[LXDE] Need support with this spin I am making

[vanlong441]

Hello people reading this,

You may have already known me as the developer of LPinguy (http://sourceforge.net/projects/lpinguy/). That is the proof to show you that I can do things good enough and worth your help.

First, here are some pictures and a video of the spin of Lubuntu 12.04 I am making.
http://i.imgur.com/S4uVK.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/bU92V.png

http://i.imgur.com/0Si1y.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/K6CPa.png

http://i.imgur.com/J8xvu.png

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL1nYC1jiUAAbout

The design focuses on many Ubuntu-liked features such as Appmenu or Globalmenu, Window buttons, Maximus to remove titles, familiar indicators, chameleon notification, xcompmgr, conky, synapse and of course, the ease customizing and doing stuff.

The core of this spin is LXDE, making it lighter than many distros out there including Ubuntu.

The goal is to add more features to LXDE, or Lubuntu 12.04 in particular, to encourage Linux spirit in traditional desktop--light-weight, out of the box, and user-friendly. I have nothing against any other distros and I am just doing and sharing what I like.

Help-wanted

At the time, the spin is being built. I'm willing to receive non-financial help such as ideas, how-tos, and comments. I am an amateur so any advice from you will count. If you want to join the project, to spend more time on it, send me a message. When the number of messages gets quite a few, I will send out an Alpha. Otherwise, I will only release the spin one time as Final version.

Update #1

Added description on what I did to create the spin http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=12334029&postcount=5

+ 5 Nov 2012: fix for xcompmgr and how-to on LXDE key-binding.
+ 6 Nov 2012: upgrade to PCManFM's latest version.

[vanlong441]

updated.

[Chdslv]

I watched the video. Its nice.
Did you respin Lubuntu or started with the mini.iso and built it? If you have used the mini.iso, did you install install Lubuntu-Desktop, or just LXDE? Or used Lubuntu and added applications, wallpapers, conky and tweaked it a bit?


The core of this spin is LXDE, making it lighter than many distros out there including Ubuntu.

The goal is to add more features to LXDE, or Lubuntu 12.04 in particular,

Is that conky your work?

Regards!

Ch

PS: I've done something like this; http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2074141

[vanlong441]

I read that thread of yours before making the spin :) It gave me some inspiration to actually try to work with LXDE.

The spin is Lubuntu 12.04 remixed. I choose not to use mini iso or install lubuntu-desktop for Lubuntu devs have already done a good job compiling their distro and I want to take advantage of it. This spin of my is modification of Lubuntu 12.04.

You can read more about what I've done to it in Update #1, first post.

[vanlong441]

Updated how to fix shadows when using xcompmgr. Refer to Update #1, post #1

[Chdslv]

I read that thread of yours before making the spin :) It gave me some inspiration to actually try to work with LXDE.

The spin is Lubuntu 12.04 remixed. I choose not to use mini iso or install lubuntu-desktop for Lubuntu devs have already done a good job compiling their distro and I want to take advantage of it. This spin of my is modification of Lubuntu 12.04.

You can read more about what I've done to it in Update #1, first post.

Very nice, indeed!
I've seen your work before.

When are you planning to upload it?
Good luck pal!

Edit: If you are going to upload it, are you going to take off the Lubuntu branding?

[vanlong441]

Very nice, indeed!
I've seen your work before.

When are you planning to upload it?
Good luck pal!

Edit: If you are going to upload it, are you going to take off the Lubuntu branding?

Not anytime soon for now it's only an one-man show. Patches/Fixes I added were limited to what I encountered during using the spin in daily work and whose solutions I could find on the internet. I will need a team if I want to brand this spin away from Lubuntu (for the forum, serious support and other stuff). Hopefully it is a couple of weeks from now until the first release. Once again, it depends on the response from community. The more people care about it, the more careful I should be, the longer it will take to release something. Otherwise, it will be fast and I can just release it anytime I feel like.

[drawkcab]

Looks good! :D

[Chdslv]

I have my GnomeUnity Remix 13.04 Raring, which built from 12.10 mini.iso. I added Gnome-shell, then Unity. I also installed the kernel 3.7 rc2. Later, I installed KDE, but after while I uninstalled it, but kept some apps. There is no time to learn how KDE works. I had remixing Lubuntu, Ubuntu and Xubuntu to 13.04 and 3.7 rc2, but I liked my own built GnomeUnity.

I didn't install Ubuntu-desktop, Gnome-desktop or Lubuntu-desktop, only Gnome-shell, Unity and now, after reading your posts, I thought of installing Lxde. It was about 11 MB download. All the apps from Gnome-shell and Unity are there, together with some Lxde apps. Boy, how fast this Lxde desktop works!:)

The Gnome shell and Unity DE works fast too, much faster than in Ubuntu. Now, my remix becomes GnomeUnityLxde!

I am wondering, whether to install Xfce too.

There is no Ubuntu, Lubuntu logo anywhere, except in the icons, which can be changed. There are no Ubuntu wallpapers, except the old warty. Building from mini.iso is better, as you don't have much to rebrand.

Some screenshots. I changed wallpapers for each, but didn't add one for Lxde, for you to see.:)

[Chdslv]

It looks like you've installed the Unity panel. Can you autohide that?

[vanlong441]

@Chdslv,

Your combination of unity-2d and gnome shell resembles my effort integrating both desktop environments back in May. My work on it had to stop because GNOME Shell/Cinnamon became more and more like a playground and less serious, and Unity potential remained so limited. Back then I also figured out how to theme Unity-2D dash, launcher, and GUI stuff but hesitated to write a how-to on that for a feeling that it would not last. I was right. Unity-2D was abandoned in 12.10 and GNOME Shell got ridiculous in 3.6 release. That led me to LPinguy. Now I'm working on this new spin.

I recommend you to install and try out all desktop environments. Use each for a couple of days to see if you can customize it to meet your needs (mine are appmenu, window buttons, functional panels, light desktop .etc). In my case, I'm ending up with this combination of lxde-session and gnome-panel and feeling satisfied :)

Edit: Yes you can do whatever with the panels as in Ubuntu 11.04 :) it's gnome-panel, not unity's

[Chdslv]

Vanlong,
I have been using Linux for quite a long time and I had been remastering for sometime too. This time, I wanted to get into raring as soon as the repos were open. I have a whole collection of Ubuntu and its derivatives and Ubuntu clones upgraded to 13.04 from 11.10, 12.04, 12.10. The Ubuntu clones are still at 12.04/12.04.1 level. It'd be sometime until 12.10 clones would come by. I even upgraded Mint Maya and Peppermint 3 to 13.04.

My work usually gets copied to one partition (home, etc), so which distro/remix I use won't matter. All upgrading went below the surface, asking few questions on the way.

I think you should use your knowledge to theme Unity panel, maybe even make it autohide. That would bring lot of love from the Unity crowd. I actually like Awn and Cairo docks as panels, and get rid or hide other panels. Lot of people would love you for that!

Take care!

[vanlong441]

Updated the how-to on upgrading PCManFM to the latest version. Refer to update #1, post #1.


Looks good! :D

Thanks mate :D


Vanlong,
I have been using Linux for quite a long time and I had been remastering for sometime too. This time, I wanted to get into raring as soon as the repos were open. I have a whole collection of Ubuntu and its derivatives and Ubuntu clones upgraded to 13.04 from 11.10, 12.04, 12.10. The Ubuntu clones are still at 12.04/12.04.1 level. It'd be sometime until 12.10 clones would come by. I even upgraded Mint Maya and Peppermint 3 to 13.04.

My work usually gets copied to one partition (home, etc), so which distro/remix I use won't matter. All upgrading went below the surface, asking few questions on the way.

I think you should use your knowledge to theme Unity panel, maybe even make it autohide. That would bring lot of love from the Unity crowd. I actually like Awn and Cairo docks as panels, and get rid or hide other panels. Lot of people would love you for that!

Take care!

Just posted how to theme Unity 2D here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=12339308

It will be my pleasure if someone can pick it up and work further with it!

Would you like to join this project Chdslv? There will definitely something for you to do.

[Chdslv]

Updated the how-to on upgrading PCManFM to the latest version. Refer to update #1, post #1.



Thanks mate :D



Just posted how to theme Unity 2D here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=12339308

It will be my pleasure if someone can pick it up and work further with it!

Would you like to join this project Chdslv? There will definitely something for you to do.

Thanks, Vanlong, but I am not a programmer, or a geek, just a user. If I can help, I'd help of course.:)

Every dev of an Ubuntu-clone would now be running after 12.10, so why not go with 13.04? Check this; http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-server/daily/current/

And they are not saying that it should not be installed on working/production machines, but are using the word "permanently."

[vanlong441]

Thanks, Vanlong, but I am not a programmer, or a geek, just a user. If I can help, I'd help of course.:)
That's great! Added your name to the list. A few more volunteers and we can make a serious distro out of this spin. At the time you can install Lubuntu and follow the steps I posted on making the spin to get to know more about it.


Every dev of an Ubuntu-clone would now be running after 12.10, so why not go with 13.04? Check this; http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-server/daily/current/

And they are not saying that it should not be installed on working/production machines, but are using the word "permanently."

I forgot to mention that many components in this spin haven't had a repo for 12.10, let alone 13.04. I checked out Lubuntu 12.10 and there were not many new things :)

[vanlong441]

Updates

+ Light version
+ PCManFM 1.1.0
+ New code: xcompmgr -fF -I002 -O-.003 -D1 -c -t-6 -l-6 -r4.5
+ Other small fixes

[vanlong441]

This is OBox with Cairo composite manager

http://i.imgur.com/Pty2t.jpg

Firefox (notice the cursor's position; the addon to autohide awesome bar is https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/prospector-lessChrome-HD/ )

http://i.imgur.com/fuF1d.png

http://i.imgur.com/lwsph.png

Menu

http://i.imgur.com/AsSpF.png

Appmenu

http://i.imgur.com/x3WR0.png

Expo

http://i.imgur.com/qxVmF.jpg

Process bar

http://i.imgur.com/InGCM.png

[NormanFLinux]

updated.

You could use Pantheon Shell and Gala Window Manager. Its very light on system resources. GNOME Tweak Tool can customize everything but the Shell.

[vanlong441]

You could use Pantheon Shell and Gala Window Manager. Its very light on system resources. GNOME Tweak Tool can customize everything but the Shell.

Thank you for the suggestion. I think it is not a good idea to repeat what elementaryOS has already done well, or remake Ubuntu using Unity3D. It seems pointless.

Mutter is light and I don't doubt about that. However, there is tearing issue with every composite manager out there. Right now the only solution for that is turn off the WM; I don't know any WM that does not brake something but Cairo, and xcompmgr (and its forks) being turned on and off.

I'm focusing more on user experience using the spin rather than how to impress the users with animations and stuff :)

[NormanFLinux]

Thank you for the suggestion. I think it is not a good idea to repeat what elementaryOS has already done well, or remake Ubuntu using Unity3D. It seems pointless.

Mutter is light and I don't doubt about that. However, there is tearing issue with every composite manager out there. Right now the only solution for that is turn off the WM; I don't know any WM that does not brake something but Cairo, and xcompmgr (and its forks) being turned on and off.

I'm focusing more on user experience using the spin rather than how to impress the users with animations and stuff :)


That's my point - elementaryOS doesn't use a high end compositing engine, which makes it nearly perfect for a low resource distro. Its main advantage - like LXDE is, all the components are independent and not tied together so you customize a distro for the end user experience. I guess you can play with different subsets of features from different desktop environments until you find something that falls into place. Good luck.

[vanlong441]

That's my point - elementaryOS doesn't use a high end compositing engine, which makes it nearly perfect for a low resource distro. Its main advantage - like LXDE is, all the components are independent and not tied together so you customize a distro for the end user experience. I guess you can play with different subsets of features from different desktop environments until you find something that falls into place. Good luck.
Thanks :) and don't hesitate to tell me more about anything standalone :)

[vanlong441]

The spin is out under the name BestBox

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bestbox/

All discussion about it goes here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2086524). Thank you.

[volcano88]

What`s the live cd password.? Kinda hard to install software and test without it............

[vanlong441]

What`s the live cd password.? Kinda hard to install software and test without it............

I'm afraid I can't find anything in BestBox LiveCD that requires a password to open (even synaptic). But if you need one, try 8604886

[gyyug78fg87ogguiioioioioi]

i am on a fresh lubuntu install and i dont mind to acctualy install anything else anyway,
is this stuff basacly the same as lubuntu 12.10 just looks diffrent???

[Chdslv]

Hi Vanlong,

Its quite interesting how you managed HUD with Openbox. Would you try using Slingshot? It also has a very good search ability.

Did you hear about the ON desktop?

Good day!

Ch

[vanlong441]

i am on a fresh lubuntu install and i dont mind to acctualy install anything else anyway,
is this stuff basacly the same as lubuntu 12.10 just looks diffrent???

It's Lubuntu 12.04 with HUD, Dash, functional GNOME Panels and stuff. You can read more about it here https://sourceforge.net/projects/bestbox/


Hi Vanlong,

Its quite interesting how you managed HUD with Openbox. Would you try using Slingshot? It also has a very good search ability.

Did you hear about the ON desktop?

Good day!

Ch

Though Slingshot, Cardapio, or Synapse are all good, it will be a waste of memory when using either of them along with HUD, which requires Unity Dash to work. What is ON desktop Chdslv? And thanks for the suggestion.

[mythic97]

a HUD button maybe
Maybe more portable would be nice
command line start up with "startx" option?
Rhythm box as default
and maybe a cache cleaner pre installed and some stuff borrowed from super OS
have two options simple no command line start up software centre
and slim command line start up no software centre terminal only way to get stuff (apart from internet)
auto hide bar
slim down LXDE I know that sounds mad but could work impose an applications open limit like 10 applications and no spare windows
as well as a turbo mode that runs application with full processing power focused on one app

hope these inspire you!