Posts: 107
brian
Joined: 10 Sep 2011
#1
Hi everyone,
Ok, I'm still trying to get control of my desktop and conky. I thought I had it figured out, I was making changes in the conkyrc. file and it seemed to be"obeying." I got it to be transparent no problem, etc.

But the other day I logged in (I usually log in to the first session,"openbox") and I found that the desktop wallpaper reverted to a previous one, and even if I changed the wallpaper to the new one again, the conky window"kept" its background of the old wallpaper. So it won't become transparent anymore.

Here is the modified conkyrc. file, just in case anyone wants to check for errors I might have added:

Code: Select all

# set to yes if you want Conky to be forked in the background
background yes

cpu_avg_samples 2
net_avg_samples 2

out_to_console no

# X font when Xft is disabled, you can pick one with program xfontsel
#font 7x12
#font 6x10
#font 7x13
 font 10x12
#font 7x12
#font *mintsmild.se*
#font -*-*-*-*-*-*-34-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
#font -artwiz-snap-normal-r-normal-*-*-100-*-*-p-*-iso8859-1

# Use Xft?
use_xft yes

# Xft font when Xft is enabled
xftfont gentium:size=15

own_window_transparent yes
own_window_colour black
own_window_type desktop

# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus, pcmanfm and rox desktops)
own_window yes

# Text alpha when using Xft
xftalpha 0.8

#on_bottom no

# mail spool
mail_spool $MAIL

# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 1

# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes

# Minimum size of text area
minimum_size 5 5
maximum_width 300

# Draw shades?
draw_shades no

# Draw outlines?
draw_outline no

# Draw borders around text
draw_borders no

# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders 0

# border margins
border_inner_margin 10
#border_outer_margin 
#border_width 2

# Default colors and also border colors
default_color black
default_shade_color white
default_outline_color white 

# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
#alignment top_left
alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
#alignment bottom_right

# Gap between borders of screen and text

gap_x 20
gap_y 20

# Add spaces to keep things from moving about?  This only affects certain objects.
use_spacer right

# Subtract file system buffers from used memory?
no_buffers yes

# set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
uppercase no

# boinc (seti) dir
# seti_dir /opt/seti

# Possible variables to be used:
#
#      Variable         Arguments                  Description                
#  acpiacadapter                     ACPI ac adapter state.                   
#  acpifan                           ACPI fan state                           
#  acpitemp                          ACPI temperature.                        
#  adt746xcpu                        CPU temperature from therm_adt746x       
#  adt746xfan                        Fan speed from therm_adt746x             
#  battery           (num)           Remaining capasity in ACPI or APM        
#                                    battery. ACPI battery number can be      
#                                    given as argument (default is BAT0).     
#  buffers                           Amount of memory buffered                
#  cached                            Amount of memory cached                  
#  color             (color)         Change drawing color to color            
#  cpu                               CPU usage in percents                    
#  cpubar            (height)        Bar that shows CPU usage, height is      
#                                    bar's height in pixels                   
#  downspeed         net             Download speed in kilobytes              
#  downspeedf        net             Download speed in kilobytes with one     
#                                    decimal                                  
#  exec              shell command   Executes a shell command and displays    
#                                    the output in torsmo. warning: this      
#                                    takes a lot more resources than other    
#                                    variables. I'd recommend coding wanted   
#                                    behaviour in C and posting a patch :-).  
#  execi             interval, shell Same as exec but with specific interval. 
#                    command         Interval can't be less than              
#                                    update_interval in configuration.        
#  fs_bar            (height), (fs)  Bar that shows how much space is used on 
#                                    a file system. height is the height in   
#                                    pixels. fs is any file on that file      
#                                    system.                                  
#  fs_free           (fs)            Free space on a file system available    
#                                    for users.                               
#  fs_free_perc      (fs)            Free percentage of space on a file       
#                                    system available for users.              
#  fs_size           (fs)            File system size                         
#  fs_used           (fs)            File system used space                   
#  hr                (height)        Horizontal line, height is the height in 
#                                    pixels                                   
#  i2c               (dev), type, n  I2C sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). dev   
#                                    may be omitted if you have only one I2C  
#                                    device. type is either in (or vol)       
#                                    meaning voltage, fan meaning fan or temp 
#                                    meaning temperature. n is number of the  
#                                    sensor. See /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ on     
#                                    your local computer.                     
#  kernel                            Kernel version                           
#  loadavg           (1), (2), (3)   System load average, 1 is for past 1     
#                                    minute, 2 for past 5 minutes and 3 for   
#                                    past 15 minutes.                         
#  machine                           Machine, i686 for example                
#  mails                             Mail count in mail spool. You can use    
#                                    program like fetchmail to get mails from 
#                                    some server using your favourite         
#                                    protocol. See also new_mails.            
#  mem                               Amount of memory in use                  
#  membar            (height)        Bar that shows amount of memory in use   
#  memmax                            Total amount of memory                   
#  memperc                           Percentage of memory in use              
#  new_mails                         Unread mail count in mail spool.         
#  nodename                          Hostname                                 
#  outlinecolor      (color)         Change outline color                     
#  pre_exec          shell command   Executes a shell command one time before 
#                                    torsmo displays anything and puts output 
#                                    as text.                                 
#  processes                         Total processes (sleeping and running)   
#  running_processes                 Running processes (not sleeping),        
#                                    requires Linux 2.6                       
#  shadecolor        (color)         Change shading color                     
#  stippled_hr       (space),        Stippled (dashed) horizontal line        
#                    (height)        
#  swapbar           (height)        Bar that shows amount of swap in use     
#  swap                              Amount of swap in use                    
#  swapmax                           Total amount of swap                     
#  swapperc                          Percentage of swap in use                
#  sysname                           System name, Linux for example           
#  time              (format)        Local time, see man strftime to get more 
#                                    information about format                 
#  totaldown         net             Total download, overflows at 4 GB on     
#                                    Linux with 32-bit arch and there doesn't 
#                                    seem to be a way to know how many times  
#                                    it has already done that before torsmo   
#                                    has started.                             
#  totalup           net             Total upload, this one too, may overflow 
#  updates                           Number of updates (for debugging)        
#  upspeed           net             Upload speed in kilobytes                
#  upspeedf          net             Upload speed in kilobytes with one       
#                                    decimal                                  
#  uptime                            Uptime                                   
#  uptime_short                      Uptime in a shorter format               
#
#  seti_prog                         Seti@home current progress
#  seti_progbar      (height)        Seti@home current progress bar
#  seti_credit                       Seti@hoome total user credit
## antiX additives examples. Add below Text##
##${color cccccc}battery: ${color cccccc}$acpiacadapter, ${battery_percent BAT1}% 
##${color}battery:${color} ${battery}
##Witeless example##
#${color cccccc}Wireless:
#${color cccccc}essid: ${wireless_essid wlan0}
#${color cccccc}IP:${color cccccc} ${addr wlan0}
#${color cccccc}speed: ${color cccccc} ${wireless_bitrate wlan0}
#${color cccccc}link strength: ${color cccccc} ${wireless_link_bar 7,50 wlan0}

# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen

TEXT
${color}antiX-M11-686
${color}$sysname $kernel
${color}Uptime: $uptime
${color}${time %a %d %b %k:%M}

${color}Monitors:
${color}cpu: ${color}${cpu}%
${color}ram : ${color}$mem${color}/${color}$memmax ${color}- ${color}$memperc%
${color}swap: ${color}$swap${color}/${color}$swapmax ${color}- ${color}$swapperc%
${color}processes: ${color}$processes  ${color}running: ${color}$running_processes

${color}Space:
${color}Root:${color} ${fs_free /} ${color}= ${fs_free_perc /}%
Where am I making mistakes?


brian
Last edited by brian on 04 Jan 2012, 10:06, edited 1 time in total.
Posts: 279
afab4
Joined: 17 Oct 2009
#2
Your conky.rc shows

Code: Select all

# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus, pcmanfm and rox desktops)
own_window yes
I use IceWM so I can't comment on the specific configuration for your desktop but I can tell you my conky.rc is configured as

Code: Select all

# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus, pcmanfm and rox desktops)
own_window no
Posts: 107
brian
Joined: 10 Sep 2011
#3
afab4 wrote:Your conky.rc shows

Code: Select all

# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus, pcmanfm and rox desktops)
own_window yes
I use IceWM so I can't comment on the specific configuration for your desktop but I can tell you my conky.rc is configured as

Code: Select all

# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus, pcmanfm and rox desktops)
own_window no
Thanks, afab4! __{{emoticon}}__
I don't remember if it was always marked"yes," but I changed it to"no" and that did the trick!

I'm going to reboot and see if it sticks..

brian
Posts: 107
brian
Joined: 10 Sep 2011
#4
Ok; I had to reset the desktop because I apparently was still on another session..

So why so many sessions? Some of them, like kde and lxde, won't allow me to log in. What should I do to be able to log in under these sessions?

brian

PS. Conky seems to be behaving better now. Thanks again! __{{emoticon}}__
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#5
brian, some of the desktop environments like kde, lxde etc are not installed. You can install them if you like and then you can login without having to edit any login files.
Posts: 107
brian
Joined: 10 Sep 2011
#6
anticapitalista wrote:brian, some of the desktop environments like kde, lxde etc are not installed. You can install them if you like and then you can login without having to edit any login files.
Hi anticapitalista,
I installed the lxde desktop and rebooted (I didn't know if logging in again was sufficient) and I like it. However, there are some changes. Conky doesn't appear, and Thunderbird isn't in the menu anymore like it was in (I think) IceWM.

Are there ways to make"all" settings from one session the same on all sessions? Or do some settings on one"conflict" with those of another session?

Thanks for your time and patience with me! __{{emoticon}}__
brian
Posts: 4,164
rokytnji
Joined: 20 Feb 2009
#7
Because you installed Thunderbird in /home. You are going to have to manually make a file in /usr/share/applications for Thunderbird first to make a launcher in LXDE.

Code: Select all

Thunderbird.desktop

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://wiki.lxde.org/en/Main_Menu"
linktext was:"http://wiki.lxde.org/en/Main_Menu"
====================================


Pay attention to the section that has
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=warsow (here you will use the path to launch like you used in Icewm)
Icon=/home/USER/my/iconus/wsw-icon_80x80.png (Same thing as above for Icon)
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Name=Warsow (Name will be Thunderbird)
GenericName=warsow (Same as above)
StartupNotify=false
Categories=Game (Put Internet here)
Then use lxpanel restart off of the wiki. Or use the script.
Posts: 11
fratermus
Joined: 15 Dec 2011
#8
brian wrote:I installed the lxde desktop and rebooted (I didn't know if logging in again was sufficient) and I like it. However, there are some changes. Conky doesn't appear...

Are there ways to make"all" settings from one session the same on all sessions? Or do some settings on one"conflict" with those of another session?
Settings generally will not follow you from Window Manager (WM) to WM or Desktop Environment (DE) to DE. It is frustrating.
Example: I generally use
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openbox"
linktext was:"openbox"
====================================
with no DE wrapped around it but sometimes use LXDE which uses openbox as the WM by default. But lxde uses its own openbox settings. And startup program settings! (autostart.sh vs. *.desktop IIRC) Grrrr.

I've been playing with symlinking lxde's version of the openbox configs to my preferred .config/openbox ones but haven't gotten it all worked out yet. Maybe the trick would be to maintain a centralized set of file fragments:
~/.config/local/startup
~/.config/local/menu.openbox (etc)
~/.config/local/menu.csv (for building both fluxbox and openbox style menus)
and use a script to take those fragments and build DE/WM-specfic configs programmatically. Hmmm.
Posts: 107
brian
Joined: 10 Sep 2011
#9
rokytnji wrote:Because you installed Thunderbird in /home. You are going to have to manually make a file in /usr/share/applications for Thunderbird first to make a launcher in LXDE.

Code: Select all

Thunderbird.desktop

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://wiki.lxde.org/en/Main_Menu"
linktext was:"http://wiki.lxde.org/en/Main_Menu"
====================================


Pay attention to the section that has
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=warsow (here you will use the path to launch like you used in Icewm)
Icon=/home/USER/my/iconus/wsw-icon_80x80.png (Same thing as above for Icon)
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Name=Warsow (Name will be Thunderbird)
GenericName=warsow (Same as above)
StartupNotify=false
Categories=Game (Put Internet here)
Then use lxpanel restart off of the wiki. Or use the script.
Hi roky,
Thanks for the help. I've got Thunderbird into the menu now. But running root in lxde is quite problematic. Both PCManFM and Dolphin denied me access, and Thunar only allowed it with problems, such as:

Code: Select all

(leafpad:3477): IBUS-WARNING **: The owner of /home/brian/.config/ibus/bus is not root!
I used Internet, Office and Preferences as the Categories, but it only shows up in the Office one.
Here is how I made my thunderbird.desktop file:

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Name=Thunderbird
Comment=Mozilla Web Client
Icon=/home/brian/Downloads/thunderbird/icons/updater.png
Exec=/home/brian/Downloads/thunderbird/thunderbird
Categories=Internet;Preferences;Office;Internet;
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
As you can see, I put in the full path (for practice!) and it works.

But sudo, su, etc. are giving me problems. Maybe lxde uses sudo in a different way?


brian
Posts: 107
brian
Joined: 10 Sep 2011
#10
fratermus wrote:
brian wrote:I installed the lxde desktop and rebooted (I didn't know if logging in again was sufficient) and I like it. However, there are some changes. Conky doesn't appear...

Are there ways to make"all" settings from one session the same on all sessions? Or do some settings on one"conflict" with those of another session?
Settings generally will not follow you from Window Manager (WM) to WM or Desktop Environment (DE) to DE. It is frustrating.
Example: I generally use
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openbox"
linktext was:"openbox"
====================================
with no DE wrapped around it but sometimes use LXDE which uses openbox as the WM by default. But lxde uses its own openbox settings. And startup program settings! (autostart.sh vs. *.desktop IIRC) Grrrr.

I've been playing with symlinking lxde's version of the openbox configs to my preferred .config/openbox ones but haven't gotten it all worked out yet. Maybe the trick would be to maintain a centralized set of file fragments:
~/.config/local/startup
~/.config/local/menu.openbox (etc)
~/.config/local/menu.csv (for building both fluxbox and openbox style menus)
and use a script to take those fragments and build DE/WM-specfic configs programmatically. Hmmm.
Is Openbox with no DE the default session? I can't figure out what I'm actually using when I don't select a session...

I think you have a good idea to have a"meta" set of DE files that would be applied globally to all sessions. My experience so far has been the same as yours, in that I see that one app or DE doesn't"see" other apps. Kind of a"competition" thing I suppose, or just not having any intention of making the app so"flexible."

Another example of this, is how Firefox calls up Thunderbird as the mail client; Iceape calls up Icemail. I'd like to see if I can get Iceape to call up Thunderbird...

So I guess the beauty of Linux lies in being able to customize things to one's own personal tastes. I'm liking the"multi-session" set-up that AntiX offers. Since there are so many distros out there, and each one has its own beauty, it's nice that AntiX caters to several different ones. At first I always associated AntiX with the"bare" DE set-ups. But I see now that it can also handle ones like KDE and LXDE very nicely!

Brian
Posts: 11
fratermus
Joined: 15 Dec 2011
#11
brian wrote:Is Openbox with no DE the default session? I can't figure out what I'm actually using when I don't select a session...
I think the original M11 default (clean install) these days is IceWM. But IIRC the stock slim front-end may mean"last used" when it says default, though I haven't run it in a while and that F1 cycle was confusing to me. Testing out lightdm on my antix boxen as I found slim so frustrating. I think it's orphaned, too. lightdm looks much snazzier but I haven't gone under the hood with it yet.

Regarding wm's it is easy to get lost in the game, so when I can't figure it out I do something like:

Code: Select all

ps -ef | grep -i box
to see what's actually running. Actually I do this kind of thing so often that I .bash_aliases'ed it:

Code: Select all

psg='ps -ef | grep -i '
so running

Code: Select all

psg box
or

Code: Select all

psg wm
is a bit quicker.
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#12
Future antiX will show which wm/desktop environment is used in conky.
Posts: 4,164
rokytnji
Joined: 20 Feb 2009
#13
. But running root in lxde is quite problematic
Not for me but unlike you. I run LXDE only in my AntiX 8.5 core install on my Amrel rt786 ex laptop. Gexec which I installed in core opens anything as root except for rox-file manager which I use root terminal to open as root.

You are just getting your feet wet with a lot going on at once so it can get over whelming sometimes on tweaking things to get what you prefer going. My approach is to just approach one problem at a time and gnaw on it like a old dog on a bone. This approach has been good for me for years whether computers or motorcycles.

My Amrel rt 786 ex LXDE AntiX 8.5 core install


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=31202"
linktext was:"http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=31202"
====================================
Posts: 107
brian
Joined: 10 Sep 2011
#14
rokytnji wrote:
. But running root in lxde is quite problematic
Not for me but unlike you. I run LXDE only in my AntiX 8.5 core install on my Amrel rt786 ex laptop. Gexec which I installed in core opens anything as root except for rox-file manager which I use root terminal to open as root.

You are just getting your feet wet with a lot going on at once so it can get over whelming sometimes on tweaking things to get what you prefer going. My approach is to just approach one problem at a time and gnaw on it like a old dog on a bone. This approach has been good for me for years whether computers or motorcycles.

My Amrel rt 786 ex LXDE AntiX 8.5 core install


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=31202"
linktext was:"http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=31202"
====================================
What do you mean by"core install" and installing"in core?" Should I install apps only when in the default session?


brian
Posts: 4,164
rokytnji
Joined: 20 Feb 2009
#15
Core install iso is a no nothing much there AntiX type of install. One builds his or hers AntiX Desktop and Applications they wish to use with that type of install. Not for the novice linux user IMO.

You sound like you went with the Full Iso install. By the way. It does not matter concerning apt-get or synaptic package manager, (which is the gui front end for apt-get), whether you install any application while in LXDE, IceWM,or Fluxbox. Installing from apt-get and repositories automatically updates menus in all Desktops.

The only time you will encounter problems is when you install and run a application statically from /home or /opt like you did with a Thunderbird.tar.bz2 or a Firefox.tar.bz2 or a Seamonkey.tar.bz2.
All libraries are in that run that application are in the extracted folder from that extracted .tar.bz2 and so a manual made launcher is required if wishing to keep that application in /home. Hope that gives ya a idea.