How to make your OpenBox awesome

As a long-time Linux geek, I've discovered that there are nice aspects of GNOME/KDE, and then there's all the horrifying bits.  After almost 20 years of desktop Linux use, I've concluded that "lighter is better."  I.e. there's no real benefit to having all the bells and whistles turned on.  That's what lead me to OpenBox.

Anyone who has run OpenBox is familiar with ~/.config/openbox/autostart.sh... or at least they should be.  In case you aren't, here's the crux of it -- the autostart.sh script runs when OB starts-up, and its the vehicle through which you can start all the bits and pieces of the desktop that you might need.  Here's my autostart.sh:

#
# Openbox config for the ultimate desktop 
# 

#### policykit manager
# allows us to manage networks and other things that require root priv.
(sleep 10 && /usr/lib/policykit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1) &

#### gnome settings daemon 
# allows us to use the gnome tools for things like display and mouse
(gnome-settings-daemon) & 

#### mount encrypted disks and set desktop wallpaper
(/home/cjs/bin/mntenc && nitrogen --set-zoom-fill /home/cjs/mine/pics/backgrounds/current.jpg ) &

#### Enable power management
# we use xfce because the gnome-power-manager went away (as a systray icon anyways)
#(gnome-power-manager) & #this went away in Debian Sid around Dec '11
(xfce4-power-manager) &

#### Thunar Daemon
# handles automounting disks, etc.
(thunar --daemon) &

#### Tint2
# our panel
(tint2) &

#### Screensaver
(xscreensaver -no-splash) &

#### Synapse
# synapse is a key-stroke app-launcher, like Gnome-DO
(synapse -s) &

#### DropBox
# sync files between multiple systems
(sleep 2s && dropbox start) &

## Launch network manager applet
# 2012/01/07 -- this has been getting launched twice, presumably by gnome-settings-daemon?
#(sleep 4s && nm-applet) &

#### volumeicon 
# allows us to control volume from an icon in the system tray
(sleep 3s && volumeicon) &

#### Clipboard manager
# parcellite is a bigger/better utility
(sleep 3s && parcellite) &

## start xsnow!
#(sleep 3s && xsnow -notrees -nokeepsnow -nosanta) &

So, in case all of this is completely Greek to you, I've included comments.  This script works provided you've got tint2, parcellite, xscreensaver, dropbox, volumeicon, and thunar installed, and in your execution path.  This script also assumes that you've got the default GNOME desktop installed for such things as settings and authentication.  The point being is that you can use this even on the default Debian 6 install, and achieve a highly functional desktop without the overhead you'd experience with a full GNOME or KDE desktop.

viva la xsnow!

In the late 1990's, my friend Doug introduced me to `xsnow`, its a simple little program that makes it snow on your desktop.  Ever since, around Christmas time, I have waxed nostalgic and run `xsnow` in honor of the on-set of winter and Advent.  I was surprised this year when I ran `apt-get install xsnow` and was bluntly told that there was no installation candidate for xsnow! 

I did a little digging and discovered that `xsnow` is still in the source repository!  w00t!  Unfortunately, it's VERY infrequent that I actually build a package from source, so I had to  do a bit of reading to help me do it.  I figured, if I had to look it up, it might be of value to others if I provided the synopsis of how to build the package.

First, make sure your /etc/apt/sources.list file includes the following:

cjs@hp8540w:~$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list | grep deb-src
deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free

Next, run `apt-get update` followed by `apt-cache showsrc xsnow | grep Build-Depends`, which will reveal:

Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 7), dpatch (>= 2), libx11-dev, libxext-dev, libxpm-dev, libxt-dev, xutils-dev

Now you'll need to make sure these dependencies are installed, with `apt-get install debhelper dpatch libx11-dev libxext-dev libxpm-dev libxt-dev xutils-dev`. 

Now you should be ready to build from source.  You build the source via `apt-get -b source xsnow`.  This will build a .deb and dump it in /var/cache/apt/archives.

You can install the .deb via `dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/xsnow*.deb`. 

Note: I had to build from source because in Sid there's only an i386 binary for xsnow.  If you're running Sid on a 32-bit x86 box, you should just be able to do an `apt-get install xsnow`, provided you have the non-free repositories in your apt sources.list. 

You can run xsnow from an `xterm` OR, whatever means of launching you prefer (e.g. synapse or gnome-do, etc.)