Which tools that live in background do you use with i3 WM?
Preamble: I don’t think that any WM implements all the programs I need to run when I log in. And I don’t think it should do that. But I’d like to have some daemon, that will work in background and checking state of my hard drive from time to time, so I haven’t run for a new one when the data will be already lost. But what I’m looking for must be as lightweight as my WM is and pull as less dependencies, as possible. There are not so much of tools. I’d wanted to devote this thread to such small things which are so handy to have with a lightweight WM.
Restrictions for tools:
- it must run in background by default;
- it must have an interface to output data to monitor (if or when needed);
- it must not depend on any DE or its base library (no gtk, qt, written for lulz in haskell etc.).
The list of tools that would be handy to have when using a lightweight WM is a subject to discuss. These ones are good to start with, I think.
- disk monitor tool — ????? — to check S.M.A.R.T. state and throw a message in case of forseeable crash
- ssh identities keeper — ssh-agent — loads all pubkey identities in memory, so you can avoid to set proper key manually in ssh command
- a screensaver — xscreensaver(?), ????? — screensaver; w/ or w/o ability to change sessions
- session manager — ????? — enables you to locking a screen then log in from another user then come back to the first session
- a text editor — emacs, ????? — server application, you can connect from anywhere to and edit your files
- music player — mpd(?) — music server daemon
- battery level checker — a cron job + /proc + zenity(?) — throw notifications when the level is low and shuts the machine down at some very low percent
I don’t use all these things by myself, some of’em just added for example, but what is marked as ????? is what I’d like to hear, the tools you probably use everyday, but I can’t cause don’t know about them.
Actually, if the program written in some non-standard language it’s OK, if the usage of it doesn’t require from a user skills for writing in such language, otherwise that program doesn’t meet the requirements.
