It is likely that many who were touched Linux knows about Openbox. Otherwise, many do not know that Openbox is only a window manager. So it is not a standard environment such as KDE, Gnome, Xfce…Openbox is fast, stable, highly customizable, user-friendly, user unfriendly, whole new world, whole new universe, black hole and bright star, everything it’s on you. Why is that?
The great illusionist
Openbox is, as I said, just a window manager. But it was not his lack of, on the contrary, it is its great advantage. The window manager who pretends that the environment is more than a plain window manager, of course, if you make a note of everything he can. And what to Openboks can:
- Provides work all applications without full software environment
- Allows adjustment of all software parts…
- Transforms simplicity into power
- Can operate independently or in conjunction with full software environment(Gnome, KDE..)
- Gives all
- Requires a bit
Small consumer of hardware resources
To make your computer run fast must meet one of the following two things:
- To have strong computer
- To have a lightweight software that runs the computer
Openbox provides you second scenario no matter what computer you have and how old it is. Your computer will always work fast. In my example I will say that I have 4GB of RAM but rarely if ever be utilized more than 1 GB…
The battery lasts a lot longer (4-5 hours of active surfing), less heat the entire computer, which means that much less energy is consumed. Indicators which, in my opinion, indicate the quality of the software are battery life and rarely turn on the fan of the laptop. For me it’s enough.
Otherwise, I use the Openbox on Arch Linux core. Innate qualities of Linux Arch stability, simplicity, speed, combined with the ease of this window manager provide the perfect combination of core and GUI which is ruled by minimalism and efficiency with the latest software which is available in both official Arch Linux repositories and the AUR.
A great actor with a lot of clothes
With the first installation of Openbox comes almost ugly and poor habitat. The user decides whether to get the system of science-fiction movies, or stay at home and use your computer for basic needs under the aegis of natural minimalism. And here’s what it looks like freshly installed:
Here and there is nothing much to see but can easily brighten the entire image by adding features and settings. You can easily add background and the panel for windows, the system tray or few docks and much more depending on your needs and imagination. Much more about that I’ll write in a new article (this is just a warm-up for OB).
I’m a little rearrange the ob-menu, add background, fit and set tint2 panel and all merged together minimalistic theme. And this is how it looks:
Best distributions that come pre-loaded with pure Openbox
There’s nothing much to say, but if you like cleanliness, simplicity, stability and minimalism that is:
But if you like to get a system that is already more or less set with a lot of applications, graphic detail and embellishment, try:
and these three are quite sufficient to see the beauty of minimalism and I that I would no longer adding anything.
The Final Frontier
The final frontier does not exist if you know what you want from yourself and your computer. What do you want to achieve and where to arrive. With Openbox you can easily customize your computer to your preferences and needs, and that is its biggest advantage, but if you dont have the time and patience to learn and contribute to your personal comfort this is not for you. Instead, you can try any full environment that will consume resources and make a lot of unnecessary details and applications, but everything has its price.
Exordium
Of course, this was only a prelude to OB and as you may have seen I do not like long texts as much as I love the fact that is useful. In some future articles I will put the details and settings of panels, backgrounds, scripts, menus, themes, and small gears …read soon!
Wallpaper from the screenshot: Rain Girl
