BB4Win 0

BB4Win stands for “BlackBox for Windows.” BlackBox is a venerable window manager for *nix. One of my favorite Linux window managers, Fluxbox, is based on BlackBox. If I can’t run Enlightenment, I run Fluxbox.

I recently installed one of the BB4Win GUI varirants, xoblite, on my Windows 7 box. Unlike the Windows interface, it is highly configurable, in ways other than mucking about with eye candy.

This is what it looks like. In the picture, you can see the xoblite right-click “Start” menu and, behind the browser, the xoblite menu, which is a simple text file, is open for editing. The system monitor that you see in the bottom right of the screen and the weather gadget in the top left are from rainmeter, a Windows alternative to GKrellM or conky (I’ve used both, but I think I prefer GKrellM.

If you wish to investigate alternatives to Windows’s clunky interface, this is a good place to start.

I have not tested this on Windows 8. I have helped a friend with Windows 8. Windows 8 sucks is less than desirable.

Sadly, BB4Win development seems to have stalled. One hopes it will pick up again.

Afterthought:

xoblite almost, but not quite, makes using Windows fun again.