Dropbox in Fluxbox CE 8

[Kendall]

I'm a committed Dropbox user as it's far and away the easiest way to share files between my Linux laptop and my Windows machine at work (and sometimes with my friend Kevin). As some of you probably know, Dropbox for Linux only has native support for those running Nautilus as a file manager. Fluxbox CE 8 does NOT run Nautilus as a file manager. This release (like CE 6) will use Thunar, and I'm testing PCmanFM. I found a nifty little howto article on how to get Dropbox running on a text based Linux install (http://wiki.dropbox.com/TipsAndTricks/TextBasedLinuxInstall) and I've succeeded in getting it up and running on the current development build of CE 8. What I'm thinking about doing is I may try and package this and get it in the repo so that anyone wanting to use Dropbox with Fluxbox CE 8 (and presumably XFCE as well) will be able to easily do so.

EDIT: I now have official permission from Dropbox to build and distribute an installer for LinuxMint 8 Fluxbox CE. I should be done with the package sometime tomorrow.

EDIT 2: My Dropbox installer seems to be complete. I'm going to run one more test just to verify and then stick it in the main repository for helena-fluxbox.

[Locrian]

mm just did some research on dropbox and it sounds interesting, im going to give it a shot, although both my computers are running mint and are networked together, but i like the online side of it

[agwblack]

This is brilliant news. I'm a regular user of dropbox but have found it less than convenient to run on the lightweight distros I use on my old laptop. Keep up the great work!

[Kendall]

What I have so far is an installer that downloads the current dropbox version from their website, along with the necessary installation scripts and the files necessary for dropbox to automatically come up in the fluxbox menu. If you remove the package, Dropbox stays installed, but disappears off the menu. I've been a little too busy trying to nail down the details on the actual distro that I haven't been fooling with this much lately. Soon though, very soon.

[Kendall]

The Dropbox installer is now in the helena-fluxbox Romeo repository. I put a progress bar in it so that people wouldn't be thrown off by it taking a few minutes the first time you run it. I'll move it to the Main repo soon, but I'd like a little bit of feedback and/or some suggestions before I do.

Remember that this is an installer only. The package itself contains a couple of small scripts and a .desktop file. The whole purpose of the package is download and install Dropbox and give you a menu entry for it. If you remove the package, the downloaded Dropbox files are still there, but there'll be nothing in the /usr/bin directory to start it with. Because Dropbox for Linux was written for Nautilus, if you right click the icon that shows up on your taskbar, don't be surprised if a couple of the features don't work.

Add the Romeo repository to your apt sources and update, then she'll be available through "sudo apt-get install mint-fluxbox-dropbox" or in Synaptic. I'll make a step-by-step guide if anyone is unfamiliar with this process.

EDIT: To get Dropbox started on startup, just add "dropbox &" to your startup script.

EDIT 2: I moved it from the Romeo repo to the Main repo so you don't need to add anything to your apt sources list.

[danstinebaugh]

This is absoulutly Awesome!

I've been playing around with a few distro's all either fluxbox or openbox and crunchbang had a good solution, however this is so much easier and done the right way!

I'm so very excited to be back to linux mint fluxbox! In fact I joined the forums tonight to tell you how much I appreciated not only this great addition but to all the work done in linux mint!

[Kendall]

Thanks.

Dropbox is one of those "can't live without" things for me, right up there with food, water, and oxygen. I felt like people who don't use Nautilus shouldn't be punished for not using Nautilus when it comes to stuff like this. It's been tested and works in KDE, Xfce, and LXDE as well, though I need to make a couple of minor adjustments to the .desktop file for everything to show up correctly in the menus in the other desktops. If I get some free time today, maybe I'll do that.

[palmito_bom]

The dropbox implementation on Mint fluxbox works really well. I'm hoping that when "Mint LXDE" posts (hopefully soon) it will have a similar implementation, I tried another LXDE ubuntu derived distro (planetwatt) and couldn't figure out how to get dropbox to function properly.

[Kendall]

The dropbox implementation on Mint fluxbox works really well. I'm hoping that when "Mint LXDE" posts (hopefully soon) it will have a similar implementation, I tried another LXDE ubuntu derived distro (planetwatt) and couldn't figure out how to get dropbox to function properly.

I'll build a package for Dropbox implementation for the LXDE version as well. I think the only thing I'll have the change is the .desktop file.

[palmito_bom]

I've downloaded the mint LXDE and am running it live on my ASUS netbook, very impressively implemented without the bugginess I've experienced on some similar implementations-- I will be interested how it compares in terms of battery life with mint fluxbox through I guess it might be a little heavier I'm just waiting for the LXDE dropbox implement and then it will go on to my SSD!

[Kendall]

I've downloaded the mint LXDE and am running it live on my ASUS netbook, very impressively implemented without the bugginess I've experienced on some similar implementations-- I will be interested how it compares in terms of battery life with mint fluxbox through I guess it might be a little heavier I'm just waiting for the LXDE dropbox implement and then it will go on to my SSD!

Dropbox integration with the LXDE version should be up early tomorrow. It's high on my list of priorities. Battery life between the two is about the same, so no worries in that department.

If you want, go ahead and install mint-fluxbox-dropbox, then manually run "dropbox-init" and then add "dropbox" to your autostart file. The package is desktop independent, it just doesn't yet show up in the LXDE menu.

[Kendall]

I talked to Clem and what we're probably going to do is to not push a package for LXDE and not maintain the Fluxbox package either. Because it's now desktop independent we can put this in the Main repo and give everyone access to it. I should have the packaging and testing done later today and when it's ready I'll send it to Clem.

[viking777]

I've downloaded the mint LXDE and am running it live on my ASUS netbook, very impressively implemented without the bugginess I've experienced on some similar implementations-- I will be interested how it compares in terms of battery life with mint fluxbox through I guess it might be a little heavier I'm just waiting for the LXDE dropbox implement and then it will go on to my SSD!

Dropbox integration with the LXDE version should be up early tomorrow. It's high on my list of priorities. Battery life between the two is about the same, so no worries in that department.

If you want, go ahead and install mint-fluxbox-dropbox, then manually run "dropbox-init" and then add "dropbox" to your autostart file. The package is desktop independent, it just doesn't yet show up in the LXDE menu.

I too am a fan of dropbox and as it happens one of the things I have been trying out today is to get this running automatically on fluxbox. By trial and error I found out that if you want it to autostart then you need to add "dropbox start" (without the quotes) to ~/.fluxbox/startup not just "dropbox". It may be different on LXDE I am not sure, but the original title mentions Fluxbox so I thought it worth mentioning.

[palmito_bom]

Kendall, I tried your dropbox instructions to a detail on Mint LXDE and the script ran and the Dropbox intro system ran and supposedly added the dropbox directly to my home folder but I can't find the dropbox directory + files and dropbox program itself is not autostarting even though it's in the startup sequence. Maybe this will need something LXDE specific?

[Kendall]

By trial and error I found out that if you want it to autostart then you need to add "dropbox start" (without the quotes) to ~/.fluxbox/startup not just "dropbox".

If you just add "dropbox" then it will terminate the process when the startup script is finished running. You can run this as a background process by using "dropbox &" as was mentioned earlier in the thread. Regarding LXDE,

Kendall, I tried your dropbox instructions to a detail on Mint LXDE and the script ran and the Dropbox intro system ran and supposedly added the dropbox directly to my home folder but I can't find the dropbox directory + files and dropbox program itself is not autostarting even though it's in the startup sequence. Maybe this will need something LXDE specific?

Where did you add it to the startup processes at?

[palmito_bom]

I found my dropbox folder, it had been placed in root (I guess I used sudo when I ran dropbox), though I moved it back to the home folders it has locked permissions as if it were in root.

autostart information:
/home/MYUSERNAME/.config/autostart

[Desktop Entry]
Comment=early implement
Name=Dropbox
Exec=/usr/bin/dropbox
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true

[Kendall]

Open as root /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart and add "@dropbox" on a new line. Make sure you leave an empty line below everything else in the file. LXDE and Fluxbox don't use the same type of autostart procedures as Gnome does so to make it work you have to edit text files.

[viking777]

If you just add "dropbox" then it will terminate the process when the startup script is finished running. You can run this as a background process by using "dropbox &" as was mentioned earlier in the thread

Hmm that doesn't work for me, but then again neither did my solution today (it worked yesterday!).
I have tried
dropbox &
dropbox start &
"dropbox start" &

Sometimes it starts, sometimes it doesn't

Not a big deal really but it would be nice to not have to start it manually.

EDIT. Started it four times so far today and it had only failed once (the first boot). Using

Code: Select all

dropbox start &

[palmito_bom]

Any updates on the Universal (all mint versions) dropbox installer? I'm starting to get dropbox withdrawal symptoms

[Kendall]

Any updates on the Universal (all mint versions) dropbox installer? I'm starting to get dropbox withdrawal symptoms

Clem has the package, but right now 110% of the teams efforts are focused on trying to gather info on Husse.