WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

Sjoden · 2008-03-05 23:12:10

At the moment, I'm running KDE 3.5... with OpenBox3 as the window manager. I like the KDE apps, and the OpenBox look and feel. I really, really like Xfce4's panel and right click on desktop menu, and was wondering if it is possible to give up the DE and just have OpenBox with Xfce4's menu and panel. I could still use the KDE apps but I would not use the DE. I do not like the OpenBox menu, even if it is xml/standard. I know the panel is possible, but not so sure about the menu. I don't want to have to download all of Xfce4 though. I don't need Terminal or Thunar or that stuff.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Zack

Sjoden · 2008-03-06 00:09:35

I found this -> http://xubuntu.wordpress.com/2006/07/24 … ith-icewm/. But it seems I have to have thunar installed. Which, I don't want to do. Still searching...

coarseSand · 2008-03-06 01:32:07

I'm almost certainly wrong, but I remember trying to edit XFCE's menu and the application listings are imported to it from another program. Maybe it's possible to bring that into your OpenBox menu? instead of manually editing the xml/obmenu. I haven't tried this myself though, maybe someone with more experience with the two could point you in the right direction. You could also ditch the menu system for dmenu and bind it to a key, but that's my XMonad bias coming in.

Why not just use OB for your WM and install XFCE alongside it. XFCE is not what anyone would call exceptionally heavy, and thunar was only 0.81mb when I last installed it.

bslagowski · 2008-03-06 02:30:13

What about using Fluxbox with the XFCE panel? You get a right click menu with icons and whatnot. Fluxbox menu, the limited time I've used it, looks pretty similar to XFCE.

ph0tios · 2008-03-06 05:16:10

Well, obviously you will still have a desktop environment to extent with this method. You need to enable the session manager in xfce and create a new session. You can go into the settings, then desktop, and tell xfce not to manage your desktop. No more icons, no more right click menu, and it will no longer manage your wallpaper either. From there you can killall xfwm4 && openbox. You may need to run xfce4-autostart-editor and add openbox to it. Save the session, and after that you can shut the session manager off if you want to. And there you go, openbox with the xfce bar.

edit: well, I guess this doesn't completely solve your problem, because you want the xfce right click menu still. But you could always leave the desktop management on in that case. You'd basically just be using the xfce DE with openbox as your WM instead of xfwm4.

Last edited by ph0tios (2008-03-06 05:19:36)

eerok · 2008-03-06 05:37:23

Sjoden wrote:

I do not like the OpenBox menu, even if it is xml/standard.

You don't like the menu even with Obmenu as a menu editor? From what I've heard, this is less awkward than managing Xfce menus (at least if you want to change anything).

bionnaki · 2008-03-06 06:39:59

just use openbox & pypanel

Sjoden · 2008-03-06 18:09:57

@eerok, I don't really like Obmenu. To me at least, it doesn't do as much as I need. Moving menu's underneath other menus and such as easily as I would have liked. Obconf, on the other hand, is a great tool, I love it.

@bionnaki, I've tried that, python gave me tons of problems, I couldn't even get the panel to start up.

I took a look at PekWM yesterday, and I really like the format of the menu conf file, and the others as well. It's.. easier to me. As for a panel, bmpanel(http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=43750) from nsf looks really promising. I think I'm going to give it a try today.

Thanks all for you replies, any more comments or opinions would be great.

-Zack

eerok · 2008-03-06 18:33:19

Sjoden wrote:

@bionnaki, I've tried that, python gave me tons of problems, I couldn't even get the panel to start up.

That's a shame, I always liked the combination of Openbox and Pypanel myself.

Sjoden wrote:

Thanks all for you replies, any more comments or opinions would be great.

It really comes down to personal preference, but I've found there's more than one setup that I like, so I can choose according to my mood: Openbox with Pypanel, Xmonad with Dzen and Dmenu, and now I'm playing with Evilwm and I like it a lot (though I need to get Dmenu and Gmrun in here somewhere).

There's tons of options and combinations of things ... try them all

Schpariel · 2008-03-06 19:38:54

Why don't you try Fluxbox? The configuration is simple & it has a good (optional) slit.

Sjoden · 2008-03-06 20:21:04

@Schapariel, maybe it's different now, or never really was this way, but I've read numerous comments about it's development, like 'its only a bug if it effects the developers', and I didn't want to get used to a program and then have something like that happen... I really like the layout of Fluxbox's menu configuration, but it's program search is sub par, and I find menumaker(mmaker) annoying(I fell in love with Xfce4's menu and how easy it is(for me to understand at least) to edit it with their gui). And, unfortunately, only the corners of windows can be dragged, not the edges, like in OpenBox.

I know my reasons are trivial, but I just want to see if I can find what fits 'me'.

-Zack

Last edited by Sjoden (2008-03-06 20:24:54)

bionnaki · 2008-03-06 21:43:01

what problems were you having with pypanel?

Sjoden · 2008-03-06 21:56:49

@bionnaki, it was probably an issue with python rather than pypanel, but I couldn't get it to start. I searched the forums, and it appeared to be a version problem, that there were two versions of python installed, but nothing came of it, and it was looking for python libs/files that weren't there. It was too much of a hassle for me to deal with at the time.

I don't/didn't mean to say anything bad about it if it seemed that way. I have seen the screen shots and it's a beautiful panel, it was just above my level, and not for me.

-Zack

Sjoden · 2008-03-06 22:02:37

I think at this point, I'm going to try Fluxbox and PekWM/bmpanel again. I've never been completely satisfied with a DE/WM.. I guess I'll see what happens.

-Zack

Sigi · 2008-03-07 07:51:46

Or just try a tiling WM - seems to be the latest fashion in the Arch community dwm ftw!

iggyst00ge · 2008-03-12 18:16:17

If you want to run XFCE and just substitute Openbox as the window manager, you can look here:
http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Help:XFCE/Openbox

It's also possible to run Openbox, and then launch the XFCE panel on top of it (xfce4-panel).

I'll also second that the XFCE apps (Thunar and their terminal program) are quite light and fast. If you don't want them, they shouldn't get in the way.

Chris

Sjoden wrote:

At the moment, I'm running KDE 3.5... with OpenBox3 as the window manager. I like the KDE apps, and the OpenBox look and feel. I really, really like Xfce4's panel and right click on desktop menu, and was wondering if it is possible to give up the DE and just have OpenBox with Xfce4's menu and panel. I could still use the KDE apps but I would not use the DE. I do not like the OpenBox menu, even if it is xml/standard. I know the panel is possible, but not so sure about the menu. I don't want to have to download all of Xfce4 though. I don't need Terminal or Thunar or that stuff.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-03-05 23:12:10

WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#2 2008-03-06 00:09:35

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#3 2008-03-06 01:32:07

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#4 2008-03-06 02:30:13

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#5 2008-03-06 05:16:10

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#6 2008-03-06 05:37:23

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#7 2008-03-06 06:39:59

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#8 2008-03-06 18:09:57

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#9 2008-03-06 18:33:19

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#10 2008-03-06 19:38:54

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#11 2008-03-06 20:21:04

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#12 2008-03-06 21:43:01

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#13 2008-03-06 21:56:49

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#14 2008-03-06 22:02:37

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#15 2008-03-07 07:51:46

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

#16 2008-03-12 18:16:17

Re: WM/Menu/Panel - Need Help/Suggestions

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