Hello and welcome to my Fluxbox Guide. If you want me to add or edit something just PM me about it and I'll include it with credit to you.
Here I'll start off with some basic menu editing (See RedSquirrel's awesome guide here) :
BTW, to use your own menu you have to copy /etc/X11/fluxbox/fluxbox-menu to ~/.fluxbox,change your ~/.fluxbox/init file on section "session.menuFile: /etc/X11/fluxbox/menu" to "session.menuFile: ~/.fluxbox/menu" and change ~/.fluxbox/menus section "[include] /etc/X11/fluxbox/fluxbox-menu" to "[include] ~/.fluxbox/menu"
Now on with editing your menu:
basically that's indicating this menu entry will be a program or some other executable-type thing
after "[exec]" you put :
this is the application title as will appear in the menu such as "Firefox"
after "(application name)" you put :
{command-to-run-above-program}
Here you can specify the command to run the program such as "firefox" or you can sort-of "link" to an executable (as you could in the terminal) "/usr/bin/firefox"
after "{command-to-run-program}" you put :
This is just the path to the icon that will appear in the menu. It shall be noted that most icons are in /usr/share/pixmaps/. An example of this would be : "</usr/share/pixmaps/firefox/icons/mozicon128.png>"
So here is the example above (note that the amount of spaces between things like "[exec]" and "(app name)" doesn't matter):
[exec] (Firefox) {firefox) </usr/share/pixmaps/firefox/icons/mozicon128.png>
Now here I'll explain submenus and how they work:
each entry from the paragraph above such as "[exec](Firefox){firefox</usr/share/pixmaps/firefox/icons/mozicon128.png>" should be put into "submenus" for organization (such as say on GNOME "accessories" or "internet")
remember "[exec]" before? well that's basically kind of a "tag" that indicates what the following entries will be. Basically all menu entries with different tags will follow the above format (if not all).
so "[submenu]" creates a submenu without anything else so you have to add them in the following order (as stated above) [submenu] (submenu-name) {} (backgroundjust leave the {command} blank, submenus don't initiate commands) and if you want to use an icon, </path/to/icon>
After you've added all "[exec]"s into your "[submenu]",you have to make a new line (hit enter) and type "[end]" (which is basically another "tag")
Also, if you want to make a "[submenu]" within a "[submenu]" you have to add "[end]" to the "[submenu]" within, and another one after the non-within a "[submenu]" "[submenu]"
So here's an example submenu with execs in it:
Code:
[submenu] (Internet) {} </usr/share/pixmaps/ubuntu.xpm>
[exec] (Firefox) {firefox} </usr/share/pixmaps/firefox.png>
[exec] (Konqueror) {konqueror} </usr/share/pixmaps/konqeror.xpm>
[submenu] (Instant-Messengers) {} </usr/share/pixmaps/gajim.png>
[exec] (Gajim) {gajim} </usr/share/pixmaps/gajim.png>
[exec] (Gossip) {gossip} </usr/share/pixmaps/gossip/icons/gossip.xpm>
[exec] (Pidgin) {pidgin} </usr/share/pixmaps/pidgin.xpm>
[end]
[exec] (Skype) {skype} </usr/share/pixmaps/skype.xpm>
[exec] (Thunderbird) {thunderbird} </usr/share/thunderbird/thunderbird.png>
[end]
UPDATE: you can also add separators between menu entries add the "tag" [separator] between menu entries
UPDATE: you can also add spaces between menu entries add the "tag" [nop] SOURCE: teaswigger
SOURCE: the source person wished to receive no credit
Note: I would like some further help with menus and different "tags" (such as "[restart]")
The Startup file. You can locate this in ~/.fluxbox/startup:
basically all this is is pretty much running programs or executable thingies (like commands) on startup. So here yah go:
To keep a command running (example: running "sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils restart" is not a command that keeps running) add an and (&) sign after the entry. Example:
firefox &
Easy as pie.
Moving on: here's the command to set a wallpaper to use on startup:
fbsetbg -f /path/to/wallpaper/
Sometimes you can have lots and lots of directories to plough through (like me, I organize too much) and it can be painful. In this case I would recommend setting links to the wallpaper, but if for some reason not, it's not too painful to manually *sigh* set the path to the wallpaper.
Note: you can read all of what I said in this startup section in the ~./fluxbox/startup file's comments (lines that start with a pound sign '#')
End of the "startup file section"
Icons: You may have seen icons on fluxbox desktops and are wondering how to get them, I will explain in the section ahead
When I first wanted icons, I used the program "fbdesk", but I, for some reason, could not find where to edit the config files for it. Because of the aforementioned reasons, I recommend "idesk"
After you've installed idesk, you probably will want to add it to your startup file (above) so you can have icons each boot without having to run it from a terminal, but, before idesk will run, you have to make a .idesktop folder in your home directory.
Now that (I assume) you've done that, you will want to add icons, I'll explain:
this is what an idesk icon file looks like:
Code:
table Icon
Caption: Home
Command: thunar /home/nathan
Icon: /usr/share/idesk/folder_home.xpm
Width: 48
Height: 48
X: 33
Y: 27
end
First of all, to add an icon, you have to create a file for it called "insert-your-file-name-here.lnk" and follow the idesk icon file above (the config is pretty straightforward, the only thing that may confuse you is "table Icon" basically you just add that to the top of each icon file you create (make sure the "I" on "Icon" is capitalized, and that the "t" in "table", is not)
end of "icon section"
Styles: To change the style is pretty easy, just create a "styles" directory under ~/.fluxbox
and find styles you want (some can be found on http://www.box-look.org) and extract the archive. then move the extracted folder to ~/.fluxbox/styles and it should show up under the submenu (depending on how your fluxbox menu is configured) "styles"
end of "style section"
Changing your QT or GTK theme under fluxbox:
You can change your GTK and/or QT4/QT3 theme under fluxbox, just install the following:
gtk-chtheme (for GTK)
qt4-qtconfig (for QT4) (for some reason, the command to run this is "qt-qt4config"
qt3-qtconfig (for QT3) (as above, the command to run this is "qt-qt3config"
end of "GTK/QT theme section"
File Managers:
File managers are pretty straightforward in fluxbox, just use your favorite one (I recommend thunar) but it's important to mention here that to run nautilus you have to run "nautilus --no-desktop" or else your current fluxbox section will be all screwed up
end of "file manager section"
Extras
UPDATE: I also just remembered to add this: you can tab whole windows (gedit,thunar,firefox,etc) by middle clicking (holding down the left and right buttons if you don't have a middle button) and dragging it onto the window you want it to tab to
BTW, This is my first tutorial, what do you think?
My menu file (for reference) attached
Adv Reply
Originally Posted by Drone4four
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