The "Tiny Panel Bar" Thread

[Member manyroads]

I am trying to gather people’s experiences and notes on the use of “Tiny Panel Bars”. I am especially interested in small footprint panels such as:

• Lemonbar: https://github.com/LemonBoy/bar
• polybar: https://github.com/polybar/polybar
• tint2: https://gitlab.com/o9000/tint2
• xlunch: http://xlunch.org/

Please avoid providing data on resource heavy tools like Docky, plank, cairo…. etc. :lipsrsealed:

By way of introducing the discussion a bit… I am currently running tint2 & polybar on bspwm on both antiX19 and MX18. I plan to try lemonbar on that setup as well.
Naturally, I’ll publish what I learn some here with links to details on my http://eirenicon.org/knowledge-base/

Cross-posted on MX Forums.

• This topic was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by manyroads.

Pax vobiscum,
Mark Rabideau - http://many-roads.com
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken
dwm & i3wm ~Reg. Linux User #449130
20 Jan 2021 ~ "End of an Error"

[Member Xecure]

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I only have experience with the Tint2 panel, as it was readily available on the repos and it is recommended for lightweight WMs (like openbox). I used it as a right-side panel on my tablet containing a quick set of launchers for easy use for a touchscreen (mainly to access Control Center, htop, launching Onboard, the terminal, rotating the screen, restarting touchegg when it “breaks”, exiting session, etc.).
The big problem I had with it was that it wasn’t easy to configure without a keyboard, (not like plank, but I will not talk about plank here).
One big problem the Tint2 panel had in antiX17.4 (stretch) was how old a version it was (Debian stretch repository = stable but old ☹) This has changed with antiX19 (buster), and the new Tint2 version supports new tint2 themes! You will find many themes from a simple internet search. Also, it supports more modern Executor options!

One thing most people forget or ignore about tint2 is the option to create Executors. Tint2 executors are a way to place “an interactive icon” anywhere on the panel that would be connected to a script (which would manage how it worked). If configured properly, you would be able to change right and left click behaviors on the icon and what would be displayed on its place on the panel. I haven’t studied them very much. I only went as far as creating another “launcher” on the other side of the panel, so I could add “buttons” without depending on where I placed the tint2 launcher. But I must say that, if you study a bit, you can make fantastic things. I bookmarked this link to a well-developed collection of Tint2 Executors for everyone to easily use.

Biggest advantage: Very flexible and easily customizable with a gui interface. That is a BIG winning point when you don’t want to configure it modifying the configuration text files (very good for beginners). Probably this is the reason the Arco Linux guy has done so many videos and tutorials about it.
Other things I like:
1. I can create a folder full of .desktop files and link it to tint2 launcher. I can always add/delete .desktops files in the folder and it will update on the tint2 launcher section of the bar (after restarting tint2). This makes it very convenient when trying out new themes without having to configure the launcher each time.
2. Also, you can select what icon theme (independent of your current selected icon theme) you want you’re tint2 panel to display. If you want the tint2 panel to have another vibe to your main system, this is convenient.
3. I can create bash scripts (connected to a .desktop file that launches them) to modify the tint2rc configuration file, then restart tint2 (also in the script) and that modifies the tint2 panel almost instantly! It terminates and restarts very fast. I have done this with the main purpose of hiding the bar when hitting a button (moving it between layers) so I can use it with a touchscreen (autohide isn’t useful when you are not moving a mouse but a finger!). That is something plank doesn’t have; I need to know about dbus stuff, which I don’t dominate (too difficult for me).

One disadvantage: The panel size is fixed (at whatever percentage you decide), and doesn’t grow, so it isn’t very useful to use it as a dock (except if only for launching). The only fix would be to create a script that modified the size counting the number of opened apps in the taskbar, but I haven’t tried it.
Another disadvantage: You can only have one “icons launcher”. If you want more buttons, you have to use executors.

Note: In some topics in the forum, fbpanel was recommended as a lightweight panel. I think you should also consider it, as it seems very flexible and seems to have many options, and it is included in the repo (no need to build from source).

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member manyroads]

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@xecure thank you. I, also, am a pretty big fan of tint2. The excutor function is very handy for setting up common ‘start functions’ across multiple window managers, without having to edit autostart (or similar) files.

I had not considered fbpanel. I assumed it was geared to flux (not my favorite wm).

I just published the following. Perhaps some of the links might be of interest (and since it almost all links… well, you get my concern) 😉
https://eirenicon.org/knowledge-base/lightweight-panels-menus-examples/

Pax vobiscum,
Mark Rabideau - http://many-roads.com
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken
dwm & i3wm ~Reg. Linux User #449130
20 Jan 2021 ~ "End of an Error"

[Member cpoakes]

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I am an openbox user since Crunchbang Statler (Debian Squeeze) and have strayed little since then. While I was introduced to tint2 in Crunchbang, I have also used fbpanel, lxpanel (another lightweight bar missing from your list), and lemonbar. Tint2 remains my favorite for the degree of flexability and customization. I find lxpanel and fbpanel are functionally adequate “traditional” taskbars with the expected menu+launchers+tasks+tray format. Tint2 doesn’t force the traditional model on your design and renders with more pleasing aesthetics.

Lemonbar is great for simplified text-only interfaces (no graphic/icon support). I have used it to create controls supplementing my usual task bar; lemonbar can place controls anywhere, not just at the edges of the screen. The standard version of lemonbar (as packaged by Debian) employs the X Core Font library. To change your fonts, you must use “old school” xfont specs and keep up on font cache and font alias maintenance if you install your own fonts. And the X Core Font library doesn’t create antialiased text which I often find a noticeable contrast to other onscreen text (conky/openbox/fluxbox/tint2). I recommend another version lemonbar-xft which supports xft/fontconfig. With xft, you get “normal” typeface specs like “ITC Kabel-24:Bold” plus antialiased text providing consistency with other onscreen text.

I played with yabar once but cannot find any notes and have no recollection. Experimenting with polybar remains on my todo list, and xlunch just got added…

Edit: just found another version/fork of lemonbar-xft with recent mods and intention to stay in sync with upstream. Probably worth a look.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by cpoakes. Reason: Updated additional lemonbar-xft version

[Member fatmac]

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Tint2, fbpanel, lxpanel are the only ones I’ve really had much to do with, they were what came with the distros I was using, but I can happily just use a right click menu, & do without ‘extras’. 🙂

Linux (& BSD) since 1999

[Anonymous]

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disclaimer:
my unflattering screenshot seen within one of those posts among the search results
doesn’t accurately depict “what fbpanel is, whatall fbpanel does”

The older releases of fbpanel (maybe that’s what debian “stable is still serving?) were superior, IMO. From the version available on github, I ripped out some (for my use) bloat, along with the objectionable (to me) “callout to remote server and retrieve a ‘gravatar’ icon” feature.

[Anonymous]

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another suggested search term (here, and oldforum archive, and web-wide): mystuff
hmm, difficult to appreciate static screenshots of it, so search for youtube vidoes

from kornelix.de
(a debfile for older version 2.5 is available from MX Linux repositories)
www.kornelix.net
an appimage for 64bit systems is available here

Although it is desktop-resident (occupies more real estate than a “dock”)
it qualifies as being: lightweight, drag-n-drop friendly, and environment-agnostic

[Anonymous]

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xlunch

Yah, as featured in the latest Slax release
~~ that sprung to mind when I read the comments which sprung up in the “splasht tests need” topic.

Its datastore is “static”, so not really useful non-ideal unless you would craft an apt-get post-install hook, toward automating the chore of adding/removing eyecons (ay-yai-yaicons?) to its datastore. Tomas has posted a suitable updater script to github, but AFAICT he hasn’t created a package for xlunch. (In other words, he apparently adds xlunch + updater manually while assembling the distro.)

ay-yai-yaicons?
The unappealing attribute of xlunch, IMO, is that it’s even MORE dumbed-down than the typical {menu,launcher,finder} widgets we see across various linux desktop environments. It provides no “hint” (aka Comment= line, from the associated .desktop file) ~~ so, if someone acting as a distro curator intends to utilize xlunch, you’re shouldered with deciding whether/where/how to assure the .desktop files are populated with “meaningful” Name= namestrings. Otherwise your users are at the mercy of, subject to the discretion of, upstream’s labelnames. Also, based on my experience while supporting pre-adolescent users and seniors… confusion reigns if/when the system “theming” changes, whisking away and replacing the grown-familiar set of ay-yai-yaicons.

So, in a nutshell, I do not recommend use of xlunch.

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[Member Xecure]

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Anonymous wrote:

another suggested search term (here, and olforum archive, and web-wide): mystuff
hmm, difficult to appreciate static screenshots of it, so search for youtube vidoes

I had trouble finding videos on youtube with “mystuff” as a title… millions, but found it eventually:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l937oFTm-I

This is the strangest project I have ever seen. It has lots of potential but reminds me of a child’s bucket full of stuff.
If it had the possibility of being filled automatically with a script (auto-populate, like what SamK discusses here) and display it fullscreen (no decorations), with a button to close (return to desktop), another button to launch the file manager above it (so one can move files, be it .desktop or other important files to create links to them in the mystuff window), and also use a grid system (so icons are placed in certain places only and not so free-range), it could easily rival Gnome ‘s App Launcher for any Window Manager or lightweight Desktop Environment. And if it also included a search bar that auto-populated the mystuff window with all apps containing the search results and maintain a really low resource use, it would be the new most used app in linux, finally killing Gnome and KDE, as all window managers would be hailed as GODS!

I drifted a little bit. Thanks, skidoo, for mentioning this app. It is very interesting. If I someday learn proper programming, I will see if I can achieve at least one of those crazy thoughts I just blurted out.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member manyroads]

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Hello all… Based upon reader input, I have revised my list of tiny panels/ launchers (lunchers???) 😉

You may view the revised list here:
http://eirenicon.org/2019/06/24/tiny-panel-research-gathering/

Pax vobiscum,
Mark Rabideau - http://many-roads.com
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken
dwm & i3wm ~Reg. Linux User #449130
20 Jan 2021 ~ "End of an Error"

[Anonymous]

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off-topic

This is the strangest project I have ever seen.

Then I reckon you ain’t yet seen eaglemode (ZUI, zoomable desktop user interface)
sudo apt install eaglemode
v0.93 from MX Linux testing repository, or v0.94 from eaglemode sf project site
then launch via Alt+F2 or via commandline: eaglemode
Don’t read any docs. Its usage should be intuitive
(well, for me, the default mousewheel scroll-to-zoom direction seems counterintuitive, but anyhow…)

mystuff [..] could easily rival Gnome‘s App Launcher for any Window Manager or lightweight Desktop Environment

I had pegged KDE “activities” as being its closest cousin.
Some distros (e.g. Voyager Linux, and defunct arpinux?) provide a “per workspace wallpaper switcher” script & I had envisioned expanding that to also open/close mystuff instances in response to change_workspace events.

uh-oh. Checking today, I discovered —-v
NOT cool

2019.02.10 v.3.1
+ Fix sporadic menu drag if menu window left open after starting menu function.
+ Update user guide for how to add new menu entries for installed applications.
+ Files in .mystuff are now relative, to make the directory relocatable.
+ Update usage counter on web host [anonymous].

So, I’m forking it.
Until I hear a better suggestion, the working title will be ‘xecu’.
I’ll revise this post to include a gitlab link
https://gitlab.com/skidoo/xecu
phone_home removed
tested, working. No debfile; README contains build/install instructions.

[Anonymous]

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re: “Tiny Panel Research Gathering”

The list so far on the blog page is still just scratching the surface.
Here and in MX forum, I’ve mentioned “slant.co” and “alternative.to” among the “where to discover additional software” sources. I’ll re-recommend ’em here.

[Member manyroads]

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I’m not trying to find a complete list. I already know the data on the sites you mentioned exists. I am, also, of the opinion those sites are largely useless and self-serving. In the end, it looks like I am VERY Unsuccessfully asking for people’s experiences with particular menu/ panel tools.

Pax vobiscum,
Mark Rabideau - http://many-roads.com
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken
dwm & i3wm ~Reg. Linux User #449130
20 Jan 2021 ~ "End of an Error"

[Anonymous]

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Well, on the bright side, this topic page provides another SEO backlink pointing to your blogsite.

[Member manyroads]

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An accomplishment I neither track nor have ever cared about. My success speaks for itself; I average an entire 10 visitors a day and zero $ revenue and support. 😉

Pax vobiscum,
Mark Rabideau - http://many-roads.com
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken
dwm & i3wm ~Reg. Linux User #449130
20 Jan 2021 ~ "End of an Error"

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