I've seen lots of people mentioning how awesome this thing is, but so far nobody has really said why?
Im running KDE on a fresh install of RedHat, but I'd like to know if fluxbox is as good as people make out, and your comments on it. It's strongpoints, what it can do for you etc..?
thanks
lee
mrBen
08-05-2002, 07:24 AM
Fluxbox is based on Blackbox code, with a few added extras. It's small, and fast - the memory footprint is tiny. The 2 most obvious 'new' features over blackbox are:
1. Tabs - each window has a tab, and these can be combined to allow multiple apps to use one window, a bit like tabbed browsing in Galeon/Opera (and others now, I think). You can put any apps you like together, ie HTML editor and web browser, they don't have to be related.
2. Minimised (iconised) apps appear as tabs in the toolbar, much like in Windows, allowing easier access to minimised apps than before (whereby you would middle click, and the select the app from the Icons menu).
I use Fluxbox because I have an old machine, and it has probably the smallest screen usage of the mainstream WMs, so it's great if you only have a small res monitor.
Most of the guys here use Flux in conjunction with some other apps, for instance:
Hope that gives you a better idea of it all. It certainly isn't perfect, but it is still actively developed.
MartinB
08-05-2002, 02:31 PM
I've been using FluxBox for only a few days (And have only been using Linux for about two months) and have to say that I do quite like it. I think that it's mainly because I don't know how to set it up properly yet, so I'm forced to use terminals to launch and manage processes and programs, which is helping me immensly in using Linux more efficiently and quickly than what I was when I was using KDE and relying on konqueror and the K menu thingy.
There are some things I don't like about fluxbox though, I'm using 1280 x 1024 and the fonts on the menus appear much too small (Anyone know a way to change the font size in flux?) and I haven't figured out yet how to change my background so I'm stuck with a gradient or one of the other ones included in the themes. I know it tells how to do it on the fluxbox site, but I haven't got around to reading it yet. :p
Timothy L. Miller
08-05-2002, 02:45 PM
Originally posted by MartinB
I've been using FluxBox for only a few days (And have only been using Linux for about two months) and have to say that I do quite like it. I think that it's mainly because I don't know how to set it up properly yet, so I'm forced to use terminals to launch and manage processes and programs, which is helping me immensly in using Linux more efficiently and quickly than what I was when I was using KDE and relying on konqueror and the K menu thingy.
There are some things I don't like about fluxbox though, I'm using 1280 x 1024 and the fonts on the menus appear much too small (Anyone know a way to change the font size in flux?) and I haven't figured out yet how to change my background so I'm stuck with a gradient or one of the other ones included in the themes. I know it tells how to do it on the fluxbox site, but I haven't got around to reading it yet. :p
To change your background, cd ~/.fluxbox then edit your init file. Find the line that says session.screen0.rootCommand: And add after the colon bsetbg -full /path/to/background. Save the changes, and the next time you start up, you will have your background.
As for the fonts, they probably are also controlled in the init file, but I run 1152x864, and the default size is quite perfect for me.
ArjunA
08-05-2002, 08:01 PM
Well,
I have only been using Linux for about two weeks - installed mandrake 8.2 (a few times now :p ) and checked out the wm's that came with it. I wanted to see what kinds of environments were offered that looked significantly different from Windows XP, since I use XP without any icons anyway.
I found Blackbox and I was well impressed. I have set it up to launch with transparent ATerms, and used a funky little bbtool to called bblaunch so that it launches sticky (using .xinitrc), and without decorations - leaving just a tranparent blue panel on the screen. It can also do things like launch apps in specified workspaces, cool. But I digress....
Since fully customising blackbox (and consequently learning alot about Linux), I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about with Fluxbox. Cutting to the chase, Fluxbox is sick :D It is like a souped-up Blackbox. Also, the themes and most of the tools are fully transferable from Blackbox to Fluxbox, though some tools are not needed, such as bbkeys. I am going to keep using my Blackbox setup as default, but load up Flux every now and then and have a play.
I can safely say now that I am a Linux addict :D It is funny how Windows XP now feels like a little toy in comparison, something I load up on ocassion to have a game heh...
Timothy L. Miller
08-06-2002, 02:34 PM
I still use my xp quite a bit, but for most ordinary tasks (IM, mail, posting) I pretty much use linux near-exclusively now. It's been running for over 24 hours straight now, it's nice to have a system that I can leave on and it won't crash. Still only at 22% memory usage too, and that's with several programs running, in addition to everything X (flux, gkrellm, coolicon). Course, it'll get shut down tonight, as I don't wanna waste any more electric when I go to work tonight...
Gaxus
08-06-2002, 02:42 PM
I use flux cause it's quick, easy to configure, and does what it says :)
Plus the fact that you don't need 200000000++++ libs/dependencies to compile/install it !!!! (cough enlightenment cough kde cough gnome)
Although transparent menus would be nice :D
wolfman8k
08-08-2002, 05:26 PM
fluxbox it out
waimea is in
http://waimea.sf.net
Minus
08-08-2002, 06:46 PM
i like waimea. I used it for a while, but it is a little unstable, and lacks tabs. Also, there is no way, AFAIK, to bind keys. If they fix those things up (mainly the keys), I will switch over from flux. Until then i just use it as a change of pace every once in a while
Timothy L. Miller
08-09-2002, 04:24 AM
When I can say apt-get install waimea...then I'll try it, until then, I'm sticking with flux.
littleman
08-09-2002, 05:32 AM
Waimea looks really cool, but the transparency seems to suck a lot of resources. It is also a pain to configure, and has a long way to go in functionality,
FB is just about perfect, one thing I wish it had was key bindings for menu selection.
wolfman8k
08-11-2002, 09:09 AM
waimea is super configurable including keybindings. It uses a creative new system called action files.
It has many features that are lacking in fluxbox such as ability to remove all/some of the window decorations on windows, and layoring(having windows always on top/bottom), and many more.
Plus, in my experience it seems a bit faster than fluxbox.
About the transparency, I'm pretty sure that it has nothing to do with the window manager.
Apostata
08-14-2002, 12:37 PM
Originally posted by Timothy L. Miller
When I can say apt-get install waimea...then I'll try it, until then, I'm sticking with flux.
You could always type 'urpmi waimea'
Oh, but that doesn't come with Debian...
:p
I've been using FluxBox on and off for the last year (or since 0.1.7). I like the low, low overhead. It's minimalist, and you never have to worry about cleaning your freaking desktop because it's covered with files and shortcuts. Every so often I'll switch back to KDE just for something different (it is perty, after all).
I've got a FluxBox theme @ Freshmeat's theme.org site. It's called 'Oranje'.
Seriously though, if you don't like clutter, and appreciate a low-intensity wm, try Flux.
littleman
08-14-2002, 03:14 PM
There are debs available at the waimea website, but it doesn't integrate fully. The session managers don't automatically pick it up and the menu needed some tweaking.
Timothy L. Miller
08-16-2002, 04:07 AM
session manager, we don't need no STINKIN' session managers. I'm fairly certain I don't even have one installed! I have no KDE, no GNOME...and I like it like that! Might download the debs of waimea and try it ouit then...still not apt-get, but I suppose it'll do! :p
bigskinnee
08-18-2002, 03:28 AM
I am the one that made the waimea debs that are available at the waimea website (http://130.239.134.83/waimea/download.html) but I have newer ones that are available at my site (http://jay.skabber.com/debian) If you use waimea and debian please check them out and give me some feedback.
Thanks
Timothy L. Miller
08-18-2002, 03:32 AM
Will do, downloading them now.
Timothy L. Miller
08-18-2002, 05:14 AM
They work great, no problems with installation at all.
And my comments on waimea:
Pretty...
BUT...how do I configure it? Such as I ran gkrellm -w, and I couldn't find a way to change where it got stuck (like changing location of slit in flux). Also, how do you manage desktops(as in add/remove)? The middle button becomes a 4-way arrow, and there isn't even a minimal taskbar like in black/flux...I looked after running it and it didn't even create an easily recognized config file...if it created it at all. And the default desktops and the "scrolling between them" is just so...ANNOYING!! I have to say that my first reaction to waimea is YUCK!! Get this thing AWAY from me!!! I'd rather use WINDOWS!!
Wallex
08-18-2002, 11:13 AM
Going back to the topic at hand (Fluxbox), there are only two things I dislike about it:
- How you can't set up the look of programs designed for KDE or Gnome (the ones that use the qt libraries and so on), it's rather strange, some programs will stay with the color scheme I had set under KDE while others will reset to a gray dull color. This really bugs me because these windows sort of ruin the look of my theme.
- You can't configure the size of the grip bars!? I thought Fluxbox was fully customizeable, I wanted to place two buttons on each top corner of the window, and make the grip's size match the space used by the two buttons, but it can't be done (I did read the man for fluxbox trying to find that option).
Well.. maybe in the future it'll grow even better. if it were fully customizeable I should be able to choose where goes the titlebar and the handlebar with the grips (just as I can choose where goes the tab).
EDIT: and I forgot to add... the keybindings are cool, but there are just not enough. There's rootmenu, but where is one for the menu you get when you middleclick? And there's the option to switch between windows, to switch to the left/right tab, to switch to the left/right workspace, but where's the option to switch between GROUPS of windows? I hate it when I have like four windows tabbed together and there's another one behind them, and I try to reach it by using 'switch window'... it's just annoying. If there was a 'switch group' option that would help things so much.
bigskinnee
08-18-2002, 11:54 AM
Timothy I replied to your post in the waimea thread (http://linuxnewbie.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=317605#post317605)
Timothy L. Miller
08-18-2002, 02:33 PM
Originally posted by Wallex
I hate it when I have like four windows tabbed together and there's another one behind them, and I try to reach it by using 'switch window'... it's just annoying. If there was a 'switch group' option that would help things so much.
Ummm, isn't that what the arrows on the right side of the windowbar is for? That is, if I'm understanding what you're saying correctly.
Wallex
08-18-2002, 11:49 PM
Originally posted by Timothy L. Miller
Ummm, isn't that what the arrows on the right side of the windowbar is for? That is, if I'm understanding what you're saying correctly.
Actually, those arrows on the right side of the 'toolbar' (I think that's how it is called?) are for switching windows in the order they were created, it completely ignores the 'grouped' windows (it matters not if they are grouped or not). I've tested it! Really... I hope in the next release of Fluxbox they include this, I really am looking forward for a way to switch among 'groups' of windows and not among 'individual' windows even if they are grouped. What I wished is this:
If there are 10 windows grouped as one, and there is another window ungrouped (alone), then hitting this 'switch group' arrow (or shortcut or whatever) would keep hopping me between the same two windows (one in the group of ten and one in the group of one), because this way you could really say that all those 10 windows are being treated as a single group, and this is all I am asking for to make Fluxbox my favorite 'almost flawless' desktop. I also wished I could configure the Qt look... Evolution is looking gray as usual, same with Mozilla (though they will look different when used under KDE).
Timothy L. Miller
08-19-2002, 12:26 AM
Oh. I see what you're saying now.
Wallex
08-30-2002, 10:55 AM
Originally posted by Timothy L. Miller
Oh. I see what you're saying now.
First of all, sorry for reviving this thread from the dead. Now to business. After reading the documentation at http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docs.php I have found out that indeed I CAN browse between tabbed windows! NextWindow and PrevWindow can get an argument that works with a single number (kinda the way chmod works), so when scrolling through windows, you can:
1 = Skip lower tabs (treat tabbed groups as a single window)
2 = Skip stuck windows
4 = Skip shaded windows
Now I am using nextWindow 1 and prevWindow 1, it's what I always wanted! Plus I managed to get my 'menu' key to work as well, now I truly feel like a keymaster!
Too bad the man fluxbox didn't have all this info... now I see why they say Linux needs better documentation.
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