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Hi All ... I am loving my Archlinux journey and so pleased that i made the change, and the community are just awesome and so helpful .. Anyway
When i set up my system, i installed XFCE4 which is all ok, but i hardly use many of the apps that come a default. I tend to only use a handful of stuff for as/flex/coldfusion, playing music, surfing the net and network stuff etc and so had considered making the swap from xfce4 and looking at openbox instead ....
What are peoples thoughts on using openbox instead of XFCE4 ?
Is there a tutorial anywhere about removing XFCE4 & installing openbox ?
Would a clean install of arch and then openbox be better ?
Any help & advice would be warmly welcome
Many thanks
Whitetimer
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Just install Openbox, give it a spin and see if you like it. There's a lot of useful information in the openbox article in Arch's wiki.
A lot of Archers use Openbox; if you're minimalistic and want to build your own workspace, it could be indeed for you. I myself prefer pekwm, which is similarish.
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Here's a tutorial about removing XFCE4 and installing Openbox:
pacman -R xfce4 xfce4-goodies && pacman -Syu openbox
and no, reinstalling is definitely not required.
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@lucke
Many thanks and yes, i am rather a minimalist, thats why i left windows and found Linux and eventually ARCH !!!!
@tomk
Was that the tutorial 'pacman -R xfce4 xfce4-goodies && pacman -Syu openbox ' ?
Many thanks for the advice
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Was that the tutorial?
Yes - the long version. The short version is:
man pacman
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Is there a tutorial anywhere about removing XFCE4 & installing openbox?
I realize it's a small detail, but I recommend you install Openbox and then remove XFCE.
Leave XFCE installed and leave the XFCE hidden configuration files in your home directory. Install Openbox and start setting it up the way you like it. If you decide you don't like Openbox, just logout of X and log back in using XFCE, and it will be as if nothing changed. You could even leave both installed, and just switch back and forth. XFCE and Openbox can exist together.
I speak from experience. Sometimes I would get too exited about using a new window manager, delete everything from my old setup, find out I don't like the new window manager, and then not have anything to use.
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@drcouzelis
Thanks for the advice. I have just installed openbox and decided to do as you suggested, tweak openbox and then if i do like, uninstall xfce ...
Thanks to all for there advice & help ..... Its an awesome community
Have only been using Arch for about a Month and i love it !!!!!
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XFCE and Openbox can exist together.
Indeed. I've a system with Awesome, KDE, Gnome, Xfce and Openbox installed. Why? When I develop code in one environment, it is nice to see how it will behave in the others. Works like a charm.
Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way
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The tweaking so far is going ok
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There is also LXDE, which to me is something in between Openbox and XFCE. It uses Openbox as it's WM.
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I did look at lxde when i first started with ubuntu, just didn't inspire me for some reason ....
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I use openbox, tin2, and conky. Quite pleased with these three.
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I'm now trying to decide which panel to use ... looking at tint2 or xfce4-panel or fbpanel ... Cant decide .... Will be adding conky though at some point
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There is also LXDE, which to me is something in between Openbox and XFCE. It uses Openbox as it's WM.
Tried those -- could not find a Solaris-like (or CDE, with the square buttons and such) window theme... And then, window borders are too thin, which makes it hard to read text in two overlapping windows... Everytime I went back to xfce.
Last edited by Leonid.I (2010-11-08 19:54:38)
Arch Linux is more than just GNU/Linux -- it's an adventure
pkill -9 systemd
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And then, window borders are too thin, which makes it hard to read text in two overlapping windows
Oh my goodness I know what you mean! It seems like too many Linux user interfaces suffer from too-small-title-bar-itis. I've been a happy Window Maker user for a long time, what with its big, thick, CHEWABLE title bars. It even puts title bars on the window icons!
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Leonid.I wrote:And then, window borders are too thin, which makes it hard to read text in two overlapping windows
Oh my goodness I know what you mean! It seems like too many Linux user interfaces suffer from too-small-title-bar-itis
It's the other way round. Most OS's suffer from omg-big-bars-big-buttons-syndrome.
I'd love to see a WM like Openbox that can use my gfx card to render windows. Would be the perfect match.
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drcouzelis wrote:Leonid.I wrote:And then, window borders are too thin, which makes it hard to read text in two overlapping windows
Oh my goodness I know what you mean! It seems like too many Linux user interfaces suffer from too-small-title-bar-itis
It's the other way round. Most OS's suffer from omg-big-bars-big-buttons-syndrome.
I'd love to see a WM like Openbox that can use my gfx card to render windows. Would be the perfect match.
That's called Compiz Standalone, and it's perfectly possible.
Last edited by Meyithi (2010-11-08 20:23:38)
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How do i add the logout, restart & shutdown commands to the openbox menu.xml & what are the commands ?
Many thanks
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@whitetimer, please search before asking. The forums are NOT for general easily answered questions. Every project you've asked about has their own webpage and mostly some form of FAQ and wiki which answers your questions.
Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.
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@whitetimer, please search before asking. The forums are NOT for general easily answered questions. Every project you've asked about has their own webpage and mostly some form of FAQ and wiki which answers your questions.
sudo shutdown...
But I wonder, if HAL/console can be used...
EDIT: Crap... wrong citation
Last edited by Leonid.I (2010-11-09 00:04:22)
Arch Linux is more than just GNU/Linux -- it's an adventure
pkill -9 systemd
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@ngoonee
Yes i have generally found the answer myself, so thanks for the prompt. I am not so nervous of using Linux now as i was a month ago when i started, so will refrain from ask simple & mundane questions in future.
@Leonid.I
Creating the menu entry for shutdown, reboot etc was a breeze
Last edited by whitetimer (2010-11-09 05:40:39)
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