problems with fluxbox

Adel Ahmed · Veteran Joined: 21 Sep 2012 Posts: 1523

I'm a gnome user and I'm trying out fluxbox, I start flux and the gnome-panel(I need that panel

)
I have 2 problems so far:
1- the places and system menu are working but the application menu isn't working
2- alt tab simply switches between tabs, I need to preview the tabs before I switch(alt-tab behaviour in gnome)

thanks

audiodef · Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 3:46 pm Post subject:

Well, option 2 simply does not happen in Fluxbox. However, you can try superswitcher. I used to use it, but it stopped working for me, and since I didn't care all that much, I never tracked down why. But it's supposed to give you that little preview when alt-tabbing.

In Fluxbox, your applications menu is shown by either right-clicking on the desktop, or assigning a key combo in ~/.fluxbox/keys. I usually make it alt-F1, but you can make it whatever you want. If you make it alt-F1, make sure you comment out or reassign the existing alt-F1, which pops up xterm (if it's installed).

To automatically populate the Fluxbox applications menu, you have to manually run fluxbox-generate-menu. This doesn't catch everything, though, so I just manually add to ~/.fluxbox/menu when I install things. It's easy and gives me a menu exactly the way I want it.

Fluxbox is very nice, with a shallow learning curve. If you're looking for something more minimal, keep in mind you'll do a little more self-maintenance - but Fluxbox is a good foot-in-the-door for people wanting to try out more lightweight and minimal environments.
_________________
decibel Linux: https://decibellinux.org
Github: https://github.com/Gentoo-Music-and-Audio-Technology
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decibellinux
Discord: https://discord.gg/73XV24dNPN

Adel Ahmed · Veteran Joined: 21 Sep 2012 Posts: 1523

thanks
that was helpful
however, I need the gnome panel to be fully funcitonal

FastTurtle · Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 2:12 am Post subject:

you need to cd into .fluxbox and edit startup using nano or what ever editor you prefer.

simply add

Adel Ahmed · Veteran Joined: 21 Sep 2012 Posts: 1523

well I've done that but so far I can't get the applications menu to run

ecko · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 04 Jul 2010 Posts: 99

In principle you do not need a menu button since fluxbox will open its menu by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop. If it does not happen on your system, check your ~/.fluxbox/keys and add the line

Adel Ahmed · Veteran Joined: 21 Sep 2012 Posts: 1523

I appreciate the help, but I just need to get the gnome panel menus working

ecko · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 04 Jul 2010 Posts: 99

So I entered “emerge gnome-panel” (=gnome-base/gnome-panel-2.30.5-r1) ; it compiled 26 packages in ≈ 5 min. I type “gnome-panel” in a terminal. There is an Applications menu in top-left corner, when I press it an empty list opens. The empty list is not very visible when the panel is horizontal, so I put the top panel on the left and I can see better that there is an empty menu list opening.

I never used gnome-* before so I do not know how to configure the Applications menu. However according to https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Using_GNOME/Application_menus it should get entries from /usr/share/applications/, which it obviously fails to do.

EDIT:
I think there is no reason to think it could be fluxbox. I also tried in failsafe/twm and result is the same. Maybe gnome-panel needs some additional process to be able to fill the Application menu.

Adel Ahmed · Veteran Joined: 21 Sep 2012 Posts: 1523

yup that is correct, the panel fails under other wms and DEs
Ill try looking up any daemons that are running in gnome and startup scripts that might have something to do with populating the menu