Fluxbox - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Fluxbox is a stacking window manager for the X Window System

X Window System

The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...

, which started as a fork of Blackbox

Blackbox

In Unix computing, Blackbox is a stacking window manager for the X Window System.Blackbox has specific design goals, and some functionality is provided only through other applications. One example is the bbkeys hotkey application....

0.61.1, with the same aim to be lightweight. Its user interface

User interface

The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...

has only a taskbar

Taskbar

In computing, a taskbar is a bar displayed on a full edge of a GUI desktop that is used to launch and monitor running applications. Microsoft incorporated a taskbar in Windows 95 and it has been a defining aspect of Microsoft Windows's graphical user interface ever since. Some desktop environments,...

, a pop-up menu accessible by right-clicking on the desktop, and minimal support for graphical icons

Icon (computing)

A computer icon is a pictogram displayed on a computer screen and used to navigate a computer system or mobile device. The icon itself is a small picture or symbol serving as a quick, intuitive representation of a software tool, function or a data file accessible on the system. It functions as an...

. All basic configurations are controlled by text file

Text file

A text file is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic text. A text file exists within a computer file system...

s, including the construction of menus and the mapping of keybindings. Fluxbox has high compliance to the Extended Window Manager Hints

Extended Window Manager Hints

Extended Window Manager Hints, aka NetWM or Net WM, is an X Window System standard for window managers. It defines various interactions between window managers, utilities, and applications, all part of an entire desktop environment...

specification.

Fluxbox can show some eye candy

Eye candy

Eye candy may refer to:*Attractiveness*Eye Candy , an album by Mis-Teeq*software "Eye Candy", a plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Fireworks that adds new filter effects*"Eye Candy", an episode of the animated series Happy Tree Friends...

: colors, gradients, borders, and several other basic appearance attributes can be specified. Recent versions support rounded corners and graphical elements. Effects managers such as xcompmgr, cairo-compmgr and transset-df (deprecated) can add true transparency to desktop elements and windows. Enhancements can also be provided by using iDesk or fbdesk, or the ROX Desktop

ROX Desktop

The ROX Desktop is a graphical desktop environment for the X Window System. It is based on the ROX-Filer which is a drag and drop spatial file manager. It is free software released under the GNU General Public License. The environment was inspired by the user interface of RISC OS...

.
Fluxbox also has several features Blackbox lacks, including tabbed windows and a configurable titlebar.

Because of its small memory footprint and quick loading time, Fluxbox is popular in many Live CD

Live CD

A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...

s such as Knoppix STD

Knoppix STD

Knoppix STD is a Live CD Linux distribution based on Knoppix that focused on computer security tools. It included GPL licensed tools in the following categories: authentication, password cracking, encryption, forensics, firewalls, honeypots, intrusion detection system, network utilities,...

and GParted

GParted

GParted is a GTK+ front-end to GNU Parted and the official GNOME Partition Editor application.It is used for creating, deleting, resizing, moving, checking and copying partitions, and the file systems on them...

. It was the default window manager of Damn Small Linux

Damn Small Linux

Damn Small Linux or DSL is a computer operating system for the x86 family of personal computers. It is free and open source software under the terms of GNU GPL and other free and open source licenses. It was designed to run graphical applications on older PC hardware—for example, machines with...

and antiX, but was replaced with JWM

JWM

JWM is a lightweight stacking window manager for the X Window System written by Joe Wingbermuehle. JWM is written in C and uses only Xlib at a minimum...

in 2007 and 2009 respectively. It is currently the default window manager of PCFluxboxOS, a remaster of PCLinuxOS

PCLinuxOS

PCLinuxOS, often shortened to PCLOS, is a GNU/Linux distribution, with KDE Plasma Desktop as its default user interface. It is a primarily free software operating system for personal computers aimed at ease of use...

, and of Linux Mint

Linux Mint

Linux Mint is a Linux-based computer operating system best known for its usability and ease of installation, particularly for users with no previous GNU/Linux experience...

Fluxbox CE. Fluxbuntu

Fluxbuntu

Fluxbuntu is a lightweight Linux distribution which uses the Fluxbox window manager and is based on Ubuntu. By contrast, Ubuntu uses the Unity desktop environment, Kubuntu uses KDE, and Xubuntu uses Xfce, all of which are somewhat more demanding of computer memory and resources...

, an Ubuntu

Ubuntu (operating system)

Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...

derivative with lightweight applications, was released in October 2007.

Features

Features of the Fluxbox window manager include:

Right-clicking on the desktop gives a root menu
Customizable root menu
Support for wallpaper
Running applications appear in a taskbar
Taskbar
In computing, a taskbar is a bar displayed on a full edge of a GUI desktop that is used to launch and monitor running applications. Microsoft incorporated a taskbar in Windows 95 and it has been a defining aspect of Microsoft Windows's graphical user interface ever since. Some desktop environments,...
Desktop shortcuts
Support for desktop themes

Customization

Customization is done by editing configuration files in the .fluxbox subdirectory in the user's home directory. Keyboard shortcuts are stored in the ~/.fluxbox/keys file, menu layout is in the ~/.fluxbox/menu file, everything that's run at startup is kept in the ~/.fluxbox/startup file, and the fluxbox configuration file is held at ~/.fluxbox/init.

Useful tools

IPager : A lightweight pager.
Fbsetbg : Set wallpaper for Fluxbox.
FluxSpace : A window manager and workspace enhancer and integrator.
Fluxter : A slit pager.

External links

fluxbox.org Official website
.:F L U X B O X:. - Welcome to fluxbox Old website
Fluxbox-wiki Fluxbox official wiki
[irc://irc.freenode.net/fluxbox #fluxbox] on freenode

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Features

Customization

Useful tools

See also

External links