OpenBox Re-spin

[manyroads]

Someone has offered antiX with openbox - and is looking for feedback.

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/antixlabs/

Thank you. I'll check it out and offer thoughts (assuming I have some) on the antiX Forums.

Edit/ Update:
FWIW I gave the sourceforge download a go. I landed on a post-installation screen which offered no install option (that I am able to find) nor does it offer the bl exit (logout function). Otherwise the install looks exactly like BL.

Until it installs there’s really not much more I can do…

[old_guy]

manyroads
Same here.
I ran "locate install" in a term and found "/usr/sbin/minstall". Ran that and it installed.
Earl

[manyroads]

manyroads
Same here.
I ran "locate install" in a term and found "/usr/sbin/minstall". Ran that and it installed.
Earl

Thank you @old_guy. I may try it again. But I think, the install really ought to be accessible and the bl-logout process ought to work. If I can work on it, I'll try to update the look & feel to something other than a direct duplication of that from bl. I tried using the bl materials on the MX base previously and found dependencies to be problematic. They simply have lots of 'stuff' in their install and it is hard to know where all the links go. At least for me it is...

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Someone has offered antiX with openbox - and is looking for feedback.

The BunsenLabs installation script is adding the Debian repositories, which makes systemd installable.

I've registered on your forums to raise this issue directly, waiting for the confirmation email.

EDIT: the above statement is incorrect, apologies for the misinformation.

[PPC]

Hi Mark/ManyRoads

I just got a new usb pen drive and used it to do a very quick test of your OpenBox MX. Here are some quick notes:

First, the positive remarks:
1- The initial desktop image was jaw dropping (a kind of sunset, but almost instantly it got replaced by another one, also very beautiful)- I've upgraded my MX 17 to 18.2 via Mx updater- I haven't even checked if those images are available in the xfce normal version...
2- it looked, at first sight very cool and polished. Nice windows decoration and icon set.
3- after closing unneed stuff (like albert and clipit) I got 252-253mb free iddle ram, againts XFCE's 360mb - good memory consumption for a "full" OS, but not antiX "good" :-)

Now some constructive notes:
1- the eject button on the lower right side of the screen got displayed in the lower right part of the screen, making it almost impossible to use
2- the exit button on the right side of the bar would be a bit more usable it it displayed several options (turn off/suspend). Related to that: from the menu I found no obvious way to turn off the OS. The way I managed to do it was using the log off button and, from the log-in screen, clicking the icon on the upper right and choosing the turn off option- that's too many steps for a newbie or even a regular user...
3- the transparent bar and menus make the menus unreadable if there are open windows on the background- don't over do the transparency :-)
4- adding a File Manager quick lunch icon would be handy
5- I tried conky, it keeps blinking in my screen...
6- some essential software not included- like htop/ a media player, they are easy to add and this OpenBox version is a proof of concept still, but at least mpv or vlc would be nice to have OOTB...
7- I had no volume icon on the bar
8- A final, and in my option a not very good design option is that having the terminal quick lunch icon on the bar right next to the desktop name, made me initially think the icon referred to the desktop and that it was not a quick launcher. Maybe it was a bit dumb assumption from my part

Final considerations:
After solving the way to exit the OS, the remaining little kinks, adding a bit more software, and toning down the transparencies, this MX OB version can be a very good (less RAM hungry) alternative to the regular XFCE!

Congratulations, Mark

Side question: did you get to tinker with antiX fluxbox, Mark?

P.

[manyroads]

[...]
Side question: did you get to tinker with antiX fluxbox, Mark?

P.

I am working on 4 things currently.... an old guy can never have too much geeky stuff.

I'm trying to harmonize the look & feel of the iceWM,fluxbox,jwm window managers on antiX aplha. I'm getting there. I'll probably add Openbox to that mix next. My thinking is that people use windows managers to run on skinny resources. And, antiX is thinner than MX. Plus I'll share my setup scripts etc so anyone (not afraid of cli) can do it themselves where ever they like (on a debian platform).

[PPC]

Plus I'll share my setup scripts etc so anyone (not afraid of cli) can do it themselves where ever they like (on a debian platform).

Nice, Mark! I only asked this because I'm the guy that sent you my antiX Fluxbox "transformation pack" and was curious if you would be doing anything with that :-), but it's outside of the scope of what you are now doing...
Also if I may be so bold as to suggest a "GUI" script for you to add to the stuff you are using and making available to other people- viewtopic.php?f=40&t=48644
I start this script with a icon that mimics "MX updater". This basicly allows a antiX user to update the OS's packages without using the CLI or Synaptic - just click the icon, enter the password and click a button... It didn't get a very warm welcome when I made it available in the forum, maybe you can do something positive with it :-) [I belive the script was included in all the files I sent up, I'm too lazy to check now :-) ]
Also I noticed one thing- antiX fluxbox's config is missing an option to eject usb devices (I had to dig deep to find where it was and create a quick launcher for it- I wonder why FB does not have this program easily available...

Take care!

P.

[manyroads]

Plus I'll share my setup scripts etc so anyone (not afraid of cli) can do it themselves where ever they like (on a debian platform).

Nice, Mark! I only asked this because I'm the guy that sent you my antiX Fluxbox "transformation pack" and was curious if you would be doing anything with that :-), but it's outside of the scope of what you are now doing...
Also if I may be so bold as to suggest a "GUI" script for you to add to the stuff you are using and making available to other people- viewtopic.php?f=40&t=48644
I start this script with a icon that mimics "MX updater". This basicly allows a antiX user to update the OS's packages without using the CLI or Synaptic - just click the icon, enter the password and click a button... It didn't get a very warm welcome when I made it available in the forum, maybe you can do something positive with it :-) [I belive the script was included in all the files I sent up, I'm too lazy to check now :-) ]
Also I noticed one thing- antiX fluxbox's config is missing an option to eject usb devices (I had to dig deep to find where it was and create a quick launcher for it- I wonder why FB does not have this program easily available...

Take care!

P.

Yes, Paulo... I have not forgotten. I'm actually not sure how many people benefit from our scripts. It would be interesting to find out (although I don't know how we would..) As for fluxbox, I have to say it is a bit peculiar. The worst thing I've found are the panel and how it handles icons (you can use anything you want so long as it's square.). I'll look at your script, I have a similar one for MX.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

# ======  Cleanup  ======
# Clean packages and install scripts in /var/cache/apt/archives/
sudo apt-get clean
# Removes orphaned packages which are no longer needed and purges
sudo apt autoremove --purge
#
# ======  Update-Upgrade  ======
#
# update the stable software
sudo apt update
# perform full stable update/ upgrade
sudo apt full-upgrade
# perform testrepo full update
sudo apttestrep update
sudo apttestrepo upgrade
{/code]

[PPC]

As for fluxbox, I have to say it is a bit peculiar. The worst thing I've found are the panel and how it handles icons (you can use anything you want so long as it's square.).

Hi Mark!
We are away off topic here (the thread is about Openbox Re-spin), but I didn't get what you mean about the FB panel and how it handles icons:
1- the panel- Fb "normal" latest version's panel does not allow for a real start menu- only using a non changeable arrow icon that you can click in the bar to get the menu. Skidoo's Fb version allows the use of a start button and quick launch icons on the bar, but with one restriction- it only display's text, not icons. The way I worked around this in my computer was altering a ubuntu font an inserting glyphs corresponding to the svg icons I needed to be displayed in Fb bar. I set fb bar to use that altered ubuntu font and it works! Technically both my start menu and quick launchers are not icons, but a single character that happens to look just like a start menu, google chrome's icon, firefox icon, the terminal icon, the eject button, the power button and so on and so on... It was a hassle to create the font, but the end result looks just like monochromatic svg icons- because their characters were made from svg icons! I should have given up and just tried tweaking ICeWM, that allows quick launch icons in the bar...
side note- I only "created" one "icon"- the start menu's one- it's a altered version of "MX"'s default icon, but looking a bit like this: "aX" (a tiny "a" inserted in the part that looks like a white pyramid on the lower left of the icon). I found it was perfect for me. I added more "icons" that can be used as start menus, even the Debian logo, and I believe also FB's logo...
2- Now for how FB handles icons, if you are talking about the icons inside the menu and the desktop, or in the identification of the windows of running applications, in the antiX 19 a1 I tested, the icons in the menu do look a bit like low res, not quite right, but for me that's not a big of a deal. I believe I read a thread here where someone was looking into that and said FB had problems with diagonal lines (?!).
In the machine were I got to test antiX 19 FB, on a 1024*768 res screen, the default icons are usable... I didn't try on a higher res screen yet.

Don't you think this tinkering with antiX 19 FB deserves a thread? For example, you can post pictures about the problems with icon's you are having.

As always, take care!

P.

[Jerry3904]

Can you please start a separate thread about FB?!