mozzwald.com

LXPanel is a lightweight menu/taskbar/tray for linux. I've been running it on my netbook along with the Openbox window manager for some time now and thought it would run well on the Zipit. With the Debian image it's easy to install with apt.

apt-get install lxpanel openbox

If I remember correctly it will by default install a couple other dependencies (like LXNM which I was unable to get working properly). LXPanel assumes you have LXSession installed (even though it's not a dependency) which has scripts for the shutdown menu. The taskbar also has some icons for desktop switching, browser, and others that just clutter up the bar on the Zipit's small screen.

To fix all this I first created a shutdown script called z2logout that will pop up an xmessage window with shutdown options and placed it in the /usr/bin directory. Don't forget to make it executable with "chmod +x /usr/bin/z2logout" (no quotes).
Z2 LXPanel Shutdown

z2logout script

#!/bin/bash
#Shows shutdown options on the Zipit Z2
#running lxpanel in openbox

answer=$(xmessage -print -center -buttons Shutdown:off,QuitX:quit,Cancel:cancel "Z2 Shutdown")

if [ $answer = "Shutdown" ]; then
shutdown -h now
fi

if [ $answer = "QuitX" ]; then
`openbox --exit`
fi

Next, we need to modify the LXPanel "panel" file to remove the stuff we don't want and add what we do. This file is located at "~/.config/lxpanel/default/panels/panel". You can replace this file with mine:


# lxpanel config file. Manually editing is not recommended.
# Use preference dialog in lxpanel to adjust config when you can.

Global {
edge=bottom
allign=left
margin=0
widthtype=percent
width=100
height=18
transparent=0
tintcolor=#000000
alpha=0
setdocktype=1
setpartialstrut=1
usefontcolor=1
fontcolor=#ffffff
background=1
backgroundfile=/usr/share/lxpanel/images/background.png
}

Plugin {
type = menu
Config {
image=/usr/share/lxpanel/images/my-computer.png
system {
}
separator {
}
item {
command=run
}
separator {
}
# Remove original logout
# item {
# image=gnome-session-halt
# name=Shutdown
# action=off
# }
item {
image=gnome-session-halt
name=Quit
action=/usr/bin/z2logout
}
}
}

Plugin {
type = taskbar
expand=1
Config {
tooltips=1
IconsOnly=0
AcceptSkipPager=1
ShowIconified=1
ShowMapped=1
ShowAllDesks=0
UseMouseWheel=1
UseUrgencyHint=1
FlatButton=0
MaxTaskWidth=150
spacing=1
}
}

Plugin {
type = tray
}

# You can comment out this plugin to remove the LXNM icon
Plugin {
type = netstat
}

Plugin {
type = dclock
Config {
ClockFmt=%l:%M
TooltipFmt=%A %x
BoldFont=0
}
}

That should get your LXPanel up and running well. It also works with the update-menus program so if you install software it should automatically update the LXPanel menu.