How to setup Arch Linux w/ OpenBox

1. Boot CD & type /arch/setup
2. Source: core-local (only if you have the core iso, else core-remote) note: core-remote works with both versions of the ISO. You'll end up with the latest packages installed.
3. Pick nano as your editor unless you know vi :P
4. Clock: UTC (localtime if you have a windoze partition)
5. Auto Prepare HDD (if you plan to use entire disk)
6. Select grub as your bootloader (it's pretty robust)
7. Select base, sudo (netcfg & wireless_tools if you use wireless :D) & install them. (type pacman -S base-devel if later you want the extras)
8. Configure system
   -rc.conf
   

   -check timezone
   -change myhost to your desired cpu name (ex: sasoria) 

   -/etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf: add the following lines to disable beep
   

   blacklist snd_pcsp

   blacklist pcspkr

   
   -/etc/hosts: be sure to see your hostname
   -/etc/locale.gen: uncomment your locale
   -/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist: uncomment for your country & some extra close mirrors (e.g., Canada & US in case a mirror is down :D)
   -Set your root passwd & click Done
9. Install Bootloader (check menu.lst & see if all cool) & select your main HD & Reboot
10. Login as root & ping www.google.com to check your network (for wifi network here's what to do: # ifcfg wlan0 up,# iwlist wlan0 scan,# iwconfig wlan0 essid "MyEssid" key s:asciikey, # dhcpcd wlan0)
11. pacman -Syu & reboot if there was a kernel upgrade
12. useradd -m -G users,audio,video,wheel,storage,optical,power,network,log -s /bin/bash yourusername (add "lp" to the options if you use a printer)
13. passwd yourusername
14. pacman -S alsa-firmware alsa-utils alsa-oss
    
    -alsaconf (detect snd card)
    -run alsamixer as normal user (su - yourusername) to adjust vol(m to unmute)
    -save settings by going back root & run alsactl store
    
    
15. type nano /etc/rc.conf to add dbus & alsa: DAEMONS=(dbus ... @alsa)
16. pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-utils xorg-server-utils & pacman -S xf86-video-your_video_card (note: to know your video chipset type: lspci | grep VGA)
17. type nvidia-xconfig (if you have a nvidia card), else
    

    Xorg -configure & # cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
    (note: xorg.conf is optional so if you do not use it, grab arandr to change resolution or you can use a proprietary utility such
    as nvidia-utils for nvidia cards)

18. pacman -S openbox obconf obmenu lxappearance consolekit
19. Once openbox is installed, move menu.xml & rc.xml to ~/.config/openbox/ in your home directory:
    # su - yourusername
    $ mkdir -p ~/.config/openbox/
    $ cp /etc/xdg/openbox/rc.xml ~/.config/openbox
    $ cp /etc/xdg/openbox/menu.xml ~/.config/openbox
20. edit your ~/.xinitrc and add the following:
    exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch openbox-session
21. YOU'RE DONE. Reboot, login with your user & type startx to access your empty desktop and customize your archbox to your tastes

Now some useful things to get:
-A network manager
-If you want to autologin or a login manager
-Install common codecs: pacman -S gstreamer0.10-plugins
-Install flash: pacman -S flashplugin
-Install java: pacman -S jre
-Install a browser: pacman -S chromium (grab jumanji-git from the AUR if you're minimalist & don't need java!)
-A file manager: pacman -S pcmanfm
-Install a text editor: pacman -S leafpad (get geany too if you write programs)
-NTFS write support: pacman -S ntfs-3g ntfsprogs
-An archive program: pacman -S xarchiver p7zip zip unzip unrar
-A disk partitioner: pacman -S gparted (or gnome-disk-utility)
-Media swiss knife: pacman -S gnome-mplayer vlc (& deadbeef in the AUR)
-Conky: pacman -S conky
-A taskbar: pacman -S tint2 (or adeskbar in the AUR)
-A wallpaper manager: pacman -S nitrogen
-An image viewer: pacman -S geeqie
-A screenshot utility: pacman -S scrot
-A volume manager: pacman -S volwheel (or volumeicon in the AUR). note:alsa has a CLI mixer already "alsamixer"
-A cd burner: pacman -S xfburn (or graveman in the AUR)
-A pdf viewer: pacman -S zathura
-A drop down terminal: pacman -S tilda
-A run dialog box: pacman -S gmrun

-Microsoft Office's equivalent: pacman -S libreoffice
-Install e-mail manager: pacman -S alpine (or thunderbird)
-For your sticky notes needs: pacman -S xpad
-A calculator: pacman -S xorg-xcalc (or galculator in the AUR)
-install html editor: pacman -S bluefish
-Install a p2p application: pacman -S frostwire
-Install a torrent manager: pacman -S transmission-gtk
-Install a network traffic listener: pacman -S wireshark tcpflow
-Install an HEX editor: pacman -S ghex
-A dynamic menu launcher: pacman -S dmenu (or dmenu-xft in the AUR)
-A chat client: pacman -S pidgin
-A photoshop-like program: pacman -S gimp
-An ftp client: pacman -S gftp
-A network tool: pacman -S gnome-nettool
-A dvd ripper: pacman -S k9copy (or handbrake)

-To put a video on CD/DVD: pacman -S devede
-An audio cd extractor: pacman -S sound-juicer
-A sound converter: pacman -S soundconverter
-A scanner utility: pacman -S xsane
-A chm viewer: pacman -S xchm
-A WYSIWYG editor: pacman -S seamonkey (launch w/ "seamonkey --edit")
-For video conference: pacman -S skype
-VirtualBox PUEL
-maybe a windows program loader lol: pacman -S wine (only if your architecture is i686, click here for 64 bit version)

Here's some tips to setup OpenBox
1) obmenu is a your best friend if you want a GUI to edit the menu. Open in a terminal obmenu and create a shortcut to obmenu itself :D. Now that you have a GUI to edit the menu, the rest is pretty straightforward. Create sub-menus and items to the categories you desire and to your applications. For a complete guide on openbox, check urukrama's guide. One of the most complete ones for OpenBox. You could also check the wiki about it :D
2) create an empty file called autostart in ~/.config/openbox in which you'll autostart the applications you need to have a nice desktop. Here's my autostart for example:

#to restore the last wallpaper used in nitrogen
nitrogen --restore &
#your taskbar
tint2 &
#Thunar's file manager
thunar --daemon &
#conky system monitor
conky -q &

3) OpenBox is pretty light and needs extra applications to do the rest of the job. Like you saw in step 2, there's some applications you'll have to autostart to have a comfortable working environment but you could use other alternatives.

• Besides nitrogen to handle wallpaper, feh is pretty good!
• I personally prefer Thunar over PCManFM
• tint2 is nice but another good alternative would be pypanel
• Conky system monitor is so versatile and so lightweight since it's text-based but it's optional to use it

4) It's a good idea to create a menu item to obconf to change your OpenBox theme and settings. note: put your saved themes in ~/.themes/5) Another good menu item would be one to open lxappearance to change your window theme & icons. note: put your saved themes in ~/.themes/ and your saved icons packs in ~/.icons/

6) Here's my conky configuration in case you use it:

background yes
use_xft yes
xftfont Sans:size=8
xftalpha 1
update_interval 1.0
total_run_times 0
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type desktop
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
double_buffer yes
minimum_size 200 200
maximum_width 200
draw_shades no
draw_outline no
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
default_color white
default_shade_color blue
default_outline_color white
alignment top_right
gap_x 12
gap_y 12
no_buffers yes
uppercase no
cpu_avg_samples 2
override_utf8_locale no

TEXT
${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}SYSTEM ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}$sysname $kernel $alignr $machine
Host:$alignr$nodename
Uptime:$alignr$uptime
File System: $alignr${fs_type}
Mail: $alignr ${execi 300 python ~/.scripts/gmail.py}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 TL-60${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${cpugraph cpu1}
Core 1: ${cpu cpu1}% ${cpubar cpu1}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${cpugraph cpu2}
Core 2: ${cpu cpu2}% ${cpubar cpu2}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}MEMORY ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}RAM $alignc $mem / $memmax $alignr $memperc%
$membar

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}HDD ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}/ $alignc ${fs_used /} / ${fs_size /} $alignr ${fs_used_perc /}%
${fs_bar /}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}/home $alignc ${fs_used /home} / ${fs_size /home} $alignr ${fs_used_perc /home}%
${fs_bar /home}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}TOP PROCESSES ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${top_mem name 1}${alignr}${top mem 1} %
${top_mem name 2}${alignr}${top mem 2} %
$font${top_mem name 3}${alignr}${top mem 3} %
$font${top_mem name 4}${alignr}${top mem 4} %

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}NETWORK ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}IP address: $alignr ${addr wlan0}
ESSID: $alignr ${wireless_essid wlan0}
Connection quality: $alignr ${wireless_link_qual_perc wlan0}%
${downspeedgraph wlan0}
DLS:${downspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totaldown wlan0}
${upspeedgraph wlan0}
ULS:${upspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totalup wlan0}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}SHORTCUT KEYS ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}Super+t$alignr Terminal
Super+f$alignr File Manager
Super+e$alignr Editor
Super+w$alignr Web Browser
Super+q$alignr Force Quit
Super+v$alignr Adjust Volume
Super+u$alignr System Upgrade

7) If you use nitrogen as your wallpaper manager, don't forget to add in preferences the directory where your wallpapers are located.

8) What would be OpenBox without keybindings! You can add/edit keybindings in rc.xml file placed in ~/.config/openbox/. You can get obkey from the AUR if you want a GUI for that. Here's a keybind example (my favorite one lol):

note:replace terminator with your favorite terminal (ex: roxterm, xterm, yakuake)

9) Packer is the best tool out there to get AUR packages. Here's 4 simple steps to install it:

1. pacman -S base-devel (if not already done)
2. get the PKGBUILD
3. run makepkg where you saved PKGBUILD
4. pacman -U packer-*.pkg.tar.xz AND YOU'RE DONE!

packer -S ThePackageYouWant (whether it's from the main reps or the AUR)!