what is it? where do I get it? changelog? huh?

blackbox links
bb home
bb configurator
bb themes
bb tools
sourceforge.net

gnu/linux links
debian gnu/linux
debian packages
garrett's sources.list
kernel.org
linux kernel howto

 

Well now. Welcome to the website for bbkeys. =:)

I'll start this off with a posting from the original blackbox window manager code, Brad 'nyz' Hughes. It's VERY old, and can be seen online (and with the original follow-ups) here.

From: Bradley T. Hughes
Subject: special announcement
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1999 14:58:27 -0800

ok people... i have done something that should be well received...

i have made 0.60.0-alpha available... take a look at http://blackbox.alug.org/alpha.html before even *thinking* about downloading it... this is NOT A FULL BLOWN RELEASE... this is just a snapshot of my current source tree... and will change frequently

read alpha.html twice... then read it again... once you understand that this is *alpha* software... download it and play with it... also... i have made Jason Kasper's bbkeys slitapp available as well... read the docs on how to configure the little jewel...
regards :)

Blackbox - An X11R6 Window Manager
http://blackbox.alug.org/
__________________________________
Bradley T. Hughes <bhughes@tcac.net>

Confused? =:) Prior to this above posting from Brad, blackbox handled its own keybindings. Brad and I worked together for the few months prior to this alpha release on pulling out all the keybindings for blackbox and allowing an external application to handle them for it. I wrote bbkeys--the application that does just that.

Originally, bbkeys was a very simple C program with less than 100 lines of code. But I decided that it might be of some value to the blackbox user if they would have an icon of some sort on their screen that they could use to launch the configuration program of their choice to configure their keybindings in blackbox. Thus, I rewrote bbkeys inside the framework of John Kennis's bbtools. Kennis has written numerous other programs for blackbox, including bbpager, bbmail, bbppp, bbdate, and others. His work can be found here.

bbkeys has grown tremendously in functionality since I first wrote it. During 2001, Ben 'xOr' Jansens started helping me with bbkeys. His contributions include the stacked cycling code that bbkeys now offers--a much better window-cycling mechanism--as well as the menuing code that bbkeys uses to show its user a list of open windows to cycle through. Thanks to patches and contributions from around the world, bbkeys now allows blackbox to rival the key-driven functionality of the other window managers. Almost anything you want to do with windows in blackbox can be done through bbkeys interfacing with blackbox.

Now, bbkeys is just one example of what having an external-to-the-window-manager program handling keybindings can be like. Another extremely well-written keygrabber for blackbox is the epistrophy code that Scott 'woodblock' Moynes has written. Having keybindings managed outside of the window manager has meant that even though blackbox development has stopped for over a year, the keyboard interface to blackbox has grown and developed in exciting ways. The future remains to be seen for this, though. Sean 'shaleh' Perry has taken over development for blackbox and it will be his call as to what happens with keybindings and blackbox.

SourceForge Project Page
SourceForge Logo A project page for bbkeys has been registered on SourceForge. This provides bbkeys with the following facilities:
Before adding a new entry in any of the above trackers, please take a moment to check if someone else has already made a similar request.

If you are reporting a bug, please keep in mind that it is really difficult for us to track down bugs that we can't reproduce.  If at all possible, create a small, self-contained demonstration application and send it to us with a description of what needs fixing. It is also worth posting the bug report in the discussion forum.

If you need a bug fixed really urgently, use the source...

bbkeys is written and maintained by Jason Kasper (vanRijn) <vR at movingparts dot net>. Any suggestions, donations, or job offers should go to one of us. =:)




Memorable Quotes
Circa 2000-Aug-18 14:19:19 -0400 dixit Jason J. Horton:

This has probably been asked a million times, but how about switching workstations when the mouse cursor hits the edge of the screen? How much bloat is that?

I suspect the high amount of torque required either to rotate a round tabletop of sufficient size and weight to support more than one workstation, or to rotate a chair around such a table, would be a bit more than Blackbox can handle. I think that's the job for an X10 device driver. I suppose, though, that changing workstations by hitting the edge of the screen with the mouse might be a little abrupt---unless you mean actually contacting the edge of the monitor with the physical mouse, in which case that might not be so much of a surprise to the user.

In any case, it may just be easier to move your chair to the next workstation manually (or pedially, as the case me be), especially if your chair has wheels on it.

 


this site based heavily on (ripped off from) a design by Greg Sanders (ElCoronel)

bbkeys, a subsidiary of the mythical movingparts.net companies