OpenBox Installation and Customization

Hello colleagues, today I bring you a simple guide on how to install and configure Openbox. For many it is against known, but it never hurts to have it at hand.

First and foremost we are going to install a few things that we will need. This guide will be focused on the installation of OpenBox and not the base system.

We begin:

sudo pacman -S openbox obconf obmenu oblogout tint2 xcompmgr

open box: It is the WindowsManager to install.
obconf: It is the OpenBox configuration wizard, it will be quite useful.
Obmenu: It is a gui to configure the Openbox Menu. If not, we can do it by hand.
oblogout: By default, OpenBox does not bring more than the «Close Session» to shut down, this will be our best option.
tint2: OpenBox does not have a panel where you can see the open windows and the applications on the tray. This is my favorite.
xcompmgr: As its name implies, it is a manager of compositions. Shadows, transparencies, etc.

Once installed, copy the OpenBox configuration files to our home (~ /)

If the folder does not exist, just do:

mkdir ~/.config/openbox/

And later:

cp /etc/xdg/openbox/{menu.xml,autostart,rc.xml} ~/.config/openbox/{menu.xml,autostart,rc.xml}

You have to be clear about what each of these files is for.

menu.xml : It is the file that configures the OpenBox Menu (right click on desktop). From there you can launch applications or scripts, for example.

rc.xml : It is the main configuration file of OpenBox, from it the actions of the keys, the visual aspect of the same, among other things, are configured.

autostart: As its name indicates, from here applications that we define at the beginning of the session will be launched. Like for example conky or tint2.

To launch it we have two options. Add it to ~ / .xinitrc for Slim or from some other Session Manager like KDM or GDM.

Editing ~ / .xinitrc (Slim), we add the line:

exec openbox-session

We save and close.

Since KDM is 'automatic' and no need to add any lines.

With the new Arch installation, it should be remembered that daemons are no longer used in rc.conf but are launched via systemctl.

systemctl enable kdm.service o systemctl enable slim.service

It is done. We already have the files copied, and we can also launch it with Slim or KDM (or GDM, etc). Right now, if we enter OpenBox, we will only see the mouse pointer, and the gray background.

Let's start with the basic settings.

OpenBox menu

Optionally, we can create the OpenBox menu with MenuMaker. The latter, what it does is make a reading of all the programs installed in our system and add them to our menu.

sudo pacman -S menumaker

And then just create it in the following way.

mmaker OpenBox3 -f -t (Here you must put the terminal emulator chosen by you)

In my case it was:

mmaker OpenBox3 -f -t rxvt

It is worth clarifying that the option '-f' is to overwrite the menu.xml that we copied before.

If not, there is always the option to do it by hand or with the Obmenu gui. To do it by hand, we simply open the file

menu.xml with nano or leafpad and Edit.

The syntax of it is quite simple.

<*item label="NetBeans"*> <*action name="Execute"*>
<*execute*>netbeans<*/execute*>
<*/action*> <*/item*>

In the first line, the name of the program is located, in the following the command to be executed.

If not, the other option is Obmenu. It is very simple and I do not think it is necessary to explain much.

Well, we've come a long way.

Now it only remains to customize it.

GTK themes.

To handle GTK themes, I like to use lxappearance since OpenBox doesn't have any of these tools out of the box. GTK themes can be downloaded from different websites such as deviantart.com and gnome-look.org.

We install with:

sudo pacman -S lxappearance

The GTK themes, we must unzip them in the Themes folder of our Home (~ / .themes /).

That's a screenshot of my already customized Lxappearance with a theme.

Icons

These can also be downloaded from DeviantArt, from Gnome-Look or from the AUR, with the same Lxappearance we can set them. These should be placed in /usr/share/icons/

Wallpapers

I personally use Nitrogen to manage the Wallpapers. We proceed to install it:

sudo pacman -S nitrogen

So that the wallpaper is defined in each login, then we will add a command to the OpenBox autostart.

Mouse cursor.

From LxAppearance itself we can configure the mouse pointer. Also from the aforementioned websites we can download pointer themes, or from the ArchLinux AUR.

Startup applications: AutoStart.

Personally, I don't like to load the Openbox autostart much, I have the feeling that the less things open, the faster the environment starts.

Here we will add some applications such as Conky, xcompmgr and others.

Among others, some example lines could be:

nitrogen --restore & << Esta linea indica que Nitrogen repone el wallpaper al inicio.

conky & << Auto inicia Conky.

Here is an example of my autostart:

http://paste.desdelinux.net/4562

Key binding.

The configuration of the keys has a fairly simple scheme: It is in ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml in the Keybinds section.

<*keybind key="Alt-F2"*>
<*action namoe="Execute"*>
<*command*>gmrun<*/command*>
<*/action*>
<*/keybind*>

In the first line, there is the series of keys to use, in the second the name of the action and in the third line, the action itself.

When in doubt, and to make things easier, I leave my key configuration, where GmRun is already configured as an application launcher, the multimedia keys, and the keys to control the brightness on the screen, among many others.

http://paste.desdelinux.net/4563

Panel

Like I said before, I personally prefer Tint2. I find it very light and aesthetic.

We add it to the OpenBox autostart through:

tint2 &

There are many configurations of it. Meanwhile I leave you the one I use. Thanks to ~ leodelacruz on DeviantArt.

http://paste.desdelinux.net/4564

They should copy it and save it as tint2rc in ~/.config/tint2/

Transparencies and Shadows.

I really like the simplicity of xcompmgr. That is why I recommend it. Everyone can configure it as they like best.
We add it to autostart with

xcompmgr &

File manager.

Here everyone can (And as at any time in this guide) use what they like the most or convenient. I like the simplicity of pcmanfm.

We install it with:

sudo pacman -S pcmanfm

Exit, Restart or Shutdown

Last but not least is the shutdown. As I said before, OpenBox only brings the "Close session" by default.

We solve it with Oblogout.

We can add it to the OpenBox menu, or from our preferred launcher.

And well, for now that's all .. Each one is the owner of doing things according to their desire and / or tastes .. I hope it will be useful ..

Once finished, it might look like this:

Greetings.

Ivan!