Preview Release: Kickbox 1.0 "Sheriff Truman"

Kickbox is a Live GNU/Linux CD, adapted from Kubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron", employing the Kickbox Window Manager, a 100 per cent text-generated plugin for Fluxbox.

For the uninitiated, a live Linux CD is a complete operating system that can run from the CD and from the RAM. You don't need to have Linux installed on your hard drive. In fact, you don't need to have a hard drive at all. For this reason, a live CD has a wide range of special uses, including emergency uses. The disadvantages of a live CD are that special measures are required to save data. (A flash drive can be helpful) and that the OS usually tends to run slower than a hard drive install. Most live CDs also can install to the hard drive if the user wishes.

KDM has been disabled. Instead of booting into a login screen, the CD boots to a text prompt. The typed command "startx" opens the default windows manager.

All Open Office applications have been removed.

The following applications have been added: Fluxbox, Feh, Abiword, Gimp, XChat, Emacs, Mozilla Firefox, Irssi

The incredibly simple, powerful, light and flexible Fluxbox Window manager has long been the secret passion of hardcore Linux geeks, and more people ought to know about it. The Kickbox Plug-in optimizes Fluxbox for managing KDE applications, and provides a user-oriented menu that emphasizes performing tasks instead of merely opening applications. Simple but effective editing tools are provided to help the user further customize her interface. Shortcuts are provided to allow the user quick access to the text files that configure Fluxbox For example:

ctrl + shift + F1 opens kwrite to ~/.fluxbox/menu
ctrl + shift + F2 opens kwrite to ~/.fluxbox/keys

I've also added editing templates to the fluxbox configuration files, simple lines of text that can filled in by the user. Fluxbox is programmed by text commands, similar to shell commands. Just about anything that the Linux Command Line can accomplish can be accomplished by a button or a keyboard shortcut in Fluxbox. The text that Fluxbox uses is completely portable. You can easily move your personalized configuration files from computer to computer, distro to distro, install to install. You copy the files to your home directory, and everything is just the way you like it.

I've constructed a system of keyboard shortcuts for Kickbox that is designed to make it as easy as possible to remember the maximum number of shortcuts.

I've also added a home page for Konqueror called the kickpage, which is designed to provide a fast point-and-click interface for crucial locations, applications, and other resources. Right now, the kickpage is still under construction.

A documentation blog, "All About Kickbox" has begun. I intend to document Fluxbox/Kickbox administration extensively, omitting nothing-- but I wouldn't be suprised if the majority of users-- including so called "ordinary users"-- can study the files and the templates briefly, and glean most everything they need to write their own ticket.

Kickbox is Fluxbox... and Fluxbox kicks ass!

Note: The Kickbox menu takes advantage of the fact that Kubuntu, like most live CDs, enables the use of sudo without a password. If you install the disk to the hard drive, some of the buttons won't work unless you enable this permission, which you can do by adding your account to the "sudo" group.
At the time of this writing, the Kickbox CD has not been tested with a harddrive install. Extreme caution is advised. If you already have a preferred Linux distribution, a hard drive install of the Kickbox distro is not necessary to run the Kickbox desktop from the hard drive. You can install the plugin by simply mounting your hard drive and copying ~/.fluxbox to your home directory, installing Fluxbox, and, if needed an image viewer such as feh for the backgrounds.