[SOLVED] Carla and internal plugins on different workspaces?

[mvdev0]

Hey,

I'm using Xfce 4.14 and Ubuntu 20.04 with KXStudio.

Is it possible having carla and its plugins on different workspaces?

(or carla minimized but plugins visible?)

[LAM]

In some windows managers (like i3, for example) you can write rules, matching the window title or class or some other attribute, and assign windows to certain workspaces. Has been a long time since I used XFCE so I'm not sure how and what you'll need to achieve something like that.

There's Devilspie2 that can do something similar: http://www.nongnu.org/devilspie2/

[mvdev0]

Hey LAM,

thanks you for answering.

That is what i did the last few days.. looking to openbox, i3 and xmonad and they configuration.

I'm not really sure, but they are all looking to work to static for a fast workflow where frequently new plugins will be used
or temporarily moved to another workspace to combine them with other programs, sometimes on different screens too.

devilspie(2) and wmctrl, as another example, are great for daily use on well known programs.. but not, it's only my
personal estimation, if using a bunch of them in a not static setup like a studio.

Not only few window I'm using are fullscreen paired with some small one all arranged side by side.
I like to have the option to choose some and move them to a workspace I need at this time.
Would be really great doing this screen independent.. but this is not possible with floating wm's, as I know.

In my current Xfce setup I have to collapse carla's window so it is not in background, and it goes confusing
if using more instances.. or I'm not at that point doing this at best. It would sometimes be enough to minimize
carla, but then all internal plugin GUIs are minimized too.

With this workflow I do not reach the best I can have with a multiple screen/workspace setup.

I hope it is obvious why I'm asking.

[LAM]

I like to have the option to choose some and move them to a workspace I need at this time.
Would be really great doing this screen independent.. but this is not possible with floating wm's, as I know.

i3 can do it, both moving windows to different workspaces and having independent screen workspaces.

It would sometimes be enough to minimize carla, but then all internal plugin GUIs are minimized too.

In i3 there's isn't a "minimize" but there is a scratchpad, an invisible space where you can send windows and show/hide them as you need.
In my case if I want to get rid of Carla window I can just send it to a different workspace or scratchpad. All the plugins windows will remain visible in both cases.

I'm sure there are other WMs capable of doing similar things, being on i3 exclusively for 8 years I can just recommend what I know best.

[Largos]

(or carla minimized but plugins visible?)

This is a setting within carla itself. Go to the configure carla menu, then the engine tab and have "Make plugin UIs appear on top of carla" unchecked. Then restart carla. This enables you to minimise the carla window without minimising the plugin GUI,

As for XFCE, you can right click the title bar and a menu to move the window to another desktop. You have probably tried that and if it moved the entire carla window, it might be affected with the aforementioned setting in carla as that seems to separate the plugin GUI into a separate application window as far the desktop is concerned. I am not sure as I don't have carla installed in my os with XFCE.

Personally, I use KDE and it is possible to do what you want with it. You can set up "window rules" with it's window manager. You can set them to always open on a specific desktop, at a specific position on the screen, with a specific size etc. I also just tested and you can set window rules for individual plugins within carla too.

[tavasti]

At least in awesomewm you can put any window to any tag. And most likely it would be possible to configure automatic selection where some windows go.

In awesome, there is tags, which behave like workspaces/virtual desktops when showing one at the time, but it is also possible to show multiple tags same time.

[mvdev0]

I'm really glad asking here..

i3 can do it, both moving windows to different workspaces and having independent screen workspaces

I read about that, xmonad can also do.. but I can't right now set them both up running in XFCE as WM,
and I'm not sure, but using a tiling WM isn't what I want this time. If any, then combined with a desktop
environment.

I'm a little bit afraid setting up all that programs in a file and do not have a comfortable launcher.

All of this is based upon unsuspectingness, I never use i3 or xmonad before, but I'm willing to make
a decision and learn one of them.

This is a setting within carla itself. Go to the configure carla menu, then the engine tab and have "Make plugin UIs appear on top of carla" unchecked. Then restart carla. This enables you to minimise the carla window without minimising the plugin GUI,

Thank you very much, this is what I'm searching for and solved the carla/GUI problem.. I overlooked this option.

In awesome, there is tags, which behave like workspaces/virtual desktops when showing one at the time, but it is also possible to show multiple tags same time.

Awesomewm will go to my list of WMs to test, thank you. It is possible using tags per screen, so I can have
two, each of them on a physical display changing a "workspace" independently?


Short before I read all your answers, I switch over to LXQt with KWin.. and I really like right now.
I think it's also a good choice going from GTK to Qt where a great selection of programs using
this toolkit.

It is really comfortable switching a window from one screen to another and setup rules
all from the title bar.

I do like KActivities too, but this time I'm having some problems using it with LXQt.. but this is
another project. :)


Thanks you all so much for reading and spend time!

[tavasti]

In awesome, there is tags, which behave like workspaces/virtual desktops when showing one at the time, but it is also possible to show multiple tags same time.

Awesomewm will go to my list of WMs to test, thank you. It is possible using tags per screen, so I can have
two, each of them on a physical display changing a "workspace" independently?

Yes, that was thing on my list. Earlier I used X in zaphod mode, no moving windows between screens, and had fvwm, so that I had separate desktops on each screen. After zaphod mode disappeared, had to find wm to support it.

Awesome is in roots tiling window manager, but has also floating mode. It is higly configurable, but configuration is done with lua code, so it is not for everybody. And as far as I know, no Wayland support.

[mvdev0]

Personally, I use KDE and it is possible to do what you want with it. You can set up "window rules" with it's window manager. You can set them to always open on a specific desktop, at a specific position on the screen, with a specific size etc. I also just tested and you can set window rules for individual plugins within carla too.

Hey Largos,

today I setup KDE in Ubuntu 22.04, and really like the easy setup of that rules.

I also configure the window bar and virtual workspaces switcher to only show what references to the displays
they attached, so only windows that are open on this displays is shown, this is nice too.

Is it also possible to switch the workspaces independetly on that displays?

And sorry I asking here again, it is not really KXStudio related!

Best regards!

[Largos]

@mvdev0 No, it isn't but if you want to do something like always have a certain window shown on a second monitor regardless of what virtual desktop, you can do that. Right click the title bar, go to "move to desktop" and check "all desktops".

[sunrat]

A lot of people dump on KDE Plasma for having too many configuration options. That's very fine for them, but irrelevant when you need configuration options that only KDE offers.

[tavasti]

A lot of people dump on KDE Plasma for having too many configuration options. That's very fine for them, but irrelevant when you need configuration options that only KDE offers.

I tried kde pretty long time ago, and dumped it because it wasn't enough configurable