Openbox: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 10:07, 17 March 2025

Openbox is a minimalistic, highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.

Prerequisites

Internet connectivity, unless the packages have been pre-fetched into a local cache.
A non-root user account.
The community repository must be enabled.
Set up eudev.
Install and configure D-Bus. without D-Bus icons and keyboard shortcuts may be missing.
Install appropriate Graphics driver drivers for your hardware. Without graphics drivers, errors are likely to occur.
Install Xorg

Installation

Install the basic packages for a minimal installation:

# apk add openbox xterm font-terminus

xterm is needed so you have a way to access the terminal in X. There are alternatives but this is the classic. font-terminus is needed because without any fonts, you will not be able to see any text in Openbox.

Configure user

To make Xorg work as normal user you need to add user to these groups: video, input.

# addgroup <username> input

# addgroup <username> video

acpid

If you installed your Alpine Linux as a VirtualBox or VMWare guest, you might find it handy to be able execute an ACPI shutdown.

# rc-update add acpid

Set Openbox as the default WM

$ echo 'exec openbox-session' >> ~/.xinitrc

Copy the config files to your home folder

$ mkdir ~/.config

$ cp -r /etc/xdg/openbox ~/.config

Note: The default configuration is minimal and most menu options won't work unless you customize and/or install additional packages. More information is available in the Openbox configuration documentation. 🔓

Edit Openbox settings

You can now edit the Openbox settings for your user by editing the files located in ~/.config/openbox

The Openbox configuration details can be studied on the Openbox wiki.

Start X

$ startx

Note: The default Openbox menu (right-click on desktop) will have a lot of options that won't work because the required packages haven't been installed. XTerm will work if you added the package in the first step, and you can use that to add additional packages.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-= Initial setup =
+[https://openbox.org/ Openbox] is a minimalistic, highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.
-Start by booting Alpine (see [[Installation|these]] instructions on how to do that)<BR>
+== Prerequisites ==
+{{:Include:Desktop prerequisites}}
+* [[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-xorg-base|Install Xorg]]
-= Enable Community Repository =
+== Installation ==
-We need the Community Repository available for access to the OpenBox packages. Instructions are available on the [[Repositories#Enabling_the_community_repository|Repositories]] page.
-= Install packages =
+Install the basic packages for a minimal installation:{{Cmd|# apk add openbox xterm font-terminus}}
-Install openbox, xterm, and terminus font.<BR>
-{{Cmd|# apk add openbox xterm terminus-font}}
+{{Pkg|xterm}} is needed so you have a way to access the terminal in X. There are alternatives but this is the classic.
+{{Pkg|font-terminus}} is needed because without any fonts, you will not be able to see any text in Openbox.
-xterm is needed so you have a way to access the terminal in X. There are alternatives but this is the classic.
+=== Configure user ===
-Terminus is needed because without any fonts, you will not be able to see any text in OpenBox.
-= Configure xorg-server =
+To make Xorg work as normal user you need to add user to these groups: video, input.
-On most systems, xorg should be able to autodetect all devices. However, you can still configure xorg-server manually by launching:
-{{Cmd|# setup-xorg-base}}
-= Configure user =
-To make Xorg work as normal user you need to add user to these groups: video, input.
 {{Cmd|# addgroup <username> input}}
 {{Cmd|# addgroup <username> video}}
-== acpid ==
+=== acpid ===
-If you installed your Alpine Linux as a VirtualBox or VMWare guest, you might find it handy to be able execute an ACPI shutdown.<BR>
+If you installed your Alpine Linux as a VirtualBox or VMWare guest, you might find it handy to be able execute an ACPI shutdown.
 {{Cmd|# rc-update add acpid}}
-= Set openbox as the default WM =
+=== Set Openbox as the default WM ===
 {{Cmd|$ echo 'exec openbox-session' >> ~/.xinitrc}}
-= Copy the config files to your home folder =
+=== Copy the config files to your home folder ===
-{{Cmd|$ mkdir /home/<newuser>/.config}}
+{{Cmd|$ mkdir ~/.config}}
 {{Cmd|$ cp -r /etc/xdg/openbox ~/.config}}
-'''Note:''' The default configuration is minimal and most menu options won't work unless you customize and/or install additional packages. More information is available in the [http://openbox.org/wiki/Help:Configuration OpenBox configuration documentation].
+{{Note|The default configuration is minimal and most menu options won't work unless you customize and/or install additional packages. More information is available in the [http://openbox.org/wiki/Help:Configuration Openbox configuration documentation].{{insecure url|This server could not prove that it is openbox.org; its security certificate is from 2007.cccg.ca}}}}
-= Edit openbox settings =
+=== Edit Openbox settings ===
-You can now edit the openbox settings for your user by editing the files located in
-{{Cmd|~/.config/openbox}}
-The OpenBox configuration details can be studied on the [http://openbox.org/wiki/Help:Contents#Configuration OpenBox wiki].
+You can now edit the Openbox settings for your user by editing the files located in <code>~/.config/openbox</code>
+The Openbox configuration details can be studied on the [http://openbox.org/wiki/Help:Contents#Configuration Openbox wiki].
+== Start X ==
-= Start your X! =
 {{Cmd|$ startx}}
-'''Note:''' The default OpenBox menu (right click on desktop) will have a lot of options that won't work because we didnt install anything else! Luckily XTerm will work if you added the package in the first step, and you can use that to add additional packages.
+{{Note|The default Openbox menu (right-click on desktop) will have a lot of options that won't work because the required packages haven't been installed. XTerm will work if you added the package in the first step, and you can use that to add additional packages.}}
+== Troubleshooting ==
+== See also ==
+* [https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Openbox Openbox - Archwiki]
-The default configuration is minimal and most menu options won't work unless you customize and/or install additional packages. More information is available in the [http://openbox.org/wiki/Help:Configuration OpenBox configuration documentation].
+[[Category:Desktop]]
+[[category: Window Managers]]