Blackbox config

[The Ennead IX]

I've decided to change from KDE and go with blackbox as my default wm but keep KDE for SU. Part of the reason is that I prefer the easier access to apps in KDE which brings me to the question.

I've had a look around and can't find any decent tutorials or walkthroughs for configuring blackbox. Can anyone point me in the direction of one? Initially my only real objective is to get a few shortcuts either on the desktop or in the start menu if that is possible and a shortcut for reboot somewhere which I can't currently find for the life of me and have to do from the console :rolleyes:

Cheers

[Hayl]

you can't have icons on the desktop in blackbox unless you are running a desktop manager such as rox.

[The Ennead IX]

Cheers m8, i'll have a look at freshmeat for rox and get it installed :cool:

For future ref; If anyone else is looking for a guide to blackbox, I did come across this
http://www.reedmedia.net/misc/blackbox/faq.html
which whilst not being definitive, has gone some way to helping explain a few things.

[sharth]

There is about nill configuration for blackbox. Everything is available through right click (the 8 come options)

Styles will change the look of it. Check freshmeat for them

[The Ennead IX]

Yeah, i've tried a few but the one thing that still gets me is the background image, whatever I try just won't set one. Read the files read the sites, etc etc and whatever I try, zilch, zip, nada, nowt :confused: bsetbg, bsetroot, rootCommand: KView -root -quit -max -smooth, display, none of 'em give me more than a coloured desktop and no image. BBConf won't install either but i'll give that another try this afternoon and see if that helps.

Ta
Ian

[z0mbix]

if you run bsetbg /path/to/image from the command line, what error do yo get? You may need to install an image viewer such as xv for this to work, but it will tell you which ones you can install if this is the case. I wrote this a while back:

http://zombix.org/blackbox.html

At the time there weren't many good blackbox docs around, and I gave up after I found fluxbox which is blackbox with bells and whistles on. It also has excellent documentation. Hence the reason I didn't write too much on that page :)

[The Ennead IX]

Password:
[root@localhost ian]# bsetbg /home/ian/Documents/1096sh.jpg
/usr/X11R6/bin/bsetbg: line 1: tempfile: command not found
bsetbg: running X as root is a security hazard, and is NOT a good idea!
bsetbg: if you insist upon having a ~/.bsetbgrc for root, run bsetbg with
bsetbg: the '-r' flag to force its creation. you have been warned!
[root@localhost ian]#


Is the error message that comes up and with my remarkable ability to break things simply by looking at them, i'm a bit wary about forcing the command :D

The only file I could find to edit was in the 'styles' folder and putting the command in there seems to do nothing, I haven't tried xinitrc either because i'm not sure if that would even have the desired effect.

Cheers, i'll check the link and also look into fluxbox since the way this works reminds me a lttle of my old '98 and LiteStep setup so if I can get it back in a similar way to how that worked/felt i'll be well chuffed.

[mrBen]

You get the message because you're running as root, and usually people don't run X as root (they don't even log in as root, they use su).

What does it say if you do it as a normal user?

Oh, and if you _must_ run as root, then force it; all it is doing is creating a file in roots home directory.

[The Ennead IX]

[ian@localhost ian]$ bsetbg /home/ian/Documents/1096sh.jpg
/usr/X11R6/bin/bsetbg: line 1: tempfile: command not found
[ian@localhost ian]$

As User gives me that error. I did it as root because i'd been editing a load of files from stuff i've been installing but have taken the hint after seeing a few posts re the dangers of root and normally fo for user mode now.



Erm, hang on, this is weird :confused: I typed that in whilst I was posting this and was just about to go for a reboot (I downloaded fluxbox instead about half an hour ago and have just finished configuring it so want to make sure my settings stay). I set the browser to shade while I closed a few apps and that image has appeared as my wallpaper :confused: but why if it's given me that error?!?!

Oh well, if it stays there then I ain't complaining :cool: !! Cheers m8 :D

I'll do a reboot and see what happens.

[The Ennead IX]

Everything seems to be solved now & many thanks to everyone for all the help :cool: :)

The desktop is now working properly, XP is history and Utd are 2-0 up!! Life surely doesn't get any better than this ;) :D



Sidenote:cheeky_zombie
Thanks again for the link to http://zombix.org/blackbox.html it makes it so much easier to follow when using your links to menu configuration etc, and actually having a menu to compare against ..... a link to it in the nhf maybe?

[sharth]

The blackbox styles are not standard yet. Whenever you download one, give the configuration file a check over.