Release Switch GUI: Openbox

[dsleaf67]

I just download the newest version. I did the install but nothing changed for me. How do I uninstall and / or reinstall to get new features?


There's no option in pnd to uninstall / upgrade etc?


Edit: Sorry, disreguard as this was my fault. I had pnd in an install folder (where I also keep things like timidy installer and the codec pack). I used the directory panel in mini menu to browse to that folder and reinstall things that I only needed after reflash etc.


Problem is running from there must only run app#0 which I assume is the background chooser not the installer.

 

[freamon]

Where do I have to save themes I downloaded?

If the themes are archived as an .obt file, you can save them anywhere, and navigate to the file from Config Manager (obconf). If not, then they need to go in /usr/share/themes - there's loads in there by default (mostly from XFCE) - Openbox themes are in /usr/share/themes/THEME_NAME/openbox-3/, and GTK+ themes are in /usr/share/themes/THEME_NAME/gtk-2.0.

The only thing that I dislike about this is that when you open the menu, the PND menu opens automatically when highlighted, and it takes such a long time to open that it feels like I'm getting stuck on my way down to one of the other root options.


...


I just timed the PND submenu - stalls the OS for just over 3 seconds while it builds. Subsequent openings of the PND menu are instant, unless the menu is closed - on re-opening, it stalls again.

This is the kind of thing I don't notice, because I don't have that many PNDs installed. One thing you can try is to have the PND menu running in the background, rather than starting up each time you press the Pandora button. To do this, edit the file /usr/bin/openbox-session (you'll need to open a terminal and type "sudo mousepad /usr/bin/openbox-session", and change

while [ ! $(ls -A $XDG_CACHE_HOME/menus/) ]

do

  openbox-menu /etc/xdg/menus/openbox-pnd.menu

done

into

#while [ ! $(ls -A $XDG_CACHE_HOME/menus/) ]

#do

# openbox-menu /etc/xdg/menus/openbox-pnd.menu

#done

( openbox-menu --persistent /etc/xdg/menus/openbox-pnd.menu ) &

The relevant bit starts at line 47. After saving the file, use Config -> Restart to restart Openbox. Does this improve things any? If it does, you'll also want to add "killall openbox-menu" to /usr/bin/openbox-exit so it isn't still running when you switch GUIs.

All I ask is an equality with XFCE - no more than that. And on my 256MB CC Panda, the menu does not pause

You can compare XFCE's menu and the PNDs menu at the same time by starting XFCE's panel from Openbox. To do this, toggle tint2 and warlock bar off, start a terminal and type

xfce4-panel &

I have the a 256MB CC Panda too. To me, it seems like XFCE's menu gives you an instant display of the categories, but a small pause before displaying the actual content of each category, and PNDs menu has a pause at the start, but fairly instant display of each category's contents. It would be possible to make the PNDs menu mimic the behaviour of XFCEs, but it seems like swings and roundabouts.

What would be nice is an automatic wBar configurator that mimics the PND submenu. That would rock.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? I don't understand ... my brain isn't working very well in this weather.

Edit: Also, a second press of the Pandora button doesn't remove the menu.

This is true. Should be fixable - I'll look into.

I need Alt+Up as it navigates to the previous directory in the file manager.


I need this a lot.


As the menu appears on the upper left (of the window), why not put it to "1". It's also on the upper left (of the keyboard) and very intuitive to use then.

This is a good idea. It's difficult to find keybindings that don't conflict with those in applications. If I'd known about Alt-Up's usage in the file manager, I use it a lot too.

SD mass-storage and certainly USB host are connectivity

"Connectivity" might not have been the right phrase - I meant "an area for getting online" I suppose (you know, for all those people who connect to the internet via bluetooth )

 

[JeanLouSchmidt]

There're logout script here: http://awesome.naquadah.org/wiki/ShutdownDialog, or here bbs.archbang.org/viewtopic.php?id=279

 

[Askarus]

I've made a nice rc.xml.


It makes navigating much more intuitive and doesn't interfere with important ALT shortcuts.


There might be some stuff I could add.


I'll upload it pretty soon this day.

 

[Askarus]

Here's my button configuration:


Short explanation first:


As ALT UP/DOWN is needed in file browser to navigate up/down I don't use it.


As ALT LEFT/RIGHT is used in FireFox to move back and forward I don't use it.


As CTRL is on Select and R (Shoulder button) there are 2 ways to press it. That's always good.


Shoulder button is reached pretty fast and Select is near Start(ALT) - that allows noce combinations with ALT.


SHIFT and D-Pad is bad because Shift may be used in Texteditors to move mark stuff without using the mouse.


Things I don't like in the default settings.


- ALT+DOWN navigates through windows/programs downwards but ALT+UP didn't navigate upwards. This is confusing. Cycling in only one direction is a nogo if the D-Pad is used.


- ALT +LEFT/RIGHT and CTRL+LEFT/RIGHT: One switches Desktops and one moves the open window to the selected desktop. It's confusing and I could never remember which one switched desktop and which one moved windows. That's also bad.


- Everything is on the D-Pad. I could never remember which button I had to press (ALT/CTRL/SHIFT) to get the effect I wanted.


- Important features of ALT (see above) are replaced by other features.


Here's my Solution:


Cycle through windows:


CTRL+UP: Previous Window


CTRL+Down: Next Window (ALT+DOWN by default and ALT+Tab in XFCE)


I also use:


ALT+Tab: Next Window


SHIFT+ALT+TAB: Previous Window


CTRL+ALT+Tab: Next Window


(Those combinations are for those who want to use the common desktop shortcuts)


Navigate through Desktop(s):


CTRL+RIGHT: Next Desktop


CTRL+LEFT: Previous Desktop


CTRL+ALT+RIGHT: Move to next Desktop


CTRL+ALT+LEFT: Move to previous Desktop


It's easy to remember and nice to use now.


Select lets you switch desktops and Start + Select lets you grab the open window and move it.


It's much more intuitive now, I think.


Keybinding for windows:


CTRL+1: Open Menu


CTRL+2: Roll up/Down


CTRL+3: Iconify/minimize


CTRL+4: Maximize/unmaximize


(Those 4 options are intuitive to use as they are in the same order as the icons of a window are)


CTRL+5: Toggle fullscreen


(Those 5 are for the left hand)


CTRL+9: Toggle show desktop


CTRL+0: Toggle fullsceen


(Those are for the right hand)


You reach this Shortcuts easy with R (shoulder button).


Keybindings for Menu:


CTRL+8: Show menu of all running programs and open windows. You may also add/delete desktops here


Also press R (shoulder button) here.


Keybindings for Warlockbar/Panel:


SHIFT+CTRL+UP: Toggle Panel


SHIFT+CTRL+DOWN: Toggle Warlockbar


That's it.


Include it in your next release if you want to.


Maybe you could upload it in the Wiki as well.


Thanks to "CountOrlock" for your layout. I copied the CTRL+8 menu out of your configurartion and thanks to you I didn't forget to include ToggleFullscreen in my .xml file.


Thanks to Freamon for fulfilling my requests in the past.





(rc.xml is the complete data, rc.Keybindungs.xml is only the keybindings section)


That was much!

 

[ZXDunny]

The only thing that I dislike about this is that when you open the menu, the PND menu opens automatically when highlighted, and it takes such a long time to open that it feels like I'm getting stuck on my way down to one of the other root options.


...


I just timed the PND submenu - stalls the OS for just over 3 seconds while it builds. Subsequent openings of the PND menu are instant, unless the menu is closed - on re-opening, it stalls again.

This is the kind of thing I don't notice, because I don't have that many PNDs installed. One thing you can try is to have the PND menu running in the background, rather than starting up each time you press the Pandora button. To do this, edit the file /usr/bin/openbox-session (you'll need to open a terminal and type "sudo mousepad /usr/bin/openbox-session", and change

while [ ! $(ls -A $XDG_CACHE_HOME/menus/) ]

do

openbox-menu /etc/xdg/menus/openbox-pnd.menu

done

into

#while [ ! $(ls -A $XDG_CACHE_HOME/menus/) ]

#do

# openbox-menu /etc/xdg/menus/openbox-pnd.menu

#done

( openbox-menu --persistent /etc/xdg/menus/openbox-pnd.menu ) &

The relevant bit starts at line 47. After saving the file, use Config -> Restart to restart Openbox. Does this improve things any? If it does, you'll also want to add "killall openbox-menu" to /usr/bin/openbox-exit so it isn't still running when you switch GUIs.

Unfortunately that results in my wallpaper settings getting lost (it's a tiled image that now appears in the middle of the screen), my wbar settings are lost (I set the tint panel to appear at the bottom and now wbar appears behind it!) and opening the menu with the pandora button results in an error!

Invalid output from pipe-menu "openbox-menu/etc/xdg/menus/openbox-pnd.menu"

D.

 

[freamon]

ZXDunny:


Re: centred wallpaper


The wallpaper application (Nitrogen) is app#1 in the PND (the installer is app#0) - it's not installed to NAND like the other bits due to library dependencies. In a typical Openbox setup, nitrogen would be used to choose the wallpaper, and the start-up script (openbox-session) would have "nitrogen --restore" to display it. I couldn't do that (short of always mounting the PND at start-up), so I just had the Nitrogen PND create a file called $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nitrogen-wallpaper with the contents "hsetroot -center [image]", and had the start-up script execute that if it existed. If I'd done it properly, I would have mapped the centred / tiled / stretched options from Nitrogen to the hsetroot command. I'll fix in the next update, but for now editing $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openbox/nitrogen-wallpaper to say "hsetroot -tile [iMAGE]" should display it correctly for you.


Re: wbar settings


These shouldn't have been affected (unless you edited /tmp/obcache/wbar.cfg rather than $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openbox/wbar_custom.cfg maybe?). wbar's config is auto-generated from wbar_custom.cfg + PNDs in pandora/apps or pandora/desktop, so changes to wbar_custom.cfg should be permanent (you can access it quickly via Root Menu -> Config -> Edit wbar-custom.cfg).


Re: PNDs menu breakage


You'll need amend /usr/bin/openbox-exit for it to work. Add a line "killall openbox-menu", and comment out the "rm $XDG_CACHE_HOME/menus/*" line.


===============


Askurus


Your keybindings are better than the current default. Using MODIFIER + number keys works well, I think.

 

[ZXDunny]

Re: PNDs menu breakage


You'll need amend /usr/bin/openbox-exit for it to work. Add a line "killall openbox-menu", and comment out the "rm $XDG_CACHE_HOME/menus/*" line.

Thanks, that fixed the error - you didn't mention commenting out the line in your previous instructions.


However, this has not fixed the delay - it's still there every time I open the menu, not just the first time which I would expect.


D.

 

[Askarus]

BUG:


I have some background picture that's bigger than then Pandora screen.


If I select it with the background manager and zoom it (last option) it's fine.


When I restart it isn't zoomed but original size.


Then I go into the background settings but the zoom is selected.


I don't have to change anything in the zoom settings. Simply press apply solves the problem.


Openbox remembers the settings but doesn't activate them.


Can you fix it or do I have to rework my background picture?


It's not in the default folder but on my home folder in NAND (I added a second path).


QUESTION:


Where can I adjust the position of the Warlock bar?


I only want to move it some pixels higher.


My idea is to have the panel where it is on XFCE and the Warlock bar above it. The Warlock bar will be hidden when working and only be activated if I want to launch something.


I don't want this to be default (it's good as it is now. Simply for fun. Maybe it's nice to use maybe ugly to use.


I have some more stuff but that's enough for now I think.

 

[freamon]

However, this has not fixed the delay - it's still there every time I open the menu, not just the first time which I would expect.

OK. I think I've found a way to speed it up. Please download this post's attachment and upzip it. copy "openbox-session" and "openbox-exit" into /usr/bin/ and copy "menu.xml" into $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openbox/ and then do Root Menu -> Config -> Restart.


EDIT: actually, it's better if you just change line 7 of $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openbox/menu.xml to match menu.xml in the attachment, otherwise you'll lose the "Text Editor" shortcut and any other changes you've made.

BUG:


Can you fix it or do I have to rework my background picture?

You have a similar issue as ZXDunny (he had a tiled wallpaper). I'll fix this in a future update, but for now, edit $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openbox/nitrogen-wallpaper and change "-center" to "-fill".

QUESTION:


Where can I adjust the position of the Warlock bar?


I only want to move it some pixels higher.

There's no option to do this, unfortunately. Positioning is a fairly basic top / bottom / left / right / center affair. It seems feasible to change the code to implement it though (there's a hard-coded Margin value) - I'll have a look.

update.zip

 

[ZXDunny]

However, this has not fixed the delay - it's still there every time I open the menu, not just the first time which I would expect.

OK. I think I've found a way to speed it up. Please download this post's attachment and upzip it. copy "openbox-session" and "openbox-exit" into /usr/bin/ and copy "menu.xml" into $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openbox/ and then do Root Menu -> Config -> Restart.


EDIT: actually, it's better if you just change line 7 of $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openbox/menu.xml to match menu.xml in the attachment, otherwise you'll lose the "Text Editor" shortcut and any other changes you've made.

Now I get an error for invalid input from /tmp/obcache/PNDs


D.

 

[freamon]

Now I get an error for invalid input from /tmp/obcache/PNDs

Oh. Did you copy openbox-session and openbox-exit into /usr/bin/? (I realise what I said in the edit was a bit ambiguous). If so, does it happen everytime? Does rebooting not fix it? Does the /tmp/obcache/PNDs file not exist?


I'll update the Installer PND at some point - I'll test it properly on a OS with loads of PNDs on it. It won't be for a few days though, 'cos I smashed my thumb open at work.

 

[Askarus]

Hey, if it's hard work to make the Warlock bar as configurable as I suggested leave it.


It's simply an idea.





If you want to do something make a menu option which disables all keybindings or lets switch you between different sets of keybindings.


If I start a flash game in Firefox and use the shoulder buttons I have some trouble if I use my keybindings as they switch through windows and desktop when R is pressed.


(That's the disadvantage of my setting)

 

[sixtyfifthbit]

Is there a way to scroll the Warlock bar? I have a lot of PNDs...

 

[freamon]

Is there a way to scroll the Warlock bar? I have a lot of PNDs...

Nope - it's just a simple, dock-like, application. You can try reducing the icon size and distance between them (Root Menu -> Config -> Edit wbar_custom.cfg, experiment with --isize and --idist, e.g. --isize 24 --idist 10, then save the file and do Root Menu -> Config -> Reload Warlock Bar).


The intention of it though is to give you quick access to your favourite applications, so if you got PNDs on there you don't use much, move them out of pandora/apps and into pandora/menu (and then wait for pndnotify to do its business, and then Reload).

 

[AnimatedFreak]

How do I uninstall it? It's not bad but after a while of use I missed Xfce and switched back. I don't really care to have it installed on the system anymore. I guess I need to type something in the Terminal or something cus I could not find a GUI to uninstall it. Only install it.

 

[freamon]

It's only a couple of megs, so I wouldn't worry too much about it if you don't like it.

But if you really want rid, you'll need to use opkg in a terminal:


sudo opkg remove gtk-chtheme gtk-engines lxterminal menu-cache obconf openbox-menu openbox tint2 wbar xprop
You'll also need to edit /etc/pandora/conf/gui.conf to manually remove the OpenBox entry.

 

[ZXDunny]

Would be great to have an uninstaller - I've been wanting to remove it also, as I no longer use it due to the sluggishness of the menu.

D.

 

[freamon]

I'll update this after the coding compo.

The update will have the menu running as a daemon so it's less sluggish, but they'll also be an uninstaller too.

 

[Askarus]

Will you include my shortcuts then?