First draft May 2nd 2011, Keith Burnett, ping.keith@gmail.com
Xubuntu 11.04 uses the XFCE desktop environment which provides a shortcut for maximising a window so that the window decoration (title bar &c) does not show and so the window covers the panels. Alt-F11 is the shortcut assigned to this.
I like to bring other applications up while using (say) OpenOffice maximised in this way. There is a shortcut that will bring up the main menu (ESC-Ctrl), but then you have to navigate the menu.
This miniHowTo explains how to use the dmenu program from the dwm
window manager (in the Ubuntu repositories) to launch applications
by pressing a
short cut (I've set mine to Super/Windows-Space), typing the name of
the application, and pressing enter. The new application window has
focus when it loads.
This howto has been tested on a stock install of Xubuntu 11.04 using compositor. I have no idea if it will work with compiz or other window managers with effects enabled. Feedback on that or any other aspect is welcome.
From terminal, run
sudo apt-get install dmenu
and type your admin password when prompted
Apt will tell you that dmenu is part of the 'suckless tools package' and mention the window manager dwm, and then install the software
From terminal run the command
dmenu_path
and you should see a list of applications printed to the terminal
screen. This list is also saved as .dmenu_cache in your home directory.
You may need to run this command when you install software, depending
on how the software is installed. Installing Seamonkey from the Ubuntu
Software Centre resulted in .dmenu_cache
being updated.
From terminal run the command
dmenu_run
You should see a list of applications appear in 'terminal' style type at the very top of your screen on top of the upper panel.
Type the name of a program (e.g. 'mousepad'). As each letter is typed you should see the applications that match the currently typed letters appear in the line at the top of the screen.
When you have typed enough letters so that only the application you want appears, press the enter key. The application should load.
You can press ESC to abort a search and quit dmenu_run. The terminal is matched as x-t, short for x-terminal-emulator. I'm fiddling with aliases and the application cache to try to define more user meaningful names.
I chose to bind the key combination Super-Space to dmenu-run. XFCE 4.8 allows you to define key shortcuts to any program using the settings manager. Just