Tiling Window Managers have changed the chemistry of my brain.

Late last year, I decided to fire up my old Linux Laptop and see what has changed in the world of Linux. I tried Arch Linux. LOVED it. I'm a Debian guy from way back. I like the simplicity of Debian, but with the more up-to-date packages. Then I discovered I3 Window Manager. It is a tiling window manager, that "tiles" windows as you open them. Like this:

The first window you open, opens full-screen. The second window you open splits the screen evenly between the two programs. You can resize them with cmd++ and cmd+-, and you can change between the windows with cmd+left-arrow or cmd+right-arrow.

The Point

I used to think more about the program I was in. If I was in a code editor, I thought about code. Nothing else. When I am in email, I think about emails and emailing people. That's it.

Now, I think about what I want to do. What I want to accomplish. Then I just fire up the window to do that part, then I close the window. Tiling window managers do most of the heavy lifting for me: They decide where to spin up the app in relation to the other windows on the screen. With a couple of key chords I can rearrange a window, move it to another virtual desktop, resize it (a bit. Little wider/thinner, little taller/shorter.).

My window manager changed the way I think about the work I do.

While I am in the code editor sure, I'm just thinking about the code. But when I leave the editor, it's like clearing a slate. I need to remind myself of why I went to write code in the first place. Oh, yeah! The business needs to be able to do X! THAT'S why I was building an API to allow X.

But, for some reason, I don't seem to lose that context when closing my editor in hyprland, because it was just a window. A task that needed doing as part of a larger effort.

Not sure how it happened, but my freaking window manager changed my brain. Does that make me soft in the head?

It's continuing to spread

It's more than just the Tiling Window Manager though, there's also:

• NVIM
• TUI-everything

I am at that "ground level" when I am in the terminal window and I am commanding windows open, moved, resized, closed, etc. Choreographing like Debbie Allen. It moves fast, because most of what I am doing is in a TUI (Terminal User Interface), and I am learning CLIs all-over-the-place.

I'm setting up a Home Lab. Hosting my own AI Models. Learning VIM Motions and TMUX. Everything. I think the Tiling Window Manger was the start of it.

Anybody wanna grow a neckbeard with me?