Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

JWM-Kit · 2020-06-29 16:23:42

Hello everyone. I’ve been lurking around here for a good while, but this is my first post. I’m a long time Linux user and have always had a great appreciation for JWM. It is that appreciation that has driven me to create this distro and to write JWM Kit in hopes that my humble contribution can be useful to those who use JWM.

JWM Kit Live is a Devuan based distro with the primary purpose of demonstrating JWM Kit. JWM Kit is a new set of software design to simplify usage of JWM (Joe’s Window Manager). In order to maximize personal customization JWM Kit focus on providing a graphical interface for editing menus, trays, groups, etc in lieu of automatic creation of those items. No part of the kit is designed to runs in the background. It only runs when the user starts it, and properly quits when "closed", or for notifications will close when timed out in a few seconds. The only parts of the JWM Kit Live distro that are not standard Devuan (not provided in the repos) are the custom configuration, JWM Kit, and a small modification using Zenity to provide a graphical prompt for permission (a replacement for the recently removed gksu/gksudo)

some images of the kit (small sample there is much more to the kit than this):
https://codeberg.org/JWMKit/JWM_Kit/raw … editor.png
https://codeberg.org/JWMKit/JWM_Kit/raw … -Icons.png
https://codeberg.org/JWMKit/JWM_Kit/raw … tretch.png

iso download: updated to sourceforge
https://sourceforge.net/projects/jwmkit/files/iso/

JWM Kit git page:
https://codeberg.org/JWMKit/JWM_Kit

----additional info------
currently release is 32bit Beowulf with a PAE Kernal.
if you use Virtualbox you will need to enable the PAE option under processor

------Short FAQ------
Q: What makes this distro different?
A1: it is a JWM distro which is rare to begin with.
A2: JWM Kit. At this time it is the only Distro that uses JWM Kit

Q: So why can't someone else just make a JWM Distro with JWM Kit
A: Please do, and if you have questions about it just ask.

Q: Will there be a 64 bit version?
A: Maybe if there is demand for it. As stated the main purpose is to demonstrate JWM Kit. If other include JWM Kit in their builds there will be little reason for me to make a 64 bit version.

Last edited by JWM-Kit (2020-06-30 00:28:58)

Ozi · 2020-06-29 22:13:50

Hi JWM-Kit

Sourceforge is free for hosting iso downloads, and easy to setup.

Ozi

JWM-Kit · 2020-06-29 22:43:47

@Ozi
Thanks for the input. I was considering using Sourceforge, but have not taken the time to sign up. I've not done a lot of research on the best distribution method. I do know that everyone is leaving Github now that MS owns it and before that everyone left Sourceforge to go to Github. The only reason I used google drive was because I already had the account and did not want to add the burden to codeberg.

~~expect a Sourceforge link soon.~~ Sourceforge added and removed Google Drive link

JWM-Kit

Last edited by JWM-Kit (2020-06-30 00:30:49)

HevyDevy · 2020-06-30 13:27:23

Nice, will have to give this a try one day, have messed about with jwm a few times and unless you know what you are doing it could take awhile to setup and find out the hidden gems within. I think the folks over at puppy linux would be interested in this, although they probably have something similar worked out for their platform.

darry1966 · 2020-07-04 05:49:47

Jwm kit it would be nice if you supplied a 64bit .deb with customised JWM for 64 bit Devuan users.

Last edited by darry1966 (2020-07-04 05:51:14)

JWM-Kit · 2020-07-06 01:16:41

@darry1966
You can install JWM Kit and make your own customizations. This would be more suited for your needs as every system is different. You can find the JWM Kit .deb on my codeberg page. The deb builds should work on all architecture (although they have only been tested on x86 and AMD64)

Some tips.
JWM Kit needs either the .jwmrc file or the ~/.config/jwmkit/settings
if you have at least one of these file jwmkit_config can create the other file for you.
If you have neither file use this command in the terminal to create an empty settings file: touch ~/.config/jwmkit/settings
Future versions of JWM Kit will simplify this by automatically creating an empty settings file if neither file is present

Now with that out of the way you can use jwmkit_config to specify the location of the tray, menu, icons, startup, etc files. Use the folder icon to browse for the files or to create an new one. You should do this for all items in the list. If you wish to add addition menus or trays use the add button

That's the hard part. Now you can use the various JWM Kit tools to edit the files. The first thing you should do is create a tray and menu with links to a terminal & file-manager. While not as import also add the various parts of JWM Kit and other such useful apps. You can make it look pretty later, make it functional a first.

find the .deb below
https://codeberg.org/JWMKit/JWM_Kit

Hope this helps

Last edited by JWM-Kit (2020-07-06 03:38:34)

Ozi · 2020-07-06 23:25:48

@JWM-Kit downloading now!

JWM-Kit · 2020-07-07 00:52:43

@Ozi Awesome. Looking forward to some feedback.

Ozi · 2020-07-15 00:56:50

@JWM-Kit looks good to me. But I'll keep my jwm the way it is.

JWM-Kit · 2020-07-17 15:46:49

@Ozi I understand where you are coming from. If you are familiar with JWM and have experience editing the XML yourself. No graphical app will ever offer the flexibility of editing the config in a text editor. I myself am the type person who would rather use a command over a graphical app. I still prefer the JWM Kit Wallpaper over manually editing just to set a wallpaper. I can view the images and set it all in one app. This single example is why I made JWM Kit separate apps instead of one big one. So people can use just the parts they want. I know I have packaged them all in one .deb but there is no reason they can not be packaged/installed separately.

Thanks for your feedback

darry1966 · 2020-07-21 11:11:35

Trying your 32bit distro on HP dv6000 - a problematic machine which doesn't get on with some distros. But seems to be running this Devuan spin very nicely so far menu tool is very useful to use - so nice effort.

Ozi · 2020-07-22 21:46:29

@JWM-Kit I don't use gui apps to maintain my config, and yes I'm totally fine with xml. I used to use when I was working on B2B messaging in the power industry. Also, as I don't spend a lot of time looking at desktop wallpaper is usually just use #000000, and leave it up to the user to customize it to their liking!

JWM-Kit · 2020-07-26 18:49:10

@darry1966 I'm glad it worked well for you. I have to give Devuan the credit due. To be honest most of the work in creating this spin has been towards JWM, and JWM Kit as my focus was to demonstrate JWM Kit. So if you hardware works well that's just the power of Devuan since I've not done anything special for hardware support. If anything I've chosen user freedom over ease of use. For example I could make JWM Kit more useful/powerful by automatically creating trays and menus on a system, but I decided It was more important to allow the user to keep or create their own,

@Ozi I know where you are coming from. I've given Star a spin and it tells me a lot about your preferences which I can best describe as simple and just works. No need for fancy makeup . . . or even icons. I used to maintain a similar system based on Debian for myself, but abandoned it about 2008 when I finally got some new hardware and wanted to play with all the fancy new distros at the time.

WoodLark · 2020-09-11 15:34:14

JWM-Kit,

I am new to both Devuan and this forum (trying out Devuan in Virtualbox). I am a long-time user of Puppy Linux and am therefore pretty familiar with JWM. I would think your software and Puppy would be a perfect fit. Has anybody tried putting the two together that you are aware of?

JWM-Kit · 2020-09-13 02:02:41

Welcome to the forum WoodLark. Thanks for your post. I don't know if anyone has tried using JWM Kit with puppy. It's only been a little more than 2 months since I first release JWM Kit (and JWM Kit Live) to the public. Who knows what the future holds.

I do know that I have lots of improvements planned for the kit. I now have a much brighter vision of what JWM Kit should be. Lots of changes to come and it will be good.

WoodLark · 2020-09-13 12:33:53

I loaded JWM-Kit live and played with it a little. I tried adding a program to the menu. It did get added, but it was added at the bottom of the menu, not under "Accessories, which is where I wanted.

JWM-Kit · 2020-09-13 13:46:55

The Add button just creates the item and adds it to the list You need to use the up and down arrow buttons to place the item where you want it. Sorry if this is not obvious.

As I said there will be lots of changes coming in the future. In the future versions the menu editor will not be a global view, but will be divided by menus (and the root menu). I also plan to have newly added items place next to the current selected item instead of at the bottom.

Last edited by JWM-Kit (2020-09-13 13:50:24)

pymd · 2020-11-05 01:46:37

I too am a big fan of JWM, I think it's a wonderful window manager. I wish i had these tools a few years ago, when I was working on my configs, this would have saved me a lot of manual configurations.
I downloaded it the other week and thought it a good bit of software, and you've probably made configuring JWM a lot easier for many. The more attention this window manager gets the better, I say. Thanks so much for creating this, and I will definitely try to include it in one of my builds at some point.

Kindest Regards, Adam

JWM-Kit · 2020-11-10 17:20:21

Thanks pymd (Adam) for expressing appreciation for my software. As I've said before I do have lots of improvements planned, it's just a matter of finding the time to set behind the keyboard.

I created JWM Kit with the hope of it being included in JWM base distros/builds. If fact that is why I created JWM Kit Live. For the the purpose of being an example of how to configure the kit. So, I would be glad to see JWM Kit included in your Builds, weather they are for personal use or public distribution.

WoodLark · 2021-01-10 19:30:40

Is it possible to download just the jwm kit files without Devuan so I could try it with puppy linux?

wdq · 2021-01-10 21:18:20

Uuuuuu, can't wait to try

aitor · 2021-01-10 21:42:10

JWM-Kit wrote:

I do know that I have lots of improvements planned for the kit. I now have a much brighter vision of what JWM Kit should be. Lots of changes to come and it will be good.

Keep up the good work!

JWM-Kit · 2021-01-12 20:24:41

Sorry for taking so long to reply WoodLark. Not only have I been busy I also wanted to take the time to provide as informative of an answer as possible. Which involved me taking a look at Puppy. I am pleased to inform you that JWM KIt works quite well in FOSSAPUP not problem. I did have to make changes to the default JWM config as it caused some conflict. For example: It would automatically re-generated the menu and overwrite any changes made by JWM Kit.

To All interested in JWM Kit on Puppy.

I can't ignore the fact that their is definitely an interest to seeing JWM Kit work in Puppy Linux, so I will be taking the time to not only get it working in puppy, but to share the process. I guess you could call it a guide, but it's mostly just notes of me getting JWM KIt running in Puppy. I'm using FOSSAPUP. But let me know what puppy core y'all are interested in so I can provide more helpful documentation.

Everything you need is here:
https://codeberg.org/JWMKit/JWM_Kit

I'll post back when I've finished my documentation. You should be able to find it at the codeberg.org page listed above. I'll create a folder called puppy with the info, and it will also contain any config files I create in the process.

UPDATE: Finished my Puppy documentation. You can find it on my codeberg site listed above in a folder called puppy. The file NOTES is the documentation, and the other files are examples you can use to reproduce the process.

Last edited by JWM-Kit (2021-01-13 03:20:23)

JWM-Kit · 2021-01-14 17:11:25

Time for a change of direction. My previous focus on JWM Kit has been more on the technical side. Pushing for improvements, but not making it any easier to get it working in the first place. A big part of this was that I purposely restricted myself by placing a very high regard on the users freedom. I choose not to provide a working out of the box experience because I did not want my configurations overwriting the users. I have come to see that this method puts the software out of reach of many. Because of this I have decided to temporary divert my efforts into providing packages, scripts, guides, or whatever maybe necessary to provide the average user with a working JWM system using JWM Kit.

As for my "high regard of the users freedoms". I have a few ideas on how to deal with that.
1. Disclaimer to the user that their own config will be overwritten. If they are fine with that then it's their decision.
2. Continue to offer the method of installing that gives the user complete control . . . and a headache.

Another message to Puppy Users
This change in direction will also improve JWM Kit on puppy. As puppy's custom JWM config causes many conflicts and the best solution is to just delete it and use a "JWM Kit default". Also I've made changes to a few parts of JWM Kit for puppy specific solutions. Some of the improvements have already been pushed to my codeberg account (basically it's like github) . But not all, and more are to come.

So to sum things up. You can look forward to:
1. Out of the box experience: being able to install JWM Kit yourself with little problem
2. Better Puppy support. Maybe able to even offer an option "revert to puppy default"

So now you know my intentions moving forward with this project. As always, my work is limited to my free time so I give not timeline and make no promises.

Emanuele65 · 2021-03-27 15:26:30

Hi!
I tried JWM live kit but I can't figure out how to connect to the wifi network. Maybe from terminal?

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 2020-06-29 16:23:42

Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#2 2020-06-29 22:13:50

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#3 2020-06-29 22:43:47

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#4 2020-06-30 13:27:23

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#5 2020-07-04 05:49:47

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#6 2020-07-06 01:16:41

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#7 2020-07-06 23:25:48

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#8 2020-07-07 00:52:43

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#9 2020-07-15 00:56:50

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#10 2020-07-17 15:46:49

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#11 2020-07-21 11:11:35

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#12 2020-07-22 21:46:29

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#13 2020-07-26 18:49:10

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#14 2020-09-11 15:34:14

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#15 2020-09-13 02:02:41

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#16 2020-09-13 12:33:53

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#17 2020-09-13 13:46:55

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#18 2020-11-05 01:46:37

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#19 2020-11-10 17:20:21

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#20 2021-01-10 19:30:40

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#21 2021-01-10 21:18:20

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#22 2021-01-10 21:42:10

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#23 2021-01-12 20:24:41

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#24 2021-01-14 17:11:25

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

#25 2021-03-27 15:26:30

Re: Announcing JWM Kit Live [updated iso download]

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