Testing bmpanel2

Ok, if you want to test bmpanel2, here is what you should do:

1. cd ~/tmp (or wherever you want to place bmpanel2 files)

2. git clone git://github.com/nsf/bmpanel2.git

3. cd bmpanel2

4. cmake . && make

5. And now it’s ready to run, but you also need a config file. Just create it: ~/.config/bmpanel2/bmpanel2rc. And the only thing you need here is a theme parameter, like that:

theme themes/native

6. It’s ready to run: ./bmpanel2

Enjoy! 😀 (send bug reports to: no.smile.face@gmail.com)

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A launch bar

Just another showcase of how quickly it is possible to create a completely new bmpanel2 widget. I did this one in 3 hours.

Works pretty fine, isn’t it?

P.S. Btw, if you’re wondering will it work with a transparent theme. The answer is – YES, it will!

bmpanel2 git repository mirror on the github

Just a short note. I have opened a mirror on the github since it’s more reliable than my home machine. Please use it.

Click me.

bmpanel2 themes in git

After Nth unsuccessful try of making a web design I have figured out that this kind of craft isn’t supposed to be my dharma. So, I decided to do my best in making a good documentation for the bmpanel2 and that’s it. No more art! Just programming and documentation.

I have just uploaded testing themes to the git repository. Two themes are here: “native” and “transpy”.

I’ll try to make a compilation/running guide soon. Happy digging.

bmpanel2 progress update

Ok, let’s try to do this thing in a blog. I’ve been working on the bmpanel2 for a past few weeks. And now here is some kind of a feature spotlight:

• _NET_WM_ICON_GEOMETRY support. The bmpanel2 sets these properties on the task icons as a robust NETWM panel should do. It allows window managers to do nice animations and other things like task window preview on mouse hover.



• XDND awareness. The bmpanel2 watches for XDND (X drag and drop) protocol events and activates task/desktop in case if you drag something over it. Basically this feature makes DnD actions more comfortable.
• I did few architecture changes on how rendering is done. And now there is a support for different renders. Currently there are only two of them: “normal” and “pseudo-transparency”. I’m planning to add “composite” render a little bit later.



• The system tray logic was heavily rewritten because there were some troubles with the “pseudo-transparency” mode. And I really hope it works properly now.
• Memory allocation procedures were really optimized. I know it’s a stupid thing to do, because the rendering process is a bottleneck and generally I don’t need to worry about memory allocations. But.. I did this.
• I have started to check WMs compatibility, and now there is a WMs.txt file in a repository with some info on that topic. This action forced me to do some quick fixes for Fluxbox and PekWM. IceWM, Openbox and standalone Compiz/Emerald work fine. More checks to do (mostly the heavy ones, e.g. xfce, gnome, kde).

Stay tuned.. or.. whatever..