We need community help - Common packages to all WMs

Desktop Environments
1

Hello dear community!

As the title says, this is for WMs (openbox, i3, etc).
Which is your suggestion for a minimalistic WM, not exactly the packages you’re used to but the ones you think any new user will be able to get the system up and running.

Like:

  • text editor
  • browser - Firefox
  • file manager
  • panel or launcher
  • terminal
  • some login/out/off helper
  • file compressor
  • viewer for pictures/images
  • simple viewer for documents/PDFs
  • calculator
  • screenshot tool
  • others
2

Here are my thoughts:

  • text editor - mousepad
  • browser - firefox
  • file manager - pcmanfm-qt or thunar
  • panel/launcher - this probably needs to be specific to the wm in question. Especially in configuration.
  • terminal - termite or qterminal
  • login/logoff helper - again, it seems like this would be environment specific.

With wm’s, it seems like the more light/minimal it can be the better. Also, while it would be pretty easy to align applications, I think trying to align things like panels and panel content would be odd. Especially since there is a mix of stacking and tiling window managers there.

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3

Personally I prefer it simple.

  • Leafpad
  • Firefox
  • PCManFM
  • No idea
  • Xfce4 terminal (I know some are lighter but this is light for having basically a full feature set)
  • No idea
  • No idea
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4

Feel free to “brainstorm”; the more ideas and suggestions the better!

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5

Firefox is a must, I think; let’s not pick something exotic or with limited functionality. Usually you spend half the day in your browser anyway.

2 Likes
6
  • text editor : xed
  • browser : firefox
  • file manager : pcmanfm since openbox is gtk goodchoice
  • panel or launcher tint2 , plank downunder is also nice to have :slight_smile:
  • terminal , lxterminal if you like termite , i would rater use kitty is just a funny name but moderner. myself i use alacritty is almost like termite but lesser deps?
  • some login/out/off helper , a Script since oblogout is in aur ?
  • file compressor xarhiver
  • others , archlinux-xdg-menu
    geeqie as pic viewer :slight_smile:
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7

Are you sure openbox is gtk? I thought it didn’t use any frameworks like that. It doesn’t have any gtk dependencies.

8

would be better to use pcmanfm then pcmanfm-qt :slight_smile: you have to configure the theming seprately

9

I don’t feel strongly about it but, either way, there should be a way to theme both qt and gtk applications and ensure it all matches out of the box.

Unless you are thinking that all the WM installations would be gtk only. That would certainly limit the number of apps you could include.

10

just to keep it simple as possible :slight_smile:

11

i am not sure on openbox here, as it can be used also on kde…

12

It is also the default for lxqt…

13

lxqt :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

14

On Portergos I had some theming issues with pcmanfm, so i think thunar may be a good option, is modular enough so it won’t bring much xfce4 dependencies.

15
16

I mentioned thunar as well but now that I think about it can thunar provide a desktop? We probably need something that can provide a desktop for the wms that don’t support that on their own.

I guess the alternative would be to provide something like feh? That doesn’t seem like the most user-friendly option.

17

What do you mean desktop, icons at the background?

I use feh here for image on brackground, new users, i think, will need nitrogen…

18

Primarily a background image but I suppose some people would also like desktop icons.

It increasingly feels like a one-size fits all approach for Window Managers might limit options.

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19

don’t think no desktop icons leads to any issues :wink:

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20

Looking at your list I add:

  • viewer for pictures/images
  • simple viewer for documents/PDFs
  • calculator

Because it is much better to use the prefered ones from the DE I do not make recommendations.

2 Likes