Openbox, yay or nay?

Ben9250 · 2010-10-23 14:44:59

Hi, all, when I get the Internet back and can install Arch again, I'm thinking of going for a less consuming Desktop than KDE or GNOME, although I am fond of GNOME, having Ubuntu and soon UberStudent for my university work, I'm thinking of my next Arch install as an opportunity to really throw myself into the spirit of Arch being lightweight, and to take advantage of using more power-user tools like mutt for an engaging install of Arch on a part of my hard-drive, to be a challenging learning experience, without the fear of screwing my university work up.

So I was thinking of Openbox for my next install. I was wondering if any of you guys that use it have anything kind (or not) to say about it - any good extensions I should be aware of or any issues, for example some programs throwing a tantrum as GNOME or KDE is a dep. I've also heard of Gnome and KDE in conjunction with Openbox. Does this offer much in the way of graphical or performance? And finally I read a bit about it with KDM and GDM, but I'm assuming if I use Openbox on it's own then I HAVE to use startx?

Cheers,
Ben.

shwick · 2010-10-23 15:16:59

It can be much more light on resource, but it might not. Compared to gnome it's like a blank slate, and you bring your own programs to manage everything. If you don't mind spending time to learn how to set everything up it's fun, and after a while you'll have an environment set up just the way you like it, with no redundancy

hume's doona · 2010-10-23 15:25:08

any good extensions I should be aware of or any issues, for example some programs throwing a tantrum as GNOME or KDE is a dep

if you install lxde, you'll get openbox with all the handy guis, you can then just start openbox, either from a display manager like slim or cdm, or start it from .xinitrc

rwd · 2010-10-23 15:25:24

just try it, and check the wiki. Most apps in the repository are come with as little dependencies as possible.

evot · 2010-10-23 15:26:15

You don't have to use startx.
You can start your openbox with slim

luishenrique · 2010-10-23 15:33:38

I suggest you read this tutorial: http://urukrama.wordpress.com/openbox-guide/

pyther · 2010-10-23 15:34:57

openbox is just a window manager. You'll need a program for wallpaper, desktop icon, panels, sys tray, etc....

On my netbook: openbox + nitrogen (wallpaper) + conky + trayer (systray) (no panel)
On my desktop: openbox + nitrogen (wallpaper) + conky + tint2

So as you can see, you can build a "DE" that fits your needs.

I've been using my openbox for the last 3 years and love it. One of these days I'd like to try a tiling window manager, but I'm busy and don't want to learn a new wm, so for the time I'll stick with openbox.

Ben9250 · 2010-10-23 17:17:50

Thanks, I'm looking at all the different trays and bars and file-managers. Thunar seems a good one, although it did say not so much the automounting because of udev and hal, but theres still the option to use nautilus, does anyone do this?

markmoran · 2010-10-23 18:07:05

Recently started using openbox+arch myself - very impressed with speed and ability to totally customize both the look and applications I use - no surplus junk added that you don't want or need. Here's a link for a good guide to setting up openbox on arch http://willensky.blogspot.com/ . Good luck with setting it up.

bernarcher · 2010-10-23 18:12:25

And you may want to look at the [Openbox] Hacks and Configs Thread! It shows how others configured their openbox systems.

jasonwryan · 2010-10-23 18:50:50

Between rwd's advice to just install it and see for yourself and the links to the Wiki, OB thread and the tutorial page -- this is covered.

And has been any number of times before: please learn to use the search function.

Closing.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-10-23 14:44:59

Openbox, yay or nay?

#2 2010-10-23 15:16:59

Re: Openbox, yay or nay?

#3 2010-10-23 15:25:08

Re: Openbox, yay or nay?

#4 2010-10-23 15:25:24

Re: Openbox, yay or nay?

#5 2010-10-23 15:26:15

Re: Openbox, yay or nay?

#6 2010-10-23 15:33:38

Re: Openbox, yay or nay?

#7 2010-10-23 15:34:57

Re: Openbox, yay or nay?

#8 2010-10-23 17:17:50

Re: Openbox, yay or nay?

#9 2010-10-23 18:07:05

Re: Openbox, yay or nay?

#10 2010-10-23 18:12:25

Re: Openbox, yay or nay?

#11 2010-10-23 18:50:50

Re: Openbox, yay or nay?

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