Openbox and Fluxbox

JawsThemeSwimming428 · 2008-08-11 00:51:13

Just wondering what the advantage is using one over the other? I don't have much experience working with WM's. I mostly used Gnome, KDE, and Xfce. I keep seeing more and more about them and have developed an interest.

pogeymanz · 2008-08-11 01:07:10

There really isn't much difference. Fluxbox comes with a panel that you can disable.

People say that fluxbox has better themes available.
I find Openbox's gui config tools much better than the ones for fluxbox.
Editing config files for each is different, but not hard: Openbox uses xml, Fluxbox uses its own syntax.

Really, if you like one, you'll like the other at least a little. And if you hate one, you'll most certainly hate the other.

I prefer Openbox.

twiistedkaos · 2008-08-11 04:43:04

I prefer OpenBox myself, probably because it's the first one of the two I used. I ran openbox for 2 years, fluxbox for 1. Both are good, I kind of got tired of both though. I sort of got into the eyecany phase lately. Sooner or later I'll go back to openbox when I get sick of Compiz-Fusion hogging my ram. For now though, I'm statisfied. I recremend OpenBox though, nothing against flux, openbox just seems a bit snappier to me.

JawsThemeSwimming428 · 2008-08-11 04:48:40

Thanks for the comments...I kind of thought it was along those lines. Just wanted to see what other people thought. I am running antiX M7.2 and loving Fluxbox but just wanted to know if there was a major reason to use one over the other. I think I might try to install Openbox on Arch in a VM. Thanks.

hk2717 · 2008-08-11 06:44:35

Sorry for off-topic but I think it is pointless to try it in a VM. Openbox is so slim, simple and easy to try out on your daily machine. It is a better experiance than VM in my opinion, and thus could give you a better idea of this WM.

As for theme, yes there are some great themes for fluxbox out there, as it supports pixmap theming while OB doesn't. However, most themes for fluxbox, IMHO, is ugly and 1980s' feel. On the other hand, most of the OB themes have a 'smooth' look and feel.

Pekwm also is a nice WM similar to openbox/fluxbox. It does not have a panel, it supports pixmap theming and window grouping, but has some small wired bugs and not as snappy as Openbox.

As you can see, Openbox is my favourite and I recommend you give it a try to decide if it fits your style or not.

JawsThemeSwimming428 · 2008-08-12 02:20:38

hk2717 wrote:

Sorry for off-topic but I think it is pointless to try it in a VM. Openbox is so slim, simple and easy to try out on your daily machine. It is a better experiance than VM in my opinion, and thus could give you a better idea of this WM.
As for theme, yes there are some great themes for fluxbox out there, as it supports pixmap theming while OB doesn't. However, most themes for fluxbox, IMHO, is ugly and 1980s' feel. On the other hand, most of the OB themes have a 'smooth' look and feel.
Pekwm also is a nice WM similar to openbox/fluxbox. It does not have a panel, it supports pixmap theming and window grouping, but has some small wired bugs and not as snappy as Openbox.
As you can see, Openbox is my favourite and I recommend you give it a try to decide if it fits your style or not.

While I appreciate your opinion I disagree. I am very new to Openbox (tried it once but never really got into it) and I don't think it is a good idea to try it for real on a physical machine before at least playing with it in a VM. If I mess something up in a VM it isn't an issue... delete it and start over again. If I mess something up on my physical machine it isn't as simple. So, I agree that a VM isn't EXACTLY like it would be on a physical machine but I feel it is good to start with a VM.

Regarding your comments about the ugly Fluxbox themes I would agree..most are. You should check out antiX (http://antix.mepis.org/index.php/Main_Page). It is a very nicely themed Fluxbox distro, among many other awesome features!

lldmer · 2008-08-12 02:27:22

While I appreciate your opinion I disagree. I am very new to Openbox (tried it once but never really got into it) and I don't think it is a good idea to try it for real on a physical machine before at least playing with it in a VM. If I mess something up in a VM it isn't an issue... delete it and start over again. If I mess something up on my physical machine it isn't as simple. So, I agree that a VM isn't EXACTLY like it would be on a physical machine but I feel it is good to start with a VM.
Regarding your comments about the ugly Fluxbox themes I would agree..most are. You should check out antiX (http://antix.mepis.org/index.php/Main_Page). It is a very nicely themed Fluxbox distro, among many other awesome features!

If OB really frightens you you can just hit ctrl+alt+backspace and login to your familiar DE right?

hk2717 · 2008-08-12 03:20:07

Check out "Elegant Arch" (http://box-look.org/content/show.php/El … tent=81764), I think it is a better theme than the one used in Anti-X! : D

And of course this is only my personal taste.

Inxsible · 2008-08-12 03:27:06

I use fluxbox and openbox both. Like mentioned before, default fluxbox themes are ugly, but there are some out there which are really nice and once you use those themes, it hardly makes any difference in the look and feel dept.

Config tools for Openbox are definitely much better, but I always edit them manually, so that is not a big issue with me. XML vs Plaintext based editing. They are also both very similar in terms of memory consumption. I see flux and openbox both using anywhere between 2-8 MB.

Fluxbox has tabbed views - which is great to save taskbar space - that is you can group related apps under 1 window. This is of course useful if you keep a lot of apps open at the same time.

One issue with them or any other plain-jane WM for that matter is that you cannot run fancy eyecandy stuff like Compiz, so you cannot "wow" your non-linux friends.

Solution to that could be by using Openbox or Fluxbox on top of a DE - so you can use the WM when you want to get productive and simply log into Gnome and start Compiz, when you want to show off your rig !!

Last edited by Inxsible (2008-08-12 03:28:35)

Ryan_Macy · 2008-08-12 03:53:25

I personally prefer openBox because im used to mucking around in xml code.

JawsThemeSwimming428 · 2008-08-13 01:53:08

Inxsible wrote:

One issue with them or any other plain-jane WM for that matter is that you cannot run fancy eyecandy stuff like Compiz, so you cannot "wow" your non-linux friends.
Solution to that could be by using Openbox or Fluxbox on top of a DE - so you can use the WM when you want to get productive and simply log into Gnome and start Compiz, when you want to show off your rig !!

Not that this is an issue for me because personally I don't think you need to run Compiz or something similar to impress your friends with Linux, if you want to impress your friends at all. What about running xcompmgr? You could do that to stay light weight.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xcompmgr

JawsThemeSwimming428 · 2008-08-13 01:54:47

lldmer wrote:

While I appreciate your opinion I disagree. I am very new to Openbox (tried it once but never really got into it) and I don't think it is a good idea to try it for real on a physical machine before at least playing with it in a VM. If I mess something up in a VM it isn't an issue... delete it and start over again. If I mess something up on my physical machine it isn't as simple. So, I agree that a VM isn't EXACTLY like it would be on a physical machine but I feel it is good to start with a VM.
Regarding your comments about the ugly Fluxbox themes I would agree..most are. You should check out antiX (http://antix.mepis.org/index.php/Main_Page). It is a very nicely themed Fluxbox distro, among many other awesome features!
If OB really frightens you you can just hit ctrl+alt+backspace and login to your familiar DE right?

It's not that I am frightened... it's just that I find it easier and more convenient to try things in a VM first to evaluate them and see if you are interested. Just a personal preference.

Inxsible · 2008-08-13 02:27:15

JawsThemeSwimming428 wrote:

Inxsible wrote:
One issue with them or any other plain-jane WM for that matter is that you cannot run fancy eyecandy stuff like Compiz, so you cannot "wow" your non-linux friends.
Solution to that could be by using Openbox or Fluxbox on top of a DE - so you can use the WM when you want to get productive and simply log into Gnome and start Compiz, when you want to show off your rig !!
Not that this is an issue for me because personally I don't think you need to run Compiz or something similar to impress your friends with Linux, if you want to impress your friends at all. What about running xcompmgr? You could do that to stay light weight.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xcompmgr

Oh I don't run Compiz at all. Have no need to. I was just making the point that you will not have all the eyecandy that you get with compiz, if you use a lightweight window manager, that's all.

Last edited by Inxsible (2008-08-13 02:27:31)

shiki · 2008-08-13 06:00:42

Okay. FIrst of all. OpenBOX is really _JUST_ A WM. You have to use YOUR panel, and your stuff. That means more customizable DE, but I don't like this idea.

Openbox: Haves alt-tab dialog. More customizable. Faster developed.
Fluxbox: Older stable release. Alt-tab dialog WITH superswitcher. AutoMenu with "marchfluxmenu".

Other hand, fluxbox is NOT a 100% standards compilant WM.
I'd like to prefer 'LXDE'. It's a DE with OpenBOX as WM. This is the best variation so far I think. But..after all, I stick with Fluxbox. I love its so easy to use/theme/configure. And it's just very comfortable for me. Clean and lean.

Ps.: I use the "Blackened" Fluxbox theme with the wallpaper on my avatar in 1600x1200 resolution.
(I prefer E17 as WM too, but its _really_ unstable. I'm not sure about others.. AFAIK only Fluxbox , Openbox and some other little WM is being still developed.)

Gullible Jones · 2008-08-13 12:01:31

There's also Pekwm, which is pixmap-themable. It's been kind of buggy for a while, but hopefully that will change when (if?) the 0.17 release hits the repos...

Arch Linux

#1 2008-08-11 00:51:13

Openbox and Fluxbox

#2 2008-08-11 01:07:10

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#3 2008-08-11 04:43:04

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#4 2008-08-11 04:48:40

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#5 2008-08-11 06:44:35

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#6 2008-08-12 02:20:38

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#7 2008-08-12 02:27:22

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#8 2008-08-12 03:20:07

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#9 2008-08-12 03:27:06

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#10 2008-08-12 03:53:25

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#11 2008-08-13 01:53:08

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#12 2008-08-13 01:54:47

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#13 2008-08-13 02:27:15

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#14 2008-08-13 06:00:42

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

#15 2008-08-13 12:01:31

Re: Openbox and Fluxbox

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