Experimental Mir-based tiling WM is winning acceptance outside Ubuntopia
- Reference: 1720093572
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/07/04/miracle_wm_030/
- Source link:
The new version is [1]0.3.0 and as Miracle-WM's core functionality settles down somewhat, it's starting to get prettier as well. Although it's still new, there are several things about it that are a little different, which is why we've covered earlier versions here on The Register . [2]Version 0.1.0 only appeared in February , and was followed by [3]version 0.2.0 in April .
The new version not only improves window management, it also adds some eye candy. Window resize and move operations can now include animation effects, as well as switching between workspaces. Lest ye mock, this sort of thing has been attracting folks to Linux [4]for at least a decade and a half . Windows can now have borders, and that of the active window can be a different color, to make it more obvious which one you're typing into. There are also improvements to IPC (inter-process communication), which is modelled on [5]that of i3 .
[6]Experimental remix finally brings the former Unity 8 back to Ubuntu
[7]Miracle-WM tiling window manager for Mir hits 0.2.0
[8]Nasty regreSSHion bug in OpenSSH puts roughly 700K Linux boxes at risk
[9]Linux Mint 22 beta sprinkles Cinnamon desktop on Ubuntu
There's a nifty – and short – YouTube demo video showing off some of the new bling.
[10]Youtube Video
[11]
One of the more unusual things about Miracle-WM is that it runs on top of [12]Canonical's Mir display server , which is very much still around and in active development. In the wider Linux community, it's common to find anti-Canonical and anti-Ubuntu sentiment, particularly against some Canonical technology such as Snap packaging. Mir, however, seems to be winning friends and influencing people.
[13]
It was included as a supporting element of the [14]Lomiri desktop in Debian 12 last year. More recently, Miracle-WM has been [15]available as a package in Fedora since Fedora 40. Indeed, [16]plans are under way for there to be a specific Fedora Miracle-WM Spin, which might happen for Fedora 41 – currently [17]scheduled for October this year.
Miracle-WM is distributed as a snap package, and on Ubuntu you can install it with: sudo snap install miracle-wm --classic
It's still pre-release, but it has come a long way in just six months. The [18]source code is on GitHub and it has a growing set of documentation in [19]its own wiki . ®
Get our [20]Tech Resources
[1] https://github.com/mattkae/miracle-wm/releases/tag/v0.3.0
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/27/miracle_tiling_wm/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/23/miracle_wm_020/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/Print/2009/01/22/netbook_linux_guide_4
[5] https://i3wm.org/docs/ipc.html
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/ubuntu_unity_2404_plus_lomiri/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/23/miracle_wm_020/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/01/regresshion_openssh/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/03/linux_mint_22_beta/
[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiRscROvZ1E
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZobHHXO037BWBkI3oRDTqAAAAAE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/28/mir_canonicals_wayland_compositor/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZobHHXO037BWBkI3oRDTqAAAAAE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/27/lomiri_desktop_on_debian/
[15] https://packages.fedoraproject.org/pkgs/miracle-wm/miracle-wm/
[16] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/FedoraMiracle
[17] https://fedorapeople.org/groups/schedule/f-41/f-41-all-tasks.html
[18] https://github.com/mattkae/miracle-wm
[19] https://mattkae.github.io/miracle-wm-wiki/latest/
[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: *Borders?!*
Eh, FVWM can do it with
TitleStyle Inactive Solid blue
TitleStyle ActiveUp Solid yellow
The active window gets yellow borders, the others go blue. Even better if you do "Style * SloppyFocus" for an intelligent version of "focus follows mouse"
"Style * TitleAtLeft" puts the titlebar on the left, instead of the top. Gains a bit of valuable vertical real estate, and everybody loses their shit when they see it "because I didn't think it was even possible to put the titlebar on the LEFT" or anywhere other than the top like Windows. If Windows doesn't do it, lord knows it's not possible.
> One of the more unusual things about Miracle-WM is that it runs on top of Canonical's Mir display server, which is very much still around and in active development. In the wider Linux community, it's common to find anti-Canonical and anti-Ubuntu sentiment, particularly against some Canonical technology such as Snap packaging. Mir, however, seems to be winning friends and influencing people.
Fantastic journalism as always. No, it is not running on the Mir display server, that's dead as a doornail. Miracle-WM runs on the Mir Wayland compositor, which Canonical rebranded to save face after having to abandon the Mir display server.
*Borders?!*
> Windows can now have borders, and that of the active window can be a different color, to make it more obvious which one you're typing into.
Steady on, people - I'm not sure the world's ready for that kind of innovation.
Seriously, though, now I'm getting older and less eagle-eyed I really appreciate those kinds of visual cues, and find their disappearance elsewhere extremely annoying.