I am new to linux and trying to learn as I go.

I have tried out KDE, Gnome, and Xfce4. Of the three I like Xfce4 the most. What I really want though is the ability to set up a desktop environment 100% based on what I do at my desktop.

I have started working with blackbox which I like a lot, but I need some help with customizing it a bit.

For starters I need some help figuring out how to add the 5-6 primary apps I use into the right click menu system, and eliminating some of the things I do not use.

Basically I use:

Mozilla
Evolution
Gaim
Gimp
OOo
XMMS
and a terminal.

Could anyone point me in the right direction (remembering that I am new to editing config files and the command line?)

Thanks in advance to any who help.

Jim

I don't use blackbox myself, but in fluxbox (which is based on blackbox) the menu is a simple text file located in ~/.fluxbox/menu

It's pretty self-explanatory once you open it.

hope that helps

Your file is most likely ~/.blackbox/menu. If you're using the systemwide menu, do "locate blackbox | grep menu" to find it and copy it to your $HOME/.blackbox directory.

Editing is pretty simple....the main things to remember are submenus and commands, and submenus need to be closed with "[end]".
a simple example is:
[exec] (Mozilla) {mozilla}

or:
[submenu] (internet) {}
[exec] (Mozilla) {mozilla}
[end]

[exec] tells Blackbox that this item is a command
(Mozilla) is what will be displayed in the menu
{mozilla} is the command used to launch the program

if you want to change your menu for all users, the file you want will probably be :

/usr/share/blackbox/menu

for editing see mikshaw's explanation above.

I used to use blackbox, im a big fan of fat free windowmanagers. But now im a true fluxbox convert, you should try it out.
Also you could try some of the configuration tools available for blackbox/fluxbox. try opening a terminal and typing:

bbconf

enjoy

ps. before you ask how to set a wallpaper, this seems to get everyone at first (took me ages to figure out) open a terminal again and type

man bsetbg

I am off and running! Thanks to all.

My new menu is below but first, I have a few other questions:

For some reason I cannot get bbconf to run

[jdier@linuxbox jdier]$ bbconf
-bash: bbconf: command not found
[jdier@linuxbox jdier]$

As root:

[root@linuxbox jdier]# bbconf
bash: bbconf: command not found
[root@linuxbox jdier]#

------------------------------

Curious if anyone could point me in the direction of some easy way to switch between open applications.... I do not like a bar with applications on it, looking for something more like the middle click of Xfce4. I would like to replace the blackbox middle click with that.

_______________________

Finally, anyway to change the system font? First of all, it is very difficult to read (so small) and secondly it is not too pleasing to the eye.


--------
menu
--------
Here is where I am so far:

[begin] (Blackbox)
[exec] (Mozilla Navigator) {mozilla}
[exec] (Evolution email) {evolution}
[exec] (Instant Messenging) {gaim}
[exec] (Music) {xmms}
[exec] (xterm) {xterm -ls}
[exec] (Gnome Term) {gnome-terminal}
[exec] (KDE Term) {konsole}

[submenu] (Office Apps)
[exec] (OOo Writer) {oowriter}
[exec] (OOo Spreadsheet) {oocalc}
[exec] (OOo Presentation) {ooimpress}
[end]

[submenu] (Graphics)
[exec] (The GIMP) {gimp}
[exec] (Tux Paint) {tuxpaint}
[end]

[submenu] (System Tools)
[exec] (Sound Card) {system-config-soundcard}
[exec] (Tux Paint) {tuxpaint}
[end]

[submenu] (X Utilities)
[exec] (Xfontsel) {xfontsel}
[exec] (Xman) {xman}
[exec] (Xcalc) {xcalc}
[exec] (Xload) {xload}
[end]

[submenu] (Styles) {Choose a style...}
[stylesdir] (/usr/share/blackbox/styles)
[end]

[workspaces] (Workspace List)
[config] (Configuration)

[reconfig] (Reconfigure)
[restart] (Restart)

[exit] (Exit)
[end]
-----------------------------


Thanks again for all the help.

Jim

for switching apps, you can also use the middle mouse button (or click the wheel) to bring up the window list. But i would seriously recomend trying fluxbox, it has the option to "tab" windows. ie: say you have a terminal a browser and your mail program open, by dragging one window with the middle button onto another, it will group all windows together with a set of tabs at the top making it a breeze to switch apps.
As for the font size/face, you can adjust this in the style file :

/usr/share/blackbox/styles

have a look trhough the style your using and try to spot all the font entries
As i said if you like the concept of blackbox, try fluxbox, it's very similar except it has newer code and a bit more functionality.

cheers.

I'm going to guess that using Alt+Tab will switch between windows, but I haven't used Blackbox in ages.

Also to select a font use xfontsel or some dist. it is fontsel,you can paste it with the middle button.

Just tried Alt+Tab in Blackbox. doesnt work im afraid.

I am so new that installing stuff is still hours of messing around for me.

I was able to get this far in blackbox because I was able to YUM it all in one command. I cannot get fluxbox installed with YUM.

Could anyone point me in the direction of somewhere I could get some help installing and configuring fluxbox

Remember, I am still really new to all the command line stuff (but trying my darndest to learn!!!)

Thanks for everything so far.

Jim

Actually, if you only use these few programs, you may want to set up keyboard shortcuts instead. Here are the contents of my ~/.fluxbox/keys file:
- as the Mod1 key is the Alt key, this setup changes program windows with Alt+Tab, and the programs are set up as shortcuts ranging from Alt+F1 to Alt+F12. More about setting up the keyboard shortcuts here.

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Just got the rpm for flux box and have it up and running.

This is nice.

If anyone has any tips or tricks pages for getting things like a pager working, it would be appreciated.

Also any info on setting desktop image and getting the slit working...

Thanks,

Jim

for a background image, type this into a terminal :

fsetbg -f /path/to/your/image.jpg

there are a few additional packages that you can download from

http://www.fluxbox.org

i believe there is a pager applet there. Also a lot of info on configuring and using fluxbox.
alternatively you can use the blackbox pager as you probably have it already. open a terminal and type :

bbpager -w

the "-w" option means withdrawn and will place it in the slit for you. The slit is only visible when there is something in it.

enjoy.

@ jdier - As for setting the background, I edited the file ~/.fluxbox/init
I inserted the line
(I should add that billeder means pictures in Danish)
I messed around with the startup file, but could never make it work. I got this tip, and it works. My faithful os-tux.jpg is my encouraging background now.
Not quite sure what you mean by pager - that can mean a lot of things, working with WMs...

Thank you for this discussion. It got me started on customizing my Fluxbox menu with an editor. (I had already discovered the fluxbox generate menu script.