Setting wallpaper/bmpanel in openbox? [SOLVED]

beatepix · 2009-07-20 02:42:47

I am on my first succesful HD install of Arch wirh Openbox right now and I have been documenting some of the things that are giving me issues. If you are curious about how I went about with my installation you can check this thread out:

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=76315

One of the issues Im having is with themeing and autostart programs. I did a little research and found that in order to have, for instance, my bmpanel and desktop wallpaper start up with x I had to make an autostart.sh under my ~/.config/openbox/ and add this within:

# Run the system-wide support stuff
. $GLOBALAUTOSTART

# Programs to launch at startup
nitrogen /media/vault/Wallpapers/107320-Tranquility-1680.jpg &
xcompmgr -c -t-5 -l-5 -r4.2 -o.55 &

# SCIM support (for typing non-english characters)
export LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.utf8
export XMODIFIERS=@im=SCIM
export GTK_IM_MODULE=scim
export QT_IM_MODULE=scim
scim -d &

# Programs that will run after Openbox has started
(sleep 2 && bmpanel arch) &

So thats what I make it look like. I have nitrogen and bmpanel (with arch theme) installed and working correctly. The problem is that when i startx and the script runs, it just opens nitrogen with no images selectable. Also bmpanel does start with arch theme but it is not transparant like in the photo available where I downloaded it.

I do have composting available as I have my nvidia drivers installed and i checked that it is working in the terminal, but I am at a loss as to why they arent working correctly. I have checked the documentation for this and found it a little lacking? Anyone know where to go from here?

Last edited by beatepix (2009-07-21 00:38:53)

Ghost1227 · 2009-07-20 02:55:35

Don't know bmpanel (never liked it myself), but the problem with nitrogen is that in order to set wallpaper from the commandline you have to include a switch. Chose whichever of the following best suits the image in question.

nitrogen --set-best /media/vault/Wallpapers/107320-Tranquility-1680.jpg &
nitrogen --set-centered /media/vault/Wallpapers/107320-Tranquility-1680.jpg &
nitrogen --set-scaled /media/vault/Wallpapers/107320-Tranquility-1680.jpg &
nitrogen --set-tiled /media/vault/Wallpapers/107320-Tranquility-1680.jpg &

beatepix · 2009-07-20 03:00:45

makes sense. thanks again!

beatepix · 2009-07-20 03:31:12

Can anyone comment of bmpanels transparency?

cdwillis · 2009-07-20 04:03:30

I've never used bmpanel, but you can use transparency with tint2 (I think it even has a built in system tray now) or pypanel. If you're looking for some tips for openbox check out http://urukrama.wordpress.com/openbox-guide/

ZeroTruths · 2009-07-20 04:12:00

+1

I would suggest tint2. Imho, it's extremely configurable for such a small package.
http://code.google.com/p/tint2/

PS: It has built in transparency

madalu · 2009-07-20 04:17:54

Ghost1227 wrote:

Don't know bmpanel (never liked it myself), but the
problem with nitrogen is that in order to set wallpaper from the
commandline you have to include a switch. Chose whichever of the
following best suits the image in question.
nitrogen --set-best
/media/vault/Wallpapers/107320-Tranquility-1680.jpg &
nitrogen --set-centered
/media/vault/Wallpapers/107320-Tranquility-1680.jpg &
nitrogen --set-scaled
/media/vault/Wallpapers/107320-Tranquility-1680.jpg &
nitrogen --set-tiled
/media/vault/Wallpapers/107320-Tranquility-1680.jpg &

Or, if you rely on nitrogen's GUI wallpaper interface, you can just
use the following:

nitrogen --restore &

This will set the desktop to the last image you selected via the GUI
interface.

Then if you want to get fancy, you can add a menu item to your openbox
menu to launch the nitrogen selector:

<item label="Wallpaper">
      <action name="Execute">
      <execute>nitrogen ~/wallpaper</execute>
      </action>
</item>

Also never used bmpanel, so can't be of help there. Tint2 and pypanel
both have nice transparency.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-07-20 02:42:47

Setting wallpaper/bmpanel in openbox? [SOLVED]

#2 2009-07-20 02:55:35

Re: Setting wallpaper/bmpanel in openbox? [SOLVED]

#3 2009-07-20 03:00:45

Re: Setting wallpaper/bmpanel in openbox? [SOLVED]

#4 2009-07-20 03:31:12

Re: Setting wallpaper/bmpanel in openbox? [SOLVED]

#5 2009-07-20 04:03:30

Re: Setting wallpaper/bmpanel in openbox? [SOLVED]

#6 2009-07-20 04:12:00

Re: Setting wallpaper/bmpanel in openbox? [SOLVED]

#7 2009-07-20 04:17:54

Re: Setting wallpaper/bmpanel in openbox? [SOLVED]

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