I don't know if interest in window managers is increasing or it seems that way to me. They have been around for a long time, but you can count on your hands the ones that are widely used. I will only name i3, Sway or Hyprland to avoid criticism from fans of some WM, but the arrival of the last and the new miracle-wm They make someone like me feel that this market is growing.
miracle-wm, written like that at least for now, is a Wayland composer based on Mir, and its arrival has been made public in the Ubuntu Discourse. Just a few hours ago the first version of its story was launched, although those who want to try it should lower their enthusiasm a little for different reasons. The first is the one that seems most obvious to me, and that is that it is available as a snap package and only in this way, unless you take the source code from GitHub and install it on your own.
miracle-wm: a Wayland composer based on Mir
«I am pleased to announce the first version of miracle-wm, a Wayland composer based on Mir. miracle-wm features a tiled window manager, very similar to that found in i3, sway and Hyprland. The goal of the project is to satisfy the needs of these composers and, at the same time, offer more attractive graphics to those of us who prefer a desktop full of transitions and soft colors. Although the project is still in its infancy, I would love to receive your feedback and bug reports if you have the opportunity to use it, since I have been the only user so far. That said, keep in mind that all versions prior to v1.0.0 are considered “preview versions.” This means that you may encounter some problems along the way. If you find a bug, I'd appreciate it if you could file an issue on Github or even contribute to a fix yourself. Either way would be greatly appreciated."says Mathew Kosarek
To be able to use it, it is necessary to do so with the computer's hardware, that is, it does not get along very well with virtual machines. It is not surprising, since for example GNOME Boxes does not work very well in Wayland sessions. The best way to test miracle-wm is to do it in the usual operating system or install it on an external drive, either a secondary disk or a pendrive.
If we have what is necessary to install miracle-wm, we can do it with this command:
sudo snap install miracle-wm --classic
After the installation, which takes a few seconds, you must log out and choose Miracle on the login screen. Removal is achieved by replacing “install” with “remove” in the previous command and without adding the “–classic” part.
Features
Among what this newborn window manager is capable of, we find much of what the majority offer:
- Window stacking management, such as opening, closing or resizing them.
- Support for areas for panels, like the ones we usually see at the top and bottom of the "desk".
- Support for full screen windows.
- Allows you to use multi-output.
- Support for workspaces.
- Separation between windows, which window managers refer to as a “gap”.
- Configuration file, similar to the one we see in i3.
The idea that led Kosarek to create miracle-wm was to design a Wayland composer that offers more features than others window managers like the ones mentioned here. At the same time, it should serve those who prefer a desktop or better transitions and colors. All this reminds me a little of what I saw in Hyprland when I tried it, but I haven't had the chance to test this new manager properly.
At first it is as snap package, since it seems to come directly from the Canonical factory, but its developer does not close the door to using other types of packages and will accept to upload those versions if someone gives them to him. Looking to the future, will we see it as a native option in Ubuntu?