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WiLL X TrEmE

Monday, January 18, 2010

How to setup Arch Linux w/ OpenBox

Boot CD > Login as root > Type arch/setup1.Source > CD (only if you have the core iso, else NET) note:

net install works with both versions of the ISO. You'll end upwith the latest packages installedand your network willalready be configured

2.

Clock > UTC3.Auto Prepare HDD (if you plan to use entire disk)4.Select base & sudo (netcfg & wireless_tools if you usewireless :D). (type pacman -S base-devel if later you want theextras)

5.

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

6.

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

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-/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist > uncomment for your country &some extra close mirrors (ex: Canada & US in case a mirroris down :D)-Set your root passwd & click DoneBootloader > Grub (check menu.lst & see if all cool) > selectyour main HD > Reboot

7.

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" keys:asciikey, # dhcpcd wlan0)

8.

pacman -Syu & reboot if there was a kernel upgrade9.useradd -m -G users,audio,video,wheel,storage,optical,power-s /bin/bash yourusername (add "lp" to the options if you use aprinter)

10.

passwd yourusername11.pacman -S powerpill (powerpill -S from now on when you dobig installs/upgrades)

12.

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 alsactlstore

13.

type nano /etc/rc.conf to add alsa & hal: DAEMONS=(halsyslog-ng network crond alsa)

14.

in the following order:pacman -S libgl (you don't need i t if youhave a nvidia card) > pacman -S xorg > pacman -S mesa >pacman -S your_video_card

15.

type nvidia-xconfig (if you have a nvidia card), else

Xorg -configure > # cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

16.

enable hotplugging # pacman -S hal dbus xf86-input-evdevxf86-input-synaptics (note:put xf86-input-synaptics only if youuse a laptop for your touchpad)

17.

pacman -S openbox obconf obmenu lxappearance18.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

19.

edit your ~/.xinitrc and add the following:exec ck-launch-session openbox-session

20.

YOU'RE DONE. Reboot, login with your user & type startx toaccess your empty desktop and customize your archbox to

21.


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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-daemonto make wicd work properly)-If you want to autologin or a login manager-Install commoncodecs: pacman -Sgstreamer0.10-{{bad,good,ugly,base}{,-plugins},ffmpeg}-Install flash: pacman -S flashplugin ttf-ms-fonts-Installjava: 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-Adisk 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-Ataskbar: pacman -S tint2-Awallpaper 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-Apdf viewer: pacman -S evince-Adrop down terminal: pacman -S tilda-Arun 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-Acalculator: 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 scannerutility: pacman -S xsane-A chm viewer: pacman -S xchm-Forvideo conference: pacman -S skype-VirtualBox PUEL-maybe a windows program loaderlol: pacman -S wine (only ifyour architecture is i686, click here for 64 bit version)

Here's some tips to setup OpenBox1) 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 youdesire and to your applications. For a complete guide on openbox,check urukrama's guide. One of the most complete ones forOpenBox. You could also check the wiki about it :D2) create an empty file called autostart.sh in ~/.config/openbox inwhich you'll autostart the applications you need to have a nicedesktop. Here's my autostart.sh for example:

#to restore the last wallpaper used in nitrogennitrogen --restore your nifty network manager

wicd-client your taskbartint2 Thunar's file managerthunar --daemon conky system monitorconky -q &


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3) OpenBox is pretty light and needs extra applications to do therest of the job. Like you saw in step 2, there's some applicationsyou'll have to autostart to have a comfortable working environmentbut 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 pypanelConkysystem monitor is so versatile and so lightweight sinceit's text-based but it's optional to use it

4) It's a good idea to create a menu item to obconfto change yourOpenBox theme and settings. note: put your saved themes in~/.themes/

5) Another good menu item would be one to open lxappearance tochange 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 yesuse_xft yesxftfont Sans:size=8xftalpha 1update_interval 1.0total_run_times 0own_window yesown_window_transparent yes

own_window_type desktopown_window_hintsundecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pagerdouble_buffer yesminimum_size 200 200maximum_width 200draw_shades nodraw_outline nodraw_borders nodraw_graph_borders yesdefault_color white

default_shade_color bluedefault_outline_color whitealignment top_rightgap_x 12gap_y 12no_buffers yesuppercase no


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cpu_avg_samples 2override_utf8_locale no

TEXT${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}SYSTEM ${hr 2}${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}$sysname $kernel$alignr $machineHost:$alignr$nodenameUptime:$alignr$uptimeFile System: $alignr${fs_type}Mail: $alignr ${execi 300 python ~/.scripts/gmail.py}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2TL-60${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}${top_mem name1}${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 ${wireless_link_qual_percwlan0}%${downspeedgraph wlan0}


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DLS:${downspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totaldownwlan0}${upspeedgraph wlan0}ULS:${upspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totalupwlan0}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}SHORTCUT KEYS ${hr 2}${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}Super+t$alignr TerminalSuper+f$alignr File ManagerSuper+e$alignr EditorSuper+w$alignr Web BrowserSuper+q$alignr Force QuitSuper+v$alignr Adjust VolumeSuper+u$alignr System Upgrade

7) If you use nitrogen as your wallpaper manager, it's a good idea tocreate with obmenu an item to change your wallpaper. The commandwould be: nitrogen /the_dir_of_your_wallpapers/

8) What would be OpenBox without keybindings! You can add/editkeybindings in rc.xml file placed in ~/.config/openbox/. You can getobkeyfrom the AUR if you want a GUI for that. Here's a keybindexample (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 4simple steps to install it:

pacman -S base-devel (if not already done)1.get the PKGBUILD2.run makepkg where you saved PKGBUILD3.pacman -U packer-*.pkg.tar.xz AND YOU'RE DONE!4.

packer -S ThePackageYouWant (whether it's from the main reps orthe AUR)!Posted by willxtreme at 1:56 PMLabels: #, arch linux, archbang, archbox, archlinux, cruncharch,crunchbang, open box, openbox


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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 forweeks, this guide had me up and running in no time. Thanks and majorgeek creds to the author.

January 26, 2010 8:33 AM

[email protected]...

This post has been removed by the author.February 17, 2010 12:45 PM

[email protected]...

Whilst I commend your outstanding effort to port OpenBox onto Arch Ithink you missed the point of why CrunchBang is not called Ubuntu-Bang!

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

CrunchBang takes it's name from the Shebang. In computing, a shebang(also called a hashbang, hashpling, pound bang, or crunchbang) refers tothe characters "#!" when they are the first two characters in an interpreterdirective as the first line of a text file.

There for it may look like CrunchBang but the name ArchBang is hardlyapplicable 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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