Fluxbox, Tabbed Windows, and Ubuntu MATE

frankbell · 09-05-2019, 09:30 PM

I have one computer on which I'm running Ubuntu MATE v. 18.04.

One of my favorite Fluxbox features, tabbed windows, does not work. I tried the options suggested in this webpage without success.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get tabs to work on Ubuntu MATE? (As an aside, they work just fine in Slackware and Mageia.)

teckk · 09-09-2019, 01:00 PM

I don't know what you have.
In ~/.fluxbox/init I have

Code:

session.screen0.tab.placement:	Top
session.screen0.tab.width:	64
session.screen0.tab.height:	16

session.screen0.tabs.usePixmap:	true
session.screen0.tabs.maxOver:	false
session.screen0.tabs.intitlebar:	true

session.screen0.tabFocusModel:	ClickToTabFocus

session.tabPadding:	0
session.tabsAttachArea:	Window

I can tab by dragging/dropping a windows title bar onto another title bar while holding the control key.

Relevant from ~/.fluxbox/keys

Code:

#Cycle through tabs in group
Mod4 Tab :NextTab 					
Mod4 Shift Tab :PrevTab

#Go to tab
Mod4 1 :Tab 1
Mod4 2 :Tab 2
Mod4 3 :Tab 3
Mod4 4 :Tab 4
Mod4 5 :Tab 5

#Move tab right/left in group
Mod4 Shift Left :MoveTabLeft			
Mod4 Shift Right :MoveTabRight

#Tab all (same as focused) in workspace
Mod4 Up :Attach (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current]) #(iconhidden=no)	
#Detach all (same as focused) in workspace
Mod4 Down :ForEach {DetachClient} (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current])

And that's about all I can see for that. I'm on Arch though.

frankbell · 09-09-2019, 07:57 PM

Thanks for the lead. I'll check tomorrow and report back.

Update, the next day: I didn't get to it today. Instead, the dentist got to me.

frankbell · 09-11-2019, 07:46 PM

I compared the .init settings in your post with the settings in my Ubuntu MATE machine, which is the one kicking up, and with the one's in my Mageia box, where tabbed windows works just fine, and could find no differences. Tomorrow, I plan to do a diff on the various Fluxbox config files and see whether that turns up anything.

I'm much more familiar with keys file, as I configure some of the hot keys to my preferences, and saw nothing amiss there, but, again, diff might turn up something.

Thanks for pointing me towards the Fluxbox config files. I should have thought of them, but I didn't and you did.

frankbell · 09-13-2019, 06:45 PM

I ran init and startup from Slackware and Ubuntu MATE through meld (it was easier to interpret than diff). The comparisons were complicated in that the lines of the files were in different order, complicating comparison. I might have missed something, I could see no conflicts that seem at all relevant to my issue.

I'll keep poking.

teckk · 09-14-2019, 08:41 AM

I don't know if it makes any difference but on flux's config files mine are

Code:

ls -l ~/.fluxbox/init
-rw-r--r-- 1 username users 3609 Feb 20  2018 ~/.fluxbox/init

All of them are owned by user. I don't know if that would make a difference if one got owned by root somehow. The perms are the same on all of them.

Then there is ~/.fluxbox/apps. You can auto start things, change window decor etc. with that. You can even put apps in their own class.

Tell me something, can you make an entry in ~/.fluxbox/keys

Code:

Control Mod4 t :ArrangeWindows (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current])

Have one of them active, then when you press the control+windows+t keys, do all of those terms jump together? If not then you have something more basic wrong. It just isn't tabbing at all.

teckk · 09-14-2019, 08:47 AM

Oh no no no, that tiling, ignore the above.
#Tab all (same as focused) in workspace

Code:

Mod4 Up :Attach (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current])

#Detach all (same as focused) in workspace

Code:

Mod4 Down :ForEach {DetachClient} (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current])

So if you do that....windows+up should group them

teckk · 09-14-2019, 08:51 AM

And while I am at it, fluxbox will tile windows in different ways.

~/.fluxbox/keys

Code:

#Tile all windows
Control Mod4 h :ArrangeWindowsHorizontal	
Control Mod4 v :ArrangeWindowsVertical
Control Mod4 Right :ArrangeWindowsStackLeft
Control Mod4 Left :ArrangeWindowsStackRight
Control Mod4 Down :ArrangeWindowsStackTop
Control Mod4 Up :ArrangeWindowsStackBottom

#Tile only windows (same as focused)
Control Mod4 t :ArrangeWindows (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current])

Control Mod4 u :ForEach {MaximizeVertical} (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current])

frankbell · 09-15-2019, 09:45 PM

I did a test today on the Ubuntu box. (I was using KDE Plasma on the Ubuntu box and it works quite nicely thank you.)

I moved ~/.fluxbox to ~/.fluxbox.orig.

I created a new ~/.fluxbox and copied the files from ~/.fluxbox on my Slackware machine into the new ~/.fluxbox on the Ubuntu box.

On the Ubuntu box, I logged out of KDE Plasma and into Fluxbox. Now Fluxbox is working as it should. Tabbed windows work and feh no longer autostarts on login.

I must conclude that the two problems I've posted about here are in some way related to something Ubuntu's done to the config files of Fluxbox in its repos. I also must say that I'm extremely happy that I didn't break Fluxbox completely and have to start from scratch . . . .

Of course, the menu from my Slackware box doesn't fit how I use Fluxbox on the Ubuntu box, but I fixed that by copying the menu from ~/.fluxbox.orig to ~/.fluxbox. The only thing that does not seem to be working now is the path to "user styles."

Here's a screenshot showing Thunderbird and Firefox in a tabbed window. Thunderbird is on the left; Firefox is on the right. (I'm listening to an episode of Nick Carter, Private Eye, from mysteryshows.com in Firefox.) http://pineviewfarm.net/weblog/wp-co...d_browsing.jpg

I plan to dig through the config files to find the culprit, but it's probably going to take me a few days and I still may get lost in the labyrinth, but I'll let you know what I find, even if what I find is bafflement.

Addendum: I fixed the user styles issue by copying the "styles" subdirectory from ~/.fluxbox.orig to ~/.fluxbox, then restarting Fluxbox from the menu.

Whoo-hoo!