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10-09-2020, 02:19 PM
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#1
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Member
Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Kent, UK
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 63
Rep: 
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fluxbox/pcmanfm and vanishing drives
Is this something I've done wrong or a quirk of PCManFM/ my netinstall-based Debian laptops?
The micro-SD card with my music on mounts and can be used after start-up, as can usb hard drives. If I log out and back in these are gone and if I click on Devices in PCManFM it warns 'operation not supported' (where before the pane opening would show the laptop's emmc drive and whatever else was plugged in). The 'Rubbish Bin' has also vanished at this point.
I considered using gnome-disk-utility to alter permissions but wouldn't I have to do that with every different usb drive/ pendrive I used with the laptop then?
I think I remember Thunar not having this issue but can PcManFM be cajoled into acting like Thunar and keeping the disks available regardless of logging out and in again? I was hoping the system utilities from the netinstall would have this covered. (Edit: I've just seen that the old-looking XFE file manager shows the memory card in /media/ without a gripe even if there is no apparent facility to show it automatically mounted within XFE's system tree/ left pane.
Debian 10, 64 bit, no DE but Fluxbox/ PCManFM, netinstall, tiny number of applications.
Thanks.
Last edited by tpprynn; 10-09-2020 at 02:47 PM.
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10-10-2020, 12:55 AM
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#2
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Member
Registered: Oct 2007
Location: albuquerque
Distribution: Debian, Arch, Kubuntu
Posts: 366
Rep: 
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Hm, not sure. Testing this on one of my Buster netinstalls, but this one has Openbox (and no DE). I can't seem to reproduce the problem, though. (Oh, and I use flash drives for music, but I'm not using a microSD card -- not sure why that would make any difference.)
Also, I unmounted the flash drive, closed PCManFM, logged out, logged back in. Checked with lsblk to make sure the flash drive was still unmounted. Opened PCManFM, and PCManFM automatically mounted the flash drive. I think that would be the expected behavior for that scenario.
All that being said, I normally use udiskie in the autostart for my Openbox and Fluxbox installations. Turned it off while I tested this.
Last edited by m.a.l.'s pa; 10-10-2020 at 01:23 AM.
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10-10-2020, 05:17 AM
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#3
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LQ Addict
Registered: Dec 2013
Posts: 19,872
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Generally speaking, permissions to mount external drives might require additional setup if it doesn't come shipped with the distro.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tpprynn
I think I remember Thunar not having this issue
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Have you tested this?
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10-10-2020, 08:14 AM
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#4
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Member
Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Kent, UK
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 63
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Hello you two there - well, I did try installing Thunar but there was some kind of complaint when I started it and I felt immediately put off. I don't fancy dumping loads of shrapnel/ data all over the pristine install. But I did notice this morning that in fact my external hard drive can be opened from /media (as with XFE) even when Devices in PCManFM won't open.
I did install udiskie also, thinking maybe one or more of its dependencies might be what's needed, but that isn't the case.
Does this sound like it can be solved or have I got to grin and bear it, if I'm going to stick with PCManFM? I don't suppose it's a biggie but it's a bit unsatisfying after beginning the journey through the bespoke Linux install...
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10-10-2020, 10:45 AM
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#5
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LQ Addict
Registered: Dec 2013
Posts: 19,872
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I asked you to install thunar to test yout theory and narrow down the possible culprits. It is working with thunar, that tells us something.
What exactly is the error message pcmanfm gives you, in which situation exactly? Do the drives even show up in its sidebar?
FWIW, I can click on Devices, and various storage devices show up, but not all of them can be opened - some say "The specified directory 'computer:///somethingsomething.drive' is not valid". This is also true for an inserted USB stick, however this stick is accessible when I click on its sidebar symbol.
Your error leads me to this.
PS: is gvfs installed?
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10-10-2020, 01:12 PM
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#6
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Member
Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Kent, UK
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 63
Original Poster
Rep: 
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I reinstalled Thunar and it works after a fresh boot but not after logging out and in. Then it gives this error and you see the window appear for a fraction of a second:
me@debian:~$ thunar
Thunar: Failed to initialize Xfconf: /usr/bin/dbus-launch terminated abnormally without any error message
(thunar:3930): thunar-CRITICAL **: 17:49:55.381: Name 'org.xfce.FileManager' lost on the message dbus, exiting.
(thunar:3930): thunar-WARNING **: 17:49:55.381: Name 'org.freedesktop.FileManager1' lost on the message dbus.
ThunarThumbnailer: failed to create proxy: Failed to execute child process “dbus-launch” (No such file or directory)me@debian:~$
Is there any connection with the fact that trying to start Gimp gives this error, though the program works?
me@debian:~$ gimp-2.10
Failed to execute child process “dbus-launch” (No such file or directory)
The remote no and active yes parts of what you linked aren't present.
I don't have /home/me/.xinitrc but I'm using the display manager Slim. Has that mangled things?
As much as I like this lean install this level of under the hood stuff is beyond where I want to be dabbling ideally these days (having retreated from programming when younger). There is a third computer I'd like to setup like this, ideally having overcome this issue first. My brain's shutting down for today despite double the usual caffeine but I'd be grateful if theres a relatively simple next step to read about here tomorrow.
(If I remove Slim and have an xinitrc file is that near to wrapping this up?)
Last edited by tpprynn; 10-10-2020 at 01:16 PM.
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10-10-2020, 02:23 PM
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#7
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Member
Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Kent, UK
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 63
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Ah, actually I have probably solved this.
I replaced Slim with the satisfyingly archaic-looking xdm. All of the issues are gone as far as I can see - no gripe from starting Thunar or Gimp, logging out and in the drives are still visible in PCManFM.
Tempting to wonder aloud about Slim's possible shortcomings, but twenty minutes ago I felt like that about PCManFM, wrongly I see.
I will add 'Solved' soon but will see if anyone says anything that suggests I don't have a genuine solution. Maybe there was a setting wrong in Slim somewhere.
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