Arch+dwm - why I use tiling window management to optimize workflow

Arch Linux with Suckless' dynamic window manager (dwm) - why I use this setup to optimize workflow and maximize productivity. I'll be giving a brief tour navigating through dwm, and then explaining why tiling window management is so useful for organizing work, maximizing speed, and bridging the gap between thought and action.

While I happen to be partial to dwm, most of the concepts I discuss can be applied to tiling window managers in general, like awesome (initially a fork of dwm), i3, bspwm, etc - this video is more intended for those considering moving away from Windows, MacOS, or a non-tiling desktop environment.

NOTE: default mod key in dwm is actually alt, not ctrl or windows.

As always, feel free to comment with questions, corrections, or anything else!

[mxstyz]

Good enough, welcome back Luke Smith.

[alexandersix_]

This was legitimately one of the best, succinct explanations for why to use a tiling window manager. Going to be pointing people back to this in the future!

[FifthDread]

I absolutely love using my tiling window manager. I'm using hyprland atm and I love the workflow so much. It just feels great to use. Thanks for the video

[bluanderson]

my dad and i just installed arch and dwm on his laptop, and this popped up in my feed, liked and subbed!

[BryanJenks]

love to see new Arch linux creators, subbed!

[dingokidneys]

Just scanning quickly through your videos. They are great stuff and though I've used Linux for decades I've learned a few new things. New Linux is different from 20 years ago. :)

[Cyco_Nix]

While I am not a user of TWM I think they are a great option for many people who enjoy that workflow. This is a great explanation as to why.

[BreadOnPenguins]

The blue jays at the end got a bit loud, didn't realize they would get picked up when recording - my side, not yours! I suppose they also wanted to offer their opinions on window managers. Lol

[Lucaux]

can't wait to see you going down the rabbit hole
keep up the good content

[LazyPenguinZzz]

Thanks for showing examples of actually using a tiling window manager and showing examples of how effective it can be in daily use, as well as the overview of customization. Some other videos just blabber on about minimalism and lack of bloat, but don't really show off the potential.

[IronhandedLayman]

Excellent video! I will definitely pass it on to try to convert people at work to the wonders of tiling windows managers. I use Sway at work and Hyprland at home (since Sway still struggles with NVidia cards), there really isn’t a bad choice out of the lot, and will have to give dwm a try for the minimalism aspect.

[MeriaDuck]

I use Linux since 1994(!) and I love your videos. And I'm learning from them. I tried every wm there is at some point, but not dwm. So I will follow you.
And will also check your neovim setup.
Many thanks for making these! You're very very good!

[ekse]

I've mainly used BSPWM and never tried DWM but now I think I'll give it a try. Great vid 👍

[grantpritchard]

Thanks to YouTube for recommending this video ro me.
Even more thanks to you for explaining DWM to me as I am about to jump back into Linux again after a 20 year hiatus. Windows has just been awful for so long and I want something that just does what I want. As good as Gnome/KDE/Xfce etc may be, they all seem to be too much fluff for me.

Kudos to you an you have one more subscriber.

[pomatheoma]

something i wee way to often is just ppl showing off their rices, not giving me any info about what dwm is actually about. Your video has greatly improved my understanding and will to use and install dwm. Thank you for that :D

[DavidGreen-hpyq]

Yes, yes, I totally agree. In essence, it is good as it allows you to organise multiple (non-overlapping) desks of work. Using DWM or C1 (?) on ArchLinux is totally my aim. I have been using Debian and doing much the same thing -- being that I mainly work full screen and quickly develop desks of work with purpose. Months after learning about and using tmux, I ended up here.

[LucaCanali]

I love wm tiling... usually i use I3WM but in these days I'm testing EXWM which combines the power of emacs with wm tiling... it's very awesome !!!

[rogo]

I find myself using windows fullscreen most of the time. The ability to just Win+number to switch to another "tag" is GOAT though. The greatest thing about dwm is that it just does one thing and does it well (enough). It's simple to use it with whatever wallpaper manager (i wrote mine myself) or statusbar (just text, also wrote it myself) or dmenu (which is not part of dwm itself and you can just replace it or don't have it at all). Gnome advocates never understand that feeling of being able to just make yourself comfortable and not trying to re-learn wtf is your computer doing but MAKING it do what you want from it.

[penguin]

i already tried bspwm on a vm – now, thanks to your video, i feel convinced to switch to it on bare metal ;p

[atrocewins]

You convinced me to build dwm from the ground up when I switch to Linux next year.