This is familiar.

EmilyAgain · 2014-06-17 03:09:59

Hello, #! newbie here,

I'm backpacking around and picked up an old 1 GHz CPU / 1 gig of RAM netbook from a friend/fellow traveller. The screen is detatching and the Windows7 that was on it wouldn't connect to any network for hell or high water -- thus I got it free

After about 6 months of tinkering (dual booting Ubuntu 10... let's update to 11, that was the last one without Unity right?...crap now there's Unity. I shouldn't have upgraded. Screw it let's upgrade again... crap now this thing is slower than balls... crap!) I finally found a friend with an external so I can back up my (few) large files and do a fresh install (so nice...).

This is exactly what I was looking for. It's so light and easy. I hadn't really putzed around with Ubuntu since around Hardy Heron's release - and... this is familiar. I love the fact that anyone starting it up can just look over to their conky and figure it out. There's only been a few tweaks I've done to fix issues - I'm impressed.

Anyway, so for future-me's benefit and hopefully someone else's I'm going to list my issues/solutions below. At the bottom, I've got some issues I'm still working on even more solved problems (thanks Head_on_a_Stick)! All help, tips, and general conversation is very welcome.

-Thanks!

-How to do the little things I did-
(in case I can help anyone)

Issue 1: Sound
Sound works! Yay!
But the Fn keys to adjust it don't! Boo!
But there's a notification when I used them... so they're doing something
And now I have no sound at all.
Solution: Somehow I had been adjusting a seperate "speaker" or something. I clicked the speaker icon > Volume Control > then tinkered around until I picked the appropriate device (there was more than one at the time, now there's only one... don't ask me how). Then after some forum searching I found that the Fn keys were adjusting that *wrong* speaker. And pashman supplied the ultra useful code that makes my Fn keys only adjust my active speaker, instead of the imaginary one:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-mixer -p /active-card -s 'PlaybackBuiltinAudioAnalogStereoPulseAudioMixer'

Issue 2: Touchpad
The touchpad works... even two fingered scrolling! but tap-to-click or whatever is not on. Some forum diving teaches me that no one else likes tap-to-click on their touchpads and I'm a heathen. =p
Solution: With some reverse engineering of this post's discussion, I did the following:

synclient

In the list I find "TapButton1 = 0"... Ah HAH!

synclient TapButton1=1

Issue 3: Screen
Old issue of mine, but it had to be done. With the screen failing, lots of text is near impossible to read unless I invert the colors of the screen. But then the pictures are funny, so I have to be able to reverse it. And sometimes the screen just reverses it randomly.
Solution: xcalib was my solution from before.. just typing the following will invert the colors:

xcalib -i -a

Issue 3.1: xcalib
I always wanted a shortcut to run this command.
Solution: With this guide, and this wiki, I succeeded.
Main Menu > Settings > Openbox > edit rc.xml
Scroll to <keyboard> - add your fancy new shortcut. Here's mine:

 <!-- Keybindings by Emily -->
    <keybind key="W-s">
      <action name="Execute">
        <startupnotify>
          <enabled>true</enabled>
          <name>xcalib</name>
        </startupnotify>
        <command>xcalib -i -a</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

Issue 4: Conky
My conky was boring.
Solution: Thanks to reddit - it's no longer boring. I prefer to keep the Shortcuts for other users though, so this is what I have for now. That conky uses a font called StyleBats, which you can download here and install by: extracting, then pasting in home/.fonts (Ctrl+H to show the hidden folder ".fonts").

Issue 5: tint2
I wanted the date in the upper righthand corner, dang it. And I had no idea what this tint2 thing was.
Solution: The clock can be changed in a lot of ways.
Main Menu > Settings > tint2 > edit config file
I currently have:

# Clock
time1_format = %a %b %d @ %H:%M

-Remaining issues (help wanted!)-
(Solved here. Thanks, Head_on_a_Stick!)

tint2: the left side background is not transparent, the right (clock-side) is. I keep fiddling with the file but to no avail. Would like the whole shebang to be transparent.
Solution: Main Menu > Settings > tint2 > Edit config file... Under "# Taskbar" changed "taskbar_active_background_id = 6" to 1, and success! (see this post and the wiki for why)

tint2 (?): the first thing on my bar at the top is "1". I only have one desktop. Can I remove or replace the 1? Maybe with a #! symbol? It's very hard to google it constructively
Solution: Main Menu > Settings > Openbox > GUI Config Tool -- Desktops > Desktop names, double click the name to edit.

Cheers!

Last edited by EmilyAgain (2014-06-17 12:26:11)

lcafiero · 2014-06-17 03:14:56

EmilyAgain wrote:

Some forum diving teaches me that no one else likes tap-to-click on their touchpads and I'm a heathen. =p

Yep, that you are. Tap-to-click is pure evil, the devil's plaything

Nevertheless, welcome to CrunchBang and thanks for the helpful tips. You didn't say what your hardware is, and I'd be interested to hear what it is.

Also, I'm pretty proud of our Conky section -- you should check it out.

Happy CrunchBanging!

CSCoder4ever · 2014-06-17 03:58:15

Welcome EmilyAgain! Enjoy the incredible #! distro!

EmilyAgain · 2014-06-17 04:37:04

Thanks for the welcome, lcafiero & CSCoder4ever

Good point, lcafiero, - I hadn't really thought too much about the hardware in this thing. Toshiba says this, which makes me think I should double check to make sure the graphics card/driver situation is all honky-dory.

I will totally go bonkers in the conky section shortly, but for now I just wanted something legible on this failing screen.

-Cheers

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-06-17 09:42:19

Hello EmilyAgain, welcome to #!
Thanks for all your tips --- nice first post!
The "title" of the tint2 bar is set in the openbox ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml file (openbox menu > Settings > Openbox > GUI Menu Editor)...
In the .xml file there is a "<desktops> [...] </desktops>" section:

<names>
    <name>#!</name>
</names>

Or GUI Menu Editor > Desktops > Desktop names
The varying transparencies are handled by ~/.config/tint2/tint2rc (menu > Settings > tint2 > Edit config file)...
The "# Background definitions" set the transparency (& other) options for the sections of the panel, numbered 1-8. The values are called up by the "foo_background_id = <x>" bit of the launcher, tasks panel, system tray & clock sections

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2014-06-17 09:43:24)

EmilyAgain · 2014-06-17 12:02:13

Thanks for the welcome and the help, Head on a stick!

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Or GUI Menu Editor > Desktops > Desktop names

I had a sinking feeling I should know the answer but that the knowledge had left me. Thank you for that - it's now a cute little "#!"

The varying transparencies are handled by ~/.config/tint2/tint2rc (menu > Settings > tint2 > Edit config file)...
The "# Background definitions" set the transparency (& other) options for the sections of the panel, numbered 1-8. The values are called up by the "foo_background_id = <x>" bit of the launcher, tasks panel, system tray & clock sections

The part that I kept trying to change was the "1-8" parts - I ran around changing those to no avail because I never changed the right one apparently. So I googled some more and then between your explanation above and this wiki, the lightbulb finally came on.
Changed "taskbar_active_background_id = 6" to 1, and success!

# Taskbar
taskbar_mode = single_desktop
taskbar_padding = 6 0 6
taskbar_background_id = 5
taskbar_active_background_id = 1

Thanks again!
Cheers

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-06-17 19:11:39

Good stuff, glad you figured it out

dummie789 · 2014-06-19 20:11:00

#! should be renamed Resurrection OS because of all the old machines it brings back to useful life! Way to go!

Linux is environmentally friendly. Microsoft is . . . .well, Microsoft.

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#1 2014-06-17 03:09:59

This is familiar.

#2 2014-06-17 03:14:56

Re: This is familiar.

#3 2014-06-17 03:58:15

Re: This is familiar.

#4 2014-06-17 04:37:04

Re: This is familiar.

#5 2014-06-17 09:42:19

Re: This is familiar.

#6 2014-06-17 12:02:13

Re: This is familiar.

#7 2014-06-17 19:11:39

Re: This is familiar.

#8 2014-06-19 20:11:00

Re: This is familiar.

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