CrunchBang - Code, Design & GNU/Linux

Perplexed by Web Frameworks

The latest LugRadio episode features a discussion about Django and other web frameworks. I found the feature interesting, but I have to admit that I find the subject of web frameworks somewhat perplexing. I have yet to fully embrace any such framework, although I have played with the Zend Framework. I think there are a number of reasons I have not fully adopted any frameworks:

1. I am put off by having to learn all the new classes, structures and methods employed by said frameworks. Surely my time would be better spent actually learning more about the core language?

2. I fear that using a framework would somehow stifle innovation. I am under no illusions of being the most innovative player, however, I find it hard to shake. I guess I am questioning where the innovation comes from if everyone is using the same framework?

3. It is fun to write your own code, functions, classes and routines etc. I like to experiment with code, I like to make mistakes, before fixing them — it is this that keeps me interested. I would be concerned that using a framework would takeaway much of that.

Having said all that, I'm not totally opposed to frameworks and I think they have their place; three PHP frameworks of interest to me are:

1. Zend Framework: http://framework.zend.com/
2. CakePHP: http://www.cakephp.org/
3. Symfony: http://www.symfony-project.org/

I am going to look into the above to see what they have to offer; however, I think I will probably continue to hack together my own code for a while to come.

Linux Journal - KDE or GNOME or?

Yes, it's the age old question — what is your preferred desktop manager? This time we ask you to not only cast your vote but to follow-up with a comment below. We'd like to know if you've switched your "favorite" in the last year or two and why. Did you use to be a KDE fan but recently switched to GNOME? Or perhaps you're exploring with something less mainstream (so to speak) and are loving it. Inquiring minds want to know…

I've cast my vote and posted the following comment:

I've switched from using GNOME to Openbox. I find that Openbox is faster and more hackable. Strictly speaking though, Openbox is a Window Manager as opposed to a Desktop Manager — therefore it requires some additional applications to provide the same functionality as a Desktop solution. Either way, I prefer it over GNOME and I can't see me moving back any time soon.

I could have written more, but I'm not sure that a comment form is best place to off-load. Anyhow, it'll be interesting to see which is the most popular "Window Manager" :)

Contraband Crunchbang and Ambience

Andrew [aka rugby471] has started a new blog dedicated to tips 'n' tricks for CrunchBang Linux users. Contraband CrunchBang is looking great and already has some useful information such how to install a Usplash theme. Andrew has also written Ambience, a PyGTK application to effectively and easily set startup & shutdown sounds. Great stuff :)

URL: http://crunchbang.wordpress.com/

Hardy Heron Notes

A short list of random stuff I have noticed since upgrading to Hardy Heron Alpha 6:

1. Glipper is now a GNOME only application. Parcellite is a great replacement for Glipper.
2. Epiphany is no longer dependent on Firefox, w00t!
3. gnome-volume-manager has lost some features/functionality/usefulness, apparently this is because Nautilus now has more features/functionality/usefulness — probably not noticeable if you are running GNOME and Nautilus, very noticeable if you are not running GNOME and Nautilus. GNOME and Nautilus developers probably don't give a damn.
4. It is not possible to perform a distribution upgrade using the GUI update-manager if you have not got one of the official desktop packages installed; ubuntu-desktop, edubuntu-desktop, kubuntu-desktop, xubuntu-desktop, gobuntu-desktop etc.
5. It is possible to perform a distribution upgrade by manually editing /etc/apt/sources.list, replacing all occurrences of "gutsy" with "hardy" and then issuing an apt-get dist-upgrade command.
6. Breakages can happen :)
7. It feels good to be running the latest development release of Ubuntu, I could even describe it as a fun activity.
8. Some robots are scary, while others are not.
9. Breakages can happen again. Note to self, changing from generic to i386 kernel breaks kermit. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to fix.
10. Hardy Heron is shaping up to be a great release!

Quick Set-up for Ubuntu Packaging

I have been doing a fair amount of packaging lately. I have also been testing Hardy Heron and performing system upgrades/fresh installations. Every time I perform one of these fresh installs I lose my packaging/build environment. Attempting to remember, off the top of my head, which packages to install to reinstate my packaging/build environment causes severe brain pain; so, for future reference I decided to record the process and create a wiki page. By following the instructions on the wiki page I should be able to get my packaging/build environment up and running within minutes.

URL: http://www.crunchbang.org/wiki/PackagingSetupForUbuntu
Ubuntu packaging guide: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide
Ubuntu pbuilder howto: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PbuilderHowto

On the subject of packaging, I really need to try and get more involved with packaging for Ubuntu. It's all very well 'n' good having a personal repository, but I would really like to be able to contribute more back to the community. I think the reason why I've been holding back on getting more involved is due to the amount of time involved; it only takes minutes to create and upload packages to my own repository, whereas there are more hoops to jump through when packaging for Ubuntu, therefore it takes more time. Having said that, I think I need to learn to jump through said hoops before I pick-up too many self-taught bad habits :/

Mirage Image Viewer

The amount and choice of applications available for Linux never ceases to amaze me. Take image viewers for example, there are literally loads of 'em. Mirage is just one such image viewer, and it's a good one. Mirage is both fast and simple, just how I like my applications. The latest version features:

• Supports png, jpg, svg, xpm, gif, bmp, tiff, and others
• Cycling through multiple images (with preloading)
• Thumbnail pane for quick navigation
• Slideshow and fullscreen modes
• Rotating, zooming, flipping, resizing, cropping
• Saving, deleting, renaming
• Custom actions
• Command-line access
• Configurable interface

I've now switched to using Mirage over Eye Of GNOME. While EOG remains a great application, Mirage offers the same functionality but without the GNOME hooks, it's perfect for my Openbox systems.

I've packaged the latest version and made it available via the CrunchBang Linux repository. Mirage will replace EOG in the next release of CrunchBang Linux.

Invoke Openbox's Menu with xdotool

Something I wanted to do with my Openbox install was to call the main Openbox menu from my instance of tablaunch. I wanted to do this as it's not always easy/possible to find and area of the desktop to right-click on, especially when operating on a small screen with maximised windows.

As luck would have it, somebody had already found a solution for this and published details about it on the Arch Linux wiki. The solution involves installing a small utility called xdotool. There's no package for xdotool in the Ubuntu repositories, so I've created one and placed it in the CrunchBang Linux repository.

For future reference; follow the steps below to install xdotool and configure Openbox so that you can summon the main menu from a command:

1. Install xdotool, either from source, via the .deb file, or via the repository with the following command:

sudo apt-get install xdotool

2. Edit Openbox's rc.xml file and add the following code to the "keyboard" section:

<keybind key="A-C-q">
  <action name="ShowMenu">
    <menu>root-menu</menu>
  </action>
</keybind>

3. Reconfigure Openbox to apply the changes, enter the following command:

openbox --reconfigure

4. Call the Openbox menu with the following command:

xdotool key ctrl+alt+q

It should now be possible to bind the menu to your favourite application launcher, such as tablaunch or wbar.

GNOME & Glipper Sitting in a Tree

Last night I set about upgrading one of my Openbox systems from Gutsy to Hardy. So far all seems to be good, apart from Glipper, which is now a GNOME only application. Quote from the Glipper developers:

After a very long time without any news, we are proud to present you the new released version 1.0. A lot of things did change, in fact, it is a complete rewrite of the whole application. We now use python instead of C, which also makes the code much smaller and simpler to understand. Unlike the previous versions, Glipper is now a GNOME only application, because it makes heavily use of different GNOME techniques, like being a GNOME panel applet and using gconf for storing the configurations. If you are not a GNOME user, but want to use Glipper anyway, we feel sorry for you, but the older version are still available of course ;) .

This is great news for GNOME users, but not so great for others like myself :( I use Glipper all the time and it's an integral part of my Openbox desktop. I've had a quick look for alternative clipboard managers, but I've not found anything suitable, yet.

I'm not quite sure of the best course of action to take — it shouldn't be too difficult to grab the Glipper sources from Gutsy and rebuild the package using a different package name - 'glipper-pre1', 'glipper-old', or 'glipper-pre-gnome-love-affair'. Is this an acceptable practice? I can't think of any reason why not.

Ubuntu UK Podcast

I've just listened to the first podcast from the Ubuntu UK LoCo team. Considering this was the first episode, the quality was very good. I listen to quite a few Linux related podcasts and this one made for a refreshing change — it was good to hear some sensible discussion and quality music. I think there's definitely a gap in the market for a "safe for work" podcast discussing Ubuntu related topics in a grown-up manner. Hopefully the Ubuntu UK team can fill that gap.

Also, I've been reading the mailing list and it's good to see lots of enthusiasm for the project. It seems that many UK team players are keen to get involved and contribute. It'll be good to hear these contributions and try to put voices to faces — why is it that nobody ever sounds like you imagine?!

URL: http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/

tablaunch Application Launch Bar

Over the last few days I've been testing different application launchers under Openbox. It's funny, but I was managing just fine without an application launcher until I started playing, now I'm hooked. I've experimented with a few different applications and I've finally found one that I'm really happy with, tablaunch.

tablaunch is an application launch bar that sits at the top of my screen and displays user defined applications as tabs. What I really love about tablaunch is how it neatly hides itself away when I'm not using it — providing a clean unobtrusive way to quickly launch my favourite applications. Watch this short video of tablaunch in action.

tablaunch can be configured to display both icons and text, but personally I prefer to use the "text only" option. It can also be set-up, via the command line, to display a variety of mouse-over effects etc. I've uploaded a copy of tablaunch to the CrunchBang Linux repository and I 've also written a wiki page, "tablaunch Application Launch Bar" for anyone interested in giving it a try.

CrunchBang Linux APT Repository

I've set-up an APT repository for CrunchBang Linux. This is something I've been meaning to do for sometime and I'm pleased that I've finally created it; being able to offer new packages and update existing ones should make life a bit easier, not to mention more fun.

I'm planning of using the new repository to issue updates for CrunchBang Linux, as well offering packages that are not available in the Ubuntu repositories. A couple of package updates which I've already uploaded include, Openbox 3.4.7-pre2 and obconf 2.0.3-0.

I've also uploaded a few other packages which I'm planning on using in the next release, see the wiki page for a list of available packages. All of the packages in the repository should be compatible with Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon", so if you're running with the Gibbon you're more than welcome to use it/browse the packages.

Adding the repository

Below are the instructions to add the CrunchBang Linux repository to your system's list of APT repositories. A shorter version of these instructions is available on the wiki, see: http://www.crunchbang.org/wiki/CrunchBangLinuxRepository

1. Open a terminal and enter the following to edit your APT sources:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Add the following line to the end of the file, save and exit:

deb http://crunchbang.net/packages-7.10.xx 7.10.xx main

3. Back in the terminal, add the GPG Key with the following command:

wget -q http://crunchbang.net/crunchbang.key -O- | sudo apt-key add -

4. Update APT:

sudo apt-get update

Enjoy :)

Openbox, xcompmgr, transset & Conky

I had some spare time yesterday and I decided to spend it playing with compositing under Openbox. I'm not normally too fussed about having eye-candy on the desktop; however, a few people have mentioned 3D effects, in IRC and on the forums, so I thought I'd have a go at configuring xcompmgr on one of my systems.

I was surprised to find that enabling compositing under Openbox was actually quite a straightforward affair, although due to some conflicts with Conky I did manage to explode my desktop on the first attempt.

Fixing Conky for use with xcompmgr

Conky can behave quite badly with xcompmgr, I know this because I've experienced the bad behaviour first-hand. Conky needs to be drawn in its own window, if it isn't it'll cause all manner of funky side effects, including making all your windows disappear completely. To fix this you'll need to edit your .conkyrc file and make sure it includes the following settings:

own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type desktop

Installing & starting xcompmgr

xcompmgr is a compositing manager for X, it enables basic eye-candy effects such as shadows, fading and translucency. It's available to install via the Ubuntu repositories, enter the following terminal command to install it:

sudo apt-get install xcompmgr

Once the xcompmgr is installed, it can either be run from the terminal, or the start command can be placed in Openbox's autostart.sh to start it automatically when you login. Full details of xcompmgr's options are available via the man page:

man xcompmgr

A popular command used to start xcompmgr with shadows is:

xcompmgr -c -t-5 -l-5 -r4.2 -o.55 &

Or, to enable shadows and fading, start xcompmgr with:

xcompmgr -cCfF -t-5 -l-5 -r4.2 -o.55 -D6 &

Setting transparency with transset

Once xcompmgr is running, transparency of individual windows can be achieved by using the transset utility. transset is also available to install via the Ubuntu repositories, enter the following terminal command to install it:

sudo apt-get install transset

Run transset with the following command:

transset X

Where X is a value from 0 - 1. 0 being fully transparent and 1 being fully opaque. Once the command has been entered your mouse cursor should change to a crosshair, simply click on the target window to apply the transparency. For example, the following command will set the target window to 50% transparency.

transset .5

Screenshots of xcompmgr enabled desktop

Screenshot showing various applications, note the drop shadows and transparency:

Screenshot showing a practical use of transparency, reading instructions from a web page whilst typing commands into the terminal:

Regarding the eye-candy

I quite like it. I think the transparency has rather limited practical use, as do the drop shadows and fading;however, the effects do add a certain amount of je ne sais quoi to the desktop. Also, I haven't witnessed any noticeable slowdown of my system or any negative effects, as yet.

Hello Planet Openbox!

I sent an email to David Barr yesterday asking if it would be possible to add my feed to Planet Openbox. David got back to me the same day and informed me that he had added my feed. w00t!

If you're not aware of Planet Openbox, it's a feed aggregator for Openbox related news and blog posts. It downloads news feeds published by web sites and aggregates their content together into a single combined feed, latest news first. It's a fantastic resource for all things Openbox related.

URL: http://planetob.openmonkey.com/
RSS: http://planetob.openmonkey.com/rss20.xml