AfterStep 2.2.8 has been released. It’s a bugfix release, as the release announcement details: “Major bugfix release: Found and plugged an elusive memory leak, and many other minor bugfixes.” There is a special ‘update’ package for users of previous versions of AfterStep.
I tried to love AfterStep, I did, but there are just too many options to configure and the documentation on them too sparse and non-helpful.
The titlebars get me. What’s with the weird shadowy fuzziness?
AfterStep was originally based on Fvwm and if you have some Fvwm experience, AfterStep is really not that difficult to configure. The problem with both Fvwm and AfterStep is that the default settings are very different from most other window managers, and this means that you have to change a lot of settings (which can only be done by editing config files) if you want to make them act like other WMs.
I’ve occasionally played with AfterStep but actually I prefer Fvwm because it’s easier to strip all the unnecessary eye-candy from Fvwm and to make it lean and mean. AfterStep, on the other hand, seems to be more hard-wired to use various kinds of decorations (pixmaps, animations, shadows, transparency, weird cursors…) that hog RAM and make the window manager slower.
AfterStep 1.x was based on Fvwm, aka “asclassic”. Afterstep 2 is a complete rewrite and whole different animal.
The code base may have changed a lot but the modules and the syntax of config files in AfterStep 2 are still pretty similar to Fvwm.
You nailed it, my exact thoughts on AfterStep.
Docs has been something slowly being improved upon over the past several months.
what hasnt been really announced is we setup a wiki some while ago, which may help with some of the areas you were having problems with.
http://wiki.afterstep.org/
if you ever decide to give AS another try, do check to see if that gives you some answers you couldnt find otherwise.
and we’re always welcome to suggestions on what needs better explaining/improving as well.
— sG
[AfterStep Dev Team Member]
I cut my teeth on AfterStep and used it for years before moving on to Enlightenment.
– single text config file in the user’s folder
— easy editing of apearances in config
— easy editing of menu in config
– low system resource needs
For me it was a darker metal plating for inactive and lighter metal plating for active window. The minimal border around terminals was great and if I remember correctly, I could have a transperent but darkened terminal background.. memories, I tells ya.
Enlightenment blew me away with “holes” through windows where a mouse click would actually hit the window below. The over the top graphic themes where a contrast to my humble AS days too.
hm.. I think I may try AS as my window manager for low resource systems instead of fluxbox.. we’ll see. Glad to see it’s still under development though.
Wow. I’d thought that AfterStep was LONG dead, it’s niche (a lightweight WM with a NeXT-ish look) having been filled by the far superior WindowMaker… Guess I was wrong (though I still like WindowMaker better)