GIMP in Xnest

Well I like GIMP for image editing, but the mutliple windows kind of bugs me. I had a plug in that sweeps up the windows into one master window. But I found it only works for Windows! Since I’m now 99.9% Linux, I wanted to find a similar solution.

Well, the answer turns out to be pretty simple. You need:

Xnest - the nested X server
A simple window manager such as xfwm4 or twm.

I used twm but only because I happen to already have it installed. But you might prefer xfwm4.

Then you can make the following shell script (I named it gimp1):

#!/bin/bash
exec Xnest :1 -ac -name GIMP -geometry 1200×1000 & twm -display :1 & gimp –display :1

That’s it! Set the geometry to suit yourself of course. And this assumes that display :1 is already free. But you get the idea. Enjoy!

Oh, and for the record, yes that is my car. I love it (SLK230)!

UPDATE: Ugh. Xnest doesn’t appear to exchange the clipboard with the “real” X server So that makes this a little less useful than you’d think unless you aren’t worried about using the clipboard (for example, using a screen shot from the clipboard).