Cairo: Alternative Windows Desktop

Re:Cairo: Alternative Windows Desktop by LoveMortuus on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @07:35AM (#32993990)

I think I might be a bit of a strange user. I have all of my icons hidden, a solid black background and the task bar in the right side of the most right display. I lunch my programs with Launchy, a long dead program, but somehow still works the fastest out of any alternative and I really appreciate the calculator function of it. Must used stuff is pinned to the taskbar, that includes VS Code, Explorer, GnuCash, browser links set to open as individual windows for Gmail, Google Calendar, Discord, Facebook messenger and same configuration but linked to MS Edge for another instance of Discord but with a different account.

On my main monitor I don't have any bars or anything, if there nothing open it's just a black screen, if it's sunny, sometimes I can't even tell if the display us turned on and that's how I like it.

A quiet black box that's there when I need it.

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Re:Cairo: Alternative Windows Desktop by jerry_tk on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @10:03AM (#32995363)

Microsoft PowerToys also contain a new neat launcher called "PowerToys Run" which is similar to Launchy. It supports various plugins including Calculator. I like the feature that it shows up on the display where the mouse pointer is currently located so you don't have to jump between displays.

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Re:Cairo: Alternative Windows Desktop by skrowl on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @11:08AM (#32996302)

Love powertoys. I started using it for being able to define screen areas to snap windows to "FancyZones" but once I started using PowerToys Run, I was hooked. I almost never use the start bar (or calculator) anymore. In addition to starting your apps, it also can do calculations, execute shell commans, web searches, find open windows, etc.

It also include a mouse / click highlighter that's helpful when you're recording a training / onscreen presentation.

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Re:Cairo: Alternative Windows Desktop by reportgunner on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @08:05AM (#32994285)

> I have all of my icons hidden, a solid black background and the task bar in the right side of the most right display.

I do the same and I rarely click on the Start menu or the task bar, I use Super + [1-4] to launch the pinned programs or switch focus to their windows if they are already running. For other programs I press Super on my keyboard and type the name of the program I want to launch.

My pinned programs are Browser, Text Editor, File Explorer, Collaboration app at work and Browser, Discord, File Explorer, Steam at home.

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Re:Cairo: Alternative Windows Desktop by leokennis on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @09:00AM (#33007371)

Microsoft PowerToys also includes a pretty capable launcher, you might want to give it a try:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/

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Re:Cairo: Alternative Windows Desktop by Smithalicious on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @07:47AM (#32994119)

I'm on Linux but I have a similar setup, with no permanent UI elements at all - I have a script to show a notification with the time and remaining battery (on laptop) and so on that I run when I need to see that info. I use a tiling window manager, three monitors and heavy usage of workspaces.

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Re:Cairo: Alternative Windows Desktop by NikolaNovak on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @07:45AM (#32994107)

I use Fences for similar approach. My desktop is empty by default. Hover over certain areas brings up logically grouped icons. Works for me! :-)

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Re:Cairo: Alternative Windows Desktop by RunSet on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @09:53AM (#32995242)

Task bar on the same side of the screen as my "mouse hand" just feels correct.

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