Openbox questions

playdafunkimuzic · 2009-03-01 20:14:55

I tried enlightenment, and it didn't seem too great. I use gnome on my laptop and I use kde on my desktop, I'm interested in trying openbox. I was wondering what the recommended programs for things like web browsing, instant messaging, etc, were.

pogeymanz · 2009-03-01 20:55:48

playdafunkimuzic wrote:

I tried enlightenment, and it didn't seem too great. I use gnome on my laptop and I use kde on my desktop, I'm interested in trying openbox. I was wondering what the recommended programs for things like web browsing, instant messaging, etc, were.

Whatever you are most comfortable with.

Seriously, most OB users still use Firefox/Opera, Pidgin, etc. The trick is finding a Panel/File Manager/Terminal that you like.
Since you are using Gnome right now, I recommend just using gnome-panel and gnome-terminal, but maybe try a lighter filemanager like Thunar or PCManFM (this one can also draw your wallpaper for you)

EDIT: The beauty of using a lightweight window manager is that you don't waste resources on your WM and thus have more to spend on actual apps. I still run OpenOffice, Virtualbox, Opera, etc and I feel better knowing that only a few MB of RAM are being used for my WM rather than 100-200MB for Gnome DE.

Last edited by pogeymanz (2009-03-01 20:57:54)

haxit · 2009-03-01 21:01:24

Firefox, Pidgin (respectively). Obmenu to edit menus. PCMANFM to navigate through files. Urxvt for terminal. Tint for task bar (if you want) and trayer for tray (if you want). That is openbox pretty much how I use it.

dannytatom · 2009-03-01 21:06:47

For terminal, I use terminator.
Nitrogen for changing wallpapers
Obconf, Obment, Obkeys
LXAppearance for setting theme

playdafunkimuzic · 2009-03-01 21:54:24

I need a little bit of help with the panel thing...
I see: tint2, bmpanel, lxpanel, and then stalone and trayer are just trays?
Are they just personal preferences?

Last edited by playdafunkimuzic (2009-03-01 22:13:45)

haxit · 2009-03-01 23:34:18

playdafunkimuzic wrote:

I need a little bit of help with the panel thing...
I see: tint2, bmpanel, lxpanel, and then stalone and trayer are just trays?
Are they just personal preferences?

Tint ftw!

Inxsible · 2009-03-01 23:47:29

Firefox, pidgin skype(for voice chat). Manual editing of rc.xml and menu.xml

No panels !! (Alt + Tab all the way) Stalonetray and conky as system monitor.

Last edited by Inxsible (2009-03-01 23:48:51)

playdafunkimuzic · 2009-03-02 04:48:19

why do i see in the screen shots that people don't often use window borders on apps?

Inxsible · 2009-03-02 05:48:55

playdafunkimuzic wrote:

why do i see in the screen shots that people don't often use window borders on apps?

what's the point of window borders if you dont use them? Most users here, I believe like to work with the keyboard rather than reach for the mouse everytime. So if you are not gonna use the window borders to shutdown an app or minimize it or maximize it, why keep it there?

That being said, many users keep the borders too.

playdafunkimuzic · 2009-03-02 16:30:15

that makes sense.
so i intsalled openbox on my laptop, and installed a nice theme i found on box-look...however, it only changed the window border, the rest of everything remained the same as my gnome theme. how does this work?

NeoXP · 2009-03-02 17:49:21

You need an app to change GTK setting.

Dunno if you already did, but the following wiki helped me a lot:

wiki

I'm using Conky, BMPanel (theme tintblue), Firefox, Thunderbird, Thunar, Ristretto and some other apps.

itreius · 2009-03-02 17:54:26

playdafunkimuzic wrote:

that makes sense.
so i intsalled openbox on my laptop, and installed a nice theme i found on box-look...however, it only changed the window border, the rest of everything remained the same as my gnome theme. how does this work?

My personal favorite app for changing gtk theme (and icons) is lxappearance. Try it out.

Last edited by itreius (2009-03-02 17:55:13)

Hrod beraht · 2009-03-02 18:47:38

playdafunkimuzic wrote:

...installed a nice theme i found on box-look...however, it only changed the window border, the rest of everything remained the same as my gnome theme. how does this work?

Openbox themes only change Openbox stuff, i.e. window borders and the Openbox menu. The other stuff is controlled by your gtk theme. Check your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file, which defines the gtk them and icons and will look something like:

gtk-theme-name="Exupery"
gtk-icon-theme-name="Tango"

Bob

playdafunkimuzic · 2009-03-02 20:19:08

thanks guys! i think i might start from scratch again so i don't have all the gnome stuff anymore...i like your icon bob

Hrod beraht · 2009-03-03 04:45:57

playdafunkimuzic wrote:

...i like your icon bob

At least here people know what it represents.
I started using the same avatar at another forum I frequent on investing. People there think it's a caricature of my cat
When I tell them the blue arch is for Arch Linux and that the evilcat represents EvilWM, my window manager, they say "What's a window manager?" or "What version of Windows manager? I'm using XP."

Bob

Last edited by Hrod beraht (2009-03-03 04:47:22)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-01 20:14:55

Openbox questions

#2 2009-03-01 20:55:48

Re: Openbox questions

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Re: Openbox questions

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Re: Openbox questions

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Re: Openbox questions

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