Re: Can I be enlightened? Is this the place?

Mark,

I am on Debian with lightdm as the display manager, gmrun as the launcher.  I don't think which distro it is matters, Fluxbox is going to work fine on any of them.

I don't think you have to worry about stability either, I have several window managers installed, you just pick whichever you wish to start from, the lightdm startup screen.

However, if you want to be completely secure why not create another account.  This will be insulated from the regular one, have its own home directory, and you can play with window managers in it.

There will be nothing to see in a screenshot with Fluxbox.  My display at the moment has only a totally blank light grey screen with the mail client open in it.  Oh, and a toolbar at the bottom.  This is how it always looks.

This is what I like about Fluxbox, it is hardly visible as a thing in itself, it just gives access to the applications.

I have tried in the past many of the more common and some of the rarer Linux desktops.  I don't get on with tiling window managers, they are just too much work and too intrusive.  I used to use Gnome 2, quite liked it, and have installed its successor, Mate, for some people, who get along with it fine, but it too is too intrusive for everyday long term use.  I thought Gnome 3 and Cinammon were disasters.  Like the current version of KDE, and like Win 10 in native mode.  I don't think in terms of activities but applications.   

The only thing I want from the desktop is for it to shut up, get out of the way, and let me get on with my work, and nothing I have tried does this as well as Fluxbox.

I didn't finish on Tabs, sorry.  You can get a full explanation here:

http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docbook/en/fluxbox-docs.html

The only thing of this that I use is center click and drag to combine two app windows.

I think you have to decide if an almost invisible window manager is for you.  Its very different from the conventional Windows/Mac/Gnome/KDE model which are all more or less in your face the whole time.  It may not be right for you.  But the way in is to realize that it is deliberately not going to do or supply much of what the conventional ones do, because that's what the FB user positively does not want and is seeking to escape from.

Peter


On Sun, 13 Feb 2022 20:10:41 -0500
Mark Filipak <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hello Peter.
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to explain.
> 
> On 2022-02-13 09:26, Peter wrote:
> > If it helps, this is how to use Fluxbox.  Or rather, how I use it.
> > 
> > You have to begin by recognising it is not using the Mac/Windows model at all.  Its completely different.  
> 
> Good.
> 
> > In that model your main view on startup is, you have a desktop, and this usually has a mixture of launcher icons and files and folders.  Its actually just another file manager view, but this is maybe not all that obvious to Mac and Windows users.  This is supposed to mimic an actual desktop electronically.
> > 
> > Cinnamon, Mate, Gnome, KDE all follow this model, though with multiple virtual desktops.
> > 
> > You open applications in any one desktop and they are layered one behind the other, with the active one on top.  There is a task bar which allows you to switch between them.  Pretty soon you are in the middle of royal clutter.  Like a traditional office desktop in fact.  
> 
> Ah, so Fluxbox is a task switcher. I generally never see my desktop. Windows are full screen and I 
> use the taskbar to switch between them.
> 
> > To use Fluxbox productively, at least the way I use it, you have to abandon the concept of the traditional desktop as found starting with the original Mac OS.  If that's what you want, Fluxbox is the wrong choice.  With Fluxbox your home screen will be blank, with a task bar at the bottom or wherever, and nothing else on it.  
> 
> Yeah, I don't give a damn for eyecandy: wallpaper and the like.
> 
> > Your first easy way to open applications will be right click and navigate the menu.  However a much better supplement is to set them up as keyboard short cuts.  You edit ~/.bashrc appropriately to set them up.
> > 
> > Now the question is how to use the apps as you open them.  The first and natural way will be have them all one behind the other.  The second way, when you get tired of the bother and clutter this gives, is to have each one on a different desktop.  Fluxbox will come with four configured, but you can add as many as you want.  I use 6, some use a lot more.
> > 
> > But this will not always be optimal either.  Say you're working on a paper and need a browser open to check references, or a spreadsheet for modelling calculations.  Its a bit tedious to hop from desktop to desktop.  And you may have multiple projects on the go at once, each of which uses a mixture of different applications at the same time.
> > 
> > The way you deal with this is to have each project on a different desktop, but to use the tabbing feature to make the different applications into tabs of one window.
> > 
> > You might, for instance, be working on a revised draft of a document.  Have the original open in one tab, and the new version in another, and tab between them.  
> 
> I seem to vaguely remember a product from the 1980s that was like that. It wasn't desqview because 
> desqview wasn't a GUI. Perhaps it was from IBM -- OSX?
> 
> > You find as you get used to this that there is no need for a traditional desktop.  In fact, it gets in the way.  Use a decent file manager, I like PCManFM, keep it open on one desktop if you like, and you'll find it much easier to work this way.  The file views, dual pane mode, and ability to move files around is far greater.
> > 
> > Don't look for a desktop environment to bolt on to Fluxbox.  The whole point of it is that you do not need one and in fact, they just get in the way.
> > 
> > Well, this is how I do it!  Hope this helps.
> > 
> > Peter
> > 
> > Fluxbox has two features which lead to a completely different way of working.  The first is that it lets you put multiple applications into tabs in the same window, on the  
> 
> Too bad. I would have liked to read what you had in mind.
> 
> Are there any pictures of what you present here? I did watch a YouTube video but it was silent and I 
> didn't know what/why the presenter was clicking things -- it looked like random motion -- so the 
> video lost all meaning.
> 
> Well, I did want to try Linux editions other than Mint, and I am running them in vboxes (Win10 
> Host), so I'll create a test VM and try Fluxbox in that. In your experience, what would be the Linux 
> distro for that, vis-a-vis reliability? I just finished a huge video architecture project, so I 
> guess I can afford to engage in some "playtime".
> 
> Thanks again,
> Mark Filipak.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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