Status of LMDE Fluxbox?

[jeffreyC]

I rarely check the Mint homepage, it runs my cpu 100%, so I had not seen that.
Another bad sign for Mint Fluxbox.
Oh well, it looks like DIY time.

[nunol]

I think theres is another explanation: on the Mint homepage there are only 5 slots for Mint releases. Mint 9 Fluxbox just lost it's slot to Mint XFCE. But, I could be wrong...

[jeffreyC]

It was there before along with all the others.
Now it is not.

[shadethechangingman]

Hello !
There is some news ?
I'm an happy user of the Fluxbox edition and I also like the Debian base
Excuseme for the question ...

[nunol]

You can always install Fluxbox over LMDE or Mint XFCE: viewtopic.php?f=142&t=68116#p405896

[jeffreyC]

I keep seeing that suggested, it would seem that the feeling is that there will not be a Mint Fluxbox release, so you should just go make your own.

[paolone]

You can always install Fluxbox over LMDE or Mint XFCE: viewtopic.php?f=142&t=68116#p405896

I'm also interested in a fluxbox desktop . May I ask if there is a specific how to for create a fluxbox desktop from another mint edition ?

[viking777]

You can always install Fluxbox over LMDE or Mint XFCE: viewtopic.php?f=142&t=68116#p405896

I'm also interested in a fluxbox desktop . May I ask if there is a specific how to for create a fluxbox desktop from another mint edition ?

You don't need one, it is so easy!

Just install fluxbox, plus any dependencies it requires (you might want fluxconf as well although I think that is optional).

Then copy ~/.fluxbox and ~/.mint-fm2 folders from a working fluxbox installation.

Then log out and log in again changing the to the fluxbox desktop instead of Gnome/KDE.

You are done!

Edit. That might not give you wallpaper straight away so you have to do:

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wpsetters=feh    fbsetbg  /path/to/your/wallpaper.jpg

Of course in order for that to work both feh and fbsetbg have to be installed.

[paolone]

Thanks Viking777 !
I follow your istructions and all work very well ... I have only few questions:

1.how can I add tint2 , ibus and dropbox to the autostart ?
2.how can I close/reboot the notebook ? If I press exit (esci in italian) from the menu nothing happen I need to use the terminal
3. how can I use nitrogen to change the wallpaper ? I have installed it and it works, but after the reboot I see the original wallpaper

Thanks for your help

[viking777]

Thanks Viking777 !
I follow your istructions and all work very well ... I have only few questions:

1.how can I add tint2 , ibus and dropbox to the autostart ?
2.how can I close/reboot the notebook ? If I press exit (esci in italian) from the menu nothing happen I need to use the terminal
3. how can I use nitrogen to change the wallpaper ? I have installed it and it works, but after the reboot I see the original wallpaper

Thanks for your help

Q1) The technique for adding anything to autostart is the same you edit ~/.flxbox/startup like this:

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tint2 &

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ibus &

Although I don't use tint2 or ibus so I can't tell you if those two programs definitely work.

For Dropbox I needed to put:

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dropbox start &

And that does definitely work because I do use that.

Q2) I had trouble with that as well, somewhere in the hundreds of thousands of posts on this forum Kendall did tell me how it should be done, but I can't find that post, if you want to do an advanced search with his username and a suitable search term you might find it, otherwise you could copy my alternative solution which is to edit ~/.fluxbox/menu to remove the shutdown commands it contains and add these instead:

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[exec] (Logout) {skill -KILL -u yourusername} <>
[exec] (Reboot) {/sbin/reboot} <>
[exec] (Shutdown) {/sbin/halt} <>


You then have to execute the setuid bit on the last two commands like this:

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sudo chmod 4711 /sbin/reboot
sudo chmod 4711 /sbin/halt

You should know however that there are some people that regard this as a security risk. If it is then it is very minimal in my opinion, I have about 50 files with the setuid bit on only two of which I have set myself.

Q3). In reality I have no idea, I have never used Nitrogen. As a guess I would suggest that you open ~/.fluxbox/lastwallpaper and change the wallpaper setter to 'nitrogen' and the address of the wallpaper to the one you wish to use

[Kendall]

I got a little discouraged about LMDE Fluxbox when Ikey left as the mint-fm3 code went with him (it was supposed to be a mint-fm2 rewrite in Python for sysvinit). Anyway, this rewrite still needs to happen and I'm a little bogged down at the moment. Putting together the .iso file is simple, putting together all the little bits and pieces to make it all work together is a little less so. Essentially I haven't put the time into it that it needs, but I'm not laying the project down by any means. I'm not half the coder Ikey was, but I will make a strong attempt to get the menu as situated as possible in a proper Python/sysvinit fashion...unless someone feels like rewriting it in C or C++ (hint, hint).

[viking777]

I got a little discouraged about LMDE Fluxbox when Ikey left as the mint-fm3 code went with him (it was supposed to be a mint-fm2 rewrite in Python for sysvinit). Anyway, this rewrite still needs to happen and I'm a little bogged down at the moment. Putting together the .iso file is simple, putting together all the little bits and pieces to make it all work together is a little less so. Essentially I haven't put the time into it that it needs, but I'm not laying the project down by any means. I'm not half the coder Ikey was, but I will make a strong attempt to get the menu as situated as possible in a proper Python/sysvinit fashion...unless someone feels like rewriting it in C or C++ (hint, hint).

Jeeez man you have nothing to apologise for, you have made a tremendous contribution to Mint and Fluxbox, I wouldn't be using Flux now if it wasn't for the stuff you have already produced and I can't thank you enough for it, you single handedly saved me from the horrors of KDE4 and for that you deserve a medal If you need a rest from Mint Fluxbox then take it - as long as you like, maybe you could occasionally pop up and help out with those that want to install flux on top of a different base install, but if anybody ever accuses you of not pulling your weight around here, just give me the details and I will go round and sort them out for you

[paolone]

@Kendall:
Thanks for your hard work, I wish you all the best

@Viking777:
Thanks for your kindly answer.
I find there is some conflict in my LMDE fce between Openbox and Fluxbox.
I leave for some time because I need a stable system on this machine

Thanks for all

[phngcv]

I got a little discouraged about LMDE Fluxbox when Ikey left as the mint-fm3 code went with him (it was supposed to be a mint-fm2 rewrite in Python for sysvinit). Anyway, this rewrite still needs to happen and I'm a little bogged down at the moment. Putting together the .iso file is simple, putting together all the little bits and pieces to make it all work together is a little less so. Essentially I haven't put the time into it that it needs, but I'm not laying the project down by any means. I'm not half the coder Ikey was, but I will make a strong attempt to get the menu as situated as possible in a proper Python/sysvinit fashion...unless someone feels like rewriting it in C or C++ (hint, hint).

Hi Kendall,

Which part of the menu are you working on? Can you post the links here? I have had experiences in C/C++ for 5 years and although I am pretty new to Linux (~2 yrs) I might still be able to somehow contribute to your project... Can you post the links of what you are working on here?

[xazax]

Also ju1ius has worked on mint-menu. Maybe you should contact him if he have some time to help you out.

Ikey also did some work, can't you get his code and continue it?

[string-serenade]

Hi Kendall,
the importance of a LMDE Fluxbox edition is great.
Linux Mint was (is?) the only great linux distribution with Fluxbox as default WM!

[Gnarly]

Man I sure wished I had the time to learn to code. Although I do Multiboot Mint KDE, Win7 and several other Distros, Mint Fluxbox has always been my Favorite! I believe Shane helped out on the other community releases, and im sure that Kendal does also. Where are the other people from those editions, and could they not help Kendal out with my Beloved Fluxbox??????????????????? Anyway hopefully it will come sometime soon. I do have AntiX installed and it is very nice but its still not MINT!

[M_Mynaardt]

Actually the decision was to drop Mint 10 Fluxbox altogether in favor of the Debian spin. I have a base image that's reasonably functional at the moment, but I'm having to rebuild a lot of packages. Honestly I haven't touched it in a couple of weeks as my job has been taking up a lot of my time and I have some web development projects that I need to get off of my plate as soon as possible. Hopefully heavy development can resume in two or three weeks and I can make a big push to start getting everything situated for a public release.

I would rather be putting in more hours here at Mint, but I do have to make sure I can pay my bills. When I changed careers a few months ago it made a rather vicious cut into the amount of time I have to do distro development. My last job let me work on dev stuff in my downtime, and this one will not allow me to do the same (though I do get some time to mess around in the forums).

Those "jobs" and "bills" things always get in the way of having fun, don't they?

I myself would be interested in a Debian Fluxbox once available!

[Kendall]

Current DEV .iso file status:

001 - GDM theme is completely generic except for the mouse cursor.
002 - Menu having an issue with .desktop files that provide more than one entry with the same "Exec=" line.
003 - Some program/file associations are incorrect.
004 - Some minor issues getting volume management in Thunar set up the way I like.
005 - Thumbnails are not working in Thunar at all.
006 - The system tray volume icon/app I used last time is not working at all.
007 - I still need to build some of the required lower level Mint packages and integrate them.

Plus I'm sure I'll find a few more things before it's all said and done. On a good note, she's rocking fm3, gtk-logout, tint2, and a few other goodies. Also, "tap to click" works by default, unlike the other Debian based Mint editions.

[edv]

Thank you for the update. I believe it will be one sexy desktop
Can't wait to try it on my netbook