I've been a very bad girl.

I know, I know, I haven't posted in ages. And this one isn't going to be terribly substantial, but there will be some information.

First off, the answer to the question, "How do you set up desktop icons if you're using Fluxbox?" The short answer: you don't. The longer answer: there are third-party apps out there such as Idesk that can give you that functionality. The creators of Fluxbox are all about this "slit" thing, but frankly, I still haven't figured it out. I haven't had much luck with Idesk either, but I also haven't put a great amount of time and effort into it.

I can definitely see why Linux isn't more popular. Most people don't want to put that much effort into their computers. Now, one could argue that such effort is rewarded with better system performance, security and other benefits, and they might be right. But the vast majority of computer users want a computer that at least does most of what it's wanted to do out of the box (for the record, I'm glad that Linux is around for geeky tinkerers like myself).

One might think that these issues don't exist on more high-speed distros, but the fact is that they do. I tried Ubuntu on a partition of my laptop, and I had nothing but trouble getting the Bluetooth and wifi to work (for the record, I had a much easier time getting them to work in Mandriva). I know that these are controversial issues in the open source community because of the proprietary nature of those technologies, but the fact is that they are widely used enough that any OS that aspires to be competitive needs to support them. So if your principles prohibit you from working with those technologies, don't whine about why your OS isn't more popular. It's lonely at the top of the mountain. ;-)

Semi-Homemade Linux, Part 1

So I've successfully installed a couple of preconfigured Linux distros on Lazarus. Good to know, but not exactly a huge technical accomplishment. While I'm not ready for building everything from source code just yet, I think I'm ready to do some customization. They say that Linux is like Legos, so I'm going to see what I can do when I'm not just following set instructions.

To do this, I've done a bare-bones Debian install (I also plan to try this with Slackware and maybe Gentoo). For anyone wishing to try this at home, this means DO NOT install the "Desktop Environment" when selecting components. It installs the GNOME desktop by default, which is also the default desktop in Ubuntu and Fedora. The more high-speed Linux distros usually use GNOME or another desktop called KDE. For a comparison between the two, click here. Any comparison is irrelevant for Lazarus, however, as he lacks the resources to run either one.

However, I am not doomed to eternal command-line interface usage. I'll just have to call on my good friend apt-get to give me a boost. Fluxbox is a popular desktop choice for those who lack the resources for GNOME or KDE, and it's the one I intend to use. Our friends over at Damn Small Linux use Fluxbox.

Unfortunately, you can't just install fluxbox by itself and be ready to go. You have to install X Window System (also called X11 or just X). Fortunately, this only entails one other command. Start with:
apt-get install x-window-system-core

followed by:
apt-get install fluxbox

To start your graphical interface, type "startx", which should bring it right up. There won't be any icons, but you can get to any of your apps (or a Terminal screen) by right-clicking the desktop.

Next time: icons and stuff. (Note: edit was just to correct a typo.)