Openbox-Ubuntu

[jludeman]

Openbox-Ubuntu

Why do it?:

1. Slowe(r) hardware.

My main desktop system is fairly old. It has a 1Ghz Athlon CPU with 512 MB of ram and a fairly new 80GB hard drive.

So I wanted a system that would be light on resources and hard drive space.

After the install I was so pleased with the results that I installed it on my newer faster laptop. On the slow system it's pretty zippy. On the laptop it's almost scarey.

2. Clean user interface with optional bell's and whistles.

Openbox has many ways to operate. Almost unlimited custom hot keys for frequently used programs.

Customizable right click menu. Hot key invoked custom menus.

Your choice of panels. I use gnome-panel

If you like desktop icons they are available through external means. I don't like anything on my desktop except a panel that I can turn on and off.

The system plan:

1. Clean alternate disk install.
2. Install Xorg and openbox.
3. Add repositories and software.
4. Update to the latest versions.

How to do it:

1. Download or otherwise get an iso or cd.

I use Xubuntu alternate cd exclusively because I will not be using XFCE or KDE or Gnome metacity.
It's a smaller download and has always worked for me.

2. Choose command line install from the cd menu.

3. After the install has completed you will have a basic command line linux system. Sudo apt-get install nano. Sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list. Add the repositories you want or need. My working list is below.

4. Sudo apt-get install Xorg openbox openbox-themes obconf

5. Add all the software you want or need. This is very subjective and up to you. Below is my list of must have and nice to have software by category.

In most categories I have tried a bunch of stuff and these are my picks.

All of these fit on my custom live cd iso except openoffice suite.

6. In synaptic mark all upgrades and download them.

7. Use remastersys to create a live cd backup. If I had a place to upload mine I would be glad to do so.

8. Enjoy and tweak your new system!

Below are the scripts I use to toggle gnome-panel and conky. There are also fragments from my menu.xml. This file will be found in /home/yourusername/.config/openbox.

Congratulations!

Notes:

I will be glad to answer questions and give help on this topic. Hardware issues are definitely not on topic. This includes conky which often requires hardware knowledge.

My sytem includes a wireless home lan. That is an option that requires another topic. Let me know if you want one posted. Lan questions here are off topic.

[K.Mandla]

Moved to Desktop Environments.

[snowpine]

Subscribed! I am a big Openbox fan. I use Crunchbang and SliTaz on my computers, which are two excellent distros based on Openbox. Looking forward to reading/sharing some good Openbox tips on this thread.

Here is my Openbox tip of the day. If you like jludeman's tutorial for minimal Ubuntu+Openbox, but you aren't really a do-it-yourself kind of person, or you want a "complete" install with Firefox, OpenOffice, etc., you can install Crunchbang from the command line. Follow steps 1 and 2 of the tutorial above (download iso, install command line), then try this: http://crunchbang.org/forums/topic/c...e-installation

It will use more hard drive space than jludeman's tutorial (about 2gb, still less than full Ubuntu), but you'll have all the apps you need out-of-the-box. Obviously, if you have enough ram, it's easiest just to install Crunchbang from its Live CD, rather than dealing with the hassle of installing the CLI then running the script. For computers with less than 128mb of ram, though, Live CDs aren't an option.

[lukjad]

This sounds interesting. I'll check it out. Thanks!

[jludeman]

My first post was not complete. I hit post instead of preview while editing.

Thanks for the tip about the live cd. One of the reasons I undertook my project is because I needed a live cd with all my favorite apps.

My system may still be worthwhile for those that want a smaller system. My live cd ISO is around 490MB. Installed it runs about

The following is a complete version of my original post with links and code boxes.

Openbox-Ubuntu

Why do it?:

1. Slowe(r) hardware.

My main desktop system is fairly old. It has a 1Ghz Athlon CPU with 512 MB of ram and a fairly new 80GB hard drive.

So I wanted a system that would be light on resources and hard drive space.

After the install I was so pleased with the results that I installed it on my newer faster laptop. On the slow system it's pretty zippy. On the laptop it's almost scarey.

2. Clean user interface with optional bell's and whistles.

Openbox has many ways to operate. Almost unlimited custom hot keys for frequently used programs.

Customizable right click menu. Hot key invoked custom menus.

Your choice of panels.

If you like desktop icons they are available through external means. I don't like anything on my desktop except a panel that I can turn on and off. I prefer gnome-panel.

The system plan:

1. Clean alternate disk install.
2. Install Xorg and openbox.
3. Add repositories and software.
4. Update to the latest versions.

How to do it:

1. Download or otherwise get an iso or cd.

I use Xubuntu alternate cd exclusively because I will not be using XFCE or KDE or Gnome metacity.
It's a smaller download and has always worked for me.

2. Choose command line install from the cd menu.

3. After the install has completed you will have a basic command line linux system. Sudo apt-get install nano. Sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list. Add the repositories you want or need. My working list is below.

# Remastersys
deb http://www.remastersys.klikit-linux.com/repository/ remastersys/ 

# wxWidgets/wxPython repository at apt.wxwidgets.org
deb http://apt.wxwidgets.org/ gutsy-wx main 
deb-src http://apt.wxwidgets.org/ gutsy-wx main 

## Uncomment the following two lines to fetch updated software from the network
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted 
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted 

## Uncomment the following two lines to fetch major bug fix updates produced
## after the final release of the distribution.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted 
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted 

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'universe'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe 
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe 

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-security main restricted 
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-security main restricted 

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-security universe 
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-security universe 

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse 
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse 

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse 

deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ gutsy partner 

deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ gutsy free non-free 

deb cdrom:[Xubuntu 7.10 _Gutsy Gibbon_ - Release i386 (20071016)]/ gutsy main restricted

There are additional repositories for wxPython, Remastersys.

I got the latest wine from their site.http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/archive/index.html]
Swiftweasel and Swiftdove I got from Sourceforge.
http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...ease_id=614543

4. Sudo apt-get install Xorg openbox openbox-themes obconf

5. Add all the software you want or need. This is very subjective and up to you. Below is my list of must have and nice to have software by category.

Packages:

Software that ends up on the gnome menu that is part of a larger package.

gnome-utils
gnome-games

Software list by gnome menu category:

Games:

Dosbox

Graphics:

GImageview
Gimp
Blender

Internet:

d4x - downloader for x - I'm on a phone line modem so I need this.
pan newsreader 
swiftweasel - fast firefox browser clone
swiftdove - fast thunderbird email clone
wifi-radar
uTorrent - runs under Wine - I know there are linux native torrent managers and I don't like any of them.

Office:

Gedit - text editor and more.
Gnumeric - for quick simple spreadsheets.
Abiword - reads rtf and Word docs
Open office - entire suite to be added after the main install. 

Programming:

Editra - still checking this one out
Geany - still checking this one out
ghex - hex editor
PyCrust 
PyShell
WxGlade
Xrced
(The compilers and such will be listed under non-menu items.)

Sound & Video:

Audacity
Gnome Mplayer - the best for streaming radio
Totem - just for the light show
VLC - the champ for videos
XMMS - don't bug me about this one - my favorite music player

System Tools:

disk usage analyzer - aka baobab - gnome-utils
file finder - aka gnome-search-tool - gnome-utils
gparted - partition editor
pcman - file manager - simply the best better than all the rest
synaptic - of course
terminal - gnome-terminal

Wine:

Get's it's own menu spot and very much deserves it. Currently using 1.0.
Wine programs:

games 
Programs I wrote for windows that I want and need.
calc98 - the best calculator on any system
Paintshop Pro - cause I've used it for years and there is no learning curve. I do use Gimp a lot though.
Video rippers and burners. Linux loses on this front.

Non menu items:

alacarte - menu editor
build-essential - for source installs
file-roller - needs rar unrar zip 
firehol - my favorite firewall
gdebi
gnome-app-install - optional
gnome-applets
gnome-netstatus-applet
gnome-panel
lynx - command line browser
nfs-kernel-server
python-wxgtk2.8 - from their website see my sources.list
remastersys - from their website see my sources.list

vi vim and perl - hate em all - wish they would just quit hogging my hard drive

In most categories I have tried a bunch of stuff and these are my picks.

All of these fit on my custom live cd iso except openoffice suite.

6. In synaptic mark all upgrades and download them.

7. Use remastersys to create a live cd backup. If I had a place to upload mine I would be glad to do so.

8. Enjoy and tweak your new system!

Below are the scripts I use to toggle gnome-panel and conky. There are also fragments from my menu.xml. This file will be found in /home/yourusername/.config/openbox.

#!/bin/sh

# click to start, click to stop

if pidof conky | grep [0-9] > /dev/null
then
exec killall conky
else
exec conky

fi

#!/bin/sh

# click to start, click to stop

if pidof gnome-panel | grep [0-9] > /dev/null
then
exec killall gnome-panel
else
exec gnome-panel

fi

  <menu id="panels" label="Panels">
  <item label="Gnome Panel - toggle">
    <action name="Execute"><execute>/home/jim/scripts/gpanel-toggle.sh</execute></action>
  </item>
    <item label="Conky - toggle">
    <action name="Execute"><execute>/home/jim/scripts/conky-toggle.sh</execute></action>
    </item>
  </menu>
<menu id="system" label="System Tools">
  <item label="Terminal emulator">
    <action name="Execute"><execute>gnome-terminal</execute></action>
  </item>
  <item label="PCmanfm - Home">
    <action name="Execute"><execute>pcmanfm /home/jim/</execute></action>
  </item>
  <item label="Desktop Backgrounds">
    <action name="Execute"><execute>gnome-appearance-properties -p background</execute></action>
  </item>
  </menu>

Congratulations!

Notes:

I will be glad to answer questions and give help on this topic. Hardware issues are definitely not on topic. This includes conky which often requires hardware knowledge.

My sytem includes a wireless home lan. That is an option that requires another topic. Let me know if you want one posted. Lan questions here are off topic.

[lukjad]

Ummm... I may have missed it, but do you have a link as to where the iso is?

[jludeman]

Actually I mentioned in the post that I had no place to upload it to. I have no site of my own.

If people are interested give me a few days and I will try to track down a site on the web where it can be at least temporarily available.

[Atsuko]

You could make a tracker of it and upload it here.
Is it like Blackbox? I really like Blackbox and I'm doing a install right now on an old gateway and will need some thing like this to run a GUI on it.
Was going to do Blackbox.

[snowpine]

You could make a tracker of it and upload it here.
Is it like Blackbox? I really like Blackbox and I'm doing a install right now on an old gateway and will need some thing like this to run a GUI on it.
Was going to do Blackbox.

Openbox is a lot like Blackbox. However, Blackbox is kind of outdated (last updated Nov. 2005) so I recommend Openbox instead.

[eriqjaffe]

Openbox is a lot like Blackbox.

In fact, Openbox is a fork of Blackbox.