Developers Needed for the Blackbox WM

Blackbox needs developers desperately.

If you can code anything, from a plugin to an improvement on an old open source build to a completely new build (we wish) than please come in touch with us, either on boxshots/lostinthebox/bb4win

You can help this WM/shell and this community find their rightful place. There is some interest expressed, but we do need more and we need to fight back if we want Blackbox WM to stay afloat. Plus, we would welcome ideas in the lostinthebox forums (yes, they are open to everyone)

Blackbox is the fast, lightweight window manager for the X System you have been looking for, without all those annoying library dependencies.
Blackbox is built with C++ and contains completely original code (even though the graphics implementation is similar to that of WindowMaker).

Fluxbox and Openbox are both, based off of Blackbox.

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Was looking at blackbox the past few days, I am not to familliar with it at the moment. I did know that fluxbox and openbox where based on blackbox and this is what grabbed my interest. Will let you know if I can do anything for this after I have looked it over a fair bit (1-2 weeks), but of course all the apps / scripts that are part of antix WILL take first priority. If I develop anything that may be of interest to make it a little easier for myself, I will post back.

Agreed ... I have used Linux, exclusively, for years. Used Ubuntu, then LinuxMint, Crunchbang and AntiX; before deciding on going to the source and using a straight Debian.

Same goes, with my Window Manager ... used Openbox with Crunchbang for a couple years and Fluxbox with antiX; for about the same amount of time. Decided to try going to the source with Blackbox ... now, I am a Mod of the LostintheBox Forum

Even if you are only curious about either Blackbox or Fluxbox ... stop by the *box Forums for a visit. You can always learn new stuff. __{{emoticon}}__

I would like to see the LostintheBox Forums become the place to go, for everything *box related -- be it Blackbox, bblite, bblean, bb4win, HackedBox, Fluxbox or Openbox.

i'm always looking for some lesser know lightweight WM's cuz they can be lost treasures (and it would be a shame to lose them) and this one sure looks interesting!
And i've also got a little question: since this post is in the other distro's section, are there any distro's with blackbox as the default WM?
and i'll be sure to check out the lostinthebox forum too, thanks for the tip!

I remember using Blackbox as my main WM in about 2005 or so. It;'s not bad but it doesn't have a"minimise" button on the title bar as Fluxbox has (which is why I switched to Fluxbox).

Good luck with the project anyway,

CP.

As you will come to know, I am an avid Fluxbox user ... Fluxbox is closely based on Blackbox.

Currently, have antiX M11 base-build (Fluxbox) running on my ancient Gateway laptop.
Still the only distro that will run efficiently, on it - even with adding more RAM.

I have searched the internets and can find no forums for Fluxbox - and LostintheBox being the only Forum for Blackbox.

Fluxbox is still closely based on Blackbox. Some say that, Fluxbox is the natural progression of Blackbox.
Fluxbox is a basic Blackbox; with a few more things added for user-friendliness.
Not to take anything away from the base-Blackbox build ... the BB-Devs did an awesome job.
I use many of the BB scripts, themes/styles and apps with Fluxbox -- they seems to be pretty much forward and backward compatible.

Openbox, was also, based on Blackbox but has grown more apart/distant from the BB-base, with using and building it's own configs and apps.
Although, Openbox seems to be growing in popularity -- it is not as well documented as Fluxbox is.

I would like to see the
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Forums become,"the place to go" for everything Blackbox and Fluxbox related.

When i tried to learn packaging i used blackbox, as its orphaned in Debian (hint!)
I asked at #debian-mentors, about some problems i had, and was told this:

Latest release: 0.70.1

Published on Nov 3rd, 2005.

__{{emoticon}}__
and that the best might be to take over development/upstream too. There was not much interest (as far i can tell).
The last Debian build was March, 2008.

So, are there any chances development will be taken up again?

fluxbox is also a good wm (I've also used it a lot with antix), but I prefer blackbox to it actually. just a personal opinion though...

the convert wrote:fluxbox is also a good wm (I've also used it a lot with antix), but I prefer blackbox to it actually. just a personal opinion though...

That's interesting, I always thought Fluxbox was a progression from Blackbox. What does Blackbox have that Fluxbox doesn't? Just curioius.

CP .

A friend of mine says it would be more stable/fast/solid than fluxbox.
I think i experience a slight enhancement in VirtualBox too.
Anyway: people who like the general approach of fluxbox, but have a bit of trouble, might try if blackbox solves them

If there are more than tiny differences i don't know (i use wm's on a very raw basis: to handle the windows, but not much more)

nadir wrote:and that the best might be to take over development/upstream too. There was not much interest (as far i can tell).

So, are there any chances development will be taken up again?

Yes.

". . . and, possibly, news about new Blackbox builds (yes, there is something in the works). Long story short, what we are trying to do is revive a shell that seems to be dying a slow death - due to the lack of developers. We hope, you will be with us, every step of the way! Blackbox is back with a vengeance!"

The LostintheBox Forum has been around since the inception of Blackbox and some of the old-time Blackbox users and maintainers are trying to re-vive Blackbox.

There is interest ... and I hope we can attract some new-blood and *box-developers.

vrkalak wrote:

nadir wrote:and that the best might be to take over development/upstream too. There was not much interest (as far i can tell).

So, are there any chances development will be taken up again?

Yes.

". . . and, possibly, news about new Blackbox builds (yes, there is something in the works). Long story short, what we are trying to do is revive a shell that seems to be dying a slow death - due to the lack of developers. We hope, you will be with us, every step of the way! Blackbox is back with a vengeance!"

The LostintheBox Forum has been around since the inception of Blackbox and some of the old-time Blackbox users and maintainers are trying to re-vive Blackbox.

There is interest ... and I hope we can attract some new-blood and *box-developers.

One idea is why not set up an unofficial repo with packages that users can test and report any bugs found to the developers

Most likely you'd have to have BB packages that can be built with the newer GCC and also against the latest Xorg...as the originl packages are rather old they may need to be rebuilt

Has anyone tried firebox?

buttcoffee wrote:Has anyone tried firebox?

Is that another variant of BB? Never heard of it though

Thanks for the replies. I tried Firebox once (in Vector ), but I couldn't see any particular advantages to it over and above using either Fluxbox or Icewm which would make it worthwhile learning a new set of commands and of doing things.