Some tips for a Fluxbox newbie? :P

Tsuroerusu · Post by **Tsuroerusu** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 10:29 pm

OK, my main storage drive in my main workstation computer took a big dump with bad sectors all over the freaking drive and took my highly tweaked FreeBSD system with it

So I turned on my old 400 MHz K6. loaded Debian Linux onto it, and took Linc's advice and installed Fluxbox on it and I'm pleasantly surprised

I like the leight weight of it, works well, Firefox is not sluggish even on this old friend of mine that I've had in the house since 1997 (There's a reason why it's hostname is oldbuddy.

So far I've got a default Fluxbox setup with the Cthulhain style, I like the look of it, and the background stays lightblack, I'd like some tips on how to make this thing useful like it so was back in 1997

I'd sure like some application launching icons on the desktop, for stuff I start and close all the time (Firefox, Aterm, Xterm, Nano...) so that I don't have to navigate through the menus, can I do that.

I don't really care about eye candy, because I'd like to keep it as leight weight as possible, but I'd also like to really useful.

treehead · Post by **treehead** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 12:06 am

Tsuroerusu wrote:...so that I don't have to navigate through the menus, can I do that....

;i know that there are programs you can install for icons on your flux desktop, but i'll leave that to those who've used them before.

;however, if you'd like to make your flux menu easier to navigate, all you have to do is edit the file ".fluxbox/menu" in your home directory.

;sample line:

Code: Select all

[exec] (firefox) {firefox}

;the item "exec" tell flux to run a program when it's selected, the second item tell it the title to display, the third is what command to pass. so...

Code: Select all

[exec] (title) {command}

;anything right after the line "begin" will be immediately accessible when you right-click your desktop.

;treehead

Post by **dann** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:34 am

Linc wrote up a quick how-to on integrating rox with fluxbox (I thought). Forgot where he put that, I suspect it is in the show notes somewhere.

Instead of desktop icons I went the route of fbrun. You can see my write-up on configuring fluxbox here: http://tllts.info/howtos/anti-eyecandy.html

Chess · Post by **Chess** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:45 pm

Hey Dann, that is a great write-up, thanks! The link to your flux init, though, is not working. Would you be willing to share your flux init again? thanks!!

Post by **dann** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 2:01 pm

It's up there now, sorry about that.

Tsuroerusu · Post by **Tsuroerusu** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 2:22 pm

OK, so far I've got the icons going using a nice application called idesk, works really well, how do I get this to run as Fluxbox launches so that the icons that I've put on automatically appears on my desktop?

Also, the Fluxbox menu where you can change your virtual desktop and view the clock, is it possible to make it be the edge of the screen, so that Firefox's statusbar isn't underneath it? I like having that menu around so I have it set to always be on top of stuff, but try to maximize Konqueror in KDE, the kicker panel is the edge of the screen in that case.

Chess · Post by **Chess** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:33 pm

Thanks, Dann. That write-up is very helpful!

Linc · Post by **Linc** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:55 pm

dann wrote:Linc wrote up a quick how-to on integrating rox with fluxbox (I thought). Forgot where he put that, I suspect it is in the show notes somewhere.

It's here: http://www.tllts.info/reviews/eyecandy/

treehead · Post by **treehead** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:57 pm

Linc wrote:It's here: http://www.tllts.info/reviews/eyecandy/

;whoa. that's slick. i'm all over that... and a bag of chips.

;treehead

Chess · Post by **Chess** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 4:25 pm

Linc,

Is that gray/white stripe behind the icons part of the wallpaper or is that the "background" setting of idesk?

Also, what icon set is that? Thanks for the writeup!