Openbox in Slackware 13.1

Gavin Harper · 08-09-2010, 11:15 AM

I've been using KDE recently but have taken a big liking to Openbox.

There are a few things that I currently miss from KDE though, if anyone could please offer advice on the following:

I liked redrawing the GTK apps through the QT libs... Is that possible in OB?

What is the best way to get some elementary desktop effects in OB?

Thank you for any advice

jimX86 · 08-09-2010, 12:38 PM

On desktop effects, I don't do much of that although I've played around with it. I think you're wanting xcompmgr and transset-df. xcompmgr is installed by default. If you add the following line to ~/.config/openbox/autostart.sh, you'll have dropshadows:

Code:

xcompmgr -c -t-5 -l-5 -r4.2 -o.55 &

For transparency, you can install transset-df. You can run it from a terminal, set up a menu item to run it, or you can configure it to run with the middle mouse button. The command goes something like this:

Code:

transset-df 0.8

There are a bunch of command options for xcompmgr and transset-df, and you can set this up a million different ways. Here's a good link to get you started: Urukrama's Openbox Guide.

(I don't know about making GTK apps look like QT. I run mostly GTK stuff, so I configure QT to match my GTK theme.)

Gavin Harper · 08-09-2010, 10:49 PM

Thank you very very much!

Daedra · 08-10-2010, 01:08 AM

QTCurve is a matching QT/GTK theme for KDE4, its pretty good and is available at slackbuilds.org

Gavin Harper · 08-10-2010, 01:58 AM

Got that last night.

So far so good.

lpallard · 09-05-2010, 10:42 PM

I am implementing some PXE network booting stuff here and had a chance to try a live distro called Parted Magic (http://partedmagic.com/) that uses openbox instead of kde or gnome... I liked the desktop environment so much, its just cleaner and seems to be much lighter and more responsive than kde 4...
Anyway, long story short, I would like to use openbox instead of kde in slackware 13.1 My laptop is currently in repair and when it comes back, I will reinstall slack from a clone I made before I sent the machine to the shop.

Currently having kde 4.4.3, would it be possible to use openbox instead and if so, here's a few questions:

1-would it be any limitations compared to a kde desktop environment?
2-would I be able to use all my applications? That includes kontact (kmail), kmymoney, kwrite, kate, etc... basically all kde based appz..?
3- Is there an alternative to pretty much every functions or applications of kde? (I think about file search, rename, all the accessories..)?

Is this something people tried?

I like kde, but it seems to be so heavy and I never felt the same level of responsiveness compared to kde 3 (I miss so much!). Openbox is the closest match i've found. If anybody got suggestions, please go ahead!

Thanks!