blackbox

**bpark** · 06-16-2003

Can anyone help me configure blackbox to look like this: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/ima...rus-shot01.jpg

1. Lower left corner has what looks like desktop pager
2. Lower right corner has what looks like wmaker icons
3. Top right corner looks like some xterminal

Is it safe to assume that blackbox is a window manager?

**yowwww** · 06-16-2003

yes, is it pretty safe to assume that - it is a window manager like IceWM or Enlightenment or KDE or Gnome or Xfce. It's main advantage is that it is lighter and therefore faster than something like KDE or Gnome.
It is a nice screenshot. Mostly that would entail using a specific background, configuring the terminal to be a certain way (with no frames) and picking matching items. He has gkrellm there with a matching skin as well as Xmms with the same kind of skin. Also, the video he is playing matches the environment also. In terms of the menus such, usually you can change that thru the Blackbox menu itself. It is obvious that it was designed for the purpose of a screenshot. Or, maybe he really does like his desktop to look co-ordinated all the time? lol

Anyway, I have installed Blackbox a few times.
Sometimes if you are lucky enough, you can do it by rpm and then it is automatically added to you session manager so you can just click on it when you log in.
Otherwise, if you are compiling it by source, then you can just enter "failsafe" at the log in screen and then type 'blackbox' and it should start.
I am not sure for which distro this is intended so it is hard to give specifics.
Either way, if you haven't checked it out....

http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/

if it's for redhat 9:
http://shrike.freshrpms.net/rpm.html?id=532
you might get some deps though, if you do, let me know and I will get it going on mine, I'd kinda like to have it anyway, I always liked Blackbox.

**bpark** · 06-16-2003

Yea, I was checking this out last night and did an installation rather easily in Debian via apt-get. I also like XFCE but that needs configuration too and I couldn't figure it out as easily. Still, I like KDE as the best desktop that I've used. I may switch to something lighter like XFCE, WMaker, or Blackbox.
So with that being said, does anyone have nay ideas on how I can configure the windows on that link I posted earlier?

**bpark** · 07-18-2003

Blackbox users,

1. Any ideas on how I can get the icons on the right lower corner? They resemble icons in wmaker.
2. How about the desktop pager on the left lower corner?

bp

**variant** · 07-23-2003

The pager is called bbpager and it opens in lower left corner as default.

**variant** · 07-23-2003

Actualy I am also interested in makeing a few changes to my blackbox..
mostly I want to have borderless aterms. Im sure i saw some other post about this but I cant find it now. :/

And what is that interesting-looking but kinda pointless (no-doubt) side bar with the system info like cpu and Hdd info?

Also: With a borderless and transparent terminal window is it possible to have say, the blue tinted terminal fade out to an untinted edge?

**bpark** · 07-26-2003

variant,

As I have installed blackbox from a .deb package, bbpage didn't start automatically. I'll have to see if I even have it before I can do anything about it. Do you by anychance know what the other box icons are called on the right lower corner?
The long box on the right side that gives system info is called gkrellm. It's a very useful tool to see what's going on in your system.

**variant** · 07-26-2003

I found this great FAQ for blackbox:

http://www.reedmedia.net/misc/blackbox/faq.html

and it says this about icons:

4.2 Can you put icons on a blackbox desktop?

Blackbox doesn't natively support icons. But you can use a different program with blackbox; i.e: kfm (KDE filemanager), gmc (GNOME filemanager), xfm (X filemanager), ROX, dfm ...

(By default with dfm, if you click on the background, you'll get the dfm menu and not the blackbox menu. You can change this by going to the "dfm x11" menu and then unselect "desktop context menu".)

Its got a lot of usefull info in there about a few things:)

**bpark** · 07-26-2003

Hmm, that's what I thought. I guess I'll have to somehow manage windowmaker through blackbox but for now, I'll stick to KDE.

**shownuff001** · 07-30-2003

HOW DO YOU SET UP A SCREEN SAVER AND BACKGROUND PICTURE

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