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View Full Version : fluxbox vs. openbox



fuscia
May 15th, 2006, 02:50 AM
both are great, no question. which is better? recently, there was a discussion on the openbox mailing list about the possibility of adding a tabbed function to openbox. the reaction was predictably hostile: "that's not minimal, you bastard!" (whatever)

both are fast (meaning, anything you can do anywhere else, you can do faster in these two wms). both have great themes, but the themes are different (while fluxbox is more rammsteinesque, openbox is more real mckenziesish). whatever, still a matter of personal taste. openbox has obmenu going for it. i'm not an xml person, so i can only go so far with the fluxbox menu. obmenu really does it for me. fluxbox has tabbed browsing and that thing where you can drag a window from one workspace to another.

the answer: if there's no obvious choice, switch between both. it's not like they're hogging lots of space on your hard drive.

n3tfury
May 15th, 2006, 03:43 AM
*scratches chin*

ok, so here's a noob question. I'm currently running the latest dapper w/kde on my desktop and the latest dapper w/gnome on my laptop. i want to go with either flux or open (on the laptop), but when i ran flux in my next session, and was feeling my way around and needed a file browser, i used nautilus, which brought back a half *** looking gnome.

how to avoid something like this? i don't want to see anything regarding gnome unless i change sessions.

bluevoodoo1
May 15th, 2006, 03:58 AM
*scratches chin*

ok, so here's a noob question. I'm currently running the latest dapper w/kde on my desktop and the latest dapper w/gnome on my laptop. i want to go with either flux or open (on the laptop), but when i ran flux in my next session, and was feeling my way around and needed a file browser, i used nautilus, which brought back a half *** looking gnome.

how to avoid something like this? i don't want to see anything regarding gnome unless i change sessions.


nautilus --no-desktop

n3tfury
May 15th, 2006, 04:11 AM
nautilus --no-desktop

lol, no sh*t? will anything from gnome show up in the menus? if so, is there a way to avoid that?

nalmeth
May 15th, 2006, 04:12 AM
install thunar man
If I'm guessing correctly, your using fluxbox, cause it's pretty minimal, why not use a more minimal file browser.
I have really come to love thunar

EDIT: I just realized we're kind of hijacking the thread

(while fluxbox is more rammsteinesque, openbox is more real mckenziesish). haha I like that
I've never really given a fair run to openbox, maybe I will tomorrow at work (usually lots of free time). I've been using fluxbox since I started with linux.
mckenzies were in calgary recently, but I missed them.

n3tfury
May 15th, 2006, 04:16 AM
install thunar man
If I'm guessing correctly, your using fluxbox, cause it's pretty minimal, why not use a more minimal file browser.
I have really come to love thunar

yeah, using it because it its minimalistic pleasures :) and it runs much better on this laptop. i'll take a peek at thunar, bro, thanks for the suggestion.

fuscia
May 15th, 2006, 08:41 AM
if you want to be hardcore minimal, you can just manage your files using the command line (which is a bit like wiping your *** with leaves while camping).

graabein
May 15th, 2006, 09:39 AM
I tried them both on dated machines and I found openbox more appealing.

benplaut
May 15th, 2006, 09:48 AM
if you have prefence to a different panel, use openbox.

if you like the fluxbox panel, use fluxbox.

Everything else can be configured to be exactly the same ('cept tabs)

I like pypanel, so i use openbox :)

nalmeth
May 15th, 2006, 10:17 AM
if you want to be hardcore minimal, you can just manage your files using the command line (which is a bit like wiping your *** with leaves while camping).
I'm going to have to collect all your quotes one of these days, funny stuff

fuscia
May 15th, 2006, 10:30 AM
I'm going to have to collect all your quotes one of these days, funny stuff

thanks.

Onyros
May 15th, 2006, 11:27 AM
*scratches chin*

ok, so here's a noob question. I'm currently running the latest dapper w/kde on my desktop and the latest dapper w/gnome on my laptop. i want to go with either flux or open (on the laptop), but when i ran flux in my next session, and was feeling my way around and needed a file browser, i used nautilus, which brought back a half *** looking gnome.

how to avoid something like this? i don't want to see anything regarding gnome unless i change sessions.At first, when running fluxbox I tried Rox-Filer, but I never got to like it very much.

I searched for an alternative file manager, and found PCManFM. It's a great little file manager, with tabs and all, check it out... ----> http://pcmanfm.sourceforge.net/

http://pcmanfm.sourceforge.net/screenshot.png

It's kinda like a mini-nautilus, which doesn't try to do too much ;)

n3tfury
May 15th, 2006, 01:00 PM
if you want to be hardcore minimal, you can just manage your files using the command line (which is a bit like wiping your *** with leaves while camping).

"hardcore minimal" and "just plain retarded" like to hold hands.


At first, when running fluxbox I tried Rox-Filer, but I never got to like it very much.

I searched for an alternative file manager, and found PCManFM. It's a great little file manager, with tabs and all, check it out... ----> http://pcmanfm.sourceforge.net/

http://pcmanfm.sourceforge.net/screenshot.png

It's kinda like a mini-nautilus, which doesn't try to do too much ;)

thanks bro, i'll check that out!

egon spengler
May 15th, 2006, 01:36 PM
openbox has obmenu going for it. i'm not an xml person, so i can only go so far with the fluxbox menu. obmenu really does it for me

There's fluxmenu (http://fluxmenu.berlios.de/)

Sheinar
May 15th, 2006, 03:34 PM
Openbox. I don't know why, but I really never liked Fluxbox much. Maybe it's because of Fluxbox's panel.

I tried obmenu, but I'm pretty particular about my menu file, and using obmenu screws up the format of the XML code, so I just edit my menu by hand.

Oh and about the file manager talk, I don't think it's plain retarded to use the command-line to manage your files. I have ROX-filer installed, but I just find myself using the command-line to manage my files much more. It's just become natural for me to manage my files that way. I find it faster too.

fuscia
May 15th, 2006, 05:07 PM
"hardcore minimal" and "just plain retarded" like to hold hands.


but I just find myself using the command-line to manage my files much more. It's just become natural for me to manage my files that way. I find it faster too.

even though someone did steal my bike, i have come to find file managers to be a bit of an overkill and prefer the cl for such. i always forget to do sudo file-manager and invariably end up with one of those "you don't have permission, nyeah-nyeah" warnings.

briancurtin
May 15th, 2006, 05:09 PM
I'm going to have to collect all your quotes one of these days, funny stuff
my favorite fuscia quote is "if you cant get kicked in the nuts, go for the next best thing" when talking about people using XPDE
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=93894&highlight=kicked+nuts+thing%22

graabein
June 3rd, 2006, 04:43 PM
I have a question in this thread (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=187785) about setting gtk-fonts without using gnome-settings-daemon. Any takers?

bmearns
July 31st, 2008, 08:05 PM
if you want to be hardcore minimal, you can just manage your files using the command line (which is a bit like wiping your *** with leaves while camping).

Come on now, comments like this are why so much of the Linux community is having a hard time taking Ubuntu seriously: if you aren't comfortable on the command line, you aren't comfortable with Linux.

It's not hard, I swear. There are four commands you need for powerful command line file management: ls, cp, mv, and rm. Ok, and sudo if you're an admin or need to act like one.

I really love that Ubuntu is making Linux accessible to a wider audience, but you're totally missing out if you continue to follow the mircosloth's highly constrained workflow paradigm.

-Brian

Hmm...I guess I'm a little late on this thread.

chucky chuckaluck
July 31st, 2008, 08:22 PM
Come on now, comments like this are why so much of the Linux community is having a hard time taking Ubuntu seriously: if you aren't comfortable on the command line, you aren't comfortable with Linux.

i agree with you, but as linux gets more accessible, you're going to get people like fucia who are either afraid of, or too lazy to use the command line, or both.

RiceMonster
July 31st, 2008, 10:03 PM
I like openbox more. It's really minimal, yet powerful. Fluxbox is nice with the tabbing windows, but I don't really miss it because it doesn't get used much, and I don't like using a panel. Openbox works brilliantly without one. I don't like the fluxbox panel either.


I tried obmenu, but I'm pretty particular about my menu file, and using obmenu screws up the format of the XML code, so I just edit my menu by hand.

Same, Obmenu annoyed me and I've never had any problem manually editing it with Vim. I use Obconf though, because I find it's a nice way to manage Openbox themes and it does make some things simpler.

cardinals_fan
July 31st, 2008, 10:15 PM
Same, Obmenu annoyed me and I've never had any problem manually editing it with Vim. I use Obconf though, because I find it's a nice way to manage Openbox themes and it does make some things simpler.
I only use my menu to log out. Dmenu renders it obsolete :)

urukrama
July 31st, 2008, 10:39 PM
Dmenu renders it obsolete :)

Not for me. Can you easily set a wallpaper with dmenu? Or backup particular directories to an external disk? Or switch window managers? Or with a single click turn panels/conky/pagers on and off?

I love dmenu, but I also love Openbox' root menu. A combination of the two is powerful.

cardinals_fan
July 31st, 2008, 10:40 PM
Not for me. Can you easily set a wallpaper with dmenu? Or backup particular directories to an external disk? Or switch window managers? Or with a single click turn panels/conky/pagers on and off?

I love dmenu, but I also love Openbox' root menu. A combination of the two is powerful.
You could make scripts to handle all those functionalities. But I see your point :)

urukrama
July 31st, 2008, 11:02 PM
You could make scripts to handle all those functionalities.

I know. I made a dmenu to edit my config files (http://urukrama.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/dmenu-script-for-configuration-files/). It is very handy.

But Openbox' menu is much more handy if you want to use the mouse.

RiceMonster
July 31st, 2008, 11:31 PM
Dmenu is nice too, but I prefer the openbox menu.

cardinals_fan
July 31st, 2008, 11:34 PM
I know. I made a dmenu to edit my config files (http://urukrama.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/dmenu-script-for-configuration-files/). It is very handy.
I know. I stole that from you a while back :)


But Openbox' menu is much more handy if you want to use the mouse.
True. I just prefer the keyboard - a throwback to my tiling days.

K.Mandla
August 1st, 2008, 12:56 AM
This one is kind of stale. Let's close it.