WiLL X TrEmE: How to setup Arch Linux w/ OpenBox http://willensky.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-setup...

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WiLL X TrEmE

Monday, January 18, 2010

How to setup Arch Linux w/ OpenBox

1. Boot CD > Login as root > Type arch/setup

2. Source > CD (only if you have the core iso, else NET) note:
net install works with both versions of the ISO. You'll end up
with the latest packages installed and your network will
already be configured
3. Clock > UTC
4. Auto Prepare HDD (if you plan to use entire disk)
5. Select base & sudo (netcfg & wireless_tools if you use
wireless :D). (type pacman -S base-devel if later you want the
extras)
6. Configure w/ Nano
-rc.conf

> check timezone

> MODULES=(!net-pf-10 !snd_pcsp !pcspkr loop)
#to disable ipv6 & beep
> change myhost to your desired cpu name (ex:
sasoria)

-/etc/hosts > be sure to see your hostname

-/etc/locale.gen > uncomment your locale

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WiLL X TrEmE: How to setup Arch Linux w/ OpenBox http://willensky.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-setup...

-/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist > uncomment for your country &

some extra close mirrors (ex: Canada & US in case a mirror
is down :D)
-Set your root passwd & click Done
7. Bootloader > Grub (check menu.lst & see if all cool) > select
your main HD > Reboot
8. Login as root & ping www.google.com to check your network
(for wifi network here's what to do: # ifconfig wlan0 up,#
iwlist wlan0 scan,# iwconfig wlan0 essid "MyEssid" key
s:asciikey, # dhcpcd wlan0)
9. pacman -Syu & reboot if there was a kernel upgrade
10. useradd -m -G users,audio,video,wheel,storage,optical,power
-s /bin/bash yourusername (add "lp" to the options if you use a
printer)
11. passwd yourusername
12. pacman -S powerpill (powerpill -S from now on when you do
big installs/upgrades)
13. pacman -S alsa-utils alsa-oss

>alsaconf (detect snd card)

>run alsamixer as normal user (su -
yourusername) to adjust vol(m to unmute)
>save settings by going back root & run alsactl
store

14. type nano /etc/rc.conf to add alsa & hal: DAEMONS=(hal

syslog-ng network crond alsa)
15. in the following order:pacman -S libgl (you don't need it if you
have a nvidia card) > pacman -S xorg > pacman -S mesa >
pacman -S your_video_card
16. type nvidia-xconfig (if you have a nvidia card), else
Xorg -configure > # cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

17. enable hotplugging # pacman -S hal dbus xf86-input-evdev

xf86-input-synaptics (note:put xf86-input-synaptics only if you
use a laptop for your touchpad)
18. pacman -S openbox obconf obmenu lxappearance
19. Once openbox is installed, move menu.xml & rc.xml to
~/.config/openbox/ in your home directory:
# su - yourusername
$ mkdir -p ~/.config/openbox/
$ cp /etc/xdg/openbox/rc.xml ~/.config/openbox
$ cp /etc/xdg/openbox/menu.xml ~/.config/openbox
20. edit your ~/.xinitrc and add the following:
exec ck-launch-session openbox-session
21. YOU'RE DONE. Reboot, login with your user & type startx to
access your empty desktop and customize your archbox to

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your tastes

Now some useful things to get:

-A network manager: wicd
(note: I personally had to ditch xfce4-notifyd for notification-daemon
to make wicd work properly)
-If you want to autologin or a login manager
-Install common codecs: pacman -S
gstreamer0.10-{{bad,good,ugly,base}{,-plugins},ffmpeg}
-Install flash: pacman -S flashplugin ttf-ms-fonts
-Install java: pacman -S jre
-Install a browser: pacman -S firefox
-Install an editor: pacman -S gedit
-A file manager: pacman -S thunar thunar-volman thunar-
thumbnailers ffmpegthumbnailer thunar-archive-plugin thunar-
media-tags-plugin
-NTFS write support: pacman -S ntfs-3g
-A disk partitioner: pacman -S gparted
-Media swiss knife: pacman -S vlc mplayer smplayer exaile
-An archive program: pacman -S file-roller p7zip
-Conky: pacman -S conky
-A taskbar: pacman -S tint2
-A wallpaper manager: pacman -S nitrogen
-An image viewer: pacman -S gpicview
-A screenshot utility: pacman -S scrot
-A volume manager: pacman -S volwheel
-A cd burner: pacman -S k3b
-A pdf viewer: pacman -S evince
-A drop down terminal: pacman -S tilda
-A run dialog box: pacman -S gmrun

-Microsoft Office's equivalent: pacman -S openoffice-base

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-Install e-mail manager: pacman -S alpine

-For your sticky notes needs: pacman -S xpad
-A calculator: pacman -S speedcrunch
-install html editor: pacman -S bluefish
-Install a p2p application: pacman -S frostwire
-Install a torrent manager: pacman -S deluge
-Install a network traffic listener: pacman -S wireshark tcpflow
-Install an HEX editor: pacman -S ghex
-A dynamic menu launcher: pacman -S dmenu
-An msn client: pacman -S emesene
-A photoshop-like program: pacman -S gimp
-An ftp client: pacman -S gftp
-A network tool: pacman -S gnome-nettool
-A dvd ripper: pacman -S k9copy
-To put a video on CD/DVD: pacman -S devede
-An audio cd extractor: pacman -S sound-juicer
-A sound converter: pacman -S soundconverter
-A scanner utility: pacman -S xsane
-A chm viewer: pacman -S xchm
-For video conference: pacman -S skype
-VirtualBox PUEL
-maybe a windows program loader lol: pacman -S wine (only if
your architecture is i686, click here for 64 bit version)

Here's some tips to setup OpenBox

1) obmenu is a your best friend if you want a GUI to edit the menu.
Open in a terminal obmenu and create a shortcut to obmenu itself
:D. Now that you have a GUI to edit the menu, the rest is pretty
straightforward. Create sub-menus and items to the categories you
desire and to your applications. For a complete guide on openbox,
check urukrama's guide. One of the most complete ones for
OpenBox. You could also check the wiki about it :D
2) create an empty file called autostart.sh in ~/.config/openbox in
which you'll autostart the applications you need to have a nice
desktop. Here's my autostart.sh for example:

#to restore the last wallpaper used in nitrogen

nitrogen --restore &
#your nifty network manager
wicd-client &
#your taskbar
tint2 &
#Thunar's file manager
thunar --daemon &
#conky system monitor
conky -q &

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3) OpenBox is pretty light and needs extra applications to do the

rest of the job. Like you saw in step 2, there's some applications
you'll have to autostart to have a comfortable working environment
but you could use other alternatives.

Besides nitrogen to handle wallpaper, feh is pretty good!

I personally prefer Thunar over PCManFM
tint2 is nice but another good alternative would be pypanel
Conky system monitor is so versatile and so lightweight since
it's text-based but it's optional to use it

4) It's a good idea to create a menu item to obconf to change your

OpenBox theme and settings. note: put your saved themes in
~/.themes/

5) Another good menu item would be one to open lxappearance to

change your window theme & icons. note: put your saved themes in
~/.themes/ and your saved icons packs in ~/.icons/

6) Here's my conky configuration in case you use it:

background yes
use_xft yes
xftfont Sans:size=8
xftalpha 1
update_interval 1.0
total_run_times 0
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type desktop
own_window_hints
undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
double_buffer yes
minimum_size 200 200
maximum_width 200
draw_shades no
draw_outline no
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
default_color white
default_shade_color blue
default_outline_color white
alignment top_right
gap_x 12
gap_y 12
no_buffers yes
uppercase no

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WiLL X TrEmE: How to setup Arch Linux w/ OpenBox http://willensky.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-setup...

cpu_avg_samples 2
override_utf8_locale no

TEXT
${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}SYSTEM ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}$sysname $kernel
$alignr $machine
Host:$alignr$nodename
Uptime:$alignr$uptime
File System: $alignr${fs_type}
Mail: $alignr ${execi 300 python ~/.scripts/gmail.py}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2

TL-60${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${cpugraph cpu1}
Core 1: ${cpu cpu1}% ${cpubar cpu1}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${cpugraph cpu2}
Core 2: ${cpu cpu2}% ${cpubar cpu2}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}MEMORY ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}RAM $alignc $mem /
$memmax $alignr $memperc%
$membar

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}HDD ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}/ $alignc ${fs_used /} /
${fs_size /} $alignr ${fs_used_perc /}%
${fs_bar /}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}/home $alignc ${fs_used
/home} / ${fs_size /home} $alignr ${fs_used_perc
/home}%
${fs_bar /home}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}TOP PROCESSES ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${top_mem name
1}${alignr}${top mem 1} %
${top_mem name 2}${alignr}${top mem 2} %
$font${top_mem name 3}${alignr}${top mem 3} %
$font${top_mem name 4}${alignr}${top mem 4} %

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}NETWORK ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}IP address: $alignr
${addr wlan0}
ESSID: $alignr ${wireless_essid wlan0}
Connection quality: $alignr ${wireless_link_qual_perc
wlan0}%
${downspeedgraph wlan0}

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DLS:${downspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totaldown

wlan0}
${upspeedgraph wlan0}
ULS:${upspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totalup
wlan0}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}SHORTCUT KEYS ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}Super+t$alignr Terminal
Super+f$alignr File Manager
Super+e$alignr Editor
Super+w$alignr Web Browser
Super+q$alignr Force Quit
Super+v$alignr Adjust Volume
Super+u$alignr System Upgrade

7) If you use nitrogen as your wallpaper manager, it's a good idea to

create with obmenu an item to change your wallpaper. The command
would be: nitrogen /the_dir_of_your_wallpapers/

8) What would be OpenBox without keybindings! You can add/edit

keybindings in rc.xml file placed in ~/.config/openbox/. You can get
obkey from the AUR if you want a GUI for that. Here's a keybind
example (my favorite one lol):

note:replace terminator with your favorite terminal (ex: roxterm,

xterm, yakuake)

9) Packer is the best tool out there to get AUR packages. Here's 4
simple steps to install it:

1. pacman -S base-devel (if not already done)

2. get the PKGBUILD
3. run makepkg where you saved PKGBUILD
4. pacman -U packer-*.pkg.tar.xz AND YOU'RE DONE!

packer -S ThePackageYouWant (whether it's from the main reps or

the AUR)!
Posted by willxtreme at 1:56 PM
Labels: #, arch linux, archbang, archbox, archlinux, cruncharch,
crunchbang, open box, openbox

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WiLL X TrEmE: How to setup Arch Linux w/ OpenBox http://willensky.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-setup...

5 comments:

deepix said...
This post has been removed by the author.
January 24, 2010 5:57 AM

z3r0_k00l75 said...

This how-to is awesome. After trying to set up Arch unsuccessfully for

weeks, this guide had me up and running in no time. Thanks and major
geek creds to the author.

January 26, 2010 8:33 AM

~ghost@shellcity.tty said...
This post has been removed by the author.
February 17, 2010 12:45 PM

~ghost@shellcity.tty said...

Whilst I commend your outstanding effort to port OpenBox onto Arch I

think you missed the point of why CrunchBang is not called Ubuntu-Bang!

CrunchBang (#!) being based on Ubuntu && in turn Ubuntu being itself
based on Debian.

CrunchBang takes it's name from the Shebang. In computing, a shebang

(also called a hashbang, hashpling, pound bang, or crunchbang) refers to
the characters "#!" when they are the first two characters in an interpreter
directive as the first line of a text file.

There for it may look like CrunchBang but the name ArchBang is hardly
applicable in the same context as Arch does not possess a Bang /! sign.

February 17, 2010 12:52 PM

juan said...

Thanks for the post. It works great for me.

March 25, 2010 3:17 PM

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WiLL X TrEmE: How to setup Arch Linux w/ OpenBox http://willensky.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-setup...

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