Xmonad

General keys

• mod-shift-enter shell
• mod-space cycle layouts
• mod-p dmenu

My keys

• mod-x maximize/minimize current window
• mod-toprowkey goto workspace
• mod-shift-toprowkey move current to workspace

Java

I got some grey-blob java applications to work by setting the following in my env:

export AWT_TOOLKIT=MToolkit

But this has the not so cool side-effect that java applets stop working in firefox and chrome (so place carefully).

Gimp

Two sensible ways to use gimp:

• have tools on one workspace and workarea on another
• have everything on one workspace, but minimize workarea to get to tools and maximize to work

Getting a recent version on Debian Lenny

Installing a recent Xmonad:

First install the debian version of xmonad:

apt-get install xmonad

Then some additional packages needed by cabal:

apt-get install zlib1g-dev libghc6-network-dev libghc6-parsec-dev libghc6-time-dev

Now download cabal and unpack and install it by using bootstrap.sh (defafault location is $HOME/.cabal).

Then update cabal:

.cabal/bin/cabal update
.cabal/bin/cabal install cabal-install

Install Xmonad:

.cabal/bin/cabal install xmonad

But to be able to use it in any fancy way, you also need xmonad-contrib:

First, it requires some additional packages:

apt-get install pkg-config libxft-dev

And then:

.cabal/bin/cabal install xmonad-contrib

Be carefull to add $HOME/.cabal/bin to your path and not get the debian xmonad in your path. If you experience weird problems, like suddenly some modules you are using does not have the expected functions ("is not in scope"), start checking you are using the right xmonad and are importing the right packages.

Also see: http://book.realworldhaskell.org/read/installing-ghc-and-haskell-libraries.html