Extend Blob?

johnraff · 2016-02-27 07:00:20

Damo's excellent BLOB theme manager (under Accessories on the menu) ...

... thinking the other day, would there be any point in shipping three or four preconfigured theme setups?
Maybe that would really require installing alternative icon sets - would adding a prompt "would you like to install foobar-icons?" when choosing a certain setup be rather difficult?

Also, how about offering to backup menu.xml, rc.xml and autostart too? (I guess when restoring files like that a 'openbox --reconfigure' or even a logout might be necessary.)

Would that let us offer a "media desktop" a "hackers desktop" a "minimal desktop" etc etc?

Would any of that be worth the ( mostly damo's ) time to put it together?

nobody0 · 2016-02-27 07:24:10

Blob is a piece of nice work. Damo had done a lot of work, and he appears to love that work, so let it be there. Its up to the users to keep it or delete it. Btw, there is also "Panel Tint2 (Tint2 panel settings)" installed too.

nore · 2016-02-27 07:35:20

Blob is valuable already in its current state, but having preconfigured setups for showoff would add some marketing value in it.

tknomanzr · 2016-02-27 08:01:56

It would be a nice way to showcase some of the awesome desktops we see in the monthly screenshots thread.

nobody · 2016-02-27 09:49:28

tknomanzr wrote:

It would be a nice way to showcase some of the awesome desktops we see in the monthly screenshots thread.

I just extended the BL homepage's gallery's capabilities to include an infinite amount of pictures. Submissions are welcome...

xaos52 · 2016-02-27 11:22:25

I agree with tknomanzr.

torq · 2016-02-28 18:57:39

@Damo... your BLOB theme manager is very nicely done. I think Johnraff's suggestion about multiple preconfigured themes should be disscussed, that would be the iceing. (As I understand that means the nice stuff on top of the cake...)

The RC2 is great, how much better can it get?

photonucleon · 2016-02-28 23:04:36

I really, really, really like BLOB, good job, Damo!
One potential improvement would be for it to copy the conky and tint2 configs so that they can be restored to what they were when a theme snapshot was taken even if the files have been subsequently edited.

damo · 2016-02-28 23:36:52

Any preconfigured options would have to come from the default OB/GTK themes, so would be quite limited, and extra BL backgrounds need to have `bunsen-images-extra` installed [@johnraff - did we discuss once about having that as an option in `bl-welcome`?]

It is a nice idea, but I'm not sure how much it would add to the BL experience atm. OTOH it would be possible to add an "Extra themes" button to run an install script for `bunsen-images-extra`, which might also pull in preconfigured BLOB themes (we would have to have a way to install them so they were accessible to $USER though). Maybe we could even have sets of terminal theme configs etc in the repos as well, in the future. (BTW this is what I envisaged the DeviantArt Group could showcase, along with walls, conkys, tint2s, themes, icons etc).

@photonucleon
Keeping some configs would of course be possible, but what if someone wanted to edit everything else as well? My suggestion would be to edit those files and SaveAs, then save a new BLOB config. You would then have the current configuration, as well as the previous one.

These changes are non-trivial, so don't expect them in the Hydrogen release straight away

@johnraff
I have also thought that a "Save <config>" submenu would be good in "Preferences -> Openbox", to complement the "Edit ..." options.
Maybe make it neater with eg

menu.xml -> Save
            Edit
etc

johnraff · 2016-02-29 01:35:24

damo wrote:

extra BL backgrounds need to have `bunsen-images-extra` installed ... @johnraff - did we discuss once about having that as an option in `bl-welcome`?

I'm not sure, but I think we should do it. Another simple 'install' page would be very easy to add.

These changes are non-trivial

Agreed! I just threw this out for general mulling-over. The idea of, say, a "minimal" desktop option for those who don't want a complicated menu or tint2 launchers, would be doable if the three openbox files were added to BLOB's checklist, wouldn't it? Maybe there are messy implications I haven't thought of...

I have also thought that a "Save <config>" submenu would be good in "Preferences -> Openbox", to complement the "Edit ..." options.
Maybe make it neater with eg
menu.xml -> Save
            Edit
etc

True, though I was thinking more about saving those files as a "set" to be restored together. OTOH maybe options of "Edit" and "Save and Edit" for each file, so users don't have to drill down through the same menu twice?

tknomanzr · 2016-02-29 01:36:29

I guess I should expound on what I was thinking, although I want to first give nobody props. That sounds like a really cool way to highlight what our little distro is about.

I was sort of thinking along the lines of possibly a .tar.gzip file with the necessary fonts, themes, etc., along with possibly a simple install script that would put everything where it needed to go and we could then use BLOB to set it all up for us. Damo is right that Blob can't do anything if the necessary stuff isn't there but I am pretty sure we could work up a bash or python script that would make it so.

The reason this hit me is because I am one of those who doesn't particularly pay a whole lot of attention theming. Sure I have built some stuff, but here lately, I have been messing around with systemd stuff, btrfs, am going to build a new file server soon, etc. But I see the awesome stuff you guys produce and think, "Wow it would be nice to try that out. "

What I am saying is that BLOB would serve a very real purpose for me in that I could easily change stuff up based on something that you folks who are admittedly better at it than me produces and I can go on doing the stuff that I am doing. I am guessing once BL goes full release, that would give everybody a little time to play with their toys prior to having to start thinking about Helium. This would give me the ability to play along with you guys without losing time on the particular goals that I have which are still very much a work in progress.

For instance, I now have a fully working btrfs snapshotting system that will allow me to roll back dist-upgrades for Sid, as well as some systemd unit files that clean my snapshots up periodically. I have not yet posted the setup because I wanted to let it run awhile and be sure I got all the kinks worked out before I did. My next goal is to take the first system I built prior to the one I am running now, and convert my entire archiving / backup strategy to utilize btrfs, along with running services inside of containers and some other stuff. So I have lots of stuff going on here and never seem to finalize any themes I start

Last edited by tknomanzr (2016-02-29 01:39:49)

KrunchTime · 2016-02-29 13:35:29

johnraff wrote:

Also, how about offering to backup menu.xml, rc.xml and autostart too? (I guess when restoring files like that a 'openbox --reconfigure' or even a logout might be necessary.)

I already manually do that, so it isn't something I would desire/need. Might be helpful for someone newer to the distro or Linux in general.

johnraff · 2016-03-01 03:09:36

KrunchTime wrote:

johnraff wrote:
Also, how about offering to backup menu.xml, rc.xml and autostart too? (I guess when restoring files like that a 'openbox --reconfigure' or even a logout might be necessary.)
I already manually do that, so it isn't something I would desire/need. Might be helpful for someone newer to the distro or Linux in general.

I was thinking about something slightly different from the routine backup of important config files: having preconfigured "desktops" with different menu items etc to go along with the graphical theming, aimed at different use scenarios. Of course users will tweak the system to their own requirements anyway over a few weeks/months, but it might be interesting to be able to quickly switch between different setups, depending on the work at hand.

Last edited by johnraff (2016-03-01 03:10:53)

h0m0d3u5 · 2017-04-27 11:32:43

johnraff wrote:

Would that let us offer a "media desktop" a "hackers desktop" a "minimal desktop" etc etc?

I'm into it!

Naik · 2017-04-27 12:47:14

^ seconded!!!!

martix · 2017-05-25 12:10:34

tknomanzr wrote:

It would be a nice way to showcase some of the awesome desktops we see in the monthly screenshots thread.

Ah, here it is! Somehow I missed this thread before, but I had the following thoughts countless times after looking at brilliant desktop setups posted: 1. That's a fantastic desktop! 2. That must have been a lot of work to configure all the colours, openbox, terminator, tint2, find (create) the wallpaper, choose the theme and icons, etc. 3. It'd be great if there would be a tool to save all the necessary settings and files (like an Extended Blob), so anyone interested could use those saved settings (files).

I guess something like that works the best way if there is an out-of-the-box configuration at the beginning, but during the install there would be some desktop-options to choose from. To install at a later time, after someone tinkered the basic config and decides to install a certain desktop setup, I guess it might lead to some troubles.

Naik · 2017-07-17 18:27:45

Hey folks!

I`m sorry to bump this thread but I just re-read it and am asking myself how difficult it could be to

1.) give the BL-Welcome a proper GUI,
2.) let the $USER decide whether there should be a "real" desktop environment (handling links, launchers, etc.pp. on the desktop) or not and last but not least
3.) give named $USER the choice of different layouts (eg. handle tiling or not, choose theme and so on...)

I will try to put stuff like this together on my own and provide a bl-welcome-gui via git if you think this makes sense and i think it is manageable with the amount of knowledge i posses.

naik --greetz

DeepDayze · 2017-07-17 20:23:17

Sounds like a cool idea @nail and I am sure the BunsenLabs team would like that idea. If you start the desktop then a graphical welcome screen can pop right up. If you don't want it now, should be able to be dismissed.

Definitely gold!

#1 2016-02-27 07:00:20

Extend Blob?

#2 2016-02-27 07:24:10

Re: Extend Blob?

#3 2016-02-27 07:35:20

Re: Extend Blob?

#4 2016-02-27 08:01:56

Re: Extend Blob?

#5 2016-02-27 09:49:28

Re: Extend Blob?

#6 2016-02-27 11:22:25

Re: Extend Blob?

#7 2016-02-28 18:57:39

Re: Extend Blob?

#8 2016-02-28 23:04:36

Re: Extend Blob?

#9 2016-02-28 23:36:52

Re: Extend Blob?

#10 2016-02-29 01:35:24

Re: Extend Blob?

#11 2016-02-29 01:36:29

Re: Extend Blob?

#12 2016-02-29 13:35:29

Re: Extend Blob?

#13 2016-03-01 03:09:36

Re: Extend Blob?

#14 2017-04-27 11:32:43

Re: Extend Blob?

#15 2017-04-27 12:47:14

Re: Extend Blob?

#16 2017-05-25 12:10:34

Re: Extend Blob?

#17 2017-07-17 18:27:45

Re: Extend Blob?

#18 2017-07-17 20:23:17

Re: Extend Blob?

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