{"id":284460,"date":"2026-07-01T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/perfection-in-linux-isnt-adding-features-openbox-taught-me-its-about-removing-them\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:05:08","slug":"perfection-in-linux-isnt-adding-features-openbox-taught-me-its-about-removing-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/perfection-in-linux-isnt-adding-features-openbox-taught-me-its-about-removing-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Perfection in Linux isn’t adding features\u2014Openbox taught me its about removing them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perfection in Linux isn’t adding features\u2014Openbox taught me its about removing them<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/this-linux-desktop-setup-intentionally-wastes-screen-spaceand-i-love-it\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-07-01 09:30:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.howtogeek.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The French author Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry said that “perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.\u201d I wanted to see how close I could get to perfection with a minimal Linux desktop running just the Openbox window manager.<\/p>\n

\n Why a window manager?
\n <\/h2>\n

\n Can I give up my desktop?
\n <\/h3>\n

I’ve grown up around desktop environments. The first GUI I ever used was on an Apple Macintosh that my dad had unpacked before he was going to take it to work. I remember playing (a probably pirated copy of) Tetris on it. The first computer that actually belonged in my household had Windows 3.1 installed.<\/p>\n

When I finally got into Unix-like systems years later, my desktop habits seemed to have imprinted on me. I’ve never felt entirely comfortable in a bare window manager, but I thought I would try to use one as much as possible. I work almost exclusively on the command-line on Linux, whether in WSL or in a full desktop mode. I only depend on the graphical elements to move windows around or use graphical programs like web browsers.<\/p>\n

\n Why Openbox?
\n <\/h2>\n

\n I wanted to see how it would do by itself
\n <\/h3>\n

I’d had experience with window managers before. I’d tried them out when I first started getting into Linux. I’d dabbled with other window managers like FluxBox, but for this project, I have to admit that the choice of window manager was largely random. I would be getting mostly the same experience.<\/p>\n

Since I was on a tight deadline for this piece, I probably wouldn’t delve too much into the intricacies of configuration. I wanted a window manager that was widely supported. OpenBox seemed to fit the bill. It’s available on almost every distro. It’s a common default for minimalists desktops like LXDE. My default desktop is already relatively lightweight, my favorite being Xfce.<\/p>\n

\n Installing OpenBox
\n …<\/h2>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perfection in Linux isn’t adding features\u2014Openbox taught me its about removing them https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/this-linux-desktop-setup-intentionally-wastes-screen-spaceand-i-love-it\/ Publish Date:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":284461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static0.howtogeekimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/wm\/2025\/11\/a-kubuntu-focus-laptop-screen-with-the-yakuake-terminal-emulator-for-linux-visible-and-an-apt-package-manager-ugprade-in-progress.jpg?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[71],"class_list":["post-284460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-linux","tag-linux"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284462,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284460\/revisions\/284462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}