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Blackbox Window Manager

Preparation

• Perform this stage using your functioning PC.

1. Download the Blackbox source code from http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/.
   • Visit http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/ and click on the "Latest Stable" link.
   • Chose a local mirror from which to download the source code. You will need the source code in .tar.gz format.
     • At the time of writing the latest version of Blackbox was version 0.65.0, so the file downloaded was blackbox-0.65.0.tar.gz.
   • You will be asked to where you wish to save the file. Chose a safe place and make a note of it.
   • The download is about 287kb and will only take a few seconds to download over a modem, and a lot less over a broadband connection.
   • If you are using a download accelerator program, it will save the file to your default download directory.
2. Burn the file blackbox-0.65.0.tar.gz to a CD. This page assumes that the subdirectory /apps is used for the .tar.gz file. The CD-ROM can be a multi-session disk.
   • Use your CD burning software to create an ISO9660 disc image with the file blackbox-0.65.0.tar.gz in the /apps directory.
   • Burn the CD and verify the data stored on it.

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Booting

• Perform this stage and subsequent stages, unless otherwise stated, using your Core Linux PC.

1. Boot your Core Linux PC.
2. Login as root. You will need to enter the password at the prompt.
   • Wait for the following text to appear:
     localhost login:
   • Type root and press Enter.
   • The screen will display this message:
     Password:
   • Enter the password for root that you set earlier.
   • You will be shown a prompt that looks like this:
     [~]#

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Extract the source

1. Place the CD-R in the CD-ROM drive. Mount the CD-ROM drive under /mnt/cdrom.
   • At the prompt enter:
     mount /dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom
   • You will see the following line appear:
     mount: block device /dev/hdb is write-protected, mounting read-only
2. Change to the /apps directory on the CD-R.
   • At the prompt enter:
     cd /mnt/cdrom/apps
   • The prompt will change to:
     [/mnt/cdrom/apps]#
3. Copy the blackbox-0.65.0.tar.gz file to the directory /usr/src.
   • At the prompt enter:
     cp blackbox-0.65.0.tar.gz /usr/src
   • The system will not display a message if everything is OK.
4. Change to the /usr/src directory and extract the source from the .tar.gz file.
   • At the prompt enter:
     cd /usr/src
   • The prompt will change to:
     [/usr/src]#
   • At the prompt enter:
     tar -zxvf blackbox-0.65.0.tar.gz
   • A long stream of unzipping files and directories should scroll up the screen for a few seconds.

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Configure and compile

1. Change to the /usr/src/blackbox-0.65.0 directory.
   • At the prompt enter:
     cd blackbox-0.65.0
   • The prompt will change to:
     [/usr/src/blackbox-0.65.0]#
2. Run the configure script.
   • At the prompt enter:
     ./configure
   • A long stream of processes should scroll up the screen for a few seconds.
   • The script finishes with the line:
     creating config.h
3. Run the make program.
   • At the prompt enter:
     make
   • A long stream of processes should scroll up the screen for a couple of minutes.
   • The script finishes with the line:
     make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/blackbox-0.65.0'
4. Run the make program with the argument install.
   • At the prompt enter:
     make install
   • A few processes should scroll up the screen for few seconds.
   • The program finishes with the lines:
     make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/blackbox-0.65.0'

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Configuring Blackbox

1. Insert the line /usr/local/bin/blackbox in your .xinitrc file.
   • At the prompt enter:
     nano ~/.xinitrc
   • The screen will show the contents of ~/.xinitrc with information about the file at the top and bottom of the screen.
   • Insert the following at the end of the file, if it has any contents at all.
     /usr/local/bin/blackbox
   • If you already have a window manager installed and set to run using this file, you will need to remove or comment out the line that starts that window manager.
   • If you include a & symbol at the end of the line that calls Blackbox, X will stop as soon as it has started. By not including a & symbol, exiting Blackbox will cause X to shut down.
   • Save the file and exit the text editor.
     • Press Ctrl+x on the keyboard.
     • The contents of the white line at the bottom of the screen will change to read:
       Save modified buffer (ANSWERING "No" WILL DESTROY CHANGES) ?
     • Type y.
     • The contents of the white line at the bottom of the screen will change to read:
       File Name to write: /etc/rc.d/rc.ha
     • Press Enter.
     • You will be returned to the system prompt.
2. Start X using the startx command, and Blackbox should be loaded as your window manager.

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