IP "ColorSchemes" AfterStep can calculate a set of about 34 colors to create looks with harmonious color composition\&. .SS 1\&.7\&. Is AfterStep 2\&.0 GNOME and/or KDE compliant? AfterStep 2\&.0 supports Extended Window Manager Hints, ICCCM protocol and Motif hints, thus making it as compatible as possible with both GNOME and KDE, as well as most other X applications\&. .SS 1\&.8\&. Can I run it in Microsoft Windows(tm)? AfterStep 2\&.0 does run under Windows using CYGWIN compatibility layer, while running any X server\&. Some of the X servers available under Windows allow so\-called root\-less mode, where X applications can coincide with native applications\&. See sample screenshot \&. .SS 1\&.9\&. Who develops AfterStep? .IP "Sasha Vasko " coordinator, coder, web designer, carpenter, and everything else ( at the moment )\&. .IP "Niklas Lunger " documentation and user testing\&. .IP "Nathan Mahon " release manager .SS 1\&.10\&. AfterStep is awesome! How can I help? Code contributions are welcome\&. Hardware donations are welcome\&. If you can help write AfterStep, or feel you can help the effort elsewhere, do so\&. Hang out on irc (#afterstep, efnet), participate on the mailing lists, suggest ideas, help code, etc etc\&. .SS 1\&.11\&. Who writes this FAQ? see 1\&.9\&. above\&. .SH 2\&. Resources .SS 2\&.1\&. Where can I find AfterStep resources, or help? .IP "HTML documentation" AfterStep 2\&.0 comes installed with complete set of documentation in HTML format, usually installed at /usr/local/share/afterstep/doc/html or /usr/share/afterstep/doc/html \&. Same documentation is available online from : http://www\&.afterstep\&.org/visualdoc\&.php \&. If you find that documentation incomplete in some areas \- please feel free to submit any corrections to any of the AfterStep mailing lists\&. .IP "WWW Page" The official AfterStep web page is at http://www\&.afterstep\&.org/ \&. This web site is managed by whoever has write access to AfterStep CVS, and is kindly hosted by the generous people at Web Conquest \&. .IP "FTP site" The FTP site, ftp://ftp\&.afterstep\&.org/ , is the best place to get AfterStep\&. .IP "AfterStep applets" The applets (asapps) that go with AfterStep are distributed separately\&. The applet distribution is maintained by Albert Dorofeev, ()\&. You can find the applets at http://www\&.tigr\&.net/afterstep/as\-apps/ \&. RPMs for many an applet could be found here : http://www\&.afterstep\&.org/rpms/ .IP "Man pages\&." AfterStep installation comes with set of man pages that attempt to cover all aspects of AfterStep configuration\&. \fIPlease\fP read the relevant man page before asking a question\&. Also note that the Pager man page is 'man Pager' (note the capitalization)\&. .IP "IRC" There is also #afterstep on freenode\&.net IRC servers \&. Feel free to come in and have a chat with us! .SS 2\&.2\&. What are the AfterStep mailing lists, and where are their archives? There currently is a mailing list for users to ask questions and get support: as\-users\&. .IP "as\-users\&." as\-users is the general AfterStep mailing list, open to all AfterStep questions, concerns and ideas\&. Subscribe by entering your e\-mail at : http://lists\&.afterstep\&.org/listinfo\&.cgi/as\-users\-afterstep\&.org The old mailing list archives can be read at http://www\&.tigr\&.net/afterstep/mail/ , while current archives (registration required) can be found at http://lists\&.afterstep\&.org/private\&.cgi/as\-users\-afterstep\&.org/ \&. .SH 3\&. Getting and Installing AfterStep 2\&.0 .SS 3\&.1\&. Where can I get AfterStep 2\&.0? You can download AfterStep 2\&.0 at any of the following locations: ftp://ftp\&.afterstep\&.org/stable/ SourceForge\&.net RPM packages .SS 3\&.2\&. What do I need to compile and install AfterStep? Because AfterStep is an X application, you need to have X installed, and the X development libraries (note, in this case "development" means libraries need to compile things with X, not development level code)\&. It's probably a good idea to also have a working C compiler\&. AfterStep includes some image libraries, but it is recommended that you install those libraries using your distribution's package management system\&. Note that you will need development libraries in addition to run\-time libraries\&. The following are the libraries that AfterStep can take advantage of : libJPEG \- support for JPEG image format libPNG \- support for PNG image format libTIFF \- support for TIFF image format Freetype \- support for TrueType fonts Note that following image format do not require any external libraries : XPM, PPM, BMP, ICO, XCF, GIF\&. .SS 3\&.3\&. Can I install AfterStep without being root? Yes, before compiling AfterStep, do this: .fi .in +4n mkdir ~/bin mkdir \-p ~/man/man1 \&./configure \-\-prefix ~/ .in .fi Then follow the normal install directions, allowing you to .in +4n make install .in without being root\&. .SS 3\&.4\&. How do I upgrade AfterStep from AfterStep version prior to 2\&.0\&.0? Install AfterStep 2\&.0 and then run it\&. It will start with default configuration that you may or maynot like\&. If you wish to try and reuse your old configuration files, then copy them over from your old ~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/ directory and into ~/\&.afterstep/\&. Restart AfterStep to make changes effective\&. If some of the features do not work quite right \- feel free to submit bug report along with your configuration files\&. It is recommended though that you start with default configuration and try out all of the supplied looks and color schemes\&. Select whichever is close to what you want and then modify it to your liking\&. These approach will allow you to take advantage of many new features, available in AfterStep 2\&.0\&. .SS 3\&.4\&. How do I upgrade AfterStep from AfterStep version higher then 2\&.0\&.0? Make sure that all configuration files that you ever changed are in your home directory at ~/\&.afterstep/, as installing afterstep will replace everything in global shared location (/usr/local/share/afterstep)\&. Install afterstep and run\&. You should not have any trouble\&. .SS 3\&.5\&. What's up with all these compile errors? Most likely, you don't have the X devel package (should have come with your operating system, if not, check http://www\&.x\&.org/ )\&. .SS 3\&.6\&. How the hell does one configure AfterStep? Configuration files are usually either in /usr(/local)/share/afterstep for system wide configuration and ~/\&.afterstep for personal settings\&. Configuration is handled in multiple files: look file (in looks subdirectory) for visual attributes, feel file (in feels subdirectory) for the general behaviour; wharf, winlist, banner, pager, animate for module specific configuration\&. Just copy any file you want to modify over from /usr(/local)/share/afterstep to ~/\&.afterstep to override system wide defaults retaining subdirectory layout\&.