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Comment by baldfat | Hacker News Reader

I just wish there was a way to use it on Windows and Mac OS! i3 and Window Tiling is such a better user interface for my work flow. I have having to use the mouse or track pad.

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That's by design ;) try using better operating systems!

When work hands you a Macbook and you go ewww gross I get looks :) I HATE Mac OS user interface. It is so convoluted and decisions based on things that were wierd 15 years ago.

I doubt I'll get permission to install it on the mac. The mac is super locked down.

Windows 8 was a decient compromise for me but I am in the tiny minority that liked the Windows 8 interface it was the closest thing to a tiled window manager.

If you work somewhere that doesn't respect your autonomy enough to let you work with the tools you like, then you should work somewhere else.

Did you just suggest somebody leave their job because their employer wont let them install a software package on their mac-book?

Yes.

You have a job for me? In the North East or West Virginia?

There's loads of jobs on the east coast! And plenty of remote work even if you can't move. Start looking, who knows what you'll find.

Sometimes it's not about autonomy, but simply the availability of tools. Lots of software for various industries is OS-specific, so you may not have a choice but to use a certain OS for work (usually Windows, but macOS in the case of iOS development).

I agree with the sentiment but I think it very much depends on the role. I wouldn't expect iOS development to happen on another platform for instance. There are probably many niches with similar constraints.

Yes, of course, if certain tools are required to do the job then it's another matter.

[Amethyst](https://github.com/ianyh/Amethyst) is a decent tiling manager for macOS if that's what you're after.

Emacs does what i3wm does... When I have to use Windows I used emacs as much as I can and just switch between other full screen windows like web browser etc. Obviously not as good, but not too far away.

Well using a terminal splicer is different than a Tiled Window Manager. I love my ursvt with Tmux but that is a different beast then i3.

I was really surprised how well a modest VM (Virtual box etc) with Ubuntu + X11 + i3 runs. I use that fullscreen in a virtual desktop to switch between host OS and Linux/i3 and am increasingly surprised by how much time I am finding myself in the "simple" VM which flies and the host OS. I've found it a great way to make a simple first step to switching over on the desktop.

There are quite a few tiling window managers for either of those OSes, you just need to do some googling. I develop and use Stack on Windows. https://losttech.software/stack.html

On macOS I use Hammerspoon which I have configured to move and resize windows to specific slots. It's not the same as tiling but it relieves me from having to move windows around manually. On Windows there is Window Sizer or similar.

Do you have any pointers to info on using Hammerspoon as you describe above? I have a low dpi 4K (43") monitor and would like to be able to assign windows to pre-determined regions of the screen.

I've now put it on Github, here:

https://github.com/kgrossjo/hammerspoon-config

What's different for mine is that I use a single prefix key, that pops up a notification giving you information what you can do next, and then I press one of those keys. I don't need to move windows that often, so having to hit two keys is not a problem. And it prevents Hammerspoon from hogging too many key combinations.

http://paste.debian.net/991838/ is the hammerspoon script I use for window placement

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