X11 Focus settings

Gimp for os x used to come with a script to change the focus settings of windows in X11. Today, I downloaded the newest os x compilation, 2.4, and surprise- no script! A little digging revealed a quick and easy way to toggle mouse focus for X11 whenever you want.

Run in the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.x11 wm_ffm -bool true

to turn on mouse focus. (That’s the kind where a window focuses without licking on it if the mouse is hovering over it.) To turn it off, just run the same command with false instead of true at the end.

At the moment, I can’t recommend turning mouse focus on since it seems to cause some trouble for Gimp 2.4. But that’s just my speculation.

Eee PC compiz install

I have fallen in love with the asus eee pc – my new mobile linux machine! It plays nice with my iMac and works well with a special eeeXubuntu install. After some trial and error I’ve put together some quick instructions for getting the snazzy window manager compositing engine Compiz running on this little box.

So this requires:

• an Eee PC running eeeXubuntu.

That’s it.

::::Compiz install instructions::::

1. Either download this zipfile with configuration settings already set and ready …. or you feel really adventurous and want to do it all yourself later (not in this how to guide!).

2. Run

sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri compiz-core compiz-plugins compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-fusion-plugins-extra emerald compizconfig-settings-manager

3. Add to end of /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section “Module”
  Load “glx”
  Load “dri”
  Load “dbe”

EndSection

Section “DRI”
  Mode 0666
EndSection

Make sure this file ends with two new lines (blank lines, carriage returns). It will totally mess up your X11 setup otherwise!

4. Restart the x server with ctrl-alt-backspace.

5. Hit alt-f2 and type in:

compiz –replace

This should result in a pause and then nifty new windows!! Now if you like the result, you can make it start up every time by adding the last command to your startup items (I’ll leave how up to you).