tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74240490967769754242024-03-23T20:16:31.595+10:00Ross Devitt - LINUX, the Whitsundays and MeRossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.comBlogger175125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-75617434341020736072023-11-04T14:51:00.000+10:002023-11-04T14:51:46.270+10:00Making MInt Mobile - Updated November 2023<p> The Surface Pro experiment has worked out better than I though it would.<br />A few things stand out from the experience so far. </p><p><br /></p><p> <br />First, using 'mkusb' to create the Persistent Bootable USB Flashdrive I am using to run Linux on the Surface Pro 3 worked very well.<br />Second, Mint Cinnamon is preferable for running Linux on a Surface that is to be used a lot in Tablet mode, because it automatically rotates the screen orientation - once it is enabled, while Kubuntu must be changed manually each time you reorient the tablet.</p><p>There are some other observations. While Mint Cinnamon is the best for Tablet mode, KDE is adequate once I got used to the manual orientation thing.<br />I personally like the Plasma Desktop of Kubuntu better than the Cinnamon Desktop, but that's probably because I use Plasma on my Mint 21.2 Desktop daily.</p><p>As far as using the Surface Pro with its Microsoft Surface Keyboard/Cover as a Laptop replacement goes, it is only the battery life that lets it down. <br />With everything set OFF or as low as possible it is sometimes possible to eke 4 hours out of the battery - but unlikely.<br />That's with Bluetoofh OFF, WiFi OFF and Screen Brightness down to 5%, and avoiding running anything like watching a Video.<br />That said, while Windows often reports something like 10 hours at the start of a session (on either the 4/64GB Surface or the 8/256GB one), it rarely ever delivers more than 4 hours - so I can;t blame Linux.<br />It is pretty easy to see why Microsoft had to introduce the Surface Go into the mix.</p><p>I haven't found a way to run the Surface 3 off a power bank, but I am one of the luckly people. With two Surface tablets, I could take both with me for the day, and by saving my work and shutting down, then swapping the USB Flash drives, I could run one for 3 to 4 hours, then get another 3 to 4 out of the second Surface. With luck the first could be on charge for an hour, which is all it takes to recharge fully anyway.</p><p><br /></p>RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-72247295666553972042023-10-18T16:54:00.001+10:002023-10-18T16:57:24.367+10:00Making Mint Mobile<p> For a long time I've wanted a Linux Tablet. Something that got me away from Android and Apple tablets, but still reasonably secure. Recently I was given a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet, and the I was lucky enough to acquire another. That meant I could play around with an idea I had wondered about for some time. Originally the plan was to simply replace Windows. But that would lose a few advantages Windows can actually have running the Surface, including losing access to the camera and sacrificing battery life etc.</p><p>The Surface tablets have a microSD slot. Because Raspberry Pi runs quite successfully from a MicroSD card only, I hoped a Surface Pro could be booted from one as well.</p><p>A little searching suggested they are not designed in such a way the they can run like that. So I started experimenting with booting from a flash drive in the USB port. </p><p>... To be continued ...</p><p>A couple of suggestions from my friends at Bargaintech: <a href="https://www.ebay.com.au/usr/bargain.tech?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l2559" target="_blank">https://www.ebay.com.au/usr/bargain.tech?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l2559</a> who successfully put L:inux on a number of their rescued New and Near new Laptops brought me back to the idea of trying Mint Cinnamon on the Surface Pro 3.</p><p>I tried booting both Kubuntu and Cinnamon from a live Fashdrive (used these days to install Linux on a computer) and it worked. </p><p>The next thing was to install Linux, Kubuntu on one Surface and Cinnamon on the other. But which would go on what? And what about my licenced Windows 10 on the 4/64GB Surface, and Windows 11 Pro on the 256GB device? <br />I thought about it for a while and decided I could live boot whichever version of Linux I wanted at any time on the device I wanted to use on the day.<br />That of course meant that each time I booted into a Live USB drive I had to set up locality (Location, Time and Date etc.) and any Theming I changed. Also I could not install Apps, which meant no VPN, one of the reasons I wanted the tablet in the first place.</p><p>Enter the idea of a Persistent Live Bootable Flash Drive.<br />I had heard of this idea, but never needed it. So into the Net I dived and came out wet and happy. There are a few ways to skin this particular cat, bnt I chose to use something called 'mkusb'.</p><p>**<br />**</p><p>I booted each OS in turn on separate machines, made enough changes to each, installed some Apps, created a couple of documents on both saved to the Flash Drives and to the Documents folders of the Windows installations on both Surface Pros, then shut them down.</p><p>I swapped the Flash drives and booted the tablets again. All the changes I made were kept and the documents were all spot on as well. I did the same again on both. Just made enough changes that I would klnow they had been changed, and tested saving documents to all logical places.<br />As a last test I booted both tablets into their Windows again, then repeated it all over using the Flash drives.</p><p>One last swap and boot and it was proved. The Persistent drives were doing their work. There was no noticeable difference in performance between running the Surface Pro 3 on Windows or Linux, and I still can;t make up my mind if I prefer working in KDE (Kubuntu) which I have always preferred since my Mandrake Linux days around the turn of the Century, or if I can get used to Cinnamon. </p><p><a href="https://i.imgur.com/X6YAbrM.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/X6YAbrM.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />Kubuntu running on the Surface Pro 3 in Landscape mode (Swapping to Portrait must be done manually each time in Settings):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/0NZDaxY.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/0NZDaxY.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The USB Flashdrive is pretty unobtrusive and creating a Persisten Live installation on it means I can run any debian or Ubuntu based Linux, keeping any changes I make as well as any documents I want to keep portable - or unplug, reboot and run Windows.</div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/nRbmq0s.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/nRbmq0s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Kubuntu running OpenOffice in Landscape Mode on the Surface Pro 3<p>Because I prefer working with Kubuntu, I would be prepared to live without using the Surface Pro in Portrait mode. My intention was to use it mostly as a limited Laptop / Notebook most of the time anyway, and I love the way Kubuntu works, and that its floating Keyboard on the screen 'just works'.</p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/8VKfAMD.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/8VKfAMD.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Cinnamon on the other hand has an interface that is not so intuitive for me, but once I got the hang of it again after all these years of using Xfce and KDE, I could see myself enjoying some features, including that there's a setting to Disable the Screen Autorotation Lock. Once I did that the display moved between Landscape and Portrait mode as I rotated the Surface tablet.<p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I initially installed Kubuntu and Cinnamon onto separate 64GB USB Flashdrives that are so physically small that they are barely noticeable plugged into the USB port. I chose 64GB because, well, that was all I had available at the local Officeworks store.</p><p>I wondered if it would work on a flashdrive with more storage. A quick search on the Net suggested the Surface 3 can handle 256GB, and as it happened, Amazon Prime days arrived with the tiny Sandisk drives I am using on special. I ordered 3 for the same price delivered, as I was paying for a single 64GB unit. No prizes for guessing what I did.</p><p>I watched the tracking with interest, because they shipped from Japan. And they arrived in only a few days, well before their suggested date. And they were in Japanese Sandisk packaging. Surely a good omen.</p><p>Unfortunateky, while Kubuntu and Cinnamon will install on these drives and work perfectly on various computers - they simply refuse to play nicely with the Surface Pro 3.<br /><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/CElXuPX.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/CElXuPX.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>I will wait until Amazon Prime has the 128GB version of this Sandisk unit on super special, and repeat the test. It will still be cheaper than buying a single drive here.</p><p>Once that was sorted, the last hurdle was Battery Life!<br />Microsoft seem to have worked out the wrinkles in power management of the Surface Pro 3 pretty well, although some of the 'Power remaining' predictions, while they look great when I first saw them, are very optimistic in practice. A '10 hours remaining' quickly turns into '3 hours and 50 minutes remaining' within half an hour or so.</p><p>However, even that is better than either Kubuntu or Cinnamon, where '4 hours 30 minutes remaining' becomes '2 hours 40 minutes' after 30 minutes of use.</p><p>I installed TLP, but if anything all it does is make the predicted time shorted - but more accurate. All the above is with the screen turned down to 5% brightness, Blue Teeth OFF, and WiFi running. Also they are NOT when watching video. I have a feeling the Surface Pro 'might' make it through a movie if it started at 100% battery charge.</p><p><u><b>SOMETHING TO NOTE !!!<br /></b></u>When shutting the Persistent Live Flashdrive, the usuall prompt will appear onthe screen saying to remove the boot media and press Enter. </p><p>Simply pressing ENTER at this prompt has been shutting the Surface Pro 3 with no problems at all so far. It jsut scrolls the message as it goes through what seems to be a 'normal' shurdown.<br />And there's <b><i>no risk of losing the Flashdrive</i></b> - because it stays plugged in, ready for booting again.</p><p>Microsoft's own App shows the tablets have 94% and 98% Battery Health, which is probably not too bad for their age - and of course I have no idea exactly when they were originally sold nor how they were used.</p><p>Overall, my first month with the Surface Pro 3 tablets has been an interesting one, and one where I have learned quite a bit more about Linux, as well as experienced Windows 10 and Windows 11, and learned again why it was so important to move to Linux back in the 1990s. I've never, ever seen so many suspected malware threat warnings as I have in this last month, whever Windows and I are no the Internet.<br />I'm still looking for a decent Free Anti-Virus program to replace the one I am testing out now.</p><p>-- to be continued --</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-76127555061581785842023-09-19T16:38:00.002+10:002023-09-19T16:44:45.068+10:00 MInt 21.2 and I have finally worked out a compromise<p><span style="font-size: small;"> MInt 21.2 and I have finally worked out a compromise. Mint 21.2 has been rock solid since it was released, and all the mods I did to Xfce, exploring its theming / styling were more or less working - but not quite.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">The whole Theming adventure over the last couple of years has kept me busy, but really it was all related to the fact that no matter what I did, I could not get Linux Mint to look and feel the way I 'like' my OS to look and behave. A lot of that is the restlessness I have felt with Mint since the Team dropped support for KDE and stopped releasing a Mint KDE version.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSBNSArJh_7lOqrgZ_tcKL57w-ySFWdAG4E85tECAI189jTe1y4d1s0eiaqvt05nq0Dy07wxdFV86r7kz_l_2XvNeh9WNL6oTyINPtCUntzansXlw1ter6XqBczHZXk0S5-jT_KtoUKYeV_nBbMnrV7BisC_d5CXLvV4iJIC6vttRVLjcJpUR3-RleB4o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSBNSArJh_7lOqrgZ_tcKL57w-ySFWdAG4E85tECAI189jTe1y4d1s0eiaqvt05nq0Dy07wxdFV86r7kz_l_2XvNeh9WNL6oTyINPtCUntzansXlw1ter6XqBczHZXk0S5-jT_KtoUKYeV_nBbMnrV7BisC_d5CXLvV4iJIC6vttRVLjcJpUR3-RleB4o=w517-h289" width="517" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />I could get most of my Mint Xfce looking fairly consistent using a combination of drastic mods to GTK themes and tweaking Qt stuff, but there was something missing in the hybrid approach. Eventually I remembered Kubuntu Backports and stuff suddenly began falling into place.</span><p><span style="font-size: small;">Now I have a more or less Integrated Mint KDE designed just the way 'I' like it. And I while Mint is considering releasing an 'Edge' ISO with the hot new 6.2 Linux Kernel, I'm currently running comfortably on the 6.5.3 Kernel. <br />Not only that, but my KDE is at 5.25 and Plasma Frameworks is sitting at 5.98.<br />I don't think I will get up to KDE 6 until Mint 22 comes out some time around the middle of next year, but that doesn't matter.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">As usual I am making the most of the ability for many KDE Apps to be themed with a bit of Transparency, and I am also pleased that while LibreOffice doesn't yet have a Qt version, it does have KDE Integrations, which adds a Qt level to the Theming engine somehow, so it is more or less the same thing.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">LibreOffice manages this far better than almost any other Non Qt App I have seen so far and I am impressed.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUZ_u52Ns7Ot0QVYxBG9ZR6_HJsQHK400dfTMmWaBf12g7gmJSbADxOCufgHTKmck_fCA7i7Y936pVq40LvmpVIRxGLtuy_K-nnF6ZV4ttTyiOft2E6lfe-QbM-iBOFG2PL3uWdatHvO4NCXJxVvbotf7rxC8xFhs10gwn3a9y8Vd37lhmI1x4-7sq-7Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUZ_u52Ns7Ot0QVYxBG9ZR6_HJsQHK400dfTMmWaBf12g7gmJSbADxOCufgHTKmck_fCA7i7Y936pVq40LvmpVIRxGLtuy_K-nnF6ZV4ttTyiOft2E6lfe-QbM-iBOFG2PL3uWdatHvO4NCXJxVvbotf7rxC8xFhs10gwn3a9y8Vd37lhmI1x4-7sq-7Q=w517-h292" width="517" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />The one big thing I am not using in KDE, as I usually don't, is the Kwin Window Manager. <br />Because I create my KDE version on top of Mint Xfce, I tend to use Compiz for Window Management. It doesn't matter that Compiz is 'Old Hat'. Many of us still prefer its maturity, and we will miss it once Wayland takes over Window Management in most Linux Desktop Environments. Compiz just has so many day to day things that are handy, quite apart from its 'tricks'. Like the Compiz Cube - one of many different ways to switch Workspaces. <br />Wayland has something similar, but without some of the pretty bits . .<br />I happen to like this Compiz idea of a 'Cube' :-)<br /></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYhYWRLqomZQIztcj3HE7LzvdQJi1TYUKIDVj2-L9fLjTL3Fk_RtFDRxOCbFo2SKV_ehzJANKtkvWSgWtPGFbMFwXGU8kkZ-RWNcE8N6WgrdxltmRXd9mG3Y_CLLo-QEMsWcHX2wZbt1hez9-rK1B0lvsQ4lKa9sbiPjUiFfsb2XaCp7ZVP6pguMLQl9g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYhYWRLqomZQIztcj3HE7LzvdQJi1TYUKIDVj2-L9fLjTL3Fk_RtFDRxOCbFo2SKV_ehzJANKtkvWSgWtPGFbMFwXGU8kkZ-RWNcE8N6WgrdxltmRXd9mG3Y_CLLo-QEMsWcHX2wZbt1hez9-rK1B0lvsQ4lKa9sbiPjUiFfsb2XaCp7ZVP6pguMLQl9g=w513-h289" width="513" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />Pretty bits aside though, what I like most about Mint with KDE is that Mint has a history of being remarkably well built and Stable. KDE is also very stable, especially the Kubuntu base that I use to get my KDE. But I prefer the way Mint does stability.</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqQcvTIad_3P-xaq4MVsapyiMQWbmxcB7lRsAzR_8k5clAn5rPTNr3PNv7qBhODG4dZ6zwlhaO8jDQJvI9bm8RiA4m-89gAeYHT7wBOfcRoJHEN9XEqFNVRgzIoN728Mm1Lfjt-WttdqVi8R6tUBnzkAkfctKlrIhXoN0ckuQnB-eQNyiqgHfrOhaNGzg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqQcvTIad_3P-xaq4MVsapyiMQWbmxcB7lRsAzR_8k5clAn5rPTNr3PNv7qBhODG4dZ6zwlhaO8jDQJvI9bm8RiA4m-89gAeYHT7wBOfcRoJHEN9XEqFNVRgzIoN728Mm1Lfjt-WttdqVi8R6tUBnzkAkfctKlrIhXoN0ckuQnB-eQNyiqgHfrOhaNGzg=w512-h287" width="512" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p>RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-75787036686885663962023-07-26T16:32:00.007+10:002023-07-29T22:22:45.694+10:00Linux Mint 21.2 with Xfce 4.18 - plus my own little spin on the thing. Mint 21.2 KdXfce (or XfcKde - take your pick)<p><span style="font-size: small;"> It's probably way past time I did an update here. A lot has been happening in my life, including changing some of my computers, catching a dose of CoVid, a couple of other health dramas and various other glitches. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">On top of that Google has had a major glitch with the Blogger platform that saw them sending out emails advising people that the code on the pages of Blogger posts was formatted incorrectly or some other such rubbish. This on 'Blogger', where of course, they themselves provide all the code and we just type content and pop in a few photographs etc using their tools!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">So I just haven't been in the mood for messing around with their rubbish. However this site still pops up when people do a search on certain topics, so I'll do some more updates.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">A month or more ago when the Xfce people advised that Xfce 4.18 was ready, I managed to install it on Mint 21.1 and test it in anticipation of Mint 21.2 using 4.18. About the same time the Minit team announced it would indeed be in 21.2, so I was happy to find a couple of useful items in the new Xfce 4.18.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Most were not all that exciting, but the big one for me was the return of panel 'Profiles', allowing users to easily backup their Panel layout.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">At first glance this is not a big deal unless you screw up your panel and have to recover it, but think about it for a moment. You can set up a number of different panel layouts with different Icons and Apps ready for quick use - and switch between them quickly when you want to work on specific projects.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">It is a bit like a poor man's Plasma Activities, albeit without the way Activities can save all the open Apps for a session. So, the ability to rescue a lost panel is certainly a great idea, and it was briefly available previously. However, although I haven't tested it for that particular porpoise, the ability to set up a number of Panel Profiles and quickly switch between them could be fantastic, either for specific projects, for Multimedia or for enabling specific Panel layouts to be applied by different users sharing a computer.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">The other main focus of my recent activities has been swapping my main daily machines around. The Lenovo m93p Tiny is now my secondary computer accessed through NoMachine VNC, and the Lenovo m900 Tiny has become the main system.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">It sort of made sense, because although the m93p has a higher Turbo speed, the m900 is newer and a little faster in other ways. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Both systems were updated to 16GB RAM and 2TB SSDs as well, and both are now connected to a bank of mixed external SSDs and magnetic drives via some Powered Hubs. That allows 18 external drives to be hooked up through hubs while another 20 or so TB of drives can be swapped in through the USB3 ports if needed.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">I've got Mint 21.2 running KDE 5 nicely, and switched out Plasma's Kwin Windows Manager for Compiz - which performs so much better than anything else, at least until Wayland matures enough for daily use (hopefully some time this century).</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"> Mint 21.2 Xfce with KDE 5 running Compiz on the Lenovo m900 Tiny:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNn125F-v_Iq61zzJCHEWUQiJctAfInzRjGpQrNri6i6oozjyRInLD2EOmV1Sh3fD_ouvCkZ0RrrcD-v0LgtIp2T9orG-mW85Go5HwWwDGYke-SJL7cTuhaBDfRNDfbs-4s9mhGF7K27N8HYy7KVjsIBUpspPz3pyXFLFQEoxC4mCOrNChJqIebC2rUpw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNn125F-v_Iq61zzJCHEWUQiJctAfInzRjGpQrNri6i6oozjyRInLD2EOmV1Sh3fD_ouvCkZ0RrrcD-v0LgtIp2T9orG-mW85Go5HwWwDGYke-SJL7cTuhaBDfRNDfbs-4s9mhGF7K27N8HYy7KVjsIBUpspPz3pyXFLFQEoxC4mCOrNChJqIebC2rUpw=w518-h291" width="518" /></a></div> <p></p><p style="text-align: center;">And again:<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5uyOhFLZtSzzgdP4Bji--TgzjTghLpEVFLKRV3vKU657Y42gYvkaTflKg4sppWJWY1sf9B_QA6cpaYvAYJGYACP_74cE4WGJC1VRZfuMh8su2J9aRJmW7u9zN1znxvAs1D3gGSSmUV72cDPA7rKXz6iSWEl6MuMHllB7GJg5P78bzlvW1qAMNg2Ohz64" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5uyOhFLZtSzzgdP4Bji--TgzjTghLpEVFLKRV3vKU657Y42gYvkaTflKg4sppWJWY1sf9B_QA6cpaYvAYJGYACP_74cE4WGJC1VRZfuMh8su2J9aRJmW7u9zN1znxvAs1D3gGSSmUV72cDPA7rKXz6iSWEl6MuMHllB7GJg5P78bzlvW1qAMNg2Ohz64=w519-h292" width="519" /></a></div>Mint 21.2 Xfce with KDE 5 running Compiz on the Lenovo m993p Tiny in NoMachine VNC:<br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjca7397cF7Q7yyo9acHL7f5AJ21W42_uhgZf8GSFKiLIcWnfNikpicR64c6IwNePUuAqb4s4wznVB7gUIqahLzeR-pUTBdLz2iLjZnltRCqOuiC-TD1bAz9uP5EeIuUg_NcW8Vwg_-D8cnfEtFJqc58T7430i1wsPDoDmJDjOYrt2QYCdPnNkdx0ke__E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjca7397cF7Q7yyo9acHL7f5AJ21W42_uhgZf8GSFKiLIcWnfNikpicR64c6IwNePUuAqb4s4wznVB7gUIqahLzeR-pUTBdLz2iLjZnltRCqOuiC-TD1bAz9uP5EeIuUg_NcW8Vwg_-D8cnfEtFJqc58T7430i1wsPDoDmJDjOYrt2QYCdPnNkdx0ke__E=w517-h291" width="517" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;">Ditto:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4VzG-Ip6CgwnOd2xT5i4qWY5peZ2YnmNEAcl1TcElOrb-pnDvLq__wNJL3iBcvGpnc4mi6AtL66XgJmozFeAOTfcojeVTp8B2gHz7brzt1CSTHnub5s46ODkNxVp5aUaaqD1JQovahk4Avr9bIREqRW_mBSstOmY43_7XLFRUm-AElibQQoC4ckhP0Oc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4VzG-Ip6CgwnOd2xT5i4qWY5peZ2YnmNEAcl1TcElOrb-pnDvLq__wNJL3iBcvGpnc4mi6AtL66XgJmozFeAOTfcojeVTp8B2gHz7brzt1CSTHnub5s46ODkNxVp5aUaaqD1JQovahk4Avr9bIREqRW_mBSstOmY43_7XLFRUm-AElibQQoC4ckhP0Oc=w519-h292" width="519" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Below, the Lenovo m900 Tiny as it is currently:<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhD6dNEt-mPuN2dH0H3lNhBn5mH1tPLk1KkK8uXnIaYKYrn7A8mQz3QDGTwywFFab-L5lhbDLno4wX-OTsEy2Fl68GOCWX1Ql4v4vDm7EgUxEuoEB5jHD_3uOfPPq9BRxdoMpyJzXxeW-2l1KvTP8t_S0VnQD6IF3mDcuXPs2vnjPsoyrX6LQbfzwTgL8Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhD6dNEt-mPuN2dH0H3lNhBn5mH1tPLk1KkK8uXnIaYKYrn7A8mQz3QDGTwywFFab-L5lhbDLno4wX-OTsEy2Fl68GOCWX1Ql4v4vDm7EgUxEuoEB5jHD_3uOfPPq9BRxdoMpyJzXxeW-2l1KvTP8t_S0VnQD6IF3mDcuXPs2vnjPsoyrX6LQbfzwTgL8Q=w524-h295" width="524" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">So far it is all pretty well bullet proof. About the only disappointment is that switching the Window Manager from Kwin to Compiz means I lose Plasma's 'Activities', and even though most people don;t use them, I used to find them useful.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">I did notice however, that the m93p, when it was started today, opened up with a particular set of Apps I'd left open when I shut it down yesterday, opened up with each App where I'd left it and with the data intact - even though I hadn't saved it. that was as soon as I switched to Compiz (using the Fusion-Icon).<br />I haven't seen that happen before, so it bears looking into. </span><br /></p>RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-89650739352476624412021-11-19T21:38:00.004+10:002021-11-19T21:38:45.410+10:00Linux Mint and retired iPhone 5 - Adding Music<p> A while ago someone gave me their old iPhone 5 and suggested it might be useful to replace an iPod touch I have had for about ten years and that I haven't used much because its battery doesn't last as long as it used to and I didn't think it had Bluetooth connectivity. </p><p>These days I run my audio for all my computers via a Logitech Bluetooth Adapter, and since I have all the computers running on a single Monitor and all controlled from a single keyboard and mouse, it is simply a matter of scrolling across to a computer and switching it to the Bluetooth Adapter.</p><p>Of course, in the process of messing around with stuff we discovered that 1) the iPhone only had about 1.6GB storage free, and 2) the old iPod does in fact have Bluetooth.</p><p>I also discovered that there is almost no way to access a folder on the iPhone from Linux Mint, to easily copy mp3 files across (the only files that are small enough to be much use).</p><p>Then I read about an iPhone App called Evermusic. Evermusic was supposed to be an 'Offline Music Player' and there's a Free version with some functions limited, and a Pro version that costs $14.99. Initial impressions suggest I might be parting with some cash shortly :-)</p><p>Evermusic surprised me because a couple of interesting dialogs popped up immediately after install offering to help me set up any cloud/online accounts I have that contain Music. For the moment I skipped that and the next thing it showed me was computers connected to my local wireless network.</p><p>I tapped one of them and it asked for my login and password. I answered with that computer's network credentials and the next screen showed all the shared folders on that computer.<br />I navigated to a folder that had music in it, then remembered I have limited space on the iPhone and changed to a folder with MP3 files.</p><p>The music player screen opened to a list of songs. I chose one and tapped and it began playing.</p><p>Next I opened Settings on the iPhone and turned Bluetooth on, the iPhone found my Logitech Adapter, I connected to it, and the iPhone is playing music across Bluetooth.</p><p>A little looking around and I discovered that if I tap on the three dots ... at the right end of any song in the list, I can download it. A little more poking around and I realised I can tap 'Select All' and download all the songs in a folder once it is opened for playing.<br />I can't download a complete folder, but it seems that might be an option on the paid version.</p><p>For now though, I have a cheap music player and one more iPhone saved from scrap!</p><p><br /></p>RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-63968812324849060892021-11-19T11:55:00.006+10:002021-11-19T11:55:55.626+10:00BLOGGER Seems to be working on Mobiles Again!<p> Since my post in April, I haven't had a chance to do anything with the blogs again. However I checked the Isla Blog just now and it seems the problem has been fixed - or resolved itself. </p><p>I have not edited a blog since the post about the resizing problem, but I'm happy to report that ALL of our Blogger posts ARE WORKING, and scaling properly to mobile devices again ! :-)</p>RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-50165230847949344872021-06-21T10:51:00.003+10:002021-06-21T10:51:47.043+10:00Linux Mint 20.1 Xfce and VNC<p> Since I closed my computer business in 2007 and started spending all my time concentrating on learning how to live with recovering from all the injuries, then two lots of open heart surgery and a couple of brain injures, so much has happened. Now that I reached retirement age, I have other challenges.</p><p>Cyclone Ului in 2010 and Cyclone Debbie in 2017 destroyed my yachts in Shute Harbour, and with them, the part time live aboard lifestyle i was enjoying. Changes in my personal life as well as Australian Government legislation changes, followed by the 2017 medical emergency and surgery meant my retirement plan, to live on the resort I helped set up in the Philippines, is no longer viable. </p><p>Now I'm relegated to living in what used to be my computer workshop and classroom. While I have always had computers (since the 1970s) I have rarely been interested in them as anything more than a work tool.<br />Now I am beginning to 'enjoy' aspects of computing that I previously only bothered with for 'work'.</p><p>This blog is testament to my keeping computers around, and to my still experimenting with different aspects of the things. However over the last week I have done something I never bothered to do when I was working. <br />I set up a Home Network. Not only that, instead of having several computers on one desk, each with its own dedicated tasks and its own monitor, I have three computers connected to one monitor (a 55 inch TV) by a different HDMI port each.</p><p>I didn't bother with a network, because as before, I didn;t need one. I could do everything from one computer. The m93 has become my everyday computer because the i5 processor is a little more powerful and responsive than the Brix' Celeron. The Raspberry Pi was just there because, well, it's a Raspberry Pi.</p><p>Last week, the Realtek sound chip in the m93p lost a channel. I liesten to music a lot. Like, 'all the time'. I have several mp3 devices, some hooked up to dedicated speaker systems. But having the m93 unable to play music or show a video irked me.</p><p>Obviously I could play music on the BRIX or the Pi, but then I had to switch HDMI ports every time I wanted to adjust the volume. Something had to change. </p><p>I remembered VNC. If I set the BRIX up as a VNC Server, I could view and control it through a window in one of the Virtual Desktops (Workspaces) in the m93p. That would allow me to control the volkume, and the playlist etc. from the m93p, without the hassle of grabbing the remote and swapping HDMI inputs to the screen, and grabbing another keyboard and mouse to drive the BRIX.</p><p>It should have been dead easy.</p><p>It wasn't.</p><p>Linux has plenty of VNC server programs available. It also has a number of VNC viewers. I installed several servers one at a time on the BRIX, and viewers, one at a time on the m93p to test each server. The viewers on the m93p were not seeing any of the servers I installed on the BRIX, </p><p>Then while I had the tigerVNC-scrapin-server running on the BRIX, and I installed a remote viewer I had not noticed in the repositories, called 'vinagre' on the m93p.</p><p>Immediately it recognised the IP address I typed in as the Host, as the BRIX, and opened a window to its Desktop.</p><p>I installed tigerVNC-scraping-server on the Pi as well, and that was also immediately found and opened.</p><p>In the next post, I'll try to lay out the steps I went through to set this up.</p>RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-33979097710967873042021-05-28T14:19:00.002+10:002021-05-28T15:11:40.793+10:00LIBRE OFFICE and that annoying Lock File problem<p> For years now users on the Libre Office forums have been discussing a problem where some kind of lock file issue prevents LibreOffice saving, or in some cases even opening files.</p><p>This is not limited to a certain type of file, but I first came across it with LibreOffice .odt (text) files when I tried to save one and was told that LibreOffice could not get access to permissions to lock usage of ... or some rubbish warning along those lines.</p><p>Later I got a similar warning when I tried to open an existing LibreOffice document.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, when this happened some years ago, i managed to clear the problem by finding and deleting the offending ~lock file in my /home/Documents directory. This year however, and perhaps it can be blamed on Covid, I could not clear the problem. I tried every trick I know and then stalked the LibreOffice and other forums, only to find that there is no known solution. <br />Basically, if it happens to you, you 'might' be able to clear it by finding and deleting the offending lock file, but otherwise, you're stuffed.</p><p>So I found a couple of work-arounds. None are perfect, but one way or another they work.</p><p><br /></p><p>All Linux distributions regardless of their Desktop Environment have a couple of programs for Text editing (Abiword) and Spreadsheeting (Gnumeric). </p><p>The one that might be noticed though is LibreOffice Impress (Presentation Manager). There are some options in the repositories, but one I have always had access to was Calligra Stage - part of the old KDE KOffice Suite.</p><p>For that matter, Calligra Words and Calligra Sheets are also good replacements for LibreOffice, although they have a bit of a learning curve due to their unusual implementation of some common functions.<br />That said though, they are excellent.</p><p>So between AbiWord, Gnumeric, Calligra Words, calligra Sheets and Calligra Stage, I had all my requirements covered.</p><p><br />Then I remembered a program I use on my Android Tablets that I chose because it is almost identical to LibreOffice in looks and function.<br />That program is SoftMaker Office. It can be downloaded from:</p><p><a href="https://www.softmaker.com/en/softmaker-office" target="_blank">SoftMaker Office Home Page</a><br /></p><p>The Download page is here:</p><p><a href="https://www.softmaker.com/en/softmaker-office-download" target="_blank">DOWNLOAD SOFTMAKER OFFICE for Linux</a><br /></p><p><br />The Current version (2021) is NOT Free. It costs about $64 one time payment, but divided by a year that's about One Dollar a week. That's pretty cheap for commercial software, and the charge includes appropriate on-going updates. Instructions are on the site are provided to set the PPA for updates.</p><p>However, there are a couple of previous versions, with the latest of these the 2018 version available HERE:</p><p><br /></p><p>The 2018 version has TextMaker (Writer equivalent) and PlanMaker (Calc equivalent) plus Presentations (the Presentation manager). <br />This is Free to download and use, but requires a Product Key. I cannot remember how I got the product key, but SoftMaker emailed one to me.</p><p><a href="https://www.softmaker.com/en/old-versions" target="_blank">SoftMaker Office early versions Download</a><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I'm going to hit PUBLISH, but I intend getting back to this to add some images and further comments.</p><p>There is one more useful link on the SoftMaker website:</p><p><a href="https://www.softmaker.com/en/tips-linux" target="_blank">Tips & tricks: Installing SoftMaker Office 2021 for Linux</a><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>My 2018 version of SoftMaker Office is Free to use, although it did require email registration.</p><p><br /></p><p>If for some reason you cannot get SoftMaker Office to send you a registration Product Key, Calligra Stage works nicely as a Presentation Manager, and calligra Words with Calligra Sheets, teamed with Abiword and Gnumeric will get you out of trouble.</p><p>Desktop Publishing is covered nicely by Scribus !</p>RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-7548315236841748982021-04-28T14:39:00.008+10:002021-05-28T14:19:56.019+10:00GooGle changes mean BLOGGER is broken on MOBILES !<p> GooGle changes mean BLOGGER is broken !</p><p>I have been using Google's Blogger for years. One of the reasons I like it, was that no matter what device someone was reading a blog on, the screen conten always fitted, whether it was being viewed on a Computer, Tablet, Phone etc.</p><p>Recently Google announced that it was no longer supporting mobile devices!</p><p>This came as a complete shock to me. Google Blogger has always been great at resizing content at its default settings. I am getting too old to start rewriting all my blog pages now. </p><p>I just checked Wordpress, and my blogs there still fit all devices on all browsers by default. I don;t understand what caused Google to stop supporting Mobile Devices, but I think it is a fairly strange thing to do.</p><p>It looks like I might have to start redirecting or mirroring all my BLOGGER posts across to WordPress, including the Resort business content!</p><p>I apologise now for any inconvenience caused by this very strange GooGle action.</p><p>RossD </p>RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-10154371586002337462021-04-28T14:22:00.005+10:002021-04-28T14:22:41.734+10:00 Linux, Music and Cheap Stereo Equipment<p> Linux Mint 20, Music and Cheap Stereo Equipment seems like a bit of a weird combination, but there's something exciting about getting results on a budget.</p><p>I like listening to music. Over the years I have ripped almost all my CD and DVD collections to file so I can listen to them on modern devices like computers, phones, tablets and mp3 players. I decided not to do what I did when cassette tapes became fossils. I spent so much money before mp3 was a thing.</p><p>So, I have been using a set of Logitech X-230 speakers for years. These things are quite old, have been in use for years, and can't handle much volume if the Bass is turned on anyway, so I was thinking about doing some surgery, either piggy backing a set of bigger car speakers to the little twin 2" speakers in each satellite. I thought I might get some extra mid range without losing too much bass or treble.</p><p>Than my son mentioned he had a set of X-230 speakers that he was planning to sell on ebay. He had to fly up for a visit, so he brought them along for the ride. That way I could pick the best set to keep original and perform surgery on the others.</p><p>I forgot about them for a few days, then when I was looking through a box of 'stuff' I found a 6 inch male to female one into two splitter cable for 3.5mm audio, and an idea started to form.</p><p>The problem was distortion in the small speakers if I had the Bass turned up. The Logitech X-230 set have a volume control on one of the satellites, and on the sub-woofer.</p><p>What if I connect both X-230 sets to the splitter, dial UP the Bass on one, and dial the corresponding satellite volume down until any distortion stops?</p><p>On the other set, I could try dialing the Bass DOWN on the sub-woofer and dial the volume on that satellite pair up.</p><p>So I tried it. Then after an exciting day listening to a vastly improved stereo experience, I remembered Linux Mint uses PulseAudio, and I had installed PulseEffects!<br />So I started PulseEffects and tried some equalizer presets I had experimented with around Christmans.</p><p>W O W !!</p><p>I have the two 8 inch sub-woofer boxes stacked one on the other with a layer of foam between them. <br />I have one pair of speakers each side of, and behind my 55 inch monitor (about 1.5 metres apart), with the Sub on the floor about 1.5 metres lower and dialed down to about 20%(ish). <br />I have the other pair of satellite speakers a little further apart, about 200mm further to the front and about 200mm lower and that Sub is on top of the other and dialed to about 80%.</p><p>The volume of the satellites is simply adjusted separately until the desired richness and thump is coming out, and the mid range and treble sound crystal clear.</p><p>The whole thing is then tweaked depending on how the input of various mp3 files affects the sound over an afternoon of music, and the setup can be saved as a new preset in PulseEffects.</p><p>I had been planning to buy a new audio system for the computer, but this leaves everything I could imagine getting for dead at a total price of a couple of hundred dollars.</p><p>Providing the two speaker systems have a volume control on the sub, and another on one of the satellites, a similar system could be rigged cheaply using any couple of budget speaker sets. Mixing brands or models would not be likely to affect the setup much, and the only unusual part is the 3.5mm - 1 male plug - 2 female sockets splitter, and they are available at any electronics hobby store for a couple of dollars.</p><p>For now, I am enjoying the richest sounding music experience I can remember since the 60s when we all discovered our first 'National Panasonic' affordable stereo systems :D</p><p>Actually, this is more like when we discovered BOSE..</p>RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-8789499775282295522020-05-14T15:33:00.001+10:002020-05-14T15:58:38.343+10:00Mint 19.3 Xfce THEMING<br />
I'm still playing around with Mint 19.3 and there's a new release due next month with some exciting features like a simple file transfer system that was tested a long time ago and is being revived.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtjpDTvZflHCfM8S0YUUEmffmy2julMEFfd5NtQZBfhgvBuwXcuh2TgFsjHfGMVFc74KVCaCLqWpY9usmm1abg_hBfbDp9-eqfeXucTI1nGAvI1klNHaoPp3toO82wKmUOtrP0K5TGO98/s1600/Screenshot_2020-05-14_15-11-05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtjpDTvZflHCfM8S0YUUEmffmy2julMEFfd5NtQZBfhgvBuwXcuh2TgFsjHfGMVFc74KVCaCLqWpY9usmm1abg_hBfbDp9-eqfeXucTI1nGAvI1klNHaoPp3toO82wKmUOtrP0K5TGO98/s400/Screenshot_2020-05-14_15-11-05.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I think I have ironed out most of the wrinkles in my move from KDE based Linux back to Xfce using Mint although I'm sure I have more stuff to work out, but the basic aims were:<br />
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1 - Move from KDE Plasma back to something that 'feels like' it has less overhead (even it doesn't really).<br />
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2 - Retain some of the playful stuff I like such as transparency in some apps and the ability to use Kvantum styling on as many of my qt apps (from KDE) as possible.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVL-4drNncFQo-ew-FNsAoMIrfDqMBTjfbBLLW08QrZ4j3hckwVMc-6CtG4RCrh3f2W__ZYAfK_EFp9JkQDrdBvqo8xawpO_FMgqMEBfD8ESieeyhYB6xeJlbg2X2OBYsjHVSikcK4-L4/s1600/Screenshot_2020-05-14_15-09-34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVL-4drNncFQo-ew-FNsAoMIrfDqMBTjfbBLLW08QrZ4j3hckwVMc-6CtG4RCrh3f2W__ZYAfK_EFp9JkQDrdBvqo8xawpO_FMgqMEBfD8ESieeyhYB6xeJlbg2X2OBYsjHVSikcK4-L4/s400/Screenshot_2020-05-14_15-09-34.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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3 - Find a theme I like for the GTK stuff. Preferable not one of the new modern 'flat' themes, and preferably a 'dark' theme to be easier on the eyes with the 55 inch monitor.<br />
<br />
4 - Said theme must have big enough borders to grab easily with the mouse, because I am constantly resizing programs to make best use of the large screen.<br />
<br />
While I was playing with the wider borders thing, which looked decidedly ugly, I discovered that drop shadows achieved the same thing. The area of the shadow provides the exra pixel area to grab with the mouse cursor. I might look weird and playful to have coloured drop shadows - bu tit tells me at a glance which windows are focused at the same time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEESicpgxQaxxykhwLluuu3NJesA8nPyDTEWRBp76FoC_z-_AB-kWyb0mEZYOTCtExBuEh209jpjcqCQVq9b_0HUla2MuyiYq7i5_wozOiQvWSb2LNIZCeF-nsOUKfq2HAmL1XIuiKTJI/s1600/Screenshot_2020-05-14_15-10-41.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEESicpgxQaxxykhwLluuu3NJesA8nPyDTEWRBp76FoC_z-_AB-kWyb0mEZYOTCtExBuEh209jpjcqCQVq9b_0HUla2MuyiYq7i5_wozOiQvWSb2LNIZCeF-nsOUKfq2HAmL1XIuiKTJI/s400/Screenshot_2020-05-14_15-10-41.png" width="400" /></a></div>
5 - I must be able to run xwinwrap for video.<br />
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<br />
6 - I would 'like to have' have the compositing features I had in KDE/Plasma.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8-fGUyPPo7zZm9pxPcL5waKPJ4z2SQjb9o41tzGlpf7nsrt5cuNGMqZbXUkOjUomXLbtQwzK-BrBabzH_xV9K89Kg2SHSG9ySP9t-wteC6cBNbNOdDcz0VOXhcxdRz-7QDWVFvOk9ZWA/s1600/Screenshot_2020-05-14_15-08-40.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8-fGUyPPo7zZm9pxPcL5waKPJ4z2SQjb9o41tzGlpf7nsrt5cuNGMqZbXUkOjUomXLbtQwzK-BrBabzH_xV9K89Kg2SHSG9ySP9t-wteC6cBNbNOdDcz0VOXhcxdRz-7QDWVFvOk9ZWA/s400/Screenshot_2020-05-14_15-08-40.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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For some reason kwin killed my Mint Xfce. So I reinstalled Mint 19.3 Xfrce and played with Compiz, and after a few fails, I modified a Metacity theme to give me decent min/max and close buttons on the Title Bar.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKVPUJGWmDHH5pRv1wkoIn5t4jBYLpYERLUgZCdwaj3hvBG49CfcsJdKTFndtNV4JqDV-pzaVOFkJsxsieqTV6F39v3Z8T-YXexlOJp8F2ZRsDUoDpSRokqLagtAqDgwopMDqdZNuu-V4/s1600/Screenshot_2020-05-14_15-13-01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKVPUJGWmDHH5pRv1wkoIn5t4jBYLpYERLUgZCdwaj3hvBG49CfcsJdKTFndtNV4JqDV-pzaVOFkJsxsieqTV6F39v3Z8T-YXexlOJp8F2ZRsDUoDpSRokqLagtAqDgwopMDqdZNuu-V4/s400/Screenshot_2020-05-14_15-13-01.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-88525026404360155172020-05-06T20:01:00.000+10:002020-05-06T20:03:28.790+10:00Still Playing with Mint 19.3 Xfce and CompizCompiz is still throwing some challenges at me. I was warned that it has a few 'quirks' and I'm finding some of them.<br />
I've played with quite a few of the weird things it can do, and now the novelty is wearing off I am settling back into a combination of the things I actually like about what it can do, and the things I used to like about KDE.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAm3K-BBmv0j-oLF9BlNCbmXURBX-7YkRjFNRoXm0ldGDlEvo3NnPqaTBhz4ynOktSAkJE_7OOfZxxlspX9jdJjLlDt8zEnDVU0LaE2zATuVU_MPDtufaZsRoCEdTwvAV94Xm9keSmYng/s1600/Screenshot_2020-05-06_19-46-24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAm3K-BBmv0j-oLF9BlNCbmXURBX-7YkRjFNRoXm0ldGDlEvo3NnPqaTBhz4ynOktSAkJE_7OOfZxxlspX9jdJjLlDt8zEnDVU0LaE2zATuVU_MPDtufaZsRoCEdTwvAV94Xm9keSmYng/s320/Screenshot_2020-05-06_19-46-24.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Finding out just which underlying GTK themes from xfwm4 work well in conjunction with the Metacity themes in Compiz. Some of my favourite themes look fine, then I find something broken.</div>
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Like the GT3 theme I was using. It worked nicely and looked good, but interfered with Thunar's ability to select text in various operations like 'Rename' for example.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEK1imfySpKtkWIH0QIHy64Af0b0h8Fk3u4eCfvCrrqSAh04up6rKnoWtGiycYJTLnKw8k5hGhJJEIBQhfenc99rLk4EV7oHSisU9Nh4mVb0LNe6U4OCUFZoJUJajh5_yGl4eXV4tSfio/s1600/Screenshot_2020-05-06_19-47-54.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEK1imfySpKtkWIH0QIHy64Af0b0h8Fk3u4eCfvCrrqSAh04up6rKnoWtGiycYJTLnKw8k5hGhJJEIBQhfenc99rLk4EV7oHSisU9Nh4mVb0LNe6U4OCUFZoJUJajh5_yGl4eXV4tSfio/s320/Screenshot_2020-05-06_19-47-54.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I think I sorted it out though. In the mean time my Cube has eight faces, six sides plus a top and bottom, instead of being a cylinder.</div>
<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-57533772742742796582020-05-04T15:28:00.000+10:002020-05-04T15:28:15.636+10:00A Compiz/Xfce/Mint 19.3 Update - 2020 May 04I've been playing with Compiz and working out a few changes to make it more stable.<br />
<br />
Compiz uses Metacity for theming and there some really annoying things that Compiz does when it is working with Mint 19.3 Xfce that are worse than simply annoying.<br />
Other things that 'are simply annoying' are the result of the themes for Window decorations clashing with GTK themes for Xfce. Things like tiny or otherwise unreadable control buttons on the Titiebars for example. <br />
<br />
In a couple of themes I do like a lot, Compiz does strange things. The DarkCold theme for example, looks nice and works well, until I try to use the mousewheel on the Titiebar to shade the window.
If the window is not Maximised, it works perfectly.<br />
If the window IS Maximised, and I scroll the mouswwheel on the Titiebar to shade the window - I lose all Titiebars on ALL windows!<br />
<br />
I managed to find a little script on the web that allows me to select a Metacity friendly theme (out of those installed in Xfce) to use with Compiz.
Running the script brings up a Zenity Dialog that lets me select from available themes easily.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVlYLT8e-FdzOcFqDRVJuryKKQyl7XGf6mWU5oQLHvs41dFR3-TFrbx8TsBW_EZirIoFSuDIowB65FqtMO3y_70q7Dqsi6mx7inQesWsWINFMnXS7VAiMhS_WTf5ROHujeGlsS7fw9hcs/s1600/Screenshot_2020-05-04_14-58-40.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1007" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVlYLT8e-FdzOcFqDRVJuryKKQyl7XGf6mWU5oQLHvs41dFR3-TFrbx8TsBW_EZirIoFSuDIowB65FqtMO3y_70q7Dqsi6mx7inQesWsWINFMnXS7VAiMhS_WTf5ROHujeGlsS7fw9hcs/s400/Screenshot_2020-05-04_14-58-40.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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As you can see from the Titiebar in the image, while it is still pretty plain, it is easy to see and the Buttons on the right for Min, Max and Close in the 'Human' theme are clear and big enough to use. <br />
In some of the other themes the buttons are almost impossible to see or to find with the mouse.<br />
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Having this script makes it simple to test which Window Decoration themes look ok and 'work', and which ones don't.<br />
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I found the Theme Selector script at:<br />
<a href="https://store.kde.org/p/1360090/" target="_blank">Metacity Theme Selector</a><br />
<br />
The script for the Theme Selector is:<br />
<code><br />
#!/bin/bash<br />
<br />
SAVEIFS=$IFS<br />
IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b")<br />
<br />
if [ ! -f /usr/bin/metacity ]; then<br />
zenity --warning --text="<b>You do not appear to have Metacity installed.</b>\n\nThe Compiz GTK window decorator uses Metacity libraries to operate. The Metacity theme is what this tool adjusts.\n\nInstall the metacity package if you would like to use the Compiz GTK window decorator."<br />
fi<br />
<br />
main_window() {<br />
selection=$(<br />
zenity --height 450 --width 320 --list --ok-label="Apply" --cancel-label="Close" --title="Metacity themes" \<br />
--column="Current theme: $( if [ $(gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences theme) == "''" ]; then<br />
echo Default<br />
else<br />
gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences theme<br />
fi)" \<br />
"Compiz GWD default" \<br />
$(<br />
for d in /usr/share/themes/*/metacity-1; do<br />
echo $d | sed 's:/usr/share/themes/::' | sed 's:/metacity-1::'<br />
done<br />
)<br />
)<br />
}<br />
<br />
while [ $? = 0 ]; do<br />
if [ "$selection" == "Compiz GWD default" ]; then<br />
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences theme ""<br />
elif [ "$selection" != "" ]; then<br />
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences theme "$selection"<br />
fi<br />
main_window<br />
done<br />
<br />
IFS=$SAVEIFS<br />
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</code><br />
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<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-53204684473401668762020-04-29T15:22:00.000+10:002020-04-29T15:35:37.444+10:00
Ok, here's the Desktop Sphere in Compiz. It's the Cube plus 'Cube Reflection and Deformation' in Compiz Configuraton Settings Menu.
The YouTube video will take up the fill width of the page on a computer. Not sure what it will do on a phone. I had to make it 800x600 to get decent resolution.
Video Linked:
<iframe width="800" height="600" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IAhCIFvYWp8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is still only the little i5-4590T, which is more or less a medium laptop processor, and onboard i915 graphics.
RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-41905304652768604882020-04-23T23:13:00.002+10:002020-04-29T15:10:10.624+10:00Video of Mint 19.3 Xfce with Compiz, plus Video Wallpaper and TransparencyI Managed to sort out my Mint 19.3 Xfce at last.<br />
I have most of the stuff I liked about KDE/Plasma, but saved most of the speed of Xfce on the little Lenovo m93p Tiny.<br />
<br />
The m93p only has an intel i5 4590T processor and 8GB RAM, with an i915<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://mega.nz/embed/W09H2KgR#HgslJWPawQ-rT1wk7hVv6e7iZNqDh-rYxxLYFvddeJE" width="640"></iframe>
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<br />
Click the BIG RED DOT to Play Video...<br />
<br />
Compiz is managing to display the Full Screen Video Wallpaper on all Viewports, and still keeps it playing as I rotate, flip and tumble the cube.<br />
That rather surprised me !<br />
HOWEVER:-<br />
I have the 3D Windows effect enabled. What that effect does, is to make the windows appear as if they are floating above the faces of the cube.<br />
Because I told my cube to pretend to be a cylinder, it floats the 3D windows as a cylinder, but keeps the desktops as a cube.<br />
And it makes the top and bottom face into disks.<br />
<br />
Turning 3D windows OFF makes everything work properly.<br />
Also, if 3D Windows effeect is turned Off, the 'sphere' deformation works, although with modern screen aspects, it is an elipsoid.<br />
<br />
I'll do a desktop capture of that soon, but for now, here's a photo:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuLBeLO0OGZH_ij5UgjzPix67b67VI4grsLzR0xbz-5NtYLIvLB00S7VujHCghQgv72Q3yeF0ICvAY1HBW_hG6Hj4mSEbwm025JPo5w8ENAf7K9OSUoyQPixuEnaGZhqTMbBuZeha6GL0/s1600/Screenshot_2020-04-28_21-18-26.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuLBeLO0OGZH_ij5UgjzPix67b67VI4grsLzR0xbz-5NtYLIvLB00S7VujHCghQgv72Q3yeF0ICvAY1HBW_hG6Hj4mSEbwm025JPo5w8ENAf7K9OSUoyQPixuEnaGZhqTMbBuZeha6GL0/s400/Screenshot_2020-04-28_21-18-26.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<br />
System Info is:<br />
System:<br />
Host: ross-ThinkCentre-M93p Kernel: 5.3.0-46-generic x86_64 bits: 64<br />
Desktop: Xfce 4.14.1 Distro: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia<br />
Machine:<br />
Type: Desktop System: LENOVO product: 10AB0039AU v: ThinkCentre M93p<br />
serial: <root required><br />
Mobo: LENOVO model: SHARKBAY v: SDK0E50510 WIN serial: <root required><br />
BIOS: LENOVO v: FBKTB4AUS date: 07/01/2015<br />
CPU:<br />
Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-4590T bits: 64 type: MCP<br />
L2 cache: 6144 KiB<br />
Speed: 1374 MHz min/max: 800/3000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1568 2: 1450<br />
3: 1723 4: 1421<br />
Graphics:<br />
Device-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics<br />
driver: i915 v: kernel<br />
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.5 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa<br />
resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz<br />
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Desktop v: 4.5 Mesa 19.2.8<br />
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<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-58388378379925576662020-04-18T17:19:00.002+10:002020-04-29T15:55:22.200+10:00Mint Linux Dolphin File Manager Transparency - Ubuntu<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
What began as a simple interest in getting some of the Transparency theming across from my old KDE/Plasma desktops, to Mint has got a little bit out of hand. That's obvious in the last post, but it has given my more insight into what can be done with Mint Xfce.<br />
<br />
I started with the Dolphin File Manager simply because I already had it transparent in Plasma and I like having the desktop wallpaper showing through.<br />
Then I discovered I could modify a few themes and have Wide Borders to grab with the mouse, plus some nice colourful big square buttons for Hide/Minimize-Maximize and Close.<br />
<br />
The wide borders thing got taken to extremes in the last post. So I went to work on changing another couple of themes I rather like that have borders smaller, but still bigger than the half a pixel that seem so popular these days - and are bloody near impossible to grab with a mouse.<br />
<br />
So - With the exception of the first picture (Brave web browser) here are the most of the programs I have in Linux MINT 19.3 Xfce that have Transparency over large parts of their windows.<br />
<br />
I still have only the bits of KDE that the individual applications require in order to function.<br />
I have not installed KDE or Plasma Desktop.<br />
The transparency and other changes are achieved using Compiz, some KDE Apps with some QT config tools, Kvantum theming engine, and some little mods to the window manager themes I'm using.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVnNHhcs6A7_AU8QMPSnzJLtzFcId8sDhyT4aR2QTppP-YIu3tzN-uJCxWnswGnmWtak2zhakAO9B-kidtxOWmlK0M4PnAgOvanQzwkl-A8QeXqO4fzkhSy-0mx2jfZ7cDhLBy9bvSyE/s1600/Screenshot_2020-04-18_16-44-22.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVnNHhcs6A7_AU8QMPSnzJLtzFcId8sDhyT4aR2QTppP-YIu3tzN-uJCxWnswGnmWtak2zhakAO9B-kidtxOWmlK0M4PnAgOvanQzwkl-A8QeXqO4fzkhSy-0mx2jfZ7cDhLBy9bvSyE/s400/Screenshot_2020-04-18_16-44-22.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Bif3viAxta0Oe0PbvzK2mz4cQia3nbto9lwCcD8bzksRj0oFkf4mgQMmNTmRYAmX84kwQ1kdlPaP8y6aW0fuUsBxJkH4HYruW-iXzbYesap0HAOtoOrdFtwbvTegnSIpPhyphenhyphen0ZYsI75Y/s1600/Screenshot_2020-04-18_16-45-46.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Bif3viAxta0Oe0PbvzK2mz4cQia3nbto9lwCcD8bzksRj0oFkf4mgQMmNTmRYAmX84kwQ1kdlPaP8y6aW0fuUsBxJkH4HYruW-iXzbYesap0HAOtoOrdFtwbvTegnSIpPhyphenhyphen0ZYsI75Y/s400/Screenshot_2020-04-18_16-45-46.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjg8TNc2GxGMaeKSVoAG2S5SzXgHcqA5b0IAkHM3XEBQyD_lPdTgIvUlRu56Je-tLtUPTXuqkMzUQKNqw4Q8V21ENxjVpc3gtsVqpgyi4b1CFNbB-YBnV0eH79cro4oPjNccd0ZKcx72E/s1600/Screenshot_2020-04-18_16-46-14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjg8TNc2GxGMaeKSVoAG2S5SzXgHcqA5b0IAkHM3XEBQyD_lPdTgIvUlRu56Je-tLtUPTXuqkMzUQKNqw4Q8V21ENxjVpc3gtsVqpgyi4b1CFNbB-YBnV0eH79cro4oPjNccd0ZKcx72E/s400/Screenshot_2020-04-18_16-46-14.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqVfl0w2fzYdDCH4wt6bZV2YokDD-mXP1iR7kVLmXVihGwuXb6NaTS-95XGWJ7MPuwDUkuZ2UPShR_oylYtoMp_tSjPO6jFw1LCWKlUuKVcCtM_1bCuhXR7m9auFhLJ2w8WIBUGB6_j-A/s1600/Screenshot_2020-04-18_17-35-25.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqVfl0w2fzYdDCH4wt6bZV2YokDD-mXP1iR7kVLmXVihGwuXb6NaTS-95XGWJ7MPuwDUkuZ2UPShR_oylYtoMp_tSjPO6jFw1LCWKlUuKVcCtM_1bCuhXR7m9auFhLJ2w8WIBUGB6_j-A/s400/Screenshot_2020-04-18_17-35-25.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-61422438773637676602020-03-27T13:58:00.003+10:002020-03-27T15:10:07.987+10:00Theming XFCE - Plasma Apps and Transparency (Dolphin Background) etc<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I'm still playing with Theming XFCE and using Plasma Apps and Transparent Dolphin Background</div>
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I was trying to get a much faster uniformly themed XFCE that gave me most of the things I missed when I made the move back from Plasma. I've said often that my biggest gripe with Plasma was that it is so much slower across the board than even KDE4, and the difference is ridiculous between Plasma and XFCE. But I loved some of the little things KDE and Plasma did with theming.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghTALE-2YvVSyx3FYacm3ff8J5xjoqPRmfsv4_p8gmKF1KpfEeQt2OibURSNqpSkzkAkDobJsirmAYX7Q5EkjQoJbdy3C0M-_CBROz81dxe1AKGJDwgw9SDivijjOBKALOeZSHPLluEKU/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-27_11-42-38.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghTALE-2YvVSyx3FYacm3ff8J5xjoqPRmfsv4_p8gmKF1KpfEeQt2OibURSNqpSkzkAkDobJsirmAYX7Q5EkjQoJbdy3C0M-_CBROz81dxe1AKGJDwgw9SDivijjOBKALOeZSHPLluEKU/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-27_11-42-38.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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In the screenshot above I have Mint 19.3 XFCE, with VLC themed to match Kcalc and K partitionmanager.</div>
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I dislike the current craze of 'flat' themes. I also don't mind when some programs themes don't actually match each other - even within qt programs, (all Plasma apps use qt widgets).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEsUH6z5OoOZ_fO1-ciIY29dU6jER7fLg5sUodu97aIR2WVpddU8YraNjGp7wmj6eU4KM-dTOfLb6O_zyNifwNHlQ_x6bDXY2KbWiPZAKH58pC1W_Ml4FbmH5e1dvIKYbNItjdNw22UY/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-24_23-04-10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEsUH6z5OoOZ_fO1-ciIY29dU6jER7fLg5sUodu97aIR2WVpddU8YraNjGp7wmj6eU4KM-dTOfLb6O_zyNifwNHlQ_x6bDXY2KbWiPZAKH58pC1W_Ml4FbmH5e1dvIKYbNItjdNw22UY/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-24_23-04-10.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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With that in mind, when I wanted Dolphin File Manager to have a completely translucent view pane, and opaque files and folders, I had to use a different version of the theme I used for VLC and the others, because I changed a setting and forgot what it is !<br />
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Ok, after a little thought I have Dolphin themed with the buttons to match the apps above and a 50^ transparency in the panes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc7tDF29hDKII8dPGklMoisr7FyhlU-v9WT3RQxUNHCQsXw7nB4XF05smxkNVZ1UpRvNRbbtblcxxxpWSnRCLG-gQN-aqs5I5FMRQ3Y0lG-2ctx-OXYu-PthrQ1JWun2uushV1HzyKok4/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-12-51.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc7tDF29hDKII8dPGklMoisr7FyhlU-v9WT3RQxUNHCQsXw7nB4XF05smxkNVZ1UpRvNRbbtblcxxxpWSnRCLG-gQN-aqs5I5FMRQ3Y0lG-2ctx-OXYu-PthrQ1JWun2uushV1HzyKok4/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-12-51.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Transparent Dolphin File Manager Background</div>
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The next thing is what I want the rest of my XFCE desktop to look like. I already like the modified Azenis-One theme I am using. And it gives a nice patterned background to text input fields like this one on LibreOffice.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDypEAhQ_5yGU858aWQXpe8qv7Kr3Ma17I-TdLmlMVcQQrB0QCbjWcnsIHK1k28UGQleu1921fkTExORXUQ2LlKTpTlYXj1KxHkR0W4jZpWqEZ7k_1c2LksBes-TLl4Znim5afbi3TVE/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-19-14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDypEAhQ_5yGU858aWQXpe8qv7Kr3Ma17I-TdLmlMVcQQrB0QCbjWcnsIHK1k28UGQleu1921fkTExORXUQ2LlKTpTlYXj1KxHkR0W4jZpWqEZ7k_1c2LksBes-TLl4Znim5afbi3TVE/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-19-14.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Included in that is a very distinct 3D curved effect on the buttons which, while it is very different from the KvCurves3D I use in my KDE Apps, follows the general 3D and curved idea.<br />
Here's an example:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5Cjz2bJKSG9kM7uImbGwiWeUDuwuNj0vzL15XVbyXzkfgUM7z1i7cNgo1p9hVWPoKDJ89IewUvKN32HIoa9z8sg47GBj6DuOYWMRvJO23ZEGXN-a12o_hdj3g6QPWZiyk9hqouzME2k/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-20-09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1438" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5Cjz2bJKSG9kM7uImbGwiWeUDuwuNj0vzL15XVbyXzkfgUM7z1i7cNgo1p9hVWPoKDJ89IewUvKN32HIoa9z8sg47GBj6DuOYWMRvJO23ZEGXN-a12o_hdj3g6QPWZiyk9hqouzME2k/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-20-09.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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my LibreOffice Writer looks like this now, with lots of bumpy bits<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6gyTjX7PC63Co6PVpSJ-pJ6-neTnTX35YZu2u3uws8fPZ48W65KrV7KOme3WGNadLa1I3xWSw0FivLuSoST6khwlm5JVBM1-HyoBYpuaTy0yZpARVrL3tKCh85Jw3KytEEuKNcvOKb4/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-27-17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1347" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6gyTjX7PC63Co6PVpSJ-pJ6-neTnTX35YZu2u3uws8fPZ48W65KrV7KOme3WGNadLa1I3xWSw0FivLuSoST6khwlm5JVBM1-HyoBYpuaTy0yZpARVrL3tKCh85Jw3KytEEuKNcvOKb4/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-27-17.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I guess I was just so sick of something as customizable as Linux, starting to look the same on every distro.<br />
And, I was missing the little things I had going in Plasma, but lost because I hated being able to take a shower while I waited for it to load or shut down.<br />
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Of course, in all this, I still have my video wallpaper happening, but this time I am restricted to using a oval viewport so I can access the icons on the Desktop.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKcbIrBJr7eAxK4m83lcDCGyzIa0hYh-0Q3YfpFFk-awE_QZ6qTZKS1i4Px_Hop5dIZ8h5Ukj1gMDfA6xlodBFgumDGRnayJ_lTIkfpOamD-7k_cujpQM4v1BLtUlUl22Ddu0Top1DMBY/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-49-33.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKcbIrBJr7eAxK4m83lcDCGyzIa0hYh-0Q3YfpFFk-awE_QZ6qTZKS1i4Px_Hop5dIZ8h5Ukj1gMDfA6xlodBFgumDGRnayJ_lTIkfpOamD-7k_cujpQM4v1BLtUlUl22Ddu0Top1DMBY/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-49-33.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I almost forgot - the Azenis-One theme also has a nice flashy Shutdown Dialog:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqMd94PMKczJywh50XSZHttul96RGRfeRVMs07qNo1S-mvGEmGr9tH6oEpklvqZVT8IByBnZVPiIA0-i-LTmxtmzwcLWVSdBFu0lyGxjAj8zK0iL-JxeQr0qx_eu9yLX3TisMsdNgkCek/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-54-11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqMd94PMKczJywh50XSZHttul96RGRfeRVMs07qNo1S-mvGEmGr9tH6oEpklvqZVT8IByBnZVPiIA0-i-LTmxtmzwcLWVSdBFu0lyGxjAj8zK0iL-JxeQr0qx_eu9yLX3TisMsdNgkCek/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-27_14-54-11.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Dolphin File Manager scrolls too fast. This is a bug that has been around for ages. And I could not find a solution when I was using Plasma. I searched forums and all I found was bug reports and confirmations that there is still a problem. And lots of discussions about how the coding is too complex to fix it. But if you have access to mouse configuration that lets you set the scroll speed, you can do something. Unfortunately, I don;t seem to have that in XFCE.<br />
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Also it may have been fixed already in the latest Dolphin or Plasma, but it was still a problem using Dolphin in XFCE. However, somewhere along the line I installed a couple of Qt configuration editors. I accidentally found a fix after installing Qt5 Settings.<br />
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So if Dolphin scrolls too quickly.<br />
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Open Settings > Qt5 Settings<br />
Open the Interface Tab<br />
Look at the Bottom and change Mouse wheel scroll lines<br />
From 3 To 1<br />
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It won;t give 'smooth scrolling', but one line at a time is a huge improvement !!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieACinlHhVpxve6KUrF5L0-v0pQMHmepEblzL68Op1ZnyatNk3aI5M2wo4uZXMUogcZKDBRkv9Ev4hfZ3XHXcYKZHGBJhhdLdthxCnqPc2JsW-h-MvQ3LBZ62T2gxxhpyde0YW_fE74Js/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-27_12-53-15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="883" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieACinlHhVpxve6KUrF5L0-v0pQMHmepEblzL68Op1ZnyatNk3aI5M2wo4uZXMUogcZKDBRkv9Ev4hfZ3XHXcYKZHGBJhhdLdthxCnqPc2JsW-h-MvQ3LBZ62T2gxxhpyde0YW_fE74Js/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-27_12-53-15.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-38994886189134289102020-03-22T20:34:00.001+10:002020-03-27T13:40:36.420+10:00Mint 19.3 XFCE Current Desktop pics at 22/03/2020<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLc4U89BMebjnXSKyGVjxklaMWFqlVBt8yqiD7TwLQWNx8EE9BUooHPEoqN1HoztI6GtuObty3oTYwjstkXZH2uCn2pJ0e0UXcHjdgmCnupzfvu2aP9d16D9UjxAyIAy8MB12-ej8Lka4/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-21_19-19-20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="944" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLc4U89BMebjnXSKyGVjxklaMWFqlVBt8yqiD7TwLQWNx8EE9BUooHPEoqN1HoztI6GtuObty3oTYwjstkXZH2uCn2pJ0e0UXcHjdgmCnupzfvu2aP9d16D9UjxAyIAy8MB12-ej8Lka4/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-21_19-19-20.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-74095708511873688372020-03-16T23:07:00.002+10:002020-03-16T23:07:59.660+10:00Linux Mint XFCE vs Plasma 5 againI was switching back and forth between Xfce and Plasma 5 on the M93p today, just out of curiosity to see which one I REALLY like most. As I probably mentioned many times, the Plasma 5 is left over on my original 500GB drive from the BRIX after I replaced it with an SSD. Because it had a lot of useful stuff on it, I plugged it into a spare USB 3 port. It also has KDE 4 .12 on it, and since they both showed up automagically in GRUB I thought I may as well see if they would boot.<br />
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So, my preferemces.<br />
For real day to day use, I like KDE 4.12 BEST. It was the peak of KDE development and does everything more or less perfectly. Other than the eventual progression path to Wayland, I think that KDE 4.x should have been continued. Fast to boot, fast to shut down and snappy performance, with features that never made it into Plasma 5.<br />
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If it wasn't that I can cook a bacon and egg breakfast while Plasma 5 is booting, and make coffee while I wait for it to shut down, I'd class Plasma 5 as 'almost as good as KDE 4. It can;t do all the things that KDE 4 can do, but it will be able to do Wayland.<br />
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XFCE can't compete with KDE or Plasma for 'Desktop Appeal'. It does almost nothing in as polished and polite a way. It is like living aboard a yacht, compared to living in an apartment. I think that is why I like it though. It isn;t as cosy and warm feeling. It is functional in a spartan sort of way. But if I have to turn the computer on just because I have one thing I forgot to do before I head away for the day - XFCE is what I boot. I turn on the monitor (a 55 inch screen TV), switch on the wireless keyboard and hit Alt P (turns the m93p lenovo ON), switch on the wireless mouse and take them to my seat. By the time I sit, the screen is on and a print test has been sent to the wireless printer.<br />
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It is just that good. If I know I will not be rebooting the computer during the day I sometimes like the 'plush feeling' of Plasma 5. Sometimes I'll use it just for the plush feeling and stuff the long boot time. But the 20 to 30 second boot time of XFCE just feels slick, despite people saying startup time means nothing.RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-52791086928456616342020-03-07T18:48:00.000+10:002020-03-07T18:48:20.761+10:00Linux Mint - XFCE Theme Mods updatedI had the chance to do some more work on my window decorations for XFCE today. In addition to the Wide Borders around the windows and the other things I mentioned yesterday, see the cursor at bottom left below:<br />
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I changed the Title bar buttons so that the Maximise / Restore button is small when the window is Maximised, but normal large size when the window is not Maximised. And I mage it glow when the mouse moves over it.<br />
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The whole thing is looking quite nice now, and I like having Squared Buttons. For some reason it looks better to me than the round ones.<br />
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I also added a custom action in Thunar file manager to give me a Right Click menu option to Toggle hidden file visibility. That saves going to the menu or doing CTRL - h.<br />
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<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-39645918659795826012020-03-06T22:29:00.002+10:002020-03-06T22:34:28.051+10:00Linux Mint XFCE on the Lenovo m93p Tiny - ThemesSo the second hand Lenovo Tiny is still chugging along nicely, and so far worth every bit of the $200 it cost me. It looked like replacing the BRIX would cost me an arm and a leg - if I could get a decent replacement with the specs I like. This m93p is exactly what I needed for now.<br />
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I am not missing KDE / Plasma as much as I thought I might, and I have themed Mint XFCE using a combination of stock or downloaded themes, and my own mods.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTbv9eo-Dvo2CuOde6xLOmFWwR3rB8Te2iVhpQxOWXm1Hf3OeUYsKDkHFyW9dhcKjvNWm6JRNaevyDvIeCFYvswVYlNGgyLyy_BGdOq5RsE7K2dE7Oouk6oPBA7rojLJXAPLZnKExAnj8/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-06_22-13-46.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="979" data-original-width="1600" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTbv9eo-Dvo2CuOde6xLOmFWwR3rB8Te2iVhpQxOWXm1Hf3OeUYsKDkHFyW9dhcKjvNWm6JRNaevyDvIeCFYvswVYlNGgyLyy_BGdOq5RsE7K2dE7Oouk6oPBA7rojLJXAPLZnKExAnj8/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-06_22-13-46.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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My overall theme in Settings > Appearance > Style is called Pop-slim-dark.<br />
My Window Decorations are in Settings > Window Manager > Style and called WM-RAD-OS<br />
My Icon Theme at present in Settings > Appearance > Icons is 'learning-to-fly'<br />
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I modified a couple of themes to combine the Wide (grab-able) Borders I like, with the translucent and slightly 3D Titie bar. Then I modded some buttons from Aeonflux to get some big squared buttons for Minimize-Max/Restore-Close. Perhaps a bit rough and ready, but it works for me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKaRerGOBn_sZgDUpk19N30uOxBd3AbteWA2Zzo3UrDobUTcCBZLo5bjTlx-iNzLrmo35KHIJ2eZwn-ZmCgP7SFfH-2L4Hfg9g0BF3_kpv1RynkfqYeltWkbrsjCUvnjh5WmBPsgiZSFw/s1600/Screenshot_2020-03-06_22-31-35.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKaRerGOBn_sZgDUpk19N30uOxBd3AbteWA2Zzo3UrDobUTcCBZLo5bjTlx-iNzLrmo35KHIJ2eZwn-ZmCgP7SFfH-2L4Hfg9g0BF3_kpv1RynkfqYeltWkbrsjCUvnjh5WmBPsgiZSFw/s400/Screenshot_2020-03-06_22-31-35.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The rest of the theme provides a nice translucent panel in the Mint Menu, and with XFCE ticking along nicely, all is good with the world.<br />
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<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-49786491786755009592020-01-17T13:28:00.002+10:002020-01-17T13:28:58.070+10:00Coffee grinder spraying coffee Everywhere?I've been using a Sunbeam EM0480 Coffee Grinder for many years to grind fresh beans for my various beans. I also have a hand turned grinder for times when I am away from electricity and want to make an espresso or cappuccino.<br />
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The one thing that has annoyed me since the day I got the Sunbeam is how messy it is. Sure, I could grind into a container rather then directly into the portafilter basket, but I like to measure my dose, and the simplest way to do that is directly.<br />
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I have got around the problem sometimes by grinding into a deeper basket, then filling the Breville Duo-Temp Pro basket from that. I always end up spilling ground coffee.<br />
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So I thought abo tit and one business card, a pair of scissors and some electrical insulating tape later, I had a solution.<br />
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I cut the business card in half and joined it in a circle the size of the inside of the filter basket using some tape, then covered the card completely with tape.<br />
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It fitted snugly into the top of the basket.<br />
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I simply slip the guide into the basket before I grind the beans</div>
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And after I have weighed my 18 gram dose into it, I bash the crap out of it on the counter to settle the coffee evenly, then when I remove the guide I have a nice flat basket of coffee to tamp.</div>
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And much, much less cleaning to do.</div>
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I thought I was pretty clever coming up with the idea, but then I saw a picture of someone grinding into a Rancilio Silvia portafilter with a metal one.</div>
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A quick look on YouTube shows I could have bought one from China for about $7 including freight</div>
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Not a problem. Mine was about 10 cents and some time.</div>
<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-35086182549364012272020-01-17T12:39:00.001+10:002020-01-17T12:39:41.993+10:00Mint XFCE 19.3 and Wide Borders - againFriday 17th January 2020<br />
Another milestone in the transition back from Plasma 5 to something that works much more like a computer Operating System again.<br />
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I didn't like the default buttons in the WideBordersBigButtons theme for XFCE. But there was another theme that was supposed to just add a speecific Tittie Bar and Buttons, that simply would not show as an option in Settings > Window manager. And even if it had, it would likely have replaced the Wide Borders theme.<br />
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So I did some modifications to combine both themes into the 'Clearlooks' theme. I called the new effort 'Clearlooks-RAD-AR'.<br />
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Here is what I ended up with. The Minimize, Max/Restore and Close buttons glow as the mouse hovers over them. The Tittle Bar has a nice curved look and is a translucent smoke colour.<br />
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I'm fairly happy with it.<br />
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First pic shows the nice Wide 'grabable borders for resizing windows..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNq8O7mtJJUGaw6fEqyfrk1Z-1bGgEq5YpzSGHOXR5xHVDpc2SZUjf7KMUN-BXKLnvjgbUaCDwEnWFzJByzcKH1fich7Pf0nEyjfGc_2ts5Sc0XB45fwREK9Tb2Y7WbgJZ_q212TbhRFA/s1600/Screenshot_2020-01-17_11-05-26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="962" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNq8O7mtJJUGaw6fEqyfrk1Z-1bGgEq5YpzSGHOXR5xHVDpc2SZUjf7KMUN-BXKLnvjgbUaCDwEnWFzJByzcKH1fich7Pf0nEyjfGc_2ts5Sc0XB45fwREK9Tb2Y7WbgJZ_q212TbhRFA/s320/Screenshot_2020-01-17_11-05-26.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Pic below shows the Buttons at Right as they usually appear..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTaRyoUKyOsoYg4U1KlbnVY6VeRfIL1uKrV1MzVvglD8K5KSwpgBJCnOz_o4pKDgweDrin9PciPDdac5EUo62KBxA2nWj06V58kG84ejELYl_4u2b06NVfG02HLyFmuDsVKR4HetVTu0g/s1600/Selection_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1186" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTaRyoUKyOsoYg4U1KlbnVY6VeRfIL1uKrV1MzVvglD8K5KSwpgBJCnOz_o4pKDgweDrin9PciPDdac5EUo62KBxA2nWj06V58kG84ejELYl_4u2b06NVfG02HLyFmuDsVKR4HetVTu0g/s320/Selection_003.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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And this next pic shows the Max/Restore button when the cursor hovers over it.</div>
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The theme modification is not perfect, but for now it serves its porpoise.</div>
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My other bit of excitement for the computers is that while the BRIX is still running its 500GB Crucial SSD, I got hold of a brand new Samsung EVO 860 1TB SSD in one of those 'too good to ignore' offers.</div>
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It is now installed in the M93p Tiny, and happily chugging along on Linux Mint 19.3 XFCE.</div>
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<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-8805837284922539462020-01-11T13:33:00.001+10:002020-01-11T22:39:41.292+10:00Linux MInt - XFCE - Wide Borders - UPDATEMore about Wide Borders<br />
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After discovering the Wide Borders and Big Buttons theme for XFCE, I looked a little further into the whole theme design thing, and discovered that adding a .themes folder in /home/user would let me install a theme without having to mess with root access in /usr/share/themes<br />
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I also found that a lot of the standard themes have their borders and buttons defined as .png and .xpm files for each part of the image that makes up a folder. Sort of like a weird jigsaw puzzle.<br />
So I wondered what would happen if I copied the folders with the png and xpm files into the /xfwm folder of one of the standard themes.<br />
I copied the WideBordersBigButtons theme folder from /usr/share/themes to /home/user/.themes and also copied the Clearlooks theme folder and renamed it to Clearlooks-RAD. Then I copied the .png and .xpm files into the appropriate places in the /Clearlooks-RAD/xfwm4 folder, opened Settings > Appearance and checked that I had a 'Clearlooks-RAD theme showing.<br />
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It worked! I could swap from the WideBordersBigButtons theme to the Clearlooks-RAD theme, and while it changed the colours etc to those of Clearlooks, it kept the Wide Borders and the Big Buttons in the top right corner.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivaikw3xVQhO72DOOo3xCTBMiq_9sMAhyphenhyphen3Qc5DbNejWWQ8gQQxeA0Vg3H9endlieq8Nf2hLRzOc_pxRx6iDUFjidW8vVacObOlj8yOR5A2zm5clRuW3smeFr6gPQAlKCsFez2BYFJYFCE/s1600/Screenshot_2020-01-10_08-06-16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivaikw3xVQhO72DOOo3xCTBMiq_9sMAhyphenhyphen3Qc5DbNejWWQ8gQQxeA0Vg3H9endlieq8Nf2hLRzOc_pxRx6iDUFjidW8vVacObOlj8yOR5A2zm5clRuW3smeFr6gPQAlKCsFez2BYFJYFCE/s400/Screenshot_2020-01-10_08-06-16.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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But there was more. Out of curiosity I checked some other themes, Like Mint-Y and Mint-Y Dark. They changed, and for some reason they kept the wide borders and different buttons.<br />
And after several reboots no matter what theme I apply, it has wide borders.<br />
I don;t know how, or why, but the change has persisted even though I only installed one theme (by copying its files to the /usr/share/themes folder) and changed files in one theme in /hom/user/.themes.<br />
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OK, I finally worked out why my thick borders became persistent across themes.<br />
Choosing a 'Style' in Settings > Appearance > Style, changes the looks of a particular Window theme.<br />
Choosing a 'Theme' in Settings > Window Manager > Theme Changes to a particular THEME.<br />
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Where I was getting lost is that some Styles or Themes are listed in BOTH Appearance > Style and in Window Manager > Theme. Which is a little weird.<br />
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However choosing WideBordersBigButtons in Settings > Window Manager > Theme will apply the wide border persistently and let you change 'Styles' in Appearance.<br />
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<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424049096776975424.post-34955723677927481072020-01-06T14:56:00.000+10:002020-01-11T13:33:35.600+10:00Linux Mint - XFCE - Wide Borders - Resizing WindowsJust a quick UpDate on my move back to XFCE.<br />
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XFCE Wide Borders Themes for Resizing Windows<br />
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One of the small annoyances about not only XFCE, but some other desktops, particularly in Linux Mint (but defintely NOT limited to Mint) is that for some reason the writers of 'Themes' have decided that people no longer want to use the Mouse to resize windows on the desktop.<br />
So rather than clicking a button on a corner of a window holding the left button down and dragging to resize, we are forced to use the 'Right Click somewhere within a third of the distance to a corner, Hold the ALT key, then drag, because the default border on most themes seems to be only about 1 pixel wide.<br />
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This is ridiculous on modern higher DPI displays where users find themselves spending half an hour or so trying unsuccessfully to grab a side or corner of a window.<br />
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Luckily, there are still a few people in the computing world who have a functioning brain.<br />
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One of these people is <a href="https://www.pling.com/u/darktrick/" target="_blank">darktrick</a> who added a handy XFCE theme at <a href="https://www.pling.com/s/XFCE/p/1290489/" target="_blank">pling</a><a href="https://www.pling.com/s/XFCE/p/1290489/" target="_blank"> .com</a> that provides considerably more than the 1px border common on most themes these days.<br />
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This is what that theme adds (my mouse cursor is 'Red' and on the bottom corner where two nice, wide, easy to grab borders meet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQWt0I4uZCSt06qILXbgWF9IaLlYVEKrrjGjpe-D-z2E-HQ0A3M5GC4fD1oqqyxN81MebYzGD4qmnby6pxIqtS2VzEAWBAaxKR0ZMG3LntrTpLois9glvxtgS-PkM5hK5z9KjPxDZXPI/s1600/Screenshot_2020-01-06_14-31-55.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQWt0I4uZCSt06qILXbgWF9IaLlYVEKrrjGjpe-D-z2E-HQ0A3M5GC4fD1oqqyxN81MebYzGD4qmnby6pxIqtS2VzEAWBAaxKR0ZMG3LntrTpLois9glvxtgS-PkM5hK5z9KjPxDZXPI/s400/Screenshot_2020-01-06_14-31-55.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Works well and saves so much time and frustration!<br />
<br />RossDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04310481048268800561noreply@blogger.com0