(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I'm playing with Wary 5.3 because of it's good support for old hardware.

Working on the desktop with the idea of minimizing resources (cpu and ram, not concerned with size). So far I have switched to Openbox and Fbpanel from the Quirky repos.

ROX is still in play along with some parts of JWM.

I'd like to add a toolbar on top, or maybe the sides in addition to the bottom. JWM will let me switch the bottom toolbar to the top, but doesn't seem to have an option to add an additional.

Been searching on this all morning. Any help would be appreciated.

Eathray

P.S.
I know it's easy in XFCE, but I haven't been able to get that working in Wary... only Lucid.

there are some suggestions here-
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/AddPanel

not sure how compatible the solutions are with wary?

darkcity wrote:there are some suggestions here-
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/AddPanel

not sure how compatible the solutions are with wary?

Thank you darkcity.

I installed wbar and i'm fiddling with it while I wait for the BBQ to get hot

You're right about compatibility. It's almost but not quite. I'm going to play with it and see if I can make it work.

Will post back.

Eathray

hi Eathray - not totally sure if it all works in wary 5.3 (my latest wary is 5.14) but..

Sure jwm can have more than one tray (a la the DuDE as well as simply doing more trays, custom editing) - this can be the most bang for the buck in terms of minimizing resource usage with some nice integrated 'toolbars'. Yeah, it's not an option in jwmconfig .. more of an editing thing (here's a sample). Got htop? It gives you a fair idea of what's consuming cpu and ram (plus it's just 'way cool) - my usual is to disable the rox pinboard (carefully edit .xinitrc by commenting-out lines with PuppyPin in them) if you're not married to the driveicons (use pmount) and a drag'n'drop desktop with numerous icons (drag'n'drop still works for most app windows if you like).

Fbpanel looks nice, but it's not super efficient - the only thing I really like about it is the menu with icons and a pretty pager (plus autohide), it's ok if you need the full monte of plugins or just can't live without a taskbar in openbox. Speaking of openbox, it already has a nice client menu so you don't need a tasklist. Use stalonetray if you need a systray for the apps that use it. For an app-launcher bar there's wbar, appbar (very light) or slit-type things like bbdock which most 'box wms can use.

Real minimal/ultralight? Not for everyone, but I especially like mcwm and appbar+aemenu with maybe conky for a sysmon/info display. If I want extras, I can load 'em on demand (like stalonetray or a roxpin). mcwm works best with kybd commands (a fairly short yet functional/intuitive list you can easily osmose), about the only thing to get used to is that windows don't minimize/iconify (or shade in the usual way since the only window decor is a border and even that is optional)

Fluxbox and blackbox are other alternatives to openbox, flux' has some nifty features and bb is just rock-solid simple. e-16 can also be a joy to use, once you get it tweaked to your liking.

hth ^·^, do some chillin' with that grillin'

`f00 wrote:hi Eathray - not totally sure if it all works in wary 5.3 (my latest wary is 5.14) but..


hth ^·^, do some chillin' with that grillin'

Thanks f00,

You're intuiting my thoughts. To further explain, I'm not married to anything in particular, especially desktop icons once I have a top bar set up with everything I want on it. ROX pinboard is toast once I got everything in order. I started this looking at TurboPupExtreme, but I just couldn't get used to the idea of no desktop whatsoever... minimal is cool, absent... not so much.

I did try Blackbox briefly, but found it of little use. Switched to Openbox for this trial. Fluxbox is next on my list.

I saw what you mentioned on JWM, and will try that next if I can't get anywhere with wbar... it's not a perfect fit with Wary.

Thanks for your reply... I see a few things I haven't heard of to investigate.

I'll post back with results, and you guys can help me stay on track

Eathray

I found a really easy solution to what I wanted. Even though I haven't gotten xfce working on Wary yet, I found an lxpanel .pet.

Thanks f00 and darkcity. I was looking up stuff you guys mentioned and just stumbled onto it.

Great thing about the forums is sometimes just talking to people and looking up what they post leads you to all kinds of possible solutions and different angles to try.

It's after midnight. I'll post tomorrow in more detail what I did, and mark as solved.

Thanks,

Eathray

So working on my minimalist system for an older machine, I decided to go with topbars so I could add all the stuff on the desktop and reduce the usage of ROX. I switched to Open box for the window manager, but couldn't figure out how to get a second bar. JWM and Fbpanel weren't cooperating so I asked for help.

Darkcity and `f00 gave me some ideas and links to read, and somewhere in there I thought to myself, "Does lxde have separate pieces that could run by themselves?"

So I found a pet for lxpanel, which has options for any number of bars, built for 4.3.1 series but it works in Wary.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=62757

So thanks everyone. Now I can continue on in my effort to make the best minimalist Puppy for winded old junkers.

Eathray