Debian User Forums

Fluxbox Basic Configuration

I love window managers regardless if i'm using my old box at home or my
new one at work. In the first one, it speeds it up, and in the second,
it makes it faster than if i used Gnome or KDE. My hardware is a PII
266 with 128 MB RAM, with a 4 MB RAM video card and a $6 nic card. My
keyboard has no brand name and my mouse is a PS/2.

Enough. Let's get to it, this is a basic installation and
configuration, nothing fancy, old style, lean and mean, no wallpapers, or
icons to suck memory from my old box. I'm using kernel 2.6 with
Sarge, what else?

Note: there are several ways of doing this, this is the way i do it and
it's definitely not written on stone.

# apt-get -y install fluxbox menu

it will install version 0.9.11

$ update-menus
# updatedb

this will insert fluxbox in the menus and updates the database so you
can 'locate' anything about fluxbox later on.

One thing i like about Debian is that it comes with the 'Debian menu',
click on it and again on Window Managers and Fluxbox should be there.
Click on Flubox and it switch to it in a jiffy, unless you're on Gnome
or KDE, then it won't. But if you're on anothe WM (icewm, openbox,
etc), it will.

If you want it to be your default manager:

$ nano ~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc

and add the lines that suit your situation, here are mine:

#!/bin/sh

numlockx &
xscreensaver &
#exec ion3
#exec icewm
exec fluxbox

save/exit from your editor and ~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc will be created.

The commented window managers will be ignored and only the uncommented one
will start by default. The next time you enter the X system fluxbox
will start together with (in my case) xscreensaver.

Launch fluxbox, the default Style is Meta, if you want to try another
ones, right click on the desktop or the side of the screen and from the
Root (Main) menu, click on Syles and click on whichever you like. From
the same menu, click on Configuration and disable Full Maximization by
clicking on it, so you can see the toolbar at the bottom. Enable Antialias
if you find the fonts too small. From the Root Menu click on Restart so
the changes take place.

Now you can right-click on the toolbar and do some changes from there
always remembering to Restart afterwards so the changes work.
I like to go the other way.

Open a terminal and with favorite editor locate the fluxbox files:

$ nano locate fluxbox <Enter>

you will get a long list of files, you are interested in 2 files: the init
and keys ones.

/etc/X11/fluxbox/init
/etc/X11/fluxbox/keys

now copy them to your /home directory:

$ cp /etc/X11/fluxbox/init ~/.fluxbox/init <Enter>
$ cp /etc/X11/fluxbox/keys ~/.fluxbox/keys <Enter>

Now we'll go to the init file in your /home dir as USER, and do our
stuff:

$ nano ~/.fluxbox/init

you will get a full page of configuration lines, something like this:

INIT FILES

session.screen0.overlay.lineWidth: 1
session.screen0.overlay.lineStyle: LineSolid
session.screen0.overlay.joinStyle: JoinMiter
session.screen0.overlay.capStyle: CapNotLast
session.screen0.window.focus.alpha: 255
session.screen0.window.unfocus.alpha: 255
session.screen0.menu.alpha: 255
session.screen0.toolbar.onTop: False
session.screen0.toolbar.autoHide: false

*****************

I edit the ones i need to, and leave them looking like this:

session.screen0.toolbar.widthPercent: 100
this will make the toolbar full length across the screen.

session.screen0.strftimeFormat: %a %d %b %H:%M
This will render my time format like so:

Sat 20 May 14:23

session.screen0.workspaces: 2
I only use 2 virtual desktops instead of the default 4.

and that's it for me. Save/exit in my editor, Restart from the main menu.

KEYBINDINGS

$ nano ~/.fluxbox/keys

at the file you will see some keybindings, i erase them all and
copy/paste this to it:

Mod1 Tab :NextWindow
Mod1 Shift Tab :PrevWindow
Mod1 F1 :Workspace 1
Mod1 F2 :Workspace 2
Control F1 :ExecCommand "aterm"
Control F2 :ExecCommand "xfe"
Control F3 :ExecCommand "xchat"
Control F4 :ExecCommand "gqview"
Control F5 :ExecCommand "mozilla-firefox"
Control F6 :ExecCommand "opera"
Control F7 :ExecCommand "mozilla-thunderbird"
Control F8 :ExecCommand "oowriter"
Mod1 F10 :MaximizeWindow
Mod1 F4 :Close
Mod4 m :RootMenu

Save/exit
Restart

Mod1 = Alt
Mod4 = Windows key

You replace my apps with yours, of course.

Next time you're in the 'zone', no time for icons, mouse or something
else just use your keybindings and your apps will be launched. Nothing
is faster than this.

Now, to test my default window manager:

Ctrl+Alt+Backspace
startx

voilà!

Luis Lima aka Lou/macondo

References:
www.fluxbox.org
www.fluxbox-wiki.org
IRC: Freenode server #fluxbox

PS: Feel free to correct or add different ways to config Fluxbox.

I recently changed to Fluxbox and have enjoyed it.

If you, or anyone else, is interesed I suggest you try running fluxbox with Rox. It allows desktop icons, set backgrounds, etc BUT with little or no degradation in performance.

There are some configuration changes that need to be made to fluxbox and ROX. If there is an interest I would be happpy to post a mini "how to" re: adding Rox-desktop (AKA FluxRox).

I would also add that once you learn the Lingo, the Flux menu is highly configurable and flexible.

Hi bodhi, please post your mini-howto right here, so more users have more options, this is the purpose of this HOWTO.

Thanks,

Rox Desktop, at least for me, adds functionality to Fluxbox.

ROX works with any window manager, not just Fluxbox.

ROX is light weight and FAST.

I have replaced KDE/GNOME/XFCE with Fluxbox + ROX
AKA FluxROX

I use ROX in KDE/Gnome if I boot to one of these WM


To Install and (basic) configuration of ROX: (Note: ~ = /home/user_name)

1. Install ROX Desktop

Add

deb ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/rox4debian binary/

OR

http://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-rox/

to your /etc/apt/sources.list file, and then run:

$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install rox-desktop

2. Modify Fluxbox

Edit your ~/.fluxbox/init file (I use vi, you can use nano or any editor)

comment out or remove the line with:

session.screen0.rootCommand: /usr/X11R6/bin/fbsetbg -f /usr/

Add a line:

session.screen0.rootCommand: /home/user/.fluxbox/startup

Now create a file ~/.fluxbox/startup

Add the following 3 lines to the file:

#!/bin/sh
rox --pinboard=Default &
exit 0

Make the startup script executable

$ chmod a+x ~/.fluxbox/startup


3. Now (re)start Fluxbox. You should see a grey screen with a single folder "home"

Home is in the Upper Left
If you click on the main screen you will have lost your Fluxbox menu;
But you will see the ROX menu.

No worries (see below)


4. Configure Rox

Right click on the home folder.
Choose Rox Filer -> Options
Click on "Compatibility" at the bottom of the Left pane
Choose (place a check mark) in the following options in the Right pane:

Override window manager control of the pinboard and panels
Pass all backdrop mouse clicks to window manager
Blackbox root menus hack


5. You should now have your Fluxbox menu when you right click on the screen;
And the Rox menu when you right click on your home folder (or any desktop icon)
If not, re-start Fluxbox from the flux menu
If this does not work, log out and then back in

6. To change wallpaper:

Right click on your home folder
Choose "backdrop" at the bottom of the Rox menu.
Drag a picture to the middle "Drop an image here" box

7. To add an icon to the desktop, drag an item from Rox onto the desktop.
This works with any item.
For example: drag the usb icon from /mnt/usb to the desktop and you now have your usb drive on the desktop.

8. To configure a (desktop) icon
Right click on an icon (home)
choose Dir 'Home' -> set icon
Again, drag any icon to the drop box
Choose either "for all files of type "folder'" or "Only for the file '/home/usr'

9. Add a menu item to your Fluxbox ment to start ROX (if you like)
[exec] (Home) {rox}

I personally use this because I do not like a cluttered desktop.

10. To configure ROX to take an action (start a program, open a file as text, etc) when clicking an icon.

Right click on an icon (for example text.txt)
Go to the menu " File 'text.txt' "
Click "Set run action"
On the bottom of the window there is a box "Enter a shell command:"
the "$@" is a variable and represents the file in question.
Add the name of the program to open the file with
For example:

abiword "$@"

Now click the box "Use Command" on the bottom right

Now when you click on the icon "text.txt" the file will open with Abiword
Abiword will now open any *.txt file in fact
This only needs to be set once and some settings are already configured in ROX

11. ROX has many more options and settings. Explore the Rox menu on your own.

Enjoy !!! ('8)')

Web sites:

http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/rox.htm

http://rox.sourceforge.net/desktop/docs

Screen shots (Rox with several windows managers, not Fluxbox however)

http://rox.sourceforge.net/desktop/scre ... ea2a958c1c

Edit june 26 2006:
If you're having problems maintaining the screen not appearing always fitting correctly, not seeing the toolbar every time you launch an app: set it correctly first, with the Maximize button at the top in the title bar (middle button). Then right click on the title bar, and click on 'Remember' this will take you to another menu and click on Dimensions, Position, Sticky, and Save on close, this will enable these characteristics.

For example:
I like to launch my aterm full size, so i launch it (Ctrl+F1), then i maximize it (Alt+F10), then i right -click on the title bar >Remember > enable (click on) Dimensions, Position, Sticky, and Save on close; the next time i launch it, it will be full screen.
Restart (Windows key + r) see new keybindings that follow.

Do this with every app you usually launch.

If you like to launch apps such as pine, elinks, mutt that need the terminal, this is my latest ~/.fluxbox/keys:

Mod1 Tab :NextWindow
Mod1 Shift Tab :PrevWindow
Mod1 F1 :Workspace 1
Mod1 F2 :Workspace 2
Control F1 :ExecCommand "aterm"
Control F2 :ExecCommand "emelfm"
Control F3 :ExecCommand "xchat"
Control F4 :ExecCommand "gqview"
Control F5 :ExecCommand "mozilla-firefox"
Control F6 :ExecCommand "opera"
Control F7 :ExecCommand aterm -e pine
Control F8 :ExecCommand "oowriter"
Control F9 :ExecCommand aterm -e elinks
Mod1 F10 :MaximizeWindow
Mod1 F4 :Close
Mod4 m :RootMenu
Mod4 r :Restart

Notice the quotation marks are missing in order to launch them.
Also you Restart with the Windows key + r.

Maybe ROX needs a separate thread?

At any rate I just tried ROX with zero install and it works well. Very little hassle (I have had difficulty installing ROX from src), very eassy, and very fast.

If you have not heard of zeroinstall it is a way of running software without installing. Several distros are promoting it (dyne:bolic and others). I do not have any prior experience with it (zero install) and there may be some security concerns. I am running it on a "test" system at this time.

For ROX:

http://rox.sourceforge.net/desktop/ROX- ... 1c4eb1b6b7

For zeroinstall:

http://zero-install.sourceforge.net/

bodhi.zazen wrote:Maybe ROX needs a separate thread?

I think so, by all means! It is a very interesting subject and deserves a bigger audience. Delete your posts here and create a new thread.

thanks,

If you want to use the CLI to run an app, shutdown, or reboot with the run command (without launching the terminal) just add this to your ~/.fluxbox/keys, it will launch a dialog box in which to enter the command:

Control F10 :ExecCommand "fbrun"

restart (Windows key + r)

Then try Ctrl + F10

it should give you a dialog box to enter what you want

If you change your mind just press Esc .

If you feel the need for a wallpaper, this might work for you too.

1. Install 'feh'
2. Download your wallpaper image to your /home or folder where you keep pictures.
3. As user enter this in a terminal:

$ fbsetbg -f /path/to/wallpaper.jpg (png images work too.)

Example:
$ fbsetbg -f /home/luigi/photos/veronica.jpg <Enter>

restart (windows key + r)

To make Fluxbox remember your wallpaper:

Edit your ~/.fluxbox/init

and edit the line:

session.screen0.rootCommand:

to look like this:

session.screen0.rootCommand: fbsetbg -l

save/restart

it worked for me, i hope it works for you.

Thanks to anticapitalista for this tip.

Lou: You the man.

I installed a nvidia card and have used fluxbox as my default WM.

I am haveing troubble configuring fluxbox to run on a dual monitor.

Do you know how, or a referance to Fluxbox with dual monitors (twinview or otherwise).

How about IceWM?

Thank you in advance

bodhi.zazen wrote: I installed a nvidia card and have used fluxbox as my default WM.

I am haveing troubble configuring fluxbox to run on a dual monitor.

I have an old monitor and don't know jackcrap about dual monitors.

Google is my only friend, check this out:

http://tinyurl.com/her3s

this one might be better (i put 'debian' in the search engine)

http://tinyurl.com/pwqeo

I've heard about xinerama (i don't even know if it's related to dual monitors), i know in the Preferences of icewm there is a reference about it, but i don't use it thus, i'm like sgt Schultz: i know nothing!

do the same for icewm, good luck bud!

Thanks Lou. You found the same web pages as Google Montana.

Old box, newb linux user...
debian-31r2-i386 [cd's]
kernel 2.6.8-2-386
'Desktop' partitions

get rid of any other window managers with aptitude. In my case it was icewm and blackbox.

reboot

use aptitude to install fluxbox.

make sure you have fbsetbg

easy way to to make fluxbox start up when you type 'startx' :
from:
http://fluxbox-wiki.org/index.php/Howtos

Background window [same site, but I had to modify it, as their method was not doing it -
nor the overlay because the sarge included version is fluxbox 0.9.11]

1. Install 'feh'
2. Download your wallpaper image to your /home or folder where you keep pictures.
3. As user enter this in a terminal:

$ fbsetbg -f /path/to/wallpaper.jpg (png images work too.)

Example: To make Fluxbox remember your wallpaper and over-ride a style's background:

Edit your ~/.fluxbox/init

and edit or [create] the line:

session.screen0.rootCommand:

to look like this:
[make sure there's a blank line for EoF]

restart or startx

more resources:
Lou
http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docbook/ ... book1.html

Lou wrote:Fluxbox Basic Configuration

I love window managers regardless if i'm using my old box at home or my
new one at work. In the first one, it speeds it up, and in the second,
it makes it faster than if i used Gnome or KDE.

This time last week I had no experience of Linux. A sick hard drive led me to Damn Small Linux as a rescue tool, which led me in turn to Debian, the IceWM and then to FluxBox, which is the default in DSL.

I have to say it hasn't been a particularly intuitive process with Debian, and I've re-installed 3 times over the last 24 hours while trying to get the GUI to work, before finding this forum and the netinstall how-to, and then this thread. Excellent. RTFM...

Thanks Lou, much appreciated

Thom

@Thomsk

what should be at the start, is this:

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/refer ... al.en.html

Specifically, setting up Midnight Commander, lynx, and the debian reference.

Note, xdm [and wdm etc..] section 8.1.4

Somehow I managed to get stuck with X starting at boot, so of course I simply reinstalled. If I'd read the 'Getting Started' section of the reference more carefully, I would have found mc and lynx sooner, which was what I really wanted in the first place.

I am going to try Afterstep, right after I figure out setting up sound, which I do not see staring at me in the reference

I have to say it hasn't been a particularly intuitive process with Debian, and I've re-installed 3 times over the last 24 hours while trying to get the GUI to work, before finding this forum and the netinstall how-to, and then this thread. Excellent. RTFM...

Thanks Lou, much appreciated

Thom

Thanks Thom, and you're welcome.

Most newbies do not like to read, they're too lazy. They are incapable of realizing how easy everything can be when you have an article that explains step by step how to go about using a different system. So they go about wasting time and banging heads against the wall, refusing to acknowledge how stupid their actions are.

God forbid if you have the audacity to tell them to read a howto, they think you're a bully for telling them to read one.

I've given up on this kind of people, and welcome people like you.

PsychotropicDog wrote:@Thomsk

what should be at the start, is this:

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/refer ... al.en.html

Specifically, setting up Midnight Commander, lynx, and the debian reference.

Great reference, thank you. It is incredible (to me anyway, as a Linux newbie) just how much information is available.

Thom

LOCKING THE WORKSTATION

#apt-get install xlockmore

launch fbrun or terminal, type:

xlock <Enter>

voilá! it's locked, right-click on the screen and type your user password and you're back in business.

Hello there ! Nice howto
I love fluxbox, it has run most decently on my PC w/o being ugly.

As for file managers, I have tried lots of them, and for newbies w/an
ancient PC, use ROX! For ppl that like two-pane managers, try
Tux Commander:

http://tuxcmd.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php

It's very versatile, functional and fast while still being pretty (GTK2).
Be sure to check it out!

And yeah, use GKrellM, it's cool and adds functionality.
It's the far right thing on the screenshot:

http://www.welmers.net/~sam/ss_thumbnai ... 20x540.png

This my new .fluxbox/keys, it's easier to go to another workspace and to move a window to ANOTHER workspace:


Control F1 :ExecCommand "aterm"
Control F2 :ExecCommand "xfe"
Control F3 :ExecCommand "xchat"
Control F4 :ExecCommand "gqview"
Control F5 :ExecCommand "mozilla-firefox"
Control F6 :ExecCommand "opera"
Control F7 :ExecCommand aterm -e pine
Control F8 :ExecCommand "oowriter"
Control F9 :ExecCommand aterm -e elinks
Control F10 :ExecCommand "fbrun"

Mod1 Tab :NextWindow
Mod1 Shift Tab :PrevWindow
Mod1 F10 :MaximizeWindow
Mod1 F4 :Close
Mod4 m :RootMenu
Mod4 r :Restart
Mod4 Right :NextWorkspace
Mod4 Left :PrevWorkspace
Mod4 Shift F1 :SendToWorkspace 1
Mod4 Shift F2 :SendToWorkspace 2
Mod4 Shift F3 :SendToWorkspace 3
Mod4 Shift F4 :SendToWorkspace 4

Anybody with something to add to the .fluxbox/keys please do it.