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Old 05-31-2014, 07:18 PM   #1
Woodsman
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Mate questions


Fresh Mate 1.6 install in Slackware 14.0.

* I got acclimated to Mate 1.6 in LMDE but now have Mate 1.6 installed in 14.0. Of course, LMDE focuses only on one desktop and Slackware supports several. I was a bit shell-shocked when I opened the Mate menu and saw all of the KDE4 and Xfce apps listed. Short of creating a bunch of custom *.desktop files or manually editing the menu, is there a way to ignore the KDE4 and Xfce apps in the menu?

* The Preferred Applications applet does not list Thunderbird as an email option. Is there a way to fix that?

* For years in KDE3, Trinity, and KDE4 I use a pink background in the root account so when I run apps as root from my normal user account, I remind myself that I am running the app as root. After configuring the root Mate environment with the same pink background, I cannot find a way to get gksu to use root's theme settings. Apps always open with the normal account theme settings. Is there a way to fix that?

* In all apps the menu bar only shows the File menu and no other menus. Thus in all apps I am unable to access Edit->Preferences. Is there a fix?

* In Cinnamon, Ctrl+Alt+Del is defined as the logout keyboard shortcut. When I press that shortcut I am presented with the Logout dialog. In Mate, Ctrl+Alt+Del also is defined as the logout keyboard shortcut. When I press that shortcut I am presented with the Restart/Shutdown dialog. Is there a fix to get the Logout dialog?

Thanks.

Last edited by Woodsman; 05-31-2014 at 09:44 PM.
 
Old 05-31-2014, 11:19 PM   #2
willysr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsman View Post
Fresh Mate 1.6 install in Slackware 14.0.

* I got acclimated to Mate 1.6 in LMDE but now have Mate 1.6 installed in 14.0. Of course, LMDE focuses only on one desktop and Slackware supports several. I was a bit shell-shocked when I opened the Mate menu and saw all of the KDE4 and Xfce apps listed. Short of creating a bunch of custom *.desktop files or manually editing the menu, is there a way to ignore the KDE4 and Xfce apps in the menu?

* The Preferred Applications applet does not list Thunderbird as an email option. Is there a way to fix that?

Thanks.
I think that's what most DE does, populating all .desktop except when there's certain option to show it exclusively to some DE only

I believe it list thunderbird on my VM in the past

I don't have MATE 1.6 anymore, so i can't give better support for older release of MATE
 
Old 06-01-2014, 02:26 AM   #3
f4lc0n
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For editing menus, just right click on the "Applications" or Mate Symbol (upperleft corner) and choose Edit Menus.
 
Old 06-01-2014, 05:33 AM   #4
willysr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsman View Post
Fresh Mate 1.6 install in Slackware 14.0.
* In Cinnamon, Ctrl+Alt+Del is defined as the logout keyboard shortcut. When I press that shortcut I am presented with the Logout dialog. In Mate, Ctrl+Alt+Del also is defined as the logout keyboard shortcut. When I press that shortcut I am presented with the Restart/Shutdown dialog. Is there a fix to get the Logout dialog?

Thanks.
Bug report: https://github.com/mate-desktop/mate...ter/issues/107
 
Old 06-01-2014, 11:05 AM   #5
EYo
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xfce4 menu cleanup

Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsman View Post
* I was a bit shell-shocked when I opened the Mate menu and saw all of the KDE4 and Xfce apps listed. Short of creating a bunch of custom *.desktop files or manually editing the menu, is there a way to ignore the KDE4 and Xfce apps in the menu?
Hi Woodsman this was my crude answer to unclutter the xfce4 menu:
Code:
# cd /usr/share/applications/kde4/
# ls -l *.desktop |wc -l
232
# grep OnlyShowIn=KDE *.desktop | wc -l
11
# for i in *.desktop;do echo "OnlyShowIn=KDE;" >> $i;done
Then "xfce4-panel -r" resets my menu, et voila. Does the mate panel have equivalent? Otherwise, log out/in. HTH

Funny, I made the same typo in "desktop" everyone does at some point.
This "menu standard" was brought to us by the "Free Desktop Organization" a.k.a. f.d.o. for those not i.t.k.. See what they have wrought?
http://standards.freedesktop.org/men...sions-examples

Last edited by EYo; 06-01-2014 at 11:47 AM. Reason: Added snark, link, fixed typo
 
Old 06-01-2014, 05:51 PM   #6
Woodsman
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Quote:
For editing menus, just right click on the "Applications" or Mate Symbol (upperleft corner) and choose Edit Menus.
Uh, yeah, I know, and that is why I explicitly wrote, "Short of...manually editing the menu."

Quote:
Hi Woodsman this was my crude answer to unclutter the xfce4 menu:
Yeah, I know, and that is to what I was inferring when I wrote, "Short of creating a bunch of custom *.desktop files."

I never liked the idea of modifying *.desktop files in /usr because they get overwritten with any subsequent package updates. I can copy duplicates to /usr/local and that trick works as long as XDG_DATA_DIRS lists /usr/local before /usr.

I could remove all KDE4 and Xfce packages.

I realize Willy and Chess are following the Slackware custom of avoiding modifying upstream sources, but on a stock Slackware the Mate menu is cluttered beyond usability. The converse is true too: I now have Mate apps cluttering the menus of my other desktops.

I suppose the NotShowIn and OnlyShowIn *.desktop keys is the only decent way to fix the mess. As Slackware officially supports two desktops, but many Slackers add other desktops, I don't have a quick answer. For all Mate *.desktop files, OnlyShowIn=MATE; would resolve the problem of cluttering non-MATE desktops. One way or another, seems like a lot of work will be involved to reduce the clutter.

Okay. Thanks for confirming. Won't help 1.6 or 1.8 users though.

Another problem mentioned in the main Mate thread is desktop font colors are not manually configurable.

I just discovered another problem. I can't start the dconf-editor. I get the following error:

(dconf-editor:15884): GLib-GIO-ERROR **: Settings schema 'ca.desrt.dconf-editor.Settings' is not installed
 
Old 06-01-2014, 06:42 PM   #7
kikinovak
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsman View Post
Fresh Mate 1.6 install in Slackware 14.0.

* I got acclimated to Mate 1.6 in LMDE but now have Mate 1.6 installed in 14.0. Of course, LMDE focuses only on one desktop and Slackware supports several. I was a bit shell-shocked when I opened the Mate menu and saw all of the KDE4 and Xfce apps listed. Short of creating a bunch of custom *.desktop files or manually editing the menu, is there a way to ignore the KDE4 and Xfce apps in the menu?
If you want Slackware + MATE + one app per task + uncluttered menus, you could give MLED a spin.
 
Old 06-01-2014, 07:36 PM   #8
Woodsman
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Since MLED is intended as an add-on to the stock Slackware, how are you avoiding KDE and Xfce apps from cluttering the MATE menu?
 
Old 06-01-2014, 07:48 PM   #9
willysr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsman View Post
I realize Willy and Chess are following the Slackware custom of avoiding modifying upstream sources, but on a stock Slackware the Mate menu is cluttered beyond usability. The converse is true too: I now have Mate apps cluttering the menus of my other desktops.

I suppose the NotShowIn and OnlyShowIn *.desktop keys is the only decent way to fix the mess. As Slackware officially supports two desktops, but many Slackers add other desktops, I don't have a quick answer. For all Mate *.desktop files, OnlyShowIn=MATE; would resolve the problem of cluttering non-MATE desktops. One way or another, seems like a lot of work will be involved to reduce
Another problem mentioned in the main Mate thread is desktop font colors are not manually configurable.

I just discovered another problem. I can't start the dconf-editor. I get the following error:

(dconf-editor:15884): GLib-GIO-ERROR **: Settings schema 'ca.desrt.dconf-editor.Settings' is not installed
Some people like to have access to other DE's app (me example)
I used MATE daily now, but konsole and kate are two KDE apps that i always use

I can start dconf just fine here
 
Old 06-01-2014, 09:26 PM   #10
Woodsman
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Quote:
Some people like to have access to other DE's app (me example)
I agree. I am not advocating that all apps be ignored, just that in Slackware the menu becomes huge and there is no easy way to limit what gets shown other than *.desktop files or manually editing the menu. Most distros focus on a single desktop environment and thus avoid the problem.

Quote:
I used MATE daily now, but konsole and kate are two KDE apps that i always use
Well, I must say I am not enthused with pluma other than as a basic text editor. Other than syntax highlighting I feel like I am using notepad. I looked at geany as a solution for an improved editor, but too many years of kate has me struggling to adapt to the "geany way." I tried gedit but the Find feature is so stupid as to be unusable.

Quote:
I can start dconf just fine here
I wonder what is broken at my end? If I could get into the database I could at least fix apps opening centered. I simply don't understand the idea of apps always opening in the upper left corner of the screen. The dconf database is as bad as the windows registry.

Another question: Is there a configuration setting, even in dconf, to have caja keep the directories expanded when using the sidebar in Tree mode? Every time I open caja the tree is fully collapsed.

Another question: The Slackware version of caja uses triangles for the expand/collapse widgets. In LMDE, caja uses the traditional +/- in a box widgets. Where is that configurable? I have been looking all over the internet to no avail.
 
Old 06-02-2014, 12:16 AM   #11
willysr
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try use gsettings instead of dconf
it's the recommended way of changing GNOME's settings
 
Old 06-02-2014, 12:21 AM   #12
willysr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsman View Post
Another question: Is there a configuration setting, even in dconf, to have caja keep the directories expanded when using the sidebar in Tree mode? Every time I open caja the tree is fully collapsed.

Another question: The Slackware version of caja uses triangles for the expand/collapse widgets. In LMDE, caja uses the traditional +/- in a box widgets. Where is that configurable? I have been looking all over the internet to no avail.
[1] : I don't see any configuration in dconf-editor menus for that

[2] : I think it's based on the theme you are using. Can you check which theme LMDE uses?
 
Old 06-02-2014, 01:22 AM   #13
kikinovak
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsman View Post
Since MLED is intended as an add-on to the stock Slackware, how are you avoiding KDE and Xfce apps from cluttering the MATE menu?
Read the detailed MLED Installation Guide.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MLED Installation Guide
MLED installs on top of a carefully selected Slackware base and doesn't ship on its own installation ISO. All you need is a vanilla Slackware installation disc and a working internet connection.

In order to avoid painstakingly picking each package or installing the whole kitchen sink, the recommended method is to use the provided set of tagfiles. These are plain text files supposed to automate the potentially tedious package selection process, like a bone-headed version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux' Kickstart files.
I'll be so bold to state that this is exactly what you're looking for, Woodsman.

Cheers,

Niki
 
Old 06-02-2014, 01:24 AM   #14
kikinovak
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsman View Post
I agree. I am not advocating that all apps be ignored, just that in Slackware the menu becomes huge and there is no easy way to limit what gets shown other than *.desktop files or manually editing the menu. Most distros focus on a single desktop environment and thus avoid the problem.
Here's your uncluttered one-app-per-task menu:

http://www.microlinux.fr/images/mled/applications.png
 
Old 06-02-2014, 03:00 PM   #15
Woodsman
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I don't see any configuration in dconf-editor menus for that
I am only a single use case, but for me I find the Places/Devices/Network panel almost useless. I find the same sidebar in the file picker almost useless. I prefer to use the sidebar much the same as other traditional file managers, such as Konqueror, Dolphin, Xfe and even the Windows File Explorer. I want a simple file tree in the side bar. Like many users I open and close the file manager many times a day. In Caja this resets the collapsable tree. Same thing happens in Cinnamon Nemo too. Hardly surprising since both are derived from the orginal Nautilus.

Now, I'll be a little bold here. I have read for many years how the GNOME developers were focused on a goal of "dumbing down" the desktop, where many features were stripped from GNOME. This effort started with GNOME 2. I never really understood the claims but within the past couple of months of trying to use Mate and Cinnamon I agree the claims seem to be true. I am stunned at the wild difference in configurability between Trinity and Mate/Cinnamon. I think even Xfce has more configuration options than Mate/Cinnamon.

I raise this point in the hopes of being helpful. You have influence in both projects. I accept that many users don't want the volume of configuration options available in Trinity or KDE, but there is a large gray area in between where Mate and Cinnamon could improve. Should improve. Even if the configuration options were available only in the dconf database, that would much improve both desktops.

I accept that the development teams are small. I have dealt with that same issue in Trinity for many years. Much patience is needed in such projects. I suppose in the end I will have to subscribe to the bugzillas but at the moment I fear I would post way too many bug reports and enhancement requests. Another reason I hesitate is at the moment I am not prepared or setup to test patches. I need to move to 14.1 to support testing in either desktop and I am struggling to find the time to do that.

Quote:
I think it's based on the theme you are using. Can you check which theme LMDE uses?
Huh. Interesting. I wonder where then the option exists to modify the widgets.

I don't have my LMDE system running at the moment, but LMDE only comes with two themes. I think I am using the Mint-X theme.
 
  


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