Attention!: Before installing open box, you must install the Basic Graphic Environment (Xorg) and video driver, if you don't have it installed, go to the following guide:
Installation of Basic Graphic Environment and Video Driver.
Openbox is a lightweight, highly configurable window manager with wide compatibility with standards.
Openbox installation
Openbox is available from the official repositories.
$ sudo pacman -S openbox
Once installed, we must copy the files rc.xml, menu. Xml, autostart y environment from default configuration to ~ / .config / openbox /.
To copy the files:
$ mkdir -p ~ / .config / openbox $ cp / etc / xdg / openbox / {rc.xml,menu.xml,autostart,environment} ~ / .config / openbox
These files are the base of your configuration in openbox. Each file targets a single aspect of the configuration and serves the following roles:
rc.xml: It is the main Openbox configuration file. It is used to configure keyboard shortcuts, themes, virtual desktops, other properties.
menu.xml: Control the Openbox applications menu that appears when you right-click on the desktop.
autostart: This is the file that is read when you start the openbox session. Contains the programs that will start with the session. typically it is used to launch panels / docks, set the background image or run scripts at startup.
environment: This file sets the variables for the Openbox environment. Any set variables will be executed at each login. Used to start IMEs, export language modules, indicate the default directory and so on.
Plugin Installation
ObConf: is a graphical interface tool for configuring Openbox, which can set most of the preferences including themes, virtual desktops, window properties, and desktop margins.
$ sudo pacman -S obconf
MenuMaker: is a powerful tool that creates XML-based menus for a number of window managers, including Openbox. MenuMaker will search for executable programs that are installed on your computer and create an XML menu based on the results.
$sudo pacman -S menumaker
Tint2: Basic and customizable usage panel.
$sudo pacman -S tint2
To start Tin2 at the start of the environment:
We open our file ~ / .config / openbox /autostart.sh o .xinitrc (just choose one), for example .xinitrc:
$ dwarf .xinitrc
We place the following line inside:
tint2 &
Applet for Networkmanager.
$ sudo pacman -S network-manager-applet
nitrogen: is a fast and lightweight wallpaper browser / setter for X.
$sudo pacman -S nitrogen
To restore our background to the start of Openbox, we add Nitrogen to our file .xinitrc or to our ~ / .config / openbox / fileautostart.sh, we open either of the two, for example .xinitrc:
$ dwarf .xinitrc
Once inside, we put the following line at the end:
nitrogen --restore &
lxappearance a tool for selecting themes, icons, cursors, fonts. In short, it is a highly recommended tool for customizing the environment.
$sudo pacman -Slxappearance
Slim startup manager:
$sudo pacman -S thin
Environment settings
This is the part of the guide let's say more "entertaining" since as I had said before, open box It is one of the most configurable environments, in this step we use the previously installed tools.
obconf:
We open the tool to see and / or activate the functions already mentioned:
$ obconf
MenuMaker:
Once installed, you can generate a full menu by running:
$ maker -v OpenBox3
By default, MenuMaker will not overwrite a previous menu.xml file. To do so, run it with the -f (force) argument:
$ maker -vf OpenBox3
For a full list of options, run
$ maker --help
This will provide you with a fairly comprehensive menu. Now you can modify the file menu.xml by hand, or just regenerate the list when you install new software.
Another alternative, especially if you don't like to edit XML files:
Obmenu is a graphical editor for the Openbox menu. For those of you who don't really like fiddling with XML, this is probably the best option for you.
Themes and appearance
This is the last step to have our environment finished.
The themes of open box control the appearance of window borders, including the title bar and its buttons as well as notifications (OSD). A number of themes are available by installing the openbox-themes package.
$ sudo pacman -S openbox-themes
box-look is a great resource for getting topics from open box.
The downloaded themes should be placed in ~ / .themes and can be installed or selected with the tool ObConf (previously installed).
Activate login manager
Slim reads local settings from ~ / .xinitrc and then start the desktop according to what is in this file, in the guide: Arch Linux Basic Configuration There is a base file for .xinitrc, in case you don't have it, perform the following command:
$ cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~
We open our ~ / .xinitrc file:
$ dwarf .xinitrc
We add our environment at the end:
exec openbox-session
We activate Slim:
$ sudo systemctl enable slim.service
• We restart:
$ sudo reboot
Once our system is restarted, we can enjoy openbox.
Please! send your problems / doubts in my email: arch-blog@riseup.net
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Very good guide, but keep insisting with slim, it is giving problems with systemd and it would be better to install lightdm and another startup manager.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Display_manager#Incompatibility_with_systemd
Much reason in what you say, it is more at the end of Wiki shows the following:
Incompatibility with systemd
Affected DMs: Entrance, MDM, SDDM, SLiM
Some display managers are not fully compatible with systemd, because they reuse the PAM session process. It causes various problems on second login, eg:
- NetworkManager applet does not work,
- PulseAudio volume cannot be adjusted,
- login failed into GNOME with another user.
That is precisely why he put the link panchomora ..
Now, as a Slim and Openbox user..I have no problem .. ..even the nm-applet enumeration, which I use .. but if we go back to the bug report..it was written a few years ago ..
I also use PulseAudio .. and at least using pavucontrol as manager .. I have no problems with the volume .. and even when I restart, the volume remains at the same value as it was left ..
And the last bug, name with the use of Gnome .. and in this case we are using Openbox as WM-standalone ..
I installed openbox a long time ago, but I did not like it since I had to edit everything by hand, I know that you can customize more thoroughly, but what virtues does it have compared to other environments and desktops?
It is true what you say, you have to edit many things but in my opinion there comes a time when you no longer have to do so much and you have the advantages of a window manager in terms of performance. In general, window managers are usually like Openbox where you have to edit a lot of files, on the other hand, graphic environments are usually more complete and bring many things by default.
Excellent contribution. the truth my congratulations for giving you this time to share your knowledge. Waiting for the pantheon environment!
regards
When it finished installing everything it did not show errors but when restarting it after the loggia it shows everything black, nothing appears
There is something wrong?
Very well done and explained. Congratulations on sharing your knowledge. Thank you.
when I put this cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~ it tells me that the file does not exist
You just have to create the file, because it doesn't exist, and voila, you add the content and that's it. But for sure, you skipped some previous step of the basic configuration https://blog.desdelinux.net/configuracion-basica-de-arch-linux/
How about my good tutorial friend, I have followed all the steps and it shows me the login to start the session, then I enter and it only shows me three xterm terminals, a not very nice clock and a background image, but the problem is that it does not show me the panel of tint2, and if I add it to the .xinitrc file and I don't know what the problem is. I would really appreciate your help.
Great! Thanks a lot!
Hello, I have a query: I have installed Archbang, how can I make the Openbox menu in Spanish? (I know you can because before reinstalling it, wanting to put the keyboard in Spanish, I modified something in the terminal and the menu language was modified, but I don't remember what I did).