[SOLVED] Restore running programs, open windows etc. after logout login

taylorkh · 10-10-2015, 11:13 AM

This is something I had no interest in doing but now I have a situation where I need to. I saw an item while searching for something else which talked about it but of course I can not find it again and I did not read it closely enough nor do I remember where to make the config change. In a nutshell...

I wish to setup a user so that when they logout with programs running and windows open and sized and located as desired and then they login they will have the same programs running, windows sized and located. The machine is running Ubuntu Mate 15.04. I can not find anything under Preferences. It may be in dconf-editor but I have not found the setting. Can anyone point me to the config change I need to make?

TIA,

Ken

ondoho · 10-11-2015, 08:21 AM

all i know is that xfce4 has this functionality (save session).

you could also replace logout with hibernate or sleep; it's a workaround but the result maybe the same.

hortageno · 10-11-2015, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taylorkh

I wish to setup a user so that when they logout with programs running and windows open and sized and located as desired and then they login they will have the same programs running, windows sized and located. The machine is running Ubuntu Mate 15.04. I can not find anything under Preferences. It may be in dconf-editor but I have not found the setting. Can anyone point me to the config change I need to make?

Maybe this link will help you.

http://www.linuxandlife.com/2012/06/...-in-linux.html

Personally I suspend my PC rather than shutting down. When suspended it only uses very little power and I always have everything open like I left it. To do this automatically after x minutes of inactivity, I installed xscreenserver and run the script below in a cronjob every minute, which checks whether the screensaver is active.

Code:

#!/bin/bash
SCREENSAVER_ACTIVE=$(xscreensaver-command -time 2>/dev/null|grep -E "\ blanked" >/dev/null;echo $?)
if [ $SCREENSAVER_ACTIVE -eq 0 ];then
  sudo /usr/sbin/pm-suspend
fi

taylorkh · 10-11-2015, 09:48 AM

Thanks ondoho! "save session" was the phrase I was missing in my search. It seems that the feature was ripped out of Ubuntu back about version 11.something. It is not clear if it has been put back in Ubuntu-Mate. The Linuxmint forums talk about a mateconf-editor which allows enabling the feature. However, it was referring to Mint 13 which I think was back in the pre-Ubuntu11.xx days. I do not find mateconf-editor in Ubuntu Mate 15.04. I have also found references to mate-session-save which I do have. I think it would require some programming to incorporate it into the shutdown process.

I generally use suspend on my normal desktop system. The situation where I (thought) I needed the save session feature was an old Netbook which I am recycling as an mp3 player for my shop. I have managed to get it setup without the need to save session. I added Audacity and Caja (pointing to the mp3 archive) to the startup applications list of a dummy account which is set to autlogin. A couple of tweaks to Audacity and it is working great.

Again, thanks for providing me with the key words which I needed to find more information than I wished to read on the subject.

Ken

taylorkh · 10-11-2015, 09:51 AM

Thanks hortageno,

I was reading about mateconf-editor as you were posting and I was posting my previous note. It appears to be gone these days and I have only dconf-editor which does not have the save session option. As I noted above I have my special application machine working. And I do usually use suspend on my desktop PC.

Ken