I think I'm going to do a 2nd try at it with the standard keys used instead for the audio, and instead of the dumb standard desktop switcher on the other mouse button, i'm going to put the user editable personal menu with the desktop switching stuff as a menu off it so that people can have the normal standard things on the main menu, and put things they use often on the other.

I'm also going to investigate if there is a way I can have a menu of recently run menu options that aren't from the main menu or already on the personal menu or recently run list, and pop that up as an on the fly pipe menu. That might be beyond my linux ability to do though, but I think it would be a worthy ideal to have say the last 30 things you ran available within 3 clicks of the desktop or 2 keys and a click.

PS: ok, the"dumb standard desktop switcher", so I'm gonna change the key maps to send them instead to the personal menu, and add the canned desktop one as a sub-menu off the personal one. With tint running there is no need to be doing weird mouse tricks to go from one desktop to another when you can just click it on the taskbar.

As as for the launchers, dmenu is already included in the distro, so I'm just gonna add it to the key map on C-space, with the Main menu on W-space and the Personal menu on A-space. I tried"launchy" and it does work to a degree and was closest to the mark, but I wasn't happy with the 20+mb of memory used, and not happy that it didn't have a history you could click again from, and it was only running apps sporadically, and many things that are there don't come up, and I didn't like how it decided what apps to put on the screen based on the characters typed. Hence, the dmenu decision. There are people that actually use that one doing it by choice.

I have what I think is a much better user interface just about done. Lots of improved menu layout and easy key based window manipulation. Went to a triple desktop setup which I really like. Left click for personal menu or right click for main menu when not in a window. dmenu on C-space. Desktop manipulation menu that used to be on left click is available from either and personal menu is easier to get to.

I had to give upon the keyboard macros. Most normal people wouldn't be needing them anyway.

Trying to rig a couple keys to allow you to highlight anything and have it do a browser search or wiki search for it automatically but foiled by the script language as usual.

I am trying to use xsel (which is very neat) to get the value of the selected text anywhere, but can't get it combined into a url and command line string that works. Linux is horribly frustrating at things like this. There appears to be almost infinite power to create, but its like the proverbial carrot dangling in front of the donkey that he can see and smell, but never gets to eat.

Nothing I know how to do works and everything is always immensely convoluted. I spent 3 or 4 hours last night trying to get xsel to work. How pathetic! I need to go look at my books, but can't find anything useful online. I suppose the real problem is that I don't know what to search for.

Part of it is that most of my books are 25+ year old Unix books, back from when I landed an account that had an AT&T 3.3 system in 1990 that I had tomake work. So my books have a lot of basic commands, but not so much scripting, and no"bash" or"sh". I have one Red Hat Bible that is only 16 years old, so I guess I'll try there.

PS: The Redhat book was close to worthless with nothing new from the ancient books, shell scripting wise. I have the string in a value correctly, but can't get it into the command line to the browser fromthe looks of it. I finally just GUESSED the frigging snytax.

PSS: I ordered 2 what seemed to be well reccomended shell programming books with examples for $2 + shipping

Packages needed were:
openbox
openbox-menu
obmenu
obconf
tint2
xsel

New keyboard map is as follows:

• W-z helpkeys.txt - Keyboard Shortcuts in ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml
  C-g chainQuitKey
  <!-- Keybindings for desktop switching -->
  C-A-Left GoToDesktop left
  C-A-Right GoToDesktop right
  W-F1 GoToDesktop 1
  W-F2 GoToDesktop 2
  W-F3 GoToDesktop 3
  W-F4 GoToDesktop 4
  <!-- Keybindings for windows -->
  A-F4 Close
  A-Escape Lower FocusToBottom
  A-Tab NextWindow
  A-S-Tab PreviousWindow
  C-A-Tab NextWindow
  W-Right MoveToEdgeEast
  W-Left MoveToEdgeWest
  W-Up MoveToEdgeNorth
  W-Down MoveToEdgeSouth
  W-S-Right GrowToEdgeEast
  W-S-Left GrowToEdgeWest
  W-S-Up GrowToEdgeNorth
  W-S-Down GrowToEdgeSouth
  W-S-KP_6 ToggleMaximizeHorz
  W-S-KP_8 ToggleMaximizeVert
  W-KP_Begin=5 MoveToCenter
  W-C-Up DirectionalFocusNorth
  W-C-Right DirectionalFocusEast
  W-C-Down DirectionalFocusSouth
  W-C-Left DirectionalFocusWest
  <!-- Keybindings for running applications -->
  W-a Audio Player
  W-c Clipboard
  W-d Show Desktop
  W-e Text Editor
  W-S-e ROOT Text Editor
  W-f File Manager
  W-S-f ROOT File Manager
  W-h Task Manager
  W-k Kill Programs
  W-l Lock Screen
  W-m Media Player
  W-n Network Status
  W-S-n WiFi/Network Settings
  W-p Print Screen for Laptops
  W-q Email Client
  W-r Run Program
  W-s antiX Control Center Settings
  W-C-s WWW Browser Search HIGHLIGHTED text
  W-t Terminal
  W-S-t ROOT Terminal
  W-u Unplug Drive
  W-v Volume/Mixer
  W-w WWW Web Browser
  W-C-w WWW Wiki Search HIGHLIGHTED text
  W-x Exit/Logout/Shutdown
  A-space Personal Menu
  C-space dmenu
  W-space Main Menu
  Print Print Screen
  W-KP_Divide Volume Down
  W-KP_Multiply Volume Up
  W-KP_Add Volume Mute Toggle
  W-KP_Home Home Folder
  W-KP_End Recent Files

I found a little bug in my mapping on spacefm. Fixed here in #4.

I will remove prev version so nobody downloads it.

I think I will add a dmenu option on the main menu so the dmenu folks will be able to remember what key its on, LOL

I see I forgot to put the shortcut key on the personal menu label too...

Rev#5 with dmenu option and shortcut marked on personal menu
Rev#6 with main menu title bar and shortcut

I tried to give this openbox setup the best of all worlds. On antiX I'm hoping it will be efficient enough for the old clunkers, and as an accidental benefit, those static menus will run like greased lightning on anything fast.

My objective was to make it a better openbox user interface than Manjaro or Crunchbang, both of which I like and have great respect for, and I used concepts and key mappings and ideas from antiX primarily, but also from those where applicable, tweaked, if you will to utilize antiX's strengths. I think putting the keyboard shortcuts on the main menu items will make it a lot easier for people to learn to use and get used to, and if they don't want to use the hot keys, they can always use the mouse and menus, because I did what I could there to make that efficient as well.

I also tried to make use of spacefm being in the default install because I think its one of antiX's strongest tools. I learned a lot about it in the process of doing this.

If you (that means any potential user) see anything missing that would be cool to have that I didn't do, please explain what you would find useful.

I haven't documented the mouse stuff, but it would be tough to write. Maybe better to write a few sentences explaining where the left and right clicks will cause which menu to pop up. I also need to add a way to close a program from the taskbar, but I was closing them by mistake using the default setup (right click was to close) and button 3 would be just as dangerous, so I'm thinking of a menu for it.

anyway, if ANYONE has any suggestions on ways to improve it, or even nasty comments on it, let me know...

It's great to see that you've setup keybinds, and displaying those in-menu is a good (helpful) way toward showing users to take advantage of 'em.
Also, it's nice to see (I had forgotten) that the tint2(?) panel doesn't force display of"mini views of each workspace".
Surprised to see the speaker cone icon in your latest screencap. I thought you'd opted to reduce overhead & just use keybinds instead.

Actually, I don't know if tint2 can do the mini view thing... My old clunkers don't have the horses for frills, and honestly,its not needed with the icons in the tray.

The shortcut keys on the menus only took an hour or two, and I think will enable newer users to get efficient with it easily and quickly.

I now have roll down shades and easier to grab window edges working, too, but thats not uploaded yet. Add to that I've made the icons for shades, iconify, maximize and close a bit more visible for smaller screens. I'm no fancy graphics person, but I do like to be able to see what I'm doing.

I'll just turn off the volumeicon on my own pc to save memory. And yes, the keys are there for it and Alsamixer is on a hot key as well as the main menu, too. I can also turn off the wifi the same way if I'm hard wired. Even if I don't really LIKE the memory lost, I think the stuff like that should be consistent between the desktops as much as practical, so those decisions should be left to the devs,IMO. And yes, keybids and menu option is right there on the main to bring it up when needed, too, so again,if I do decide to turn it off, I can still get it back in 2 clicks.

Hey, why don't we come upwith a better default layout for spacefm? Why not make it come up the way someonemight want it to instead ofmaking them fight it for hours? I realize that is part of the learning process, but it would be better I think to showcase some of its power in the default setup. Any thoughts on that?

Another thought is why don't we have a calendar program. Rainlendar2 2.9 installs and works on antiX 14. The newer versions need glibc > 2.15 if I recall correctly. We could either include it 32 or 64 bit but instead of 10 mb, just have a get-rainlendar2 script that runs if you call it up and its not already there. Orage is only 5 mb,but not as fancy. Or a 3rd option would be to put a Google calendar on and run it via the browser from a click at the clock or menu or hotkey. Almost everyone needs a to do list and scheduler.

If we can't choose maybe we could do an / etc/alternatives/x-calendar or desktop-defaults-run thing where we allow for different choices even,andthen hook that to a hotkey and mouse click on the clock.

Also,why don't we have a calculator? We have libreoffice,but no calculator. Galculator is a 147 kb download.

Just thinking aloud,and looking for little things that people might want that we could provide that other distros don't...

Here is what its looking like now on mine.You can also see the shade icons if you look closely. I will waitforfeedback before I upload fresh code.

There was a thread about the default setup of spacefm a little while ago, I don't remember if it changed anything?

mini-views: To each his own, but for me they're visual clutter & especially on a 4:3 monitor they hog valuable panel space.

calendar: I can't think of any single standout app to recommend for pre-installation... and, as you pointed out, even if the devs pre-installed one,
many users would just use Googleborg online calendar or would install whatever local app they're already using and are comfortable with.
IIRC, prior antix versions included orage ~~ it was nixed (probably along with calculator) in order to keep iso size small enough to fit on CD.

spacefm: I agree with your"put some loving care into preconfiguring it" consideration, but I would CRY (er, grit my teeth and mutter)
if you intentionally configured"icon view" (per your screenshot) as the default view. I use loooooong, descriptive filenames and"icon view"
is a real bane for me. So, for each of all the little details, who can really guess (outguess) which tweaks would be welcome?

little things that people might want that we could provide that other distros don't...

quite a few ARE already included, but are missing from, or are barely mentioned in, the current docs.
You and I (and hopefully others) setting up git & contributing toward expanding the existing docs seems like the best"next step".

I found the discussion on default file manager, and didn't find much clarity other than a willingness to provide both spacefm and rox. Sorry, I can't make rox do the trick like open recent files according to its manual. I could use the default filemanager for any option where they all can do it, and hard code spacefm where its the only one with the feature. I may have already done that? Or if people wanna get silly, we could copy crunchbang's crazy on the fly generated from the xdg directory menu where they parse it and build a menu of files andwhat to do if you hit each one? Try that on an old PIII, LOL. We have spacefm in the distro, its cool, its fast, and it has oodles of features, so I figured I might as well take advantage of it.

I use laptops, so every inch of panel is precious to me. I'm ok with no desktop windows mini view.

I had one pane in icon mode because I had been manually EDITING the icons in mtpaint because I couldn't SEE what I was clicking, LOL. I also much prefer details, but when in a directory of icons or pics, those thumbnals come in very handy.

I can't afford the memory to run the pinboard on the old boxes.

Rainlendar seems pretty nice, but I don't know if its acceptable. Maybe the obvious answer is to put in google calendar or just do nothing as is currently being done if the devs hate google, and leave the normal people to wonder what the heck they should do? I use my phone's calendar, but don't like it. I wish I had something on the computer that would sync itself with a matching app on my phone via wifi, but I want open source free apps, not the terrible, useless adware crap I've tried.

calendar:
open a terminal and type"calcurse". It is pre-installed in antiX, I think.

skidoo wrote:calendar:
open a terminal and type"calcurse". It is pre-installed in antiX, I think.

Yes, its a valid point, and I don't deny that it is physically there, and does physically function, but myself, I'd prefer a calendar program that allows the mouse to be used. Not being able to click on the window and display or enter things, and not being able to click on the date bothers me as far as wanting to present that in this day and age. I'd rather just use a link to a google calendar or other online calendar if we can't provide something GOOD. I can put that on the personal menu as an example to illustrate how the personal menu could be used.

LOL, if what we have is lemons, we should show them how to make lemonade

And it took me like 5 min to add it. The hard part was getting signed on because I didn't remember my google password. It might actually be a reasonable solution, but I'm open to whatever people want.

Hi Bob,

I saw your post on the other topic about no interest in this project of yours.

I meant to comment a while ago actually but still too involved with the old P4.

I was wondering what route you talk to initiate the use of OpenBox as there is an LXDE meta-package that can be installed via Synaptic or the Package Installer provided by antiX.

How much difference is there in memory usage between LXPanel and Tint2?

What base memory usage have you been able to achieve?

What's a pinboard?

So, when it's ready for downloading, I would like to take a look at it.

Hasta luego, Michael.

To cut thriftee some slack. Here is my built from scratch LXDE AntiX I made from core ages ago.
It should answer some of the questions he/Cusco is posing about ram usage. My inxi and screenshots should
clear things up a little.


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=31202"
linktext was:"http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=31202"
====================================


That core install is gone. I put that hard drive in my IBM T23 laptop for testing AntiX 14 a5.

As far as meta package, I would think it either needs to be it or the top part of it. First, the following packages need to be installd via synaptic or apt-get:
Packages needed were:
openbox
openbox-menu
obmenu
obconf
tint2
xsel

Then my tar file needs to be installed with each piece in its relative directory


I have never created a package, so that would be another new adventure for me if I was to do that. The tar file I created has each of the things I created or modified in the relative folder it needs to be put it.

LXPanel vs Tint2 is about 10mb vs 3mb if my memory is correct.

Memory usage is highly dependent not only on the windows manager chosen, but also what all the other memory resident components and applets total up to. For example, having a volume icon might cost about 10mb of memory. A clipboard might add 10 to 12mb. A network applet might add another 10 to 12mb. Turning on the pinboard adds 6 or 8mb if its rox. Each one turned on adds to the total. I fired it up and its at 129mb, but that includes 20mb of printer daemon stuff that isn't coming up under IceWm alone. The reality is that Openbox with a Tint2 panel needs about 10mb more than IceWm if both have the same functions.

The pinboard is the icons on the desktop that you can place there to click and run an application. Both rox and spacefm have pinboards. I do understand rox's, with exception to how to get a background to work at the same time or change the background, and spacefm's I don't understand at all. Please understand that although I maybe have 30 years of programming experience, almost none of it is on linux, so I'm just guessing or researching and guessing and trying and fixing, because I don't know the languages used. If I keep doing that a while I'll eventually get better at it as I learn some things from good examples and, lol, other things from the bad examples.