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#1 pitkon

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Posted 19 January 2014 - 07:44 AM

Seems like yesterday, but it’s more than 14 years when the first Blackbox for Windows build was released to an enthusiastic audience. Blackbox, a Windows shell based on its Linux Window Manager counterpart, owes its existence to many creative developers that I won’t mention here in fear of forgetting someone. Of course, topics about What Blackbox Is and A History of The Shell, including main contributors, can be found in other sections of this site.
 
That original build bloomed and diversified and at the peak of its popularity included more than 6 different branches. At the same time, Blackbox 4 Windows sites grew and bloomed. bb4win and boxshots by NC-17 offered news and styles respectively, while lostinthebox by tres’ni was a Blackbox forum that sometime included over 4,000 members. And I had the pleasure and honor of being an administator/moderator for all three sites.
 
Sadly, they all went recently down, due to attacks and/or lack of interest leaving behind a void I felt had to be covered. Members may be fewer nowadays, programmers may have left for other pastures, but there are still developers working on Blackbox (xzero450, nocd5, qwilk, DBlake, mojmir, diabol to mention a few) and there are hundreds of people still using the shell. And themers and ardent fans, like me, that hated to see something so beautiful and powerful go down the drain.
This site is for you. Created by me and my good friend adni18, one of the most prolific Windows artists/themers around, it will be our new niche, where all aspects of Blacbox (news, forum, uploads and downloads) will be discussed and analyzed. In short, it’s all three old sites merged into one, where each one of us can contribute in one way or the other.
 
Here you can ask for help or give help, you can download any build and plugin released so far, you can upload your screenshots, your styles or even your themes, you can discuss Blackbox and anything that has to do with the community. Feel free to add topics and chat live. The site is still under construction and you can contribute to its looks, subject matter and diversity. This goes not only for Blackbox users, but for artists who may honor us with their wallpapers, their icons, their visual styles and their input. After all, Blackbox needs decoration too. And, lastly, this is more than true in the case of Linux users, the place where the original Blackbox started. There is a special section for you, *box WM users, where you can upload your skins, themes and screenshots and a forum thread just for you.
So, my deepest and humblest respects to the creators of Blackbox and all who worked for/with it all these years and, all of you Blackboxers out there, this is YOUR site. Because it’s up to us to keep one of the most beautiful and powerful Windows shells alive.
 
Welcome home! 
 
 
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#2 cuttheredwire

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Posted 04 May 2015 - 02:26 AM

I was really excited when I read about this site on Wikipedia. It's good to see one of the old school shells still around. Most of the options right now are just Start Menu resurrections. BlackBox is way more than that. I'm going to have to figure out how to load up BB on my Linux box running Mint. >:]
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#3 pitkon

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Posted 04 May 2015 - 07:05 AM

I was really excited when I read about this site on Wikipedia. It's good to see one of the old school shells still around. Most of the options right now are just Start Menu resurrections. BlackBox is way more than that. I'm going to have to figure out how to load up BB on my Linux box running Mint. >:]

Welcome back, Red! I am afraid this flavor of BB is for Windows only, but an emulation should work :)



#4 cuttheredwire

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Posted 13 March 2019 - 06:39 AM

And now I'm on macOS, so so it doesn't matter if there is a version for Linux to me. :P

 

I should make a virtual box just to try out some of the themes that I've seen people make here. >:) I would love some kind of BlackBox for Linux virtual machines. Actually… I just checked and the last release was 4 months ago. Sweet. I wonder if any of the themes here would work with the Linux version?

 

And to my future self, here is a link to check up on BlackBox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbox

 

Boo!


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#5 Ritz

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Posted 10 May 2019 - 07:03 PM

If you want blackbox on Linux you have a few options.  The first is Blackbox proper, it hasn't been updated in a while but is still stable.  Fluxbox is the next option which started as a fork to Blackbox but rewrote itself into its own thing (while still keeping to the same principles), fluxbox has everything you'd expect from something like bb4win right out of the box.  The next option is Openbox which is blackbox in its purest of principles, it requires its own panel (tint2 for example) but due to that comes with the most modularity and ability to customize.

 

There are at least two others, but they aren't really worth mentioning here.  If you want a good distro i'd start with Manjaro XFCE edition then install openbox as a secondary desktop env, you  get some good XFCE tools you can use outside of the DE and the openbox manjaro install is noisy and unnecessary.  While manjaro is based off Arch which means theres a potential for breaking I found it the most effortless Linux experience i've ever had.  Less hassles then even Ubuntu on install~ err thing just works.  In fact i'd happily ditch macos if it were my main system for linux, unless you're tied to certain productivity software there is like no loss(only gains) making it your daily driver.

 

Edit: As for themes I don't see why they wouldn't work.  I am pretty sure the theming is the same mostly.  Except for maybe openbox which is heavy with XML.


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