resolution, wallpaper, styles, translucency

Forum: X and Fluxbox
Topic: resolution, wallpaper, styles, translucency
started by: wuya

Posted by wuya on April 18 2005,00:49

1. How do I change my resolution to 1280 x 960? I think the current one is 800 x 600.

2. How do I change my wallpaper?

3. How do I get insert new styles?

4. How do I enable translucency?

There is a way to do all of this, but does the settings save? The CD is read-only though.

Posted by mikshaw on April 18 2005,04:02

resolution: Try "sudo xsetup.sh", choosing a new resolution, and restart X.

wallpaper: bsetbg or xsri. xsri is the actual background-setting application and has greater flexibility, but bsetbg makes it easier to just set a fullscreen image with "bsetbg -f /path/to/image"

new styles can be found in several places online. There are some made to be installed with the mydsl system at < http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/damnsmall/mydsl/themes/ >

Transparency is specific to applications. Fluxbox stable does not have it, and as far as i know, no included applications have it. For transparency in term apps, try ke4nt's dsl-aterm extension, and for transparency in menu, toolbar, and window decoration try the fluxbox-0.9.11 extension.

save settings using the backup/restore feature (look in the menu under "tools"). Add files you want to backup to filetool.lst. When you boot, use the boot option "restore=hda1", replacing hda1 with the partition specified during backup.

Posted by wuya on April 18 2005,09:07

I cannot save files onto the hda.

The whole point of having a live cd is so I can carry with it and use linux and its programmes where ever I go.

Anyway I can have my settings customized and bring it with me?

Posted by mikshaw on April 18 2005,14:24

Well, one way is to remaster...which of course was mentioned in your other thread. An alternative to a full remaster (if you just want to add files instead of removing) is to rebuild the ISO with one or more mydsl or backup archives added.
mount the ISO: sudo mount -o loop dsl-1.0.1.iso /mountpoint
Replace "/mountpoint" with a path to where you want to mount it.
Copy the contents of /mountpoint onto a harddrive somewhere.
Add a backup.tar.gz (or a mydsl extension including your backups) to the root of the same directory into which you copied the ISO contents.
CD into that directory and rebuild the ISO:
mkisofs -r -l -b KNOPPIX/boot.img -c KNOPPIX/boot.cat -o /path/to/new_DSL_CD.iso ./

Another possibility is to back up onto a floppy (fd0) or usb device (sda1?)...something small and portable.

Posted by Billsrock61 on April 20 2005,05:49

where is bsetbg??

Posted by Billsrock61 on April 20 2005,05:53

nm figured it out!!

Posted by Billsrock61 on April 20 2005,06:07

I have a hd install and i can get the background to change but after reboot it goes back to the styles image....how do u keep the same background image?? Thanks

Billsrock61

Posted by mikshaw on April 20 2005,14:13

There are basically three ways that I know to set the background in Fluxbox:
1) rootCommand in a style file. This sets the background each time you load a style, according to whatever is listed on the rootcommand line for a specific stylefile.
2) rootCommand line in .fluxbox/init. This is the same as in a style file, although it overrides the style file...it will set the background to the same thing regardless of what is in a style.
3) Manually setting the background after Fluxbox loads, either on the commandline or in a script.

Probably the most common way to make a persistent background is by modifying a style file. Find a style you like and copy it into .fluxbox/styles (use a new name so you can easily find it in the fluxbox menu). Then edit the rootCommand line to set your background the way you want it. Choose this copied style from the menu, and you should be all set. I'm not certain, but you may need to reload or reconfigure Fluxbox in order to see the new style in the menu.

Posted by dmizzel on April 24 2005,08:54

Quote (mikshaw @ April 18 2005,10:24)

Mikshaw,
I've tried your mkisofs idea and now I'm lost and my iso is in pieces.

I was able to mount the iso no problem (now all of the pieces are in a folder named "CustomDSL1.0.1.iso" except for the iso image dsl-1.0.1.iso), I added files:

-quote
"Add a backup.tar.gz (or a mydsl extension including your backups) to the root of the same directory into which you copied the ISO contents."

I then cd into that directory:
#cd /home/d/Desktop/DSL/CustomDSL1.0.1.iso

Then I attempted to rebuild the ISO using:
-quote
" mkisofs -r -l -b KNOPPIX/boot.img -c KNOPPIX/boot.cat -o /path/to/new_DSL_CD.iso ./ "

my "path to new dsl cd" is:
/home/d/Desktop/DSL/CustomDSL1.0.1.iso

Right so far?

Here's the problem, running that mkisofs command returns an error:

" mkisofs: Is a directory. Unable to open disc image file. "

Posted by mikshaw on April 24 2005,14:41

Your new ISO path need fixing. You're creating an ISO from the contents of /home/d/Desktop/DSL/CustomDSL1.0.1.iso/ (a directory), which is correct. However, the new ISO needs to be a regular file and *not* a directory. You need to specify a different path for your new ISO. You should also keep in mind that the ISO will be created from the contents of /home/d/Desktop/DSL/CustomDSL1.0.1.iso, so your new ISO should *not* be created inside that same directory.

Just to be a little more clear about the mkisofs command,
"-o /path/to/new_DSL_CD.iso" is the new ISO file being created, the output filename.
"./" is the current directory, where the files will be found for creating the ISO (input).
To avoid confusion, I'd drop the ".iso" from the directory name.
After you cd into /home/d/Desktop/DSL/CustomDSL1.0.1, you'd do this:
mkisofs -r -l -b KNOPPIX/boot.img -c KNOPPIX/boot.cat -o ../CustomDSL1.0.1.iso ./
That will create the ISO on the same level as the ISO directory rather than inside it, so you'd have this in /home/d/Desktop/DSL:
CustomDSL1.0.1 (a directory)
CustomDSL1.0.1.iso (the new ISO file)

As an extra bonus, before you build the ISO, you can create a directory called "/home/d/Desktop/DSL/CustomDSL1.0.1/optional" where you can put additional myDSL applications that you don't want to automatically load. During boot, DSL will build a new submenu in the fluxbox menu that contains these extensions...just click the menu item for a particular package you want to install.

Posted by dmizzel on April 27 2005,01:41

Thanx for the clairfication. I will try it again... this time, the right way

Posted by dmizzel on April 27 2005,08:09

Okay, old problems fixed... new problems arise!

Now I am getting the following message:

mkisofs: Uh oh, I can't find the boot image 'KNOPPIX/boot.img' !

I have to say at this point I don't appreciate the attempt at being cute 'uh oh'
:angry:

'uh oh' ?

I would feel better if it said, "You're doing something wrong just give up"

Posted by mikshaw on April 27 2005,12:54

Oh...crap.

I haven't rebuilt the iso since 0.7.something....forgot that the file structure has changed and there's no boot.img on the CD anymore.

The boot file *might be* (i'm just guessing) boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin, but this will need to be verified by someone who knows better.
The boot.cat file is now in boot/isolinux instead of KNOPPIX.

Very sorry to have mislead you. Let's hope someone can clear this up soon.

EDIT: This is from Meo's HOW-TO. I haven't tried it myself, but it's worth a shot...
mkisofs –no-pad –l –r –J –no-emul-boot –boot-load-size 4 –boot-info-table –b
boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin –c boot/isolinux/boot.cat –hide-rr-moved -o ../newISO.iso ./
(all on one line)

Posted by clivesay on April 27 2005,16:50

Quote (dmizzel @ April 27 2005,03:09)

I would feel better if it said, "You're doing something wrong just give up"

NEVER! It's too great once you get it!

Chris