[zoku88]

Hey, is there a keyboard combo to disable and re-enable compositing in GNOME? I'm playing with running multiple DEs at the same time, and the GNOME 3 instance on :1 is suffering from massive artifacting. I'd like to quickly toggle off and on the effects to see if it'd refresh the screen properly. Or it there like some "Win+F5" or somesuch key combo for direct refreshing?

I used to know this.

Wasn't there something like: "ctrl+shift+F12"? Could be totally wrong, though.

[GameplayWhore]

I used to know this. Wasn't there something like: "ctrl+shift+F12"? Could be totally wrong, though.

Alt-Shift-F12 is a KDE toggle for compositing. I tried it, but it did nothing in GNOME. Ctrl-Shift-F12 would take you out of your current desktop session entirely to vtty 12.

[itxaka]

Hey, is there a keyboard combo to disable and re-enable compositing in GNOME? I'm playing with running multiple DEs at the same time, and the GNOME 3 instance on :1 is suffering from massive artifacting. I'd like to quickly toggle off and on the effects to see if it'd refresh the screen properly. Or it there like some "Win+F5" or somesuch key combo for direct refreshing?

Alt+F2 and then writing restart will restart gnome-shell.

That is the closest you are gonna get to refresh the screen.

[zoku88]

Alt-Shift-F12 is a KDE toggle for compositing. I tried it, but it did nothing in GNOME. Ctrl-Shift-F12 would take you out of your current desktop session entirely to vtty 12.

Oh, huh.

Given how little I've used KDE, I wonder how I'm still able to remember that.

EDIT: Well, get close, anyway.

[GameplayWhore]

Alt+F2 and then writing restart will restart gnome-shell. That is the closest you are gonna get to refresh the screen.

Huh, that's weird. What about a dbus call? That's supposed to be there so you can directly control programs that are currently running, isn't it?

[itxaka]

Huh, that's weird. What about a dbus call? That's supposed to be there so you can directly control programs that are currently running, isn't it?

Dunno. Probably Gnome developers blocked that possibility. It's the Gnome philosophy to remove shit for no reason :D

[Massa]

Huh, that's weird. What about a dbus call? That's supposed to be there so you can directly control programs that are currently running, isn't it?

Well, DBus was primarily written so programs can communicate with each other. You can also control some apps that way but that's not its primary purpose. Of course you can only communicate in ways exposed by the program, and what you want isn't exposed by any window manager.

If you're running metacity you can enable/disable compositing by changing a configuration key. Since it's GNOME it applies on the fly. ;)

gconftool-2 -s '/apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager' --type bool true
gconftool-2 -s '/apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager' --type bool false

True enables, false disables it.

GNOME 3 doesn't use Metacity, it uses a compositing OpenGL window manager. You can't really "disable" it then, but restarting it should have the effect you want. I used to have some artifacts running it with AMD's proprietary drivers six months ago but running GNOME 3.4 with Catalyst 12.4 is pretty flawless now.

Similarly you can't really disable compositing in Compiz, and you won't be able to disable it in Wayland either. It's 2012. :)

[Izick]

Gimp 2.8 (with single-window mode) is available now, in case you didn't know.

[Andrex]

Feels like I've been waiting for Gimp 2.8 since Linux 1.0.

[Flying_Phoenix]

Gimp 2.8 (with single-window mode) is available now, in case you didn't know.

...how did this take so long?

[Andrex]

...how did this take so long?

I've heard there's like five dudes who work on it in their spare time. Hard to bash them for taking so long but still. :(

Someone needs to step in and boost that team.

[Izick]

...how did this take so long?

It's weird, because I don't know if it was here or somewhere else, but I complained about GIMP a couple months back, saying that the multi-window idea was kind of obtrusive, and then when I said I was excited about 2.8, someone told me that I likely still had a long wait. Guess they were kind of wrong. :p

[angelfly]

...how did this take so long?

It's been available in the development build since last year. Most distros package both.

[zoku88]

Well, DBus was primarily written so programs can communicate with each other. You can also control some apps that way but that's not its primary purpose. Of course you can only communicate in ways exposed by the program, and what you want isn't exposed by any window manager. If you're running metacity you can enable/disable compositing by changing a configuration key. Since it's GNOME it applies on the fly. ;) gconftool-2 -s '/apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager' --type bool true gconftool-2 -s '/apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager' --type bool false True enables, false disables it. GNOME 3 doesn't use Metacity, it uses a compositing OpenGL window manager. You can't really "disable" it then, but restarting it should have the effect you want. I used to have some artifacts running it with AMD's proprietary drivers six months ago but running GNOME 3.4 with Catalyst 12.4 is pretty flawless now. Similarly you can't really disable compositing in Compiz, and you won't be able to disable it in Wayland either. It's 2012. :)

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to disable it in Wayland?

I mean what I think the poster wanted was a way to disable compositing without quitting his current session.

What you used to be able to do was something like quit compiz and use metacity w/o compositing. (I basically used to do the opposite of this, by not have compiz auto-start.)

I can understand not being able to do something like that with Gnome 3, given Gnome 3's design, but I didn't think anything in Wayland's design that wouldn't let you do this. I mean, if you ran kwin on Wayland, why wouldn't you be able to disable compositing?

[itxaka]

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to disable it in Wayland? I mean what I think the poster wanted was a way to disable compositing without quitting his current session. What you used to be able to do was something like quit compiz and use metacity w/o compositing. (I basically used to do the opposite of this, by not have compiz auto-start.) I can understand not being able to do something like that with Gnome 3, given Gnome 3's design, but I didn't think anything in Wayland's design that wouldn't let you do this. I mean, if you ran kwin on Wayland, why wouldn't you be able to disable compositing?

I think wayland has compositing integrated and required to work, no? That is why you will be unable to disable, it won't work without it if I understood it correctly.

[zoku88]

I think wayland has compositing integrated and required to work, no? That is why you will be unable to disable, it won't work without it if I understood it correctly.

Really?

Didn't know that.

[itxaka]

Really? Didn't know that.

As far as I understand it is. But maybe Im mistaken, I am not really a lot into compositors, X, wm architectures and such.

[Atolm]

So I'm playing around with Cinnamon, and I'm loving it. It will be my main desktop environment with the release of Mint 13 later this month.

[zoku88]

Man, I'm not sure why I always try to upgrade Gnome, even though it's hardmasked in Portage. It's usually hardmasked for a good reason. >.> (I think, this time and last time was related to new clutter APIs breaking everything.)

Anyway, almost there.

[Elfforkusu]

I've just discovered Clementine, the music player (not the fruit). It is a GTK+ clone of Amarok 1.4. It is fantastic. Music player void... filled!

I dunno how XFCE does things, but check the keyboard settings to see if you can set the keyboard model to the one you have. This usually works for special shortcut-keys in Gnome. Unless it's a laptop keyboard. Then all bets are off. Also, I was really anti-pulseaudio when it came out because for me it was unstable as hell. But now I use it on all my computers. It has gotten pretty good over time. I only grudgingly installed it (and therefore moved away from OSS4) because Gnome 3 depends on it for some weird reason, but since then I've never had any real problems with it. And it works great with multiple soundcards. Even automatical switching of sound output devices. If I turn off my USB DAC in the middle of it outputting sound, pulseaudio will automatically switch to the internal sound card and output to the laptop speakers. Then when I turn the DAC back on it will again automatically switch to outputting with that. That kind of blew my mind because historically with ALSA and OSS it's been a pain in the ass to switch soundcards like that without rebooting or at least restarting the sound server and the applications using it.

Yeah, it turned out that the keys were working and adjusting volume, but they were doing it for my HDMI audio out and not anything useful.

I installed xfce4-mixer, which took control of the multimedia keys back from pavucontrol and after configuring the new guy to look at the right audio device, everything works right.

It's possible I could've fixed it using pavucontrol, but only in the same way that it's possible to get any poorly conceived piece of software working. The lucky thing about linux is that you can just jettison the pieces that suck and trade them for programs that work.

[hitsugi]

All right, I've been using Linux for a while (two years), right? Ubuntu, to be specific.

Here's my issue: 2 years later, I feel like I've learned next to nothing about Linux. How it works, where files end up, etc.

I have a friend who swears everything done by terminal and VIM is faster/better, but I open terminal up to do something like move a file and I have to screw with folder permissions, etc. It never, ever, ever seems faster. And forget about using terminal to access other disks, either.

I'm pretty sure I've been spoiled by Ubuntu, but I really do want to learn what I'm doing.. and if the command line stuff actually IS faster, I'd love to know how. I've seen screens where people are using Tiling WMs and have text covering their whole screen and while it looks neat, I wonder if there's anything really efficient going on there or not.

I've read that installing Arch Linux in itself can be a gigantic learning experience (and you get the cool A symbol with scrot that people seem to like so much). Perhaps that's what I need to do? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[angelfly]

All right, I've been using Linux for a while (two years), right? Ubuntu, to be specific. Here's my issue: 2 years later, I feel like I've learned next to nothing about Linux. How it works, where files end up, etc. I have a friend who swears everything done by terminal and VIM is faster/better, but I open terminal up to do something like move a file and I have to screw with folder permissions, etc. It never, ever, ever seems faster. And forget about using terminal to access other disks, either. I'm pretty sure I've been spoiled by Ubuntu, but I really do want to learn what I'm doing.. and if the command line stuff actually IS faster, I'd love to know how. I've seen screens where people are using Tiling WMs and have text covering their whole screen and while it looks neat, I wonder if there's anything really efficient going on there or not. I've read that installing Arch Linux in itself can be a gigantic learning experience (and you get the cool A symbol with scrot that people seem to like so much). Perhaps that's what I need to do? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The problem with distros like Ubuntu is they try and avoid having people learn such things. I agree fully with your friend (although I belong to the Church of Emacs). The terminal is where I spend a large portion of my time and I can get things done quicker than with any combination of GUI programs. If you're mostly a GUI centric person you won't instantly get any benefit from just switching over and trying to do things from a terminal. The way you get proficient at it is by using it more and more. I'd recommend going through Introduction to the Command Line. As for tiling WMs, I switched almost two years ago and I couldn't be happier. Also if you're planning on switching distros you'll learn more with Slackware than Arch.

[Elfforkusu]

All right, I've been using Linux for a while (two years), right? Ubuntu, to be specific. Here's my issue: 2 years later, I feel like I've learned next to nothing about Linux. How it works, where files end up, etc. I have a friend who swears everything done by terminal and VIM is faster/better, but I open terminal up to do something like move a file and I have to screw with folder permissions, etc. It never, ever, ever seems faster. And forget about using terminal to access other disks, either. I'm pretty sure I've been spoiled by Ubuntu, but I really do want to learn what I'm doing.. and if the command line stuff actually IS faster, I'd love to know how. I've seen screens where people are using Tiling WMs and have text covering their whole screen and while it looks neat, I wonder if there's anything really efficient going on there or not. I've read that installing Arch Linux in itself can be a gigantic learning experience (and you get the cool A symbol with scrot that people seem to like so much). Perhaps that's what I need to do? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

1) It really depends on a user's individual preference. The command line is better for some stuff, but for example I'd argue that VIM/emacs are amazingly overrated for things like text editing. They have the features people want, so people have latched onto them no matter how bassackwards their interface is. Meanwhile, Notepad++ now exists, which has those features and a modern UI, though it sadly has no linux version.

2) If you can do it in a single operation from a UI, you don't gain anything from the terminal. Moving files is a good example. On the other hand, changing file and directory permissions usually requires clicking through 3 menus. "chmod 755 foo.txt" is a lot more concise.

3) IMO, the biggest advantage of spending time on the command line comes from being able to write bash scripts to automate menial tasks.

tldr: I'd say it boils down to efficiency (of doing X), automation (doing X many times), and personal preference (how you prefer doing X)


I don't like window tiling, I much prefer using tabs (within programs) and Docky to enable quick switching between windows.

[synt4x]

The problem with distros like Ubuntu is they try and avoid having people learn such things. I agree fully with your friend (although I belong to the Church of Emacs). The terminal is where I spend a large portion of my time and I can get things done quicker than with any combination of GUI programs. If you're mostly a GUI centric person you won't instantly get any benefit from just switching over and trying to do things from a terminal. The way you get proficient at it is by using it more and more. I'd recommend going through Introduction to the Command Line. As for tiling WMs, I switched almost two years ago and I couldn't be happier. Also if you're planning on switching distros you'll learn more with Slackware than Arch.

I agree with everything here. I'm running Arch right now and I think it's one of the best distros out there, but Slackware was the distro that taught me how linux works. So if you really want to learn, get that. But be prepared that it's a pretty steep learning curve and you'll need to read a lot. Then when you feel comfortable with Slackware (I ran it for around two years), you can switch to a more easily maintained distro like Arch or Gentoo which have much more sophisticated package managers.

Also, here's another introduction to the command-line that I always recommend. It also goes through the most common directories in the filesystem tree.
http://linuxcommand.org/learning_the_shell.php

[Computer]

1) It really depends on a user's individual preference. The command line is better for some stuff, but for example I'd argue that VIM/emacs are amazingly overrated for things like text editing. They have the features people want, so people have latched onto them no matter how bassackwards their interface is. Meanwhile, Notepad++ now exists, which has those features and a modern UI, though it sadly has no linux version.

Notepad++ works perfectly in Linux with Wine, but even then, gedit with extra plugins does exactly what I need it to do.

[hitsugi]

I agree with everything here. I'm running Arch right now and I think it's one of the best distros out there, but Slackware was the distro that taught me how linux works. So if you really want to learn, get that. But be prepared that it's a pretty steep learning curve and you'll need to read a lot. Then when you feel comfortable with Slackware (I ran it for around two years), you can switch to a more easily maintained distro like Arch or Gentoo which have much more sophisticated package managers. Also, here's another introduction to the command-line that I always recommend. It also goes through the most common directories in the filesystem tree. http://linuxcommand.org/learning_the_shell.php

Steep learning curve and a lot of reading... Arch already sounds like that to me, haha. From what I gather, Gentoo is even more involved than Arch, and then Slackware is.. well even more so.

I guess I'll give it a shot then

[Computer]

(Edit: Wrong thread)

[Andrex]

Linus Torvalds likes the Google Chrome OS Aura desktop

[mbmonk]

Anyone have luck/experience running the Diablo 3 beta under Linux? I have heard that the beta ran fairly well under Linux.

I am hoping to run the retail version of Diablo 3 under Ubuntu 12.04. I am fairly new to Linux. But I was able to install Steam, Xfire ( don't ask ), and Torchlight ( installed through Steam ) so far with almost no tweaking using PlayOnLinux and WINE.

I am currently running Wine 1.4.

Should I post this in the Ubuntu thread or the D3 thread instead? Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thank you.

[zoku88]

Anyone have luck/experience running the Diablo 3 beta under Linux? I have heard that the beta ran fairly well under Linux. I am hoping to run the retail version of Diablo 3 under Ubuntu 12.04. I am fairly new to Linux. But I was able to install Steam, Xfire ( don't ask ), and Torchlight ( installed through Steam ) so far with almost no tweaking using PlayOnLinux and WINE. I am currently running Wine 1.4. Should I post this in the Ubuntu thread or the D3 thread instead? Any thoughts or suggestions? Thank you.

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManage...sion&iId=25588

Looks like you need to apply a patch or two and then compile wine 1.5.2

[mbmonk]

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManage...sion&iId=25588 Looks like you need to apply a patch or two and then compile wine 1.5.2

Thank you. I will have to research compiling WINE, but I have a couple of days before release to do so. :)

[zoku88]

Thank you. I will have to research compiling WINE, but I have a couple of days before release to do so. :)

When you download the source code for Wine, there will be a README file somewhere, mostly likely.

If you don't already have the dependencies, usually the README file will list them. Sometimes, (since a lot of these people assume that you're using Ubuntu), they will give you command line instructions to install the dependencies.

To apply the patches, it will just be something like

patch -p1 < path.to.patch.file while in the wine directory.

Then it's probably just

./configure
make
make install (if you want)

You can pass a prefix to configure like "./configure --prefix="path to prefix"" which will be the location that it installs to if you do make install. I think default is usually /usr/local/bin or /usr/bin.

[mbmonk]

When you download the source code for Wine, there will be a README file somewhere, mostly likely. If you don't already have the dependencies, usually the README file will list them. Sometimes, (since a lot of these people assume that you're using Ubuntu), they will give you command line instructions to install the dependencies. To apply the patches, it will just be something like patch -p1 < path.to.patch.file while in the wine directory. Then it's probably just ./configure make make install (if you want) You can pass a prefix to configure like "./configure --prefix="path to prefix"" which will be the location that it installs to if you do make install. I think default is usually /usr/local/bin or /usr/bin.

Wow. Thank you very much. It doesn't sound that bad. :)

[Massa]

Wow. Thank you very much. It doesn't sound that bad. :)

If you want it even easier just add the Wine PPA to your system: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-wine/+archive/ppa

This way you can easily install the latest Wine development release (1.5.3 is there at the moment).

[mbmonk]

If you want it even easier just add the Wine PPA to your system: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-wine/+archive/ppa This way you can easily install the latest Wine development release (1.5.3 is there at the moment).

Being fairly new to Linux I tend to shy away from the "non-stable" releases ( for lack of a better word ). I don't know if that is the correct way to proceed or not :).

I will look into the lasted build 1.5.3 though. Thank you as well. :)

[flowsnake]

Notepad++ works perfectly in Linux with Wine, but even then, gedit with extra plugins does exactly what I need it to do.

Geany uses the same backend (scintilla) as notepad++. Are there any features Geany doesn't have?

[zoku88]

If you want it even easier just add the Wine PPA to your system: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-wine/+archive/ppa This way you can easily install the latest Wine development release (1.5.3 is there at the moment).

I don't think he can do that, because he needs to apply some patches which aren't in wine yet (AFAIK.)

I can't tell because the page I linked to didn't actually link to the bug itself, just the attachments....

AH, found them: http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28898
http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28201

There seems to be a link to a 32-bit binary for Ubuntu at the bottom.

[itxaka]

Notepad++ works perfectly in Linux with Wine, but even then, gedit with extra plugins does exactly what I need it to do.

Fuck notepad++ and gedit.

Sublime_text2 is the best modern editor. It's not open source, and it's not free but it's capabilities are over both of them. The testing period is unlimited so if you like you will only see a nage screen every now and then.

Try it, I assure you is freaking awesome.

[Computer]

Fuck notepad++ and gedit. Sublime_text2 is the best modern editor. It's not open source, and it's not free but it's capabilities are over both of them. The testing period is unlimited so if you like you will only see a nage screen every now and then. Try it, I assure you is freaking awesome.

They both look awesome, thanks for the recommendation.

[Andrex]

Fuck notepad++ and gedit. Sublime_text2 is the best modern editor. It's not open source, and it's not free but it's capabilities are over both of them. The testing period is unlimited so if you like you will only see a nage screen every now and then. Try it, I assure you is freaking awesome.

Co-signed. Only piece of dev software I've paid for (the others are open source, of course.)

So good, and it's hard to believe it even has a Linux version. We need to support this kind of development, but ignoring that, it's still worth the money. So good.

[Computer]

There seems to be no localization options for Sublime Text 2 and no easy way to change the font except its size (modifying config files does not count as easy to me). I can't show indented space either.That's a shame, the program looked good but I'll have to stick with Notepad++, gedit or Geany.

[Brettison]

Never heard of sublime text, but then again my coding skills are limited. Hell I feel like I knew more as a middle schooler than I do now as I had to fuck around with MS DOS to get more shit working that now just well "Works". In windows I just install Notepad ++ for the few times I need to edit something like greasemonkey scripts, and gedit more than does the job in Ubuntu for me.

That being said I've stated doing the code academy thing that was posted here on GAF, but I've been woefully slack about it. Plus whenever I do it I end up with more questions than answers (I tend to want to know methodology when a lot of times I should just accept that's how it works and move on LOL). Maybe I'll give a shit more about my editor if I ever finish all of this. I know a few of my friends have started to move to Cloud 9 anyways.

PS: GIMP is the weirdest project ever. It's one of the mostly highly profile open source program projects on the planet. It's one of those projects that a lot of people know about even outside of the FOSS world similar to say VLC. Yet despite all of this as someone said above it's still a team of like 5 dudes working in their off hours in their man caves. Shit astounds me.

[Computer]

I just realized that you could run a Python script in a Terminal window with by pressing a single button on Geany. That alone makes it better than the other text editors. They all have some way of executing scripts but none is as easy as in Geany.

[Andrex]

There seems to be no localization options for Sublime Text 2 and no easy way to change the font except its size (modifying config files does not count as easy to me). I can't show indented space either.That's a shame, the program looked good but I'll have to stick with Notepad++, gedit or Geany.

What do you mean, can't show indented space? If you highlight it, it'll show spaces and tab stops.

[Computer]

What do you mean, can't show indented space? If you highlight it, it'll show spaces and tab stops.

Thanks, I didn't realize that.

Edit: I've finally configured Geany so that it does exactly what I need it to do. It has the right features but not too many. Perfect!

[LaneDS]

Could anyone please recommend some resources for a Linux beginner? I've got RHEL6 installed and up and running, but now I'm left thinking "what now?" because I lack purpose. If there's any good online resources for gaining familiarity (more interested in learning how to use terminal windows than anything GUI based), that'd be rad. Thread is... rather big, so apologies if this is answered earlier.

[Computer]

Could anyone please recommend some resources for a Linux beginner? I've got RHEL6 installed and up and running, but now I'm left thinking "what now?" because I lack purpose. If there's any good online resources for gaining familiarity (more interested in learning how to use terminal windows than anything GUI based), that'd be rad. Thread is... rather big, so apologies if this is answered earlier.

Is reading beginner guides written in French an option?

[LaneDS]

Is reading beginner guides written in French an option?

It is an option, albeit a super poor one for me since I cannot read French (or English, making typing this super-hard).

p.s. I can read jk guys

In all seriousness, at work most of our systems are Windows-based but some users rely on RHEL and I'd like to gain familiarity without, y'know, gumming up their systems entirely. I feel sort of lacking in purpose when I sit at my RHEL6 VM and then think, "ok, time to learn some Linux!".

[zoku88]

It is an option, albeit a super poor one for me since I cannot read French (or English, making typing this super-hard). p.s. I can read jk guys In all seriousness, at work most of our systems are Windows-based but some users rely on RHEL and I'd like to gain familiarity without, y'know, gumming up their systems entirely. I feel sort of lacking in purpose when I sit at my RHEL6 VM and then think, "ok, time to learn some Linux!".

This might be a bit useful...

http://web.mit.edu/6.033/www/assignm...dson-unix.html

Just ignore anything Athena specific

[tfur]

It is an option, albeit a super poor one for me since I cannot read French (or English, making typing this super-hard). p.s. I can read jk guys In all seriousness, at work most of our systems are Windows-based but some users rely on RHEL and I'd like to gain familiarity without, y'know, gumming up their systems entirely. I feel sort of lacking in purpose when I sit at my RHEL6 VM and then think, "ok, time to learn some Linux!".

For your specific case, as well as CentOS: http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/index.html
This will cover most of the documentation you may need.

I would say learn about bash or perl. Both can run in windows, and bash is the default shell for most Linux users.