Hello. I did a fluxbox search at linux.softpedia.com. It came up with a few hits and some similar apps. One of those apps was fvwm-crystal. I installed and edited the fluxbox menu so I could launch it (I also had to disable the mepis repos). It had a lot of eyecandy - several wallpapers, themes, styles, color schemes, etc. It also had several"docking" areas - I guess a little bit like enlightenment. It also had a menu bar at the top of the screen - complete with icons. The icons and the menu were auto-generated. Clicking on the start button only launched a settings-type menu. The application groupings showed up as various icons in the menu bar. For example, clicking on the multimedia button brought down the mm menu - even grouping the apps according to function. It looks very promising. I need to do some research on this one. Another nice feature is that is designed to work with several apps that are part of the lysistrata base system. It looks like a cross between fluxbox and enlightenment. Please check it out.

john

I've just been looking into this WM. I've tried it on my Linux Mint install, and it works really well. Nice balance of"Looks versus Functionality" i feel. But when i tried to install it on antiX (M7) i had all sorts of Dep problems, which in the end resulted in me wiping the zntiX install and installing the antiX Base. I still haven't got FVWM-Crystal on there (mainly because it was getting too late & i needed to get some sleep) but i shall keep on trying. __{{emoticon}}__ It's a really fast & highly configurable WM (Although documentation is a bit sparse at the moment) and makes a nice change from Fluxbox.

Does anyone know if there's an"easier" way of getting this onto the antiX install? and also why i keep getting all the dpe problems with certain packages. Does antiX use Mepis repos or Debian? (Or both even?) __{{emoticon}}__

Maybe i should install the XFCE base & start from there?

Many thanks......

DJiNN

DJiNN

antiX Lysistrata uses both Mepis repos and Debian ones. The Mepis ones is really for upgrading any Mepis related apps/files eg kernel upgrades, Mepis utilities etc. There have been a few since antiX went final.
But, most of antiX is really Debian Testing and there is sometimes conflict between Mepis repos and Debian ones, particularly connected with libc.
Now my advice is this.
If you are not going to be installing much, and are happy with antiX as it comes, there is no need to do anything to the repos and simply

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

every so often.

For those that are happy with their antiX kernel and Mepis utilities (ie you rarely use them like me), then you could disable the Mepis repos and basically run Debian Testing.

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

should solve the problems.

You may not need to do the above if you want to install FVWM-Crystal. Only disable the Mepis repos, then
apt-get update
apt-get install fvwm-crystal

The antiX-base.iso and the antiX-xfce-alpha1.iso are recommended for users who are prepared to struggle a bit with the distro (though hopefully not too much). Both have Mepis repos disabled (I think)

anticapitalista wrote:DJiNN

If you are not going to be installing much, and are happy with antiX as it comes, there is no need to do anything to the repos and simply

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

every so often.

Hi anti, thanks for the reply. I just know i'm going to be twiddling & tweaking, so, although i'll keep the above in mind should i need to use it at some point, i may be better off with the Debian option. __{{emoticon}}__

For those that are happy with their antiX kernel and Mepis utilities (ie you rarely use them like me), then you could disable the Mepis repos and basically run Debian Testing.

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

should solve the problems.

OK, that sounds good. I'm happy with the way that antiX is & performs etc, but just want to tweak a few things, and play around with some others. I've got it running on an old (pIII Celeron) laptop, and it works really well. I just wanted to give FVWM-Crystal a go because it affords a"Modern(ish)" desktop, without the drain on resources that others bring, if you see what i mean? __{{emoticon}}__

You may not need to do the above if you want to install FVWM-Crystal. Only disable the Mepis repos, then
apt-get update
apt-get install fvwm-crystal

I did try that, but still got Dep errors/conflicts, which is why i took off the antiX install & changed to the base install (Which is still on there). But it would be no problem putting the standard install back on & going from there. My main thought in using the base.iso was that because it's so"Light", there's going to be less chance of conflicts etc. __{{emoticon}}__

The antiX-base.iso and the antiX-xfce-alpha1.iso are recommended for users who are prepared to struggle a bit with the distro (though hopefully not too much). Both have Mepis repos disabled (I think)

Well, i've downloaded both and don't mind having a bit of a struggle.... it's a great way to learn some more after all. __{{emoticon}}__

One problem that i have been having though, (and perhaps you could help here because it's driving me nuts) is the use of"sudo" or"su" as a normal user. Whenever i try it, the response is that i'm not allowed to be a Super User. I know that i can alter the sudoers file to change this, trouble is, to alter it, i need to have su access, which i can't seem to get. __{{emoticon}}__

Any ideas on how to get su access (or using sudo etc) would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your help & for a great distro.

Cheers......

DJiNN

Just a quickie, anti, i've now sussed out how to get root access, so please ignore that last question. __{{emoticon}}__

Thanks......

DJiNN

Don't forget sux (instead of su) if you want root access for gui apps ie rox.

From a fresh install of antiX-M7, a dist-upgrade will download 103MB of apps!
An apt-get install fvwm-crystal gives dep problems.
Disabling the Mepis repos and then
apt-get update
apt-get install fvwm-crystal is ok.

For a fresh install of antiX-base, a dist-upgrade downloads 28MB of apps, and fvwm-crystal installs ok out-of-the-box (19.4MB)

anticapitalista wrote:Don't forget sux (instead of su) if you want root access for gui apps ie rox.

From a fresh install of antiX-M7, a dist-upgrade will download 103MB of apps!
An apt-get install fvwm-crystal gives dep problems.
Disabling the Mepis repos and then
apt-get update
apt-get install fvwm-crystal is ok.

For a fresh install of antiX-base, a dist-upgrade downloads 28MB of apps, and fvwm-crystal installs ok out-of-the-box (19.4MB)

Thanks for the info. I saw the sux command while doing a search on the forum, used that, and all worked well, which is great!

I've got it running OK (The base system with Fluxbox) and have done an upgrade, and even installed fvwm-crystal without any problems, but just can't login with anything else but fluxbox. ??

I've edited the slim.conf & added a relevant start line (although i don't know if it's the correct one.... i just used"exec fvwm-crystal" and assumed that it would start when i select it using F1 in slim.... but it doesn't. __{{emoticon}}__

But i'm half way there, so it's cool... and all the stuff that i'm finding in the process of getting it going is always good to know.

If i get it running i'll let you know how i did it, in case anyone else is trying to do the same. fvwm-crystal docs are a bit thin on the ground, but they're out there.... just got to find the right one. __{{emoticon}}__

DJiNN

Add fvwm-crystal to the session part of slim.conf. You need a comma to separate from fluxbox ie

session fluxbox,fvwm-crystal

You also need to edit the .xinitrc file to have spmething like this:

case $1 in
icewm)
exec icewm
;;

xfce)
exec startxfce4
;;

fvwm-crystal)
exec fvwm-crystal
;;

fluxbox)
exec startfluxbox
;;
*)
exec startfluxbox
;;
esac

anticapitalista wrote:Add fvwm-crystal to the session part of slim.conf. You need a comma to separate from fluxbox ie

session fluxbox,fvwm-crystal

You also need to edit the .xinitrc file to have spmething like this:

I've added fvwm to the slim file in the way you described, and also edited the .xinitrc file with the correct stuff, but still the only WM that seems to want to work is fluxbox for some reason. I'll keep at it..... it's probably something really simple, but i haven't found it yet. __{{emoticon}}__

DJiNN

At slim screen, hit F1 button to toggle choices.

anticapitalista wrote:At slim screen, hit F1 button to toggle choices.

Yep, done that. The choices show up, but it will only run Fluxbox? __{{emoticon}}__

Check the .xinitrc file again.

Or to check that slim.conf works ok, save the .xinitrc file somewhere and make a new one with only the line:
exec fvwm-crystal

anticapitalista wrote:Check the .xinitrc file again.

Or to check that slim.conf works ok, save the .xinitrc file somewhere and make a new one with only the line:
exec fvwm-crystal

Ah, that got a response. It's now booting into fvwm-crystal fine and seems to be workinhg OK, which it wasn't doing before. Is there a certain order that things need to be listed in .xinitrc? Do the WM's in slim.conf need to be in the same order as the way they are in .xinitrc? Also, although i have icewm listed, i don't think it's installed.... will this make a difference do you think?

At least it's a step in the right direction. Thanks for that.

I must say that fluxbox is a lot faster, and i didn't think it would be. __{{emoticon}}__

DJiNN

Yes, icewm is not installed. The order shouldn't matter.
Now copy/paste this into your .xinitrc file to look as shown.

case $1 in
icewm)
exec icewm
;;

fvwm-crystal)
exec fvwm-crystal
;;

fluxbox)
exec startfluxbox
;;

*)
exec startfluxbox
;;
esac

That should do it.

anticapitalista wrote:Yes, icewm is not installed. The order shouldn't matter.
Now copy/paste this into your .xinitrc file to look as shown.

Well, that is soooo strange. The .xinitrc file that you've just given me is identical to the one that i had, but now it all seems to be working fine. ??

Thank you for taking the time to help & get this working. It's much appreciated. Now i'm going to play around with fvwm & see what i can do with it.

Cheers.......

DJiNN