[ale] Windows 95-like GUI for Linux

[R I Feigenblatt]

cf. http://ltiwww.epfl.ch/~barth/fvwm95.html

This is a nice free X Window manager which creates a GUI somewhat
like that of Windows 95. "Fvwm95 is a hack based on fvwm2.x."
It thus combines both native fvwm and Windows 95-like features.
I like it MUCH better than the fvwm from my current Linux CDROM.

I started out with RedHat 3.0.3 ("Picasso") and added on Fvwm95.
This involves downloading a file and executing an easy-to-follow
installation recipe which tells one how to build Fvwm95 under Linux.

Among the Windows 95-like features supported is:
(1) a task bar, which lets one switch between running programs
        It can be placed at screen top or bottom, but not at
        the sides like in the real Windows 95. Also, it has no
        autohide feature (as far as I have yet discovered!)
(2) "Alt-Tab" lets one switch between running apps too. (This is
        a well-developed reflex amongst Microsoft "power" users.)
        But switching cannot be exploratory, like under Windows.
(3) a start button on the task bar, which reveals an unfolding
        tree-hierarchy of related applications which can be launched.
(4) a maximize function (for any window), which also expands it
        HORIZONTALLY to full screen width; not just vertically as
        vanilla fvwm does. This is incredibly useful when
        dealing with files with very long line lengths. One bad
        part of the implementation is that the ENTIRE vertical
        screen extent is used, which makes the task bar OVERLAY
        the window with focus. (Maybe I'll discover a work-around?)

Some nice additional features lacking-in/different-from Windows 95:
(1) multiple virtual (X) screens
(2) traditional fvwm left-, right- and middle-mouse-click on the desktop
(3) a (redudant) permanently visible, movable console bar for launching
        apps (is this like the HP console for Windows?), which
        supplements launching apps by fvwm-like desktop left-click
        and the W95-like start button. I have not yet tried to omit it.

For those of you seeking to promote Linux to Windows 95 users, this
program will be a useful tool. And for those of you who have not yet
used Windows 95, it will open you to the design choices which makes
the Windows 95 GUI one I had far prefered to any I had earlier seen
run on Linux.

RF