QUICK UBUNTU OPENBOX INSTALLION GUIDE

This material used to be for my course on Udemy.

Section 3 – Prerequisite knowledge

1. Repositories:

A repository is a server storing packages that are suitable to be installed right away.

/etc/apt/source.list file will have a list of repository addresses.

PPA: A Personal Package Archives (PPA) is a repository maintained by an individual or an independent group; as opposed to the official repository maintained by Ubuntu.

2. Update apt information (from source.list file)

sudo apt-get update

It will go to the addresses listed in the /apt/etc/source.list file and update current information of which packages, what have been changed and what the current versions are.

You need to execute this command whenever you want to install or update any package.

3. Install packages

sudo apt-get install [packages' name]

For example:

sudo apt-get install firefox openbox

will install both firefox and openbox at the same time.

4. Remove packages

sudo apt-get remove firefox
  • remove packages and all their configuration file. 
    sudo apt-get remove --purge firefox

5. Use nano to edit a text file

sudo nano /directory/to/text/file

Navigate through the text file using up/down/left/right keys.

Useful shortcut keys: “Ctrl + X” to exit nano, “Y” to save and “N” to abort the saving.

Section 4 – Install Openbox And Configure It

1. Install packages

The commands to install all of the packages for this section.

sudo apt-get install xorg openbox firefox tint2 terminator geany gksu

Detail:

  • Xorg, the foundation of GUI: xorg

If for any reason that “the startx command is not found”. Please install xinit package:

sudo apt-get install xinit

Login using startx is just temporary, later, a login manager will manage this.

  • Firefox browser: firefox

  • Tint2 taskbar: tint2

  • Geany text editor: geany

  • Terminator terminal: terminator

  • For using GUI application with root privilege: gksu

For example: gksu geany /directory/to/text/file or gksu thunar

  • Install VboxGuestAdditions (For testing only. If you are installing on a real machine, this virtualbox guest additions package is not needed)

Mount VboxGuestAdditions.iso file into the virtual machine.

sudo apt-get install build-essential module-assistant

sudo m-a prepare

sudo blkid #To find where the iso file is in your system (often at /dev/sr0)

mkdir cdrom

sudo mount /dev/sr0 cdrom

cd cdrom

sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

2. Configure Openbox

Copy configuration files to user’s home folder:

cp -R /etc/xdg/openbox ~/.config/

Note that because you are working on your home folder. You do not need to use sudo.

Edit configuration files:

geany ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml

geany ~/.config/openbox/autostart

geany ~/.config/openbox/menu.xml

Replace the content of these files with my Openbox configuration files:

rc.xml file: http://pastebin.com/ajfTFaay

autostart file: http://pastebin.com/EmY8gx9c

menu.xml file: http://pastebin.com/5Cixsqpa

Section 5 – Essential Features Of A Operating System

The commands to install all of the packages for this section.

sudo apt-get install thunar thunar-volman thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin humanity-icon-theme gnome-icon-theme-full gvfs gvfs-backends file-roller rar unrar p7zip zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar wicd htop scrot i3lock libnotify-bin xfce4-notifyd software-properties-common nitrogen lightdm lxpolkit

Detail:

  • File manager: thunar thunar-volman thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin humanity-icon-theme gnome-icon-theme-full gvfs gvfs-backends

  • Archive manager: file-roller rar unrar p7zip zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar

  • Network manager: wicd

  • System monitor: htop

  • Screen capture (Print-Scrn key): scrot

  • Screen locker (Supper + L): i3lock

  • Notification: libnotify-bin xfce4-notifyd

  • For adding PPA: software-properties-common

  • Wallpaper manager: nitrogen

  • (LXDE) PolicyKit authentication agent: lxpolkit - An authentication agent, and is used to make the user of a session prove that the user of the session really is the user.

  • Login manager: lightdm

You can use the --no-install-recommends flag to prevent unnecessary packages to be installed.

sudo apt-get install lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter --no-install-recommends

For more information and instruction https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LightDM

  • If you do not want to use a login manager. Just plainly entering username and password. Add some lines into ~/.profile file in your home folder: 
    geany ~/.profile

    add these line to the end of that file:

    # startx after login
if [[ -z $DISPLAY ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]]; then
exec startx
fi

    From now on, the GUI will autostart (without the need of startx command) as soon as you enter your username and password.

Section 6 – Install Internet Applications

Add PPA for Uget (this is the official PPA from the developer of Uget)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:plushuang-tw/uget-stable

sudo apt-get update

The commands to install all of the packages for this section.

sudo apt-get install thunderbird pidgin uget

Detail:

  • Firefox for internet browser: firefox (already installed)

  • Thunderbird for email client: thunderbird

  • Pidgin for multi-platform chat client: pidgin

  • Uget for download manager (from a PPA): uget

  • Dropbox for cloud storage (proprietary software)

Go to: https://www.dropbox.com/install?os=lnx

Download the .deb package and install it with this command:

sudo dpkg -i [.deb package]

Section 7 – Install Multimedia Applications

The commands to install all of the packages for this section.

sudo apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils pavucontrol pulseaudio vlc audacious gimp shutter viewnior

  • Alsa sound cards driver: alsa-base alsa-utils

  • Audio center control: pavucontrol

  • Video player: vlc

  • Music player: audacious

  • Image suite (like Photoshop): gimp

  • Screenshot app: shutter

  • Image viewer: viewnior

Section 8 – Install Office Applications

Add PPA for LibreOffice (from the developer of LibreOffice)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

sudo apt-get update

The commands to install all of the packages for this section.

sudo apt-get install fbreader libreoffice-calc libreoffice-writer libreoffice-gtk

Detail:

LibreOffice Writer (word processor): libreoffice-writer

LibreOffice Calc (spreadsheet): libreoffice-calc

  • OPTIONAL: for other applications of LibreOffice Suite:

LibreOffice Base (database): libreoffice-base

LibreOffice Draw (drawing): libreoffice-draw

LibreOffice Impress (presentation): libreoffice-impress

LibreOffice Math (equation editor): libreoffice-math

Theme for LibreOffice: libreoffice-gtk libreoffice-style-sifr

  • FB Reader for reading ebook: fbreader

  • Foxit as Pdf reader (proprietary software)

https://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/

go to the link to download the .run package for Linux 64 bit platform. Open it and follow the instruction.

Note that by open it, I mean using terminal like this:

# In its folder
$sh ./FoxitReader_version_Setup.run

Why do I tell you to use Foxit while there are some others in the repository? I want to show you a lot of abnormal ways to install apps.

These days I use Zathura because of its flexibility in color scheme (choose your own color scheme to view files) and the shortcut key. You will have to research a bit to know how to config it the way you like.

Section 9 – Customize The Look

The commands to install all of the packages for this section.

sudo apt-get install conky obconf lxappearance obconf

Detail:

1.Change the look of tint2

Tint2 config file:

geany ./.config/tint2/tint2rc

My tint2 config: http://pastebin.com/hxYLwYjw

2.Change Openbox theme

Openbox Theme: Mistral

Download at: http://phobi4n.deviantart.com/art/Mistral-Openbox-543910044

User-specific themes can be installed in ~/.local/share/themes or in ~/.themes. So, Openbox theme, Gtk theme, and cursor theme will go there.

Use the command obconf to open obconf, then change the theme.

3. Change Gtk theme

Again, User-specific themes can be installed in ~/.local/share/themes or in ~/.themes. So, Openbox theme, and Gtk theme will go there.

Gtk theme: Breeze-gtk

Download at: https://github.com/dirruk1/gnome-breeze

Use the command lxappearance to open lxappearance, then change the theme.

4. Change icon theme and cursor theme

Icon themes and cursor themes are either install via PPAs or copy (the extracted) icon folder directly to /usr/share/icons or ~/.icons

Icon Theme: Vivacious-colors

Information at: http://www.ravefinity.com/p/vivacious-colors-gtk-icon-theme.html

By PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ravefinity-project/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vivacious-colors

Cursor theme: Breeze

Download at: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Breeze+Serie?content=169316

Use the command lxappearance to open lxappearance, then change the theme.