HOWTO make Ion Window Manager work for me

I'm running Fedora Core release 2 (Tettnang) on normal x86ish box (AMD Athlon(TM) XP1600+).

./configure --prefix=/usr/new

I like to put things that I didn't write, and are not really experimental, into /usr/new. You may prefer /usr/local. (To me, if I didn't write it, it's not "local".)

make

make install

PATH=/usr/new/bin:$PATH

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/new/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

export PATH LD_LIBRAY_PATH

Wherever you install, set your PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables to include them. Probably put this in ~/.bash_profile. if you used /usr/local instead of /usr/new you probably don't have to do that.

telinit 3

Log off the usual GNOME or KDE or whatever you usually run. Then, as root, telinit 3 switches you to Run Level 3, which is for non-graphical logins, in Fedora Core or Red Hat Linux.

Log in

xinit &

Start the windowing system known as X using the old 'xinit' command, rather than the newfangled 'startx' command.

if your ~/.xinit is clean, you should get a single xterm shell and no window manager at all.

ion &

Start ion. The first thing you need to know is that F2 gets you a new xterm. (Also F12 gives you a little Start Menu with a few options.)

Until you figure out the key bindings, you can mouse-click on the tabs at the top to change windows. You can also right-click on those tabs to get a close-window menu.

xmodmap

Use the xmodmap command to find out what your X server thinks your Mod keys are. Mine look like this:

$ xmodmap
xmodmap:  up to 3 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):

shift       Shift_L (0x32),  Shift_R (0x3e)
lock        Caps_Lock (0x42)
control     Control_L (0x25),  Control_R (0x6d)
mod1        Alt_L (0x40),  Alt_L (0x7d),  Meta_L (0x9c)
mod2        Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3
mod4        Super_L (0x7f),  Hyper_L (0x80)
mod5        Mode_switch (0x5d),  ISO_Level3_Shift (0x7c)

$

By default, ion is using "mod1" for its special key (notice the "Alt_L" by "mod1"). I don't like that, because I use "Alt" with left or right arrows to change tabs in my mozilla. Nothing that I use does anything with the Silly Window Key that's next to my Alt key, so I want ion to use that. I make the guess that the Silly Window Key is either "Super_L" or "Hyper_L" that is mapped to "mod4". This guess turns out to be right.

vi /usr/new/etc/ion/ion.lua

This is the main configuration file for ion. It's written in an elegant little scripting language called Lua. Near the top of it we find this:

-- Set default modifier. Alt should usually be mapped to Mod1 on
-- XFree86-based systems. The flying window keys are probably Mod3
-- or Mod4; see the output of 'xmodmap'.
DEFAULT_MOD = "Mod1+"

To make ion use the Silly Windows Key instead of Alt, I just change "Mod1+" to "Mod4+":

-- Set default modifier. Alt should usually be mapped to Mod1 on
-- XFree86-based systems. The flying window keys are probably Mod3
-- or Mod4; see the output of 'xmodmap'.
DEFAULT_MOD = "Mod4+"

F12 -> Exit -> Restart

Use F12 -> Exit -> Restart to make ion see your changes to the configuration files.

vi /usr/new/etc/ion/ion-bindings.lua

Next I'm going to start changing the ion-bindings and I'll have to get back to you whan I'm done. (Right now, too many basic keysequences are related to which screen you're on, but I only have one screen, so I want to change those.)

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