MX-21 MX-Fluxbox

[Paul..]

@Jerry3904 @Adrian @dolphin_oracle et alia Dev Team...MX-21 FB is a fantastic bit of work! I haven't touched Fluxbox in a very long time, but this implementation is a Master Stroke. Congratulations to all.

Configuration is a dream-easy. It has been a long time since I've used Fluxbox, but I remember clearly seemingly endless hunt for configuration files to make customization changes. Your effort to provide 3-way redundancy for access to those changes is fabulous.

Desktop link to video is brilliant. Putting that link on every desktop really hits the nail on the head. Jerry, your simple and clear video focuses on the team's integration of the best of MX-21...the whole suite of MX Tools. Humble style and beautiful execution.

This is a home run, boys and girls. My hat is off to you all!

[Adrian]

Hey Paul, nice to see you around, I'm glad you like MX Fluxbox, it's Jerry's baby I didn't do much, but I do accept compliments

[Jerry3904]

Good to hear @Paul.., that means a lot to all of us that worked on it!

[mowest]

Came accross Amigo's forum post on his MX-Fluxbox logo variations again. I made some modifications to it and added further color combinations.
Wouldn't this make a really cool and modern logo for a next MX Fluxbox release?

I like the simplicity of this logo, and how it brings in the old Pyramids from the Simply Mepis days. It takes me back. Since I don't see our current MX-Fluxbox logo used a lot on the current MX website, it seems like a logo refresh would be okay. Fedora has a lot of history with their logo, and they recently refreshed it, within the last 6 months so it could be better distinguished from the Facebook logo, more versitility in color uses and web and printed materials. Thanks for sharing your variations, I enjoyed them.

[i_ri]

Code: Select all

demo@mx1:~
$ /usr/bin/apt-notifier-unhide-Icon
demo@mx1:~
$ 
(python3:217091): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:59:42.930: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "clearlooks",

(python3:217091): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:59:42.930: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "clearlooks",

in /scripts the /toggletint2 script gives this message
from the </usr/bin/apt-notifier-unhide-Icon> command.

[Jerry3904]

Just ignore it, everything runs anyway. If you search on the error message (always the first step...) you will see something like this:

this warning is harmless. It just means that your used gtk-theme may not be displayed as it is intended to look. This is most likely not even a loss in terms of functionality and for sure no risk of security or data loss.

[Jerry3904]

Trying a new window top look.
--Menu > Appearance > Style, click on "top." Set it to tab.
--Menu > Settings > Configure > Init, search for "tab.width" and change value to 150
Now the tab looks more reasonable to me. I can drag the window with a simple click-drag, but I have to use my key

Code: Select all

OnWindow Ctrl Mouse2 :WindowMenu

to see the window menu b/c right-click doesn't work on it.





I want now to return to the topic of grouping windows and see if there is something that would be actually useful for me there. In the early Fluxbox documents much is made of this feature and I would like to understand why...

[fehlix]

Code: Select all

demo@mx1:~
$ /usr/bin/apt-notifier-unhide-Icon
demo@mx1:~
$ 
(python3:217091): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:59:42.930: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "clearlooks",

(python3:217091): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:59:42.930: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "clearlooks",

in /scripts the /toggletint2 script gives this message
from the </usr/bin/apt-notifier-unhide-Icon> command.

To get rid of the harmless Gtk warning:

Code: Select all

sudo apt install gtk2-engines

HTH

[mowest]

I want now to return to the topic of grouping windows and see if there is something that would be actually useful for me there. In the early Fluxbox documents much is made of this feature and I would like to understand why...

Jerry, the grouping of windows is just another tool that can be used to increase productivity if you find it useful. I would look at grouping windows as in the same category of multiple workspaces or tiling window managers or using two physical monitors. What is the most efficient way for you to view the applications that you have open to get your work done. An example, where grouping windows was helpful to me, would be the creation of a new post for my blog when using my dual monitor set up.
On screen #1 I might have grouped together and full screen:
- Featherpad open and editing the markdown file
- A terminal open to the directory where I have the working files of my Hugo powered blog, so that I can run the hugo command at any time to rebuild my blog site or deploy my blog site to Github pages.
- Thunar open to the working directory where I have the graphics files for that blog article which is different from the working directoy for the blog because I only want the finished graphics files in that directory since they are uploaded to Github.

On screen #2 I might have grouped together and full screen:
- Firefox open to my website address so that I can refresh the page and see the results
- Krita where I create my header graphics for my blog articles or do edits on other graphic elements

Now with this set up, I can have quickly change with "Alt+Tab" between what I have on screen #1 and #2 and then use the key combination to switch between tabs in the grouped windows to easily have at the forefront the two programs that I want to see while I'm working on different aspects of the blog article. Also with the windows grouped together I can see all of the open programs that I have at a glance.

I find window grouping especially helpful when I want multiple programs open where I benefit the most by having them full screen. Can other work flows work better for others? Sure, I think that is why tiling window managers have been so popular or why pseudo tiling are features that are often added to floating window managers or DE's. I will admit that on my single 32" screen on my home computer running Gnome, I have different work flows that work better for me on a single large screen than what I described above. Using the keyboard shortcuts, I have found a few cases where setting up my workspace with full screened grouped windows gave me better efficiency than keeping my hand close to the mouse and clicking on the panel where the program icon appears. I also believe that grouping windows gives me the additional ability to group together apps that I use together to accomplish a goal. For example, if I want to code something in markdown and run scripts against it, I can have a terminal and editor grouped together for the task, then my brain knows where to go on the desktop to accomplish that task.

[Jerry3904]

Thanks, Steve--those are good ideas for me to think about.