# HOWTO: FreeBSD Desktop - Part 12 - Configuration - Openbox



## vermaden (Jul 1, 2018)

I would like to share HOWTO in 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐁𝐒𝐃 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐤𝐭𝐨𝐩 series about Configuration of Openbox on FreeBSD.

*FreeBSD Desktop - Part 12 - Configuration - Openbox*
https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2018/07/01/freebsd-desktop-part-12-configuration-openbox/

You may also like earlier articles in the series.

FreeBSD Desktop – Part 1 – Simplified Boot
FreeBSD Desktop – Part 2 – Install
FreeBSD Desktop – Part 3 – X11 Window System
FreeBSD Desktop – Part 4 – Key Components – Window Manager
FreeBSD Desktop – Part 5 – Key Components – Status Bar
FreeBSD Desktop – Part 6 – Key Components – Task Bar
FreeBSD Desktop – Part 7 – Key Components – Wallpaper Handling
FreeBSD Desktop – Part 8 – Key Components – Application Launcher
FreeBSD Desktop – Part 9 – Key Components – Keyboard/Mouse Shortcuts
FreeBSD Desktop – Part 10 – Key Components – Locking Solution
FreeBSD Desktop – Part 11 – Key Components – Blue Light Spectrum Suppress


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## nik0tine (Jun 23, 2020)

I love this! Nice work bro


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## teo (Jun 23, 2020)

For most people who have little of their free time, it's too much time to build their own desktop system and leave it functional as the author of this immense GUIDE initially detailed in 21 parts and in this open thread of 11 parts says.

The big question of all is, what hardware or laptop is suitable to build these systems on BSD and detect all the drivers and take full advantage of the performance of all the hardware? Don't tell me the models that have Nvidia or ThinkPad graphics card, I would prefer the old and well known brand DELL , one to be compatible with this system.


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## kpedersen (Jun 23, 2020)

teo said:


> For most people who have little of their free time, it's too much time to build their own desktop system and leave it functional as the author of this immense GUIDE initially detailed in 21 parts and in this open thread of 11 parts says.



Weirdly enough it is starting to take me more time locking down a fresh install of Windows and disabling all the stupid broken defaults. Just to prevent all the crooked software from being able to add their own firewall rules takes me more time than installing the entirety of a FreeBSD desktop.






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How about this? Definitely not a ThinkPad. 

I use this as my desktop (HP Z420) (https://www8.hp.com/uk/en/campaigns/workstations/z420.html)

I can vouch that it works well with FreeBSD. It is an Intel GPU which work but if you plan on doing intensive graphical stuff, obviously you will want to grab a recent (but not too recent) AMD GPU.

The HP Z400 is also good. It is my old desktop and now I use it to prop up my current desktop :S


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## Sevendogsbsd (Jun 23, 2020)

HP z800's work well also - used one as my desktop for a time, then as a headless poudriere build server. I think mine was from the 2010 time frame.


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## bookwormep (Jun 24, 2020)

I have used Openbox for quite a long time. This tutorial adds a considerable depth to
the knowledge of it's features and it's utility. Thanks for sharing your wisdom vermaden!


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## vermaden (Jun 25, 2020)

teo said:


> For most people who have little of their free time, it's too much time to build their own desktop system and leave it functional as the author of this immense GUIDE initially detailed in 21 parts and in this open thread of 11 parts says.



Yes it takes time to learn all these things and to configure them your own preferable way. If you do not have time or do not want to customize it that much then grab GhostBSD or NomadBSD.



teo said:


> The big question of all is, what hardware or laptop is suitable to build these systems on BSD and detect all the drivers and take full advantage of the performance of all the hardware?



In some tasks Linux will be faster in other FreeBSD will be faster. But how do you measure 'pain' of dealing with systemd? ... or how would you measure lack of stability? I am typing this message from FreeBSD on my ThinkPad W520 with 46 days of uptime. On a laptop with many suspend/resume cycles.



teo said:


> I would prefer the old and well known brand DELL , one to be compatible with this system.


The last two Dell laptops I would recommend are Dell Latitude E6410/E6510 or the older 'magnesium' generation Dell Latitude D630/D830. I owned them both in the past and FreeBSD runs really well on them.


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## jardows (Jun 25, 2020)

vermaden said:


> Yes it takes time to learn all these things and to configure them your own preferable way. If you do not have time or do not want to customize it that much then grab GhostBSD or NomadBSD.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have FreeBSD working very well on a Dell Latitude E5570, especially with the recent work for the Realtek SD card reader driver.  

I appreciate these articles, even though I usually just install XFCE and call it a day.  They provide great insight into some of the inner workings of using FreeBSD as a graphical workstation, and help me refine my installs to be more usable.  Keep them coming!


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