(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I have been using Puppy Linux 5.2.8 for a few months now and really like it. My main DE/Window manager is Outbox. I like it because it is simple and easy to configure which is basically what I am looking for after using Macs for many many years. I tried Macpup but am still running into E17 issues that I don't seem to have when using Outbox.

Which DE/WM do you use? Whhat do you like about it?

Ok,
Outbox - is that Openbox?
If not - please point me to it.

so many nice ones to pick.....
Oroborus
evilwm
BadWM
Sithwm
yeahwm
cwm
mcwm
blackbox
fluxbox
and many more....
evilwm and yeahwm are my favorite.

Sorry about that! I meant Openbox. Sometimes I get so confused with all the Linux stuff I am learning

I never heard of evilwm and yeahwm. Can I use it with Puppy Linux? Same goes for the other WM's you mention. I didn't think there were so many. This is what I have in my Puppy install.

Openbox + tint2 are my favorite windows manager and panel.
I like that both are fairly minimal yet still very customizable.

I have never tried tint2. Do you use it instead of fbpanel? How can I try it out in my puppy setup?

rmcellig wrote:I have never tried tint2. Do you use it instead of fbpanel? How can I try it out in my puppy setup?

Yes i use Tint2 instead of Fbpanel - to use tint2 you will need to disable fbpanel.

I don't have Puppy Linux 5.2.8 installed so im not 100% sure but you can probably get it from the repository - If not try this link + setup guide:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=64572
Be aware though earlier versions of tint2 is just a panel and system tray, no launchers and no gui customization.

OK. Thanks for the info!! What distro are you using?

rmcellig wrote:OK. Thanks for the info!! What distro are you using?

Hello Rmcellig,
I am running the latest version of Pemasu's Dpup Exprimo.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=76247

I never heard of this puppy distro. Guess I will have to take a look . Thanks again!!

I did a lot of experiences with different wm's on some slackware-based distros and slackware himself. Now that I've switched to puppy slacko, I only use JWM. Because it works.

Right now I am using Openbox in Lucid Puppy 5.2.8. JWM is also installed but I never really had a chance to explore it.

Have you ever used Openbox? What are the differences compared to JWM?

hi rmcellig,

openbox has a much more complete config at ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml, jwm tends to run lighter with a decent set of features native to it. ob has autoraise with delay..

mmrm, here's some old-ish blither for a sample of wm/de/etc - favorite? depends on what I'm up to (afterstep, blackbox, ctwm, dwm, e16, ede, evilwm, fluxbox, flwm, fvwm (95, 262 and 306/crystal), icewm, jwm, mcwm, miwm, a 'bare' openbox, pekwm, qlwm, treewm, twm, wmx and yeahwm as far as I recall - it takes two plogouts to conveniently hold what I currently have on p431 and wary514, remembering the various binds can be tricky for my memory as 'tis )

Because I am using Openbox I should be modifying the rc.xml file, or should I use the GUI options available off the puppy menus? Is there more flexibility modifying the RC file itself? Keep in mind that I am new to all this but find it pretty exciting.

re - use the obconfig gui first (usually in the bottom part of ob's menu), that does the very top part of the rc.xml

Make a backup of rc.xml (say rc.xmlOEM) before editing binds and stuff by hand - the top part will change but the binds are OEM (just in case you futz something you don't have to dig in a ro for the real original or do a pfix=ram )

Then dig into all the key and mouse binds - often there's several ways to perform an action, or several actions that can be performed (depending on the area where you do the input). Be aware of subtle differences like press, on release and so on - it took me awhile to get button2 on titlebar to toggle the shade effect without having to move off the titlebar on release (my scrollwheel died sometime back from using it as button2 on dumb pups that didn't get the imp/s2 protocol, ignoring the perfectly good sidebutton that I usually use). I also put in a bind for rootmenu and clientmenu (just in case the mouse dies, I can still use the kybd to get these)

Test your bind - save your edit to the rc.xml (leave the editor open but min or shade it), do a reconfig (pretty sure that's in the bottom part of obmenu as well - if not, obmenu-refresh does it as last part of its action from the menu). Try the bind, if it works as expected if not, go back to editing (why the editor is left open, eh?)

dept of &etc - at one time I used xfce4 (standard in Gray's NOP puplets and the Saluki branch) .. nice compositing effects but the rest of it can be a rpita (imxho, of course) in aftermarket versions if you use other wms as well. A few dotpets even did some rather odd stuff - one changed the mimetypes (making rox pretty unhappy ). C'est la vie in the just-click-the-dotpet world, sometimes

Thank you so much for the info. I really appreciate this! In the Openbox wiki, they mention the obmenu app. Is this available in Puppy Linux? I know it is used to configure menu items so that I can actually customize the Openbox menu? Sounds pretty cool. I could never to anything anywhere close to this kind of stuff with my iMac.

Never tried it. The xdg used for building (top+template+bottom=full ob rootmenu) works well enough for traditional Puppy menu (like jwm and icewm) with top and bottom sections you can easily customize just for openbox. There are methods used to add new categories and subcats to the template if you need them (Sailorbrand used this in SailPup to get a Navigation category). I use the xml for the top part of the menu to add lots of junk - various backgrounds and setters, different conkies, roxpin(s), panels, any manner of on-demand stuff I might use in openbox but that doesn't have a *.desktop file (these go in the middle via the template). The bottom xml I just leave as the basic ob stuff with maybe some ob user-guide for a doc-ref-help and plogout at the bottom (since that's what I use for re-X, switching wms and 'shutdown')

that's why opensource gets the big $

I don't yet have a favourite one, but Fluxbox is the one i keep returning to. At the moment though I'm using fvwm-crystal, which i think is very underrated.

I like Gnome 3 in some ways (the overview feature, where you zoom out of the desktop and see all the open windows tiled with spaces in between, looks very cool) but IMO there are too many steps to take when you want to load an application.

Hi Colonel - two good ones there (at least, never tried a few like Gnome 3). I thought I was the only puppian who bothered with fvwm 306; it certainly is pretty, functional and efficient but the mans put me to sleep if I tried to choke it down too much at one sitting .. maybe that's why comic-book readers give it less than fair due. I was able to cobble a recipe together and get the gist of how it worked, but little things like getting the application menu to integrate kept eluding me. Got lazy and went back to the less sophisticated 262 (yes, lazy since autoraise with delay is usually a strong preference for me along with sloppy focus - advantages either way depending on your mode of the day in getting it done and how many taps, clicks or gestures it takes).

ºQualify that lazy to 'lazy'* - just recently got the themes packages for 262 working (funny, all it needed was to use fvwm-themes-start rather than fvwm yet another button in plogout..). Nice but with some caveats: for one the menu was a bit lacking (so I drudged it into a fully illustrated traditional pupmenu+ a la jwm, icewm, fluxbox and e16), for two the config files are a game finding the actual file that has the working values (rather than the numerous 'routing' files) and the third caveat is that the personal menu editor and themes configuration GUI are pretty darn clumsy if not downright inefficient (both tend to put the cpugraph in my conky to a 'full load' after a bit of use and keep it there 'til either is killed, e16's Settings pages are lightyears ahead of this type of gui..). So far my best workaround is to edit the default theme files directly and simply reload to see changes (plus a good idea to ckeck xerrs.log and fix what you can)

Fluxbox is so snazzy - race it, pimp it or do a days work.

Oops, forgot (how could I?) windowmaker in my personal list (Thanks to Dima and all)

ºaddenda 120731 for fvwm-themes