BoxBuntu 8.04.1 beta 1 released

[chris4585]

Update

new stuff check it out

http://boxbuntu.com/

[chris4585]

Mondays must be a slow day in the other os talk

[wolfen69]

i'm going to check it out.

[chris4585]

Thanks, can't wait to hear back from you wolfen69

:D

[chris4585]

The download link isn't slow is it? just question about my host

[TheSlipstream]

I'm afraid this will need to pwn rather hard to overtake CrunchBang (which I am currently using - and yes, it is awesome.) I'll wait on some comments.

[urukrama]

How different do you intend this to be from CrunchBang Linux or Ubuntulite?

[Bart_D]

Maybe each one will respond differently on the same system. More choice for users?

[whitefang5412]

Since I can't visit the website from this school computer, can someone inform me as of to whether or not boxbuntu has a live disk? I would like to try it out, but not install it.

[Bart_D]

Yes, it has a LIVE-CD. It is called BoxBuntu Beta download 32bit version 8.04.1 LiveCD.

It's good thing that Ubuntu mini CD + an already setup openbox configuration is FINALLY catching on.i.e. ISOs being made available. It really helps newbies(such as myself) who have had trouble with Openbox.

[chris4585]

How different do you intend this to be from CrunchBang Linux or Ubuntulite?

Crunchbang linux and BoxBuntu are very similar in terms of packages, but Ubuntulite uses LXDE, which is noticeably different even though still under the same windows manager.

The main difference you'd probably notice first is I don't have pypanel, I use fbpanel for my panels, I will probably always use a 2 panel layout (sorta like gnome), and Crunchbang linux uses pypanel. I highly respect Crunchbang, and have borrowed some ideas from it. I do have some interesting ideas for the future as of now I'm keeping things simple as possible. Some of my ideas include easy scripts to run and configure openbox which include different configuration, such as using 3ddesktop or so.. We'll see what happens

urukrama you're guides have helped me in the past before, I highly respect you aswell.

Since I can't visit the website from this school computer, can someone inform me as of to whether or not boxbuntu has a live disk? I would like to try it out, but not install it.

Yes BoxBuntu will be a livecd.

[wolfen69]

well, i'm using it right now as i type, and have to say it's pretty darn good. you've done a good job with the layout. i think i prefer it over crunchbang, although i like that as well. there are definitely some nice touches to it, and could see myself using it on a low spec machine. also nice is the fact that all multimedia works ootb. all in all, a very nice job.

i have not tried it yet, but does the persistent mode work well?

i will definitely be keeping an eye on this one. keep up the good work.

[Bart_D]

well, i'm using it right now ...i think i prefer it over crunchbang...

What gives BoxBuntu the edge?

[wolfen69]

What gives BoxBuntu the edge?

it's probably more a matter of personal preference. an "edge" for 1 person, is not necessarily an edge for another. download it and check it out.

anyone looking for a lightweight distro should definitely check this out. especially if you only have 192-256MB of ram.

[whitefang5412]

Going to run it in virtual box here in a few minutes as soon as its done downloading. Will report back tomorrow, hopefully before this hurricane blows me away. :(

[meborc]

hey... some screenshots on the webpage or just here would be nice...

[chris4585]

hey... some screenshots on the webpage or just here would be nice...

I do have screenshots on the website, on Announcements page, I'll post the link to those here for others.

http://boxbuntu.com/images/Screenshots/

I'll sooner or later get the screenshots page straightened out, bare with me I'm very busy this week.

[meborc]

I do have screenshots on the website, on Announcements page, I'll post the link to those here for others.

http://boxbuntu.com/images/Screenshots/

I'll sooner or later get the screenshots page straightened out, bare with me I'm very busy this week.

oh, didn't look there :) i saw your screenshots page "coming soon" so i guessed you had no screenshots made

[chris4585]

If anyone is interested you can post on the BoxBuntu forums here (http://forums.boxbuntu.com/index.php). I also have a IRC channel setup on freenode.

[Balazs_noob]

I am using it now. So far it is great :D
No problem at all, i would just like if there would be ntfs-config
on it ( only 24kbyte ) , so it is easier for noobs to add and auto-mount
ntfs drives.

good luck for this great distro
:popcorn:

edit: i only use it as a liveCD so far, later i plan a install ;)

[chris4585]

I am using it now. So far it is great :D
No problem at all, i would just like if there would be ntfs-config
on it ( only 24kbyte ) , so it is easier for noobs to add and auto-mount
ntfs drives.

good luck for this great distro
:popcorn:

edit: i only use it as a liveCD so far, later i plan a install ;)

Thanks, In the next release I promise ntfs-config will be installed on it. I wasn't aware I needed ntfs-config along with ntfs-3g

My ultimate goal is to be super easy and light

any and all information will be appreciated!

:)

[Bart_D]

Will you be uploading more screenshots?

[chris4585]

Will you be uploading more screenshots?

Yes, I will tomorrow since you requested, I've been putting doing that off.. procrastinating

[chris4585]

As I promised here are the screenshots (http://boxbuntu.com/images/Screenshots/gallery1/)

I'm too tired right now to actually add them on the screenshots page, I'll make a link to the directory though

Thanks

[Balazs_noob]

i am using this distro on my laptop and desktop computer as main OS !
really love it :D
+1 app that would be nice is a battery applet for the bar ( which i couldn't find yet)
otherwise it has everything i need :)

[chris4585]

i am using this distro on my laptop and desktop computer as main OS !
really love it :D
+1 app that would be nice is a battery applet for the bar ( which i couldn't find yet)
otherwise it has everything i need :)

I'm glad you like it and use it, let me know how it is, fyi, don't let the fact there's beta in the name scare anyone, its only in there mainly because of the artwork isn't put in that release

You can actually setup your panel's to display your battery life pretty easy

first install acpi
sudo apt-get install acpi
secondly open the menu > system > preferences > fbpanel > ubuntu > top > edit

somewhere, wherever you like add these lines in that file:

they do correspond to where they are on the panel keep that in mind

Plugin {
type = space
config {
size = 6
}
}

Plugin {
type = genmon
config {
Command = acpi -b
PollingTime = 1
TextSize = medium
TextColor = white
}
}


Plugin {
type = space
config {
size = 6
}
}

my file looks like:

# fbpanel - config file
# Profile name - Ubuntu
# Profile position - top bar
# Filename - ubuntu-top
# Author of this profile - chris4585
# see http://fbpanel.sf.net/docs.html for complete configuration guide


Global {
edge = top
allign = left
margin = 0
widthtype = percent
width = 100
height = 26
transparent = true
tintcolor = #FFFFFF
alpha = 1
setdocktype = true
setpartialstrut = true
}

Plugin {
type = launchbar
config {
button {
icon = start-here
tooltip = Main Openbox Menu
action = xdotool key alt+z
}
}
}

Plugin {
type = genmon
config {
Command = echo "Menu"
PollingTime = 1
TextSize = medium
TextColor = white
}
}


Plugin {
type = space
config {
size = 8
}
}


Plugin {
type = launchbar
config {
button {
icon = firefox
tooltip = Firefox Web Browser, Browse the World Wide Web
action = firefox
}
}
}

Plugin {
type = launchbar
config {
button {
icon = folder_home
tooltip = Access your files
action = homeicon
}
}
}

Plugin {
type = launchbar
config {
button {
icon = gnome-terminal
tooltip = Terminal
action = xfce4-terminal
}
}
}

Plugin {
type = launchbar
config {
button {
icon = emblem-danger
tooltip = Force a misbehaving program to quit
action = xkill
}
}
}

Plugin {
type = launchbar
config {
button {
icon = gnome-run
tooltip = Easily run a application
action = grun
}
}
}

Plugin {
type = space
expand = true
config {
size = 11
}
}

Plugin {
type = tray
}

Plugin {
type = space
config {
size = 6
}
}

Plugin {
type = genmon
config {
Command = acpi -b
PollingTime = 1
TextSize = medium
TextColor = white
}
}

Plugin {
type = space
config {
size = 6
}
}

Plugin {
type = launchbar
config {
button {
icon = audio-volume-low
tooltip = Adjust volume down
action = amixer -q set Master 3- unmute
}
}
}

Plugin {
type = launchbar
config {
button {
icon = audio-volume-high
tooltip = Adjust volume up
action = amixer -q set Master 3+ unmute
}
}
}

Plugin {
type = genmon
config {
Command = date "+%l:%M%p %a. %b %d %Y"
PollingTime = 1
TextSize = medium
TextColor = white
}
}


Plugin {
type = launchbar
config {
button {
icon = gnome-logout
tooltip = Logout, or switch user
action = /usr/bin/openbox-logout
}
}
}

You can also setup conky to do the same thing, let me know if you need help

I hope this helps! :)

[Bart_D]

As I promised here are the screenshots (http://boxbuntu.com/images/Screenshots/gallery1/)

I'm too tired right now to actually add them on the screenshots page, I'll make a link to the directory though

Thanks

Great! They look really good. Great job!

[Balazs_noob]

I hope this helps! :)

Yeap it works great ;) thanks :D

[chris4585]

Yeap it works great ;) thanks :D

You're welcome Balazs_noob, need any thing else let me know, I'm glad it worked.


For other cool and just good to know stuff for anyone else check out urukrama's blog here (http://urukrama.wordpress.com/openbox-guide/), most stuff I'd like to have tutorials for hes already made, and are well documented.

[wolfen69]

just tried it on an old dell with 500mhz and 384ram, and it ran great. it was surprisingly fast. this distro is going to earn a permanent place in my cd case. :)

a fresh install of xp ran very slow on the same computer.

btw, when will a final release happen?

[chris4585]

just tried it on an old dell with 500mhz and 384ram, and it ran great. it was surprisingly fast. this distro is going to earn a permanent place in my cd case. :)

a fresh install of xp ran very slow on the same computer.

btw, when will a final release happen?

Thanks for the positive feed back. I'm not so sure when the final will be release honestly, I should get off my lazy butt and finish it. I've been swamped with school.

I was actually hoping for some more feed back from other people for more ideas what I could include or leave out of the ISO. Could you or anyone else thats still following this thread give me some more feed back?

I'd like to have a active community, I suppose I should be more out spoken and ask what I want.

There will be a final release I do promise that though, maybe this weekend I'll get to work on it again, I have some free time then.

Thanks

[chris4585]

I was thinking of doing a few major changes to the final release, even though this isn't going to be the 'light' edition, should I remove openoffice and just use abiword and gnumeric?

Also while setting up my domain and email accounts, I realized email clients do have a importance, what should I include? I personally use Thunderbird, but I know there's light weight email clients out there.

[zmjjmz]

I was thinking of doing a few major changes to the final release, even though this isn't going to be the 'light' edition, should I remove openoffice and just use abiword and gnumeric?

Also while setting up my domain and email accounts, I realized email clients do have a importance, what should I include? I personally use Thunderbird, but I know there's light weight email clients out there.

Sylpheed is a good lightweight e-mail client, but it doesn't support HTML.
And IMO you should remove OpenOffice.org.
It's just too heavy for your intended hardware.

[ooobuntooo]

Use Abiword instead of OpenOffice.

[basenvironment]

I use to be a big fan of abiword and gnumeric but since they picked up more and more gnome dependencies I find them too heavy for a lite system. IMO abiword and gnumeric together are about as heavy (if not heavier) than opening a speadsheet and word processor in openoffice.

Claws-mail is a SUPER email client that is fast and lite.

[EnGorDiaz]

hmmm this is quite an interesting distribution i like the tangy theme it has

[chris4585]

hmmm this is quite an interesting distribution i like the tangy theme it has

Thanks! Thats just the default, my goal for theming was to have multi colors for the openbox theme, wallpaper, GDM, and gtk theme, enjoy the possibilities

[jedi453]

Awesome job. Openbox and Ubuntu go very well together, especially the way you set them up.

I installed this on a system with 128MB of RAM and it ran pretty well. (Firefox wasn't too happy though.) I suggest adding some lighter web browsers too like kazehakase or midori and dillo (even Dillo2 once it comes out.)

If you are going to rebuild it you might install localepurge and choose to keep all the US and English languages, just to free up space. Assuming you don't want all the locales. Every time you install with apt-get from then on it will tell you how much space it freed, I usually save a lot of space just by deleting those locales. Here's a link that quickly goes over it: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=254418

Also, although somewhat off topic, a simple game or two might make it feel like a fuller distro. Ace-of-penguins is nice and light.

Keep up the good work.
Jedi453

[chris4585]

Awesome job. Openbox and Ubuntu go very well together, especially the way you set them up.

I installed this on a system with 128MB of RAM and it ran pretty well. (Firefox wasn't too happy though.) I suggest adding some lighter web browsers too like kazehakase or midori and dillo (even Dillo2 once it comes out.)

If you are going to rebuild it you might install localepurge and choose to keep all the US and English languages, just to free up space. Assuming you don't want all the locales. Every time you install with apt-get from then on it will tell you how much space it freed, I usually save a lot of space just by deleting those locales. Here's a link that quickly goes over it: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=254418

Also, although somewhat off topic, a simple game or two might make it feel like a fuller distro. Ace-of-penguins is nice and light.

Keep up the good work.
Jedi453

Thanks for the suggestion Jedi, I might just do that with the locales, sorry It took a while to get back with this thread.

Sadly though, if you read the first post which I updated you will know I'm going to be changing some stuff around.

Ok, I'm ready to make something! but the thing is I'm not 100% sure what I want to make. Should I make a light alternative to what I was working on? or just use LXDE as the desktop environment? I need feed back seriously.

Some things I was pondering, should I really switch to LXDE? or just use lxpanel? I found that lxpanel 2x uses less ram than fbpanel 2x, but only by a few megs. Then again, I am already using lxappearances.. so you as the community help me decide what you want.

I have a week off of school and would like to work on this all week long, before I was really busy and tired all the time or lazy.. Thats why work never really left beta stage. I know I can't do everything in a week but I can try at least.

Next step, I have to call the new system something besides "BoxBuntu," I was thinking about Penguin Linux.


- Chris

[snowpine]

Chris, I've been using Crunchbang 8.04 since it came out and really like it. I tried your BoxBuntu live cd recently and liked a lot of things about it. One thing that struck me was how similar it was to the Ubuntu interface. I think BoxBuntu would be the easiest Openbox or Fluxbox distro for someone who uses Ubuntu on their desktop but has a second computer that is too old for Ubuntu. It seems like it would be a very comfortable transition, with the menu along the top, orange and black theme, etc. I think using LXDE would make it less like Ubuntu.

I have also heard rumors that there won't be a Crunchbang 8.10. I think you are in position to create the first Openbox Intrepid distro, if you choose. :)

[chris4585]

Chris, I've been using Crunchbang 8.04 since it came out and really like it. I tried your BoxBuntu live cd recently and liked a lot of things about it. One thing that struck me was how similar it was to the Ubuntu interface. I think BoxBuntu would be the easiest Openbox or Fluxbox distro for someone who uses Ubuntu on their desktop but has a second computer that is too old for Ubuntu. It seems like it would be a very comfortable transition, with the menu along the top, orange and black theme, etc. I think using LXDE would make it less like Ubuntu.

I have also heard rumors that there won't be a Crunchbang 8.10. I think you are in position to create the first Openbox Intrepid distro, if you choose. :)

Thanks snowpine for the feed back. My aim for the interface was actually to make it similar to the Ubuntu gnome desktop, I think I succeeded in doing this, Easy was on my mind while I made it. I can even make it more similar to the Ubuntu desktop with how the menu's are laid out, If I wanted to, I think I will.

As for using LXDE, I can actually make LXDE look pretty similar to gnome, you just have to tweak some settings is all. What I like so much about fbpanel though, is you can output a command to the actual panel, very handy for seeing what the CPU temp is without minimizing something, or displaying whats now playing with your favorite music player (e.g. quodlibet can do this).

I think I'll make two sessions, one with lxpanel and one with fbpanel.

This time I will probably use lighter software.

[chris4585]

Ok, I think I'm going to make a few LiveCDs, more variety and choice.

One LiveCD that will have just the basics. The only programs that will be installed will be programs labeled as preference type of programs.

Another with the basics and light weight programs.

Then another one with basics, light and heavy.

How does this sound?

[chris4585]

So, I'm really trying to think of a new name, I was thinking about PenguinLinux, or maybe something with box, such as BoxLinux. But at the same time I'd like to be a little more original. Any takers?

[chris4585]

Linuxplusbox? I think I'm going to use it

[chris4585]

Ok, been very busy the past few hours.

New site theme, new name, and (after a long while) a new release. Don't get your hopes up. This release is just a very basic minimal LiveCD. Please read the front page to understand whats going on. Hopefully I'll get a new domain sometime.

http://boxbuntu.com/ (http://boxbuntu.com)

should I start a new thread?

[wolfen69]

Next step, I have to call the new system something besides "BoxBuntu," I was thinking about Penguin Linux.


- Chris

nevermind, i just saw the thread above. sure, why not start a new thread.

[chris4585]

for anyone curious the old boxbuntu is still online and is beta, but it really is as good as it will be.

It is still good to use.

The Plusone series will be very much like the old boxbuntu, just give it some time

http://boxbuntu.com/downloads/boxboontu-(8.04.1)-beta-1.iso