intuitive engineering

I tested a large number of clipboard history managers in windows, as well as several virtual desktop programs. There are two programs in KDE and one functionality I use all the time. In order to at least have some semblance of a sane working environment and not feel completely crippled in using Windows, duplicating this on windows was important to me.

Konsole – the KDE terminal program – can be duplicated by console2, with UNIX functionality added in on the backend by Cygwin.

Klipper, KDE’s clipboard and history program – to duplicate that functionality would require a searchable clipboard history available instantly. By default Windows has nothing like this. I tested a large number of programs before finding what worked best for me – clipx.

Some minor glitches – if the history setting is very large (800 plus entries) bringing it up for use can take several minutes. The solution is to set a reasonable history – 250 entries seems to be workable. The history is brought up by shift-ctrl-F3, and then searching is typing text within the search field in that window. Pasting depends on the windows program behavior – each individual program seems to be different. Sometimes clicking “paste” in the window will actually paste text in – for other programs it sets the current clipboard to that entry – but you will still need to shift-ins or right-click or whatever to actually paste.

This has some of the same risks as a clipboard history in KDE and your .bash_history file – if your system is compromised (hacked), data is kept available to be perused and used. Some caution is in order, be aware of this.

Multiple desktops – I had tried the desktop utility that came with the Windows Resource Kits back when I had a Microsoft Tech Net subscription (a long-time-ago). I tried various other free desktop products including a java-based program in the last several years. They mostly all worked but either had some odd way of reordering and dropping windows when shut down, or didn’t follow my method of working closely enough to be really useful.

One of the desktop programs – I can’t recall which, it didn’t stay on the machine very long – was unpredictable in behavior and occasionally made windows unusable. It required a reset of the machine to resolve, either a three finger salute (ctrl-alt-del) or a hard reset by holding the power button for ten seconds until it powered down.

virtuawin has turned out to be stable in over two years of use and to provide much of the functionality of UNIX desktops in KDE. I set up hot-keys to have ctrl-alt-1 bring up desktop #1, ctrl-alt-2 desktop #2, etc. I’ve been using a two-headed windows machine (two 1650×1400 LCD screens), and this hasn’t been as necessary as in the past. It still comes in very handy on a single head desktop or laptop.

— dsm

Tags: cygwin, UNIX & Windows