wbar, for fun and profit

Since I started messing with Tiny Core Linux, I started appreciating wbar — another one of those floating icon punch-button bars that sometimes crop up in other big-name operating systems. Ordinarily I don’t care for those things, since they tend to munch away at desktop real estate, and I rarely need the glitz that they offer. Distractions for less serious computer users, I told myself.

However, seeing how easily and seamlessly Tiny Core handles them made me install them on one machine, a Crux box, and I found the overall effect to be quite enjoyable.

This machine really only has about six programs installed — and you can see their icons on the side of the screen — and so it’s no great task to set up wbar … particularly with the neat-o wbarconf utility, courtesy of AUR. It’s a snap to install too and neither takes up any tangible overhead, so I installed both of those applications on my Arch machine as well.

And while yes, it does make the desktop a little … “Fisher-Pricey” 😯 , I feel no guilt about simplifying my Openbox right-click menu a little by having a quick, single-click desktop icon at my disposal.

Although I do find myself occasionally just dashing the pointer over the bar, to watch the icons leap up. This might fall into the distraction category after all. … 😐