FbBox-5.0 - Released 23 Sept 2017

[radky]

Hi radky,

Awesome job on this it works good on the latest Manna OS. All the gui's look clean and very professional. I see that SSC has been updated too. Very nice work.

Cheers

Hi oldyeller,

The Fbpanel-Openbox environment is my favorite, and it provides a nice alternate desktop for most standard pups.

Thanks for your comments and kind review.

[Griot]

Hi radky!
Nice work man, my Precise 5.72 (save2dir) really likes FbBox-1.0 except for one minor glitch. After system boot all tray icons seems to appear correctly, but after 3 or 4 seconds panel refreshes (as after install of
a new .pet or .sfs) and this version of Firewall status tray icon disappears. Actually, 'double refresh' is happening every time I install/uninstall packages and the same icon disappears. (If loaded manually in the meantime)
FWIW, before installing your pet I was using this version of Openbox.
I've noticed that FbBox-1.0 recognized favorites from the previous installation of Openbox and I guess this problem is somehow related to 'traces' (junk files?)
of previous WM.
Is there any terminal output that will help with reproducing this error? Would you let me know
'how to'?

Looking forward to your answer.
Thanks for your efforts.

[radky]

Hi Griot,

FbBox is based on Fbpanel and the Openbox window manager, but should not be installed on Pups with an existing Openbox desktop (likely there will be conflicts). Consequently, FbBox is recommended for the typical (standard) Pup with the JWM window manager, including your Precise 5.72. In fact, FbBox retains the original JWM desktop option and you can easily switch between the two environments.

The "double refresh" of the panel is by design. The panel configuration script (pfbpanel) unloads existing tray applications and then sequentially reloads them near the end of the script.

The new FbBox-2.0, which is almost ready for release, includes major changes in the desktop infrastructure, plus multiple new features and bugfixes. One of the fixes will address the problem you have noted with the disappearing firewallstate tray icon. Since FbBox-2.0 will be a major update, I recommend a new installation rather than adding to an existing FbBox-1.0 environment.

Thanks for your comments Griot.

[Griot]

Ok, got it. Thanks for your answer, radky. I can live with this little bug until v 2.0 appears.

[Jim1911]

Hopefully, v 2.0 64 bit version will be available as an sfs for compatibility with latest FatDog64 versions.

Thanks,
Jim

[radky]

Hopefully, v 2.0 64 bit version will be available as an sfs for compatibility with latest FatDog64 versions.

Hi Jim1911,

FbBox-2.0 will support the infrastructure of conventional Woof-built Puppies.

64-bit support includes tahrpup64, slacko64, april64 and future Woof-built releases.

32-bit support includes precise, quirky, racy, raring, slacko (>= 5.5), tahrpup, unicorn, wary, wheezy and future Woof-built releases.

Thanks for your question.

[radky]

New FbBox-2.0 (see first post)

- Supports 32Bit Puppy Linux -> Woof-built releases (versions >= 5.5) including Precise, Quirky April/Tahr/Unicorn, Racy, Raring, Slacko, Wary, Wheezy, tahrpup, unicornpup, vividpup
- Supports 64Bit Puppy Linux -> Quirky April64/Wary64, Slacko64, tahrpup64
- Added new Desktop Theming GUI with twenty-four (24) preset global themes, plus quick access to standard modular theming (GTK, Openbox, Background, Cursor, Icons, Fonts).
- Added stability fixes and cosmetic enhancements of existing GTK and Openbox themes.
- Added multiple new GTK themes.
- Added multiple new Openbox themes.
- Added Ardis, Faience, JQ8raised, Moka and Yasis icon themes.
- Added multiple new backgrounds (wallpapers).
- Automatically create unique distro-specific backgrounds on first run of FbBox.
- Added options in fbpanel configuration manager to enable/disable 'Control Panel' and 'Run' items in Fbpanel menu, and to select the default Run-dialog (application launcher).
- Added fbbox-control as new control panel option in Fbpanel menu. Note: control panel options in the fbpanel configuration manager include fbbox-control, PupControl and setupwizard (BK's wizardwizard).
- Added optional 'Bookmarks' category to the Fbpanel menu (supports folders, files and URLs). This option also integrates with the ROX-Filer 'Add Bookmarks' option introduced in Woof-CE of September 2014.
- Added 'Places' category to Openbox desktop menu. This option parses the current directory hierarchy and provides a navigable tree to launch applications or edit files.
- Added 'Recent Files' category to Openbox desktop menu and optionally to the Fbpanel menu. This option parses recently-used.xbel and provides a launchable list of files accessed by GTK open/save dialogs.
- Added optional Fbpanel launcher buttons for quick access to Favorites, Bookmarks and Recent-Files modules (enable/disable in the fbpanel configuration manager).
- Added splash screen to fbpanel configuration manager (pfbpanel).
- Added support for Racy and Wary legacy Pups.
- Added support for flsynclient in pfbpanel.
- Added desksetup.sh support for openbox-session desktop environment (set/save pinboard layout of desktop and drive icons).
- Added pArchive (archive manager).
- Added ListDD (graphical ldd interface).
- Added UrxvtControl (Urxvt Terminal Control).
- Updated Pupmate utilities.
- Multiple bugfixes.

Caveats:
- Recent Puppy theming utilities that are specifically designed for the default JWM desktop contain modules that do not function outside the JWM environment. Consequently, these utilities are hidden (not shown) in the menus of the FbBox desktop environment, but will show again when you switch back to JWM.
- The Puppy desktop setup icon (wizardwizard) will call the PupControl utility only in the FbBox environment. When you switch back to JWM, the desktop setup icon reverts to the original wizardwizard.

[mavrothal]

Only FbBox_locales.pet appears to be presently in http://www.smokey01.com/radky/ and actually is the 2014 version.

[radky]

@mavrothal,

Working on an updated locales pet now.

Thanks

[mavrothal]

@mavrothal,

Working on an updated locales pet now.

I do not mind locales, but I can find neither FbBox-2.0_32Bit.pet nor FbBox-2.0_64Bit.pet there. Are they uploaded or their are pending?

[radky]

mavrothal,

FbBox-2.0 pets are now available for download.

See first post.

-------------

Also, an updated locales pet is available. Corrections are welcome.

[slavvo67]

It looked like it was going to work and then it reset my xserver a 2nd time; resulting in the attached under VividPup. It went back to JWM without issue (although, still the 2x reset for some reason).

Hope this testing helps.

Slavvo67

[radky]

Hi slavvo67,

Does your PC have Intel graphics?

In recent kernels, it seems the Intel video driver has multiple problems. Barry described severe screen distortion when using his Quirky April with the Intel driver in his notebook.

In fact, I see the same screen distortion with the Intel graphics in my old Acer Aspire 5742Z. However, all is OK if I drop to the X prompt and run xorgwizard, selecting the modesetting driver.

Maybe the Vesa driver would work also.

Please report back if the modesetting (or vesa) driver works better for you.

Thanks

[slavvo67]

Yes, Intel. See Specs Below. I'm trying your fix now so I'll report back in a few minutes.

UPDATE: The Xorgwizard did not fix, however opening an application that would take up the whole screen - I used Palemoon - seemed to get rid of the mess. Probably not the right fix but it works.

Best - Slavvo67

-Computer-
Processor : 2x Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5800 @ 3.20GHz
Memory : 3072MB (341MB used)
Machine Type : Physical machine
Operating System : vividpup - 6.5
User Name : root (root)
Date/Time : Sat 21 Mar 2015 07:29:30 PM GMT-8
-Display-
Resolution : 1024x768 pixels
OpenGL Renderer : Mesa DRI Intel(R) G45/G43 x86/MMX/SSE2
X11 Vendor : The X.Org Foundation
-Audio Devices-
Audio Adapter : HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
Audio Adapter : PC-Speaker - pcsp
----
-Display-
Resolution : 1024x768 pixels
Vendor : The X.Org Foundation
Version : 1.16.2.901
-Monitors-
Monitor 0 : 1024x768 pixels
-Extensions-
-OpenGL-
Vendor : Intel Open Source Technology Center
Renderer : Mesa DRI Intel(R) G45/G43 x86/MMX/SSE2
Version : 2.1 Mesa 10.5.0-rc3
Direct Rendering : Yes

[radky]

Hi slavvo67,

Thanks for the report.

BTW: Barry also indicated new kernel releases have (or will have) multiple fixes for the problematic Intel graphics. Hopefully, soon!

[radky]

Hi slavvo67,

One more question:

Vividpup is very early beta status.

Do you observe the same screen distortion in Pups other than Vividpup?

Maybe try tahrpup or slacko.

Thanks

[slavvo67]

Works without issue in Tahrpup 6.0.1. - Thanks again. I'll try in Unicornpup, as well.

[radky]

Works without issue in Tahrpup 6.0.1. It looks like it's resetting xserver more than once, though. Is that by design?

Thanks for the quick report. This confirms the Intel driver of recent kernels is a significant problem for Vividpup and Barry's April.

Hopefully, this will be fixed in subsequent kernel updates.

Yes, after Fbpanel loads there is a second refresh by design to properly load the tray apps. This is normal.

[radky]

The developer of tahrpup (666philb) has requested a feature update for Pup-SysInfo-2.6 (which is part of FbBox).

Consequently, updated FbBox pets (32 and 64 bit) are currently available at the download link in the first post.

Specifically, the OpenSSL report of Pup-SysInfo now displays the build date, and the Bash report is adjusted for non-English locales.

Since the initial upload was only hours ago, the version number of FbBox-2.0 has not changed.

[ETP]

Hi radky,

Whilst experimenting with changing to FbBox on Rapid Pup V1 (Nvidia/Nouveux) I noticed a slight screen distortion effect when rapidly maximising & minimising windows of any type.

It reminded me of the series of horizontal white lines on an old 405 line TV and once I had noticed it, it began to bug me.

The solution is to change the relevant line in both /root/.config/openbox/rc.xml & /etc/xdg/openbox/rc.xml to read as follows:

Code: Select all

<animateIconify>no</animateIconify>

Currently it is set to "yes" which I guess requires a compositor to give a zooming effect but results in the artifacts if none is present.
Changing it to "no" gives an instant transition & fixes the issue.

If what I observed is reproducable you may wish to change the template.