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Question about running a program from terminal window

I have recently found out that you can invoke a terminal program in aterm by starting it with the "-e" option. For example, I can configure a program launcher (a shortcut or something similar) to start Midnight Commander in aterm by configuring the program launcher to run the command "aterm -e mc". So far so good.

But now I've run into a problem when I'd like the program launcher to start aterm showing me the output for the "cal" command in a similar manner that I can make it start Midnight Commander. When I configure a program launcher to execute "aterm -e cal", this just flashes aterm very quickly and then aterm disappears. Apparently aterm prints the output for the "cal" command and after doing that it immediately exits. So my question is: How should I edit my "aterm -e cal" program launcher so that it starts aterm, runs the "cal" command in aterm and then leaves aterm there enabling me to view the output (the current calendar)?

If you are using KDE:

alt+F2 cal

Thanks for your reply. No, I'm not using KDE. I use Window Maker with fbpanel. This fbpanel has a clock display that you can click with mouse in order to execute a program -- this is the "program launcher" that I mentioned in the previous post. I want fbpanel to launch aterm and show me the current calendar whenever I click fbpanel's clock display with mouse.

I did some research and found the following solution:

1. I created a /bin subdirectory to my home directory.
2. Then I created a file called "cal.sh" into this new directory.
3. Then I made that file to contain the following lines:

Code:

#!/bin/sh

cal; sleep 15

4. Then I made the edited file executable with "chmod +x /home/ganoo/bin/cal.sh"
5. Then I configured fbpanel's program launcher to execute this command:

Code:

aterm -g 22x9+759+576 -e /home/ganoo/bin/cal.sh &

Now I can click fbpanel's clock display with mouse and a small aterm window appears right above fbpanel showing me the current calendar for 15 seconds, after which the aterm window disappears. :)

I was hoping this was the same as my problem and someone would answer :p

i need to use aterm -e and retain other properties such as transparency, dont suppose yours does?

re transparency maybe maybe only, not sure, try to call the script with
. ./nameofscript.sh
instead of just
./nameofscript.sh

I know this keep aliases and much more

xterm -e mc
the windows does not close in mandy.
It might be because of your profile

Look into konsole (with a k) it is interesting as well

Quote:

i need to use aterm -e and retain other properties such as transparency, dont suppose yours does?

Yes, it does. I've got these lines in my ~/.Xresources file:

Code:

XTerm*saveLines: 10000

aterm*foreground: gray90

aterm*background: black

aterm*transparent: true

aterm*transpscrollbar:true

aterm*shading: 60

I changed aterm*foreground from white to gray90 simply because this allows aterm to show transparent GNU Midnight Commander if it's invoked with "mc -b" (which I aliased in ~/.bashrc). :D

Thanks so much dude, i tried .Xdefaults with that and nada, so tried it in .Xresources, logged out/in and it's all good.

thanks alot

Sorry for bumping such an old thread, but I have exactly the same problem and the suggested solution does not work for me. I can't find newer threads about this problem.

I am trying to get a simple calendar to pop up for a few seconds when I press my middle mouse button. I am using Fluxbox v1.1.1.5 on Fedora 13, and this is the code in my Fluxbox' keys-file:

Code:

OnDesktop Mouse2 :ExecCommand aterm -e cal -3

Using the suggested script does not change anything for me, the window appears for a millisecond but closes again. Adding " &" behind the command doesn't help, also when I run the command from terminal. I think it occures with programs that don't need input after the command, because ls does not work either:

Code:

aterm -e ls

while su does work:

Code:

aterm -e su

Ideally I want the window with calendar to be open for as long as I press the middle mouse button, but a timeout of a few seconds would also do.

The temporary solution I found is running Gdeskcal with this time-out script, but I don't like the program and want to use cal.
Can anyone help?