scattered widgets

[sir_herrbatka]

Is that beacause of resolution change?

...

Try to run the game in emulated virtual desktop and then maximize it to cover all screen

[kjpetrie]

I know nothing of virtual desktops. If that works, great!

If you wish to try LXDE just install task-lxde from Synaptic. You can select which desktop to log into from the menu on the log-in screen. If both LXDE and KDE are installed you can use the applications from both (eg kwrite/leafpad, PCMan/Dolphin/Konqueror) in either environment.

The alternative would be simply to create a new user under KDE and log into that to play games under wine, so it's that other user's desktop that undergoes the resolution change.

You can, in theory, have two users' desktops open in different virtual terminals at once and switch between them with ctrl+alt+Fn, though I seem to remember KDE doesn't always play nice when that's done.

[dougmack]

I also know nothing of "emulated virtual desktops"--I never even heard of such a thing!  Give me instructions as to how to set it up. and I'll get it a look. Blowing up Pinball to full screen
is already part of the procedure. (I don't remember if you have to do that in Windows.) Anyway, MS Pinball is a nice game, and I don't want to lose it. Just right for someone like me,
with little patience! It makes a nice interlude without requiring any long-term commitment.

I did give LXDE a look, and I don't like it.  In the first place, the screen definition is lousy.  I don't know why--the pixels are still 1920x1280, but the whole screen is just a tiny bit out of
focus, or something. Then, there is no Thunderbird.  I know I could download it and install it from Mozilla, but the philosophy behind producing a distro with no email is beyond me.  Then
I miss Dolphin.  Yes, I know there's a poor-man's imitation, but why? And that ballooning junk over on the right hand side of the screen--keep that for the kiddies in Kindergarten, please!

I disabled the Java plug-in in Firefox, and uninstalled everything that Synaptic found that had Java in it; fortunately, I have a list of everything, since now YouTube audio doesn't
work anymore, and I have to find out which file affects that and put it back. That's going to be quite a task, I'm afraid, unless somebody reading this can give me a clue. (I can post the list, if someone wants to give it a shot.) OTOH,  what I tried, very briefly, in Symphony, still seems to work with no Java. I have to look harder at what may or may not work in Symphony.
Aside from YouTube, I don't know what else my be affected. An Internet radio station plays under RealPlayer. 

I burned a BitDefender disk and ran it, but I think it only found and looked at the XP partition on the drive, not my Linux fs.  It didn't like one of the setup.exe files in the XP
Download directory, but I'm sure whatever it was intended to setup had already been done some time ago. No other complaint. and I deleted the offending file.

Thanx for all the inputs. Any other suggestions also welcome.  --doug


 

[Just17]

If you wish to try LXDE just install task-lxde from Synaptic.

Try it before deciding anything .....  al your comments on it are not applicable to the use you would be putting it, and are not correct for the most part either, when you do this 

[dougmack]

Please ignore the third and fourth paragraphs--they really belong to a different thread, involving a possible malware problem.  I stand by what I said about LXDE.  Rebooting into another
Linux distro would not be a solution , it would be a hassle, so the question for me was whether I might just *use* a different version. The answer, clearly, is no. Frankly, before I'd use LXDE as my os of choice,I'd just use XP. 
Since this is an open source system, can anyone point me towards the fragment of code that controls the "right click on desktop" functions and what the file it exists in is called?
Maybe if it's not too complex, I'll see if I can write a snippet that mimics the Windows save and  restore function. If I should be fortunate enough to have it work, I will be happy to share it
with the Linux community.

--doug

[Just17]

Rebooting into another Linux distro would not be a solution , it would be a hassle, so the question for me was whether I might just *use* a different version. The answer, clearly, is no. Frankly, before I'd use LXDE as my os of choice,I'd just use XP.  

That is NOT what was suggested!

If you wish to try LXDE just install task-lxde from Synaptic. You can select which desktop to log into from the menu on the log-in screen. If both LXDE and KDE are installed you can use the applications from both (eg kwrite/leafpad, PCMan/Dolphin/Konqueror) in either environment.

can anyone point me towards the fragment of code that controls the "right click on desktop" functions and what the file it exists in is called?

Search for "servicemenu"  ...... /usr/share/kde4/services/ServiceMenus/

[dougmack]

I revisited this today.I know it's been a while, but I hope the thread is not dead yet.  I have entered the file that BaldBrick suggested, which I named Restore_Screen..  I ran it twice,
first with the command backup, and second with the command restore.
You can see the two successive commands here, and the result:

[doug@Linux1 bin]$ Restore_Screen
[doug@Linux1 bin]$ Restore_Screen
rm: cannot remove `/home/doug/.kde4/share/apps': Directory not empty

I'm not sure what the writer is trying to do here, but it is true, the directory is not empty, and I don't think we'd want to remove some of the files in it.
I'm also not sure why the writer chose to add the comment  "Log out now." but I removed it. (I should not have to restart the machine for the program to work!)  Just for kicks, after I
post this, I will log out and back in again, to see if the screen restores, but only if it does will I post another message.

At any rate, the program doesn't work, or I'm doing something wrong.  I activated the file, and chose backup. then I ran DosBox, which scrambles the screen. Then I found the icon for the file,
and ran it choosing Restore,  but nothing happened--the screen is still scrambled.



BTW: I have an icon (or widget) for the Konsole on my panel, and the parameters for the Konsole are that it display in black on white. At the end of the commands shown,
I opened the Konsole, and got white on black.  Don't know why, put would prefer that this not happen.  Don't know what else might have been affected, if anything.

[dougmack]

Here's what happened when I logged out and back in:  The whole screen came up black.  All my widgets/icons are gone.  The panel has returned to small height with none of my changes.
The PC Menu came up in the non-classic form. I'm going to have some heck of a time finding all the programs and putting the widgets back! Fortunately, I have a screen shot, done after
partly fixing the KSnapshot command. 

Back to the drawiung board, I guess.

--doug

[Bald Brick]

Here's what happened when I logged out and back in:  The whole screen came up black.  All my widgets/icons are gone.  The panel has returned to small height with none of my changes.
The PC Menu came up in the non-classic form. I'm going to have some heck of a time finding all the programs and putting the widgets back! Fortunately, I have a screen shot, done after
partly fixing the KSnapshot command.  

Back to the drawiung board, I guess.

--doug

Well, as I wrote I hadn't tested the tiny script. I will try to debug it if you're still interested.

The good news is that it probably succeeded in creating the backup folder ~/.kde4.backup. If you haven't run the scrip repeatedly you should get your old settings back if you remove your current ~/.kde4 and copy or move ~/.kde4.backup to ~/.kde4. To copy it try running

Code: [Select]

mv ~/.kde4 ~/.kde4.bad && cp -ar ~/.kde4.backup ~/.kde4
Then log out and in again. (You don't have to restart the machine. Just logout: if you replace the .kde4 in use with a backup you don't want to confuse the system.)

But, of course, if you've rerun the script and created a new backup after the failed restore, then the above won't work.