Keep Reboot Options? Add Launchers to Panel?

[wmichaelb]

Hi, I'm running LXDE/Lenny on a 1 GHz K7 system, runs very well indeed, but I have a couple of setup questions:

1.) Right now, I have to reset the monitor resolution every time I reboot. How do I set it so that it remains at the new setting at reboot?

2.) Is there a way to add an application launcher for an arbitrary software package to the bottom toolbar/panel?

I did try to search first, but to no avail.

Thanks in advance,
- Michael B. in Cincinnati

[Marty Jack]

This is an example of a desktop entry.

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Name=Firefox
Comment=Firefox Browser
Exec=firefox
Icon=firefox
Terminal=false
Categories=Application;Network;

(The standard is here http://standards.freedesktop.org/deskto ... atest.html if you need the full documentation.)

Make one of these for what it is you want to run, drop it into ~/.local/share/applications. It will appear under the menu for the Categories you selected, and you can then add it to the launchbar.

As to your monitor resolution, check in /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart. At the top of that, you can put any initialization commands you want to run when you log in. Leave the "@" off because that tells lxsession to restart the command if it should exit. Mine looks like

Code: Select all

xset s off
xset s noblank
xset dpms 600 600 600
@lxpanel --profile LXDE

We do not do anything behind your back that is not commanded in one of the configuration files. You might try a ps -aux to see what is running and if there is something left over from another desktop environment that shouldn't have been started.

A better approach would be to try to figure out why your monitor doesn't come up in the correct resolution. If you were to take a careful look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log, it might have some clues in the section where it is determining the monitor resolution.

[wmichaelb]

Marty Jack: thanks for your kind reply! My autostart file looks like this:

@lxde-settings
@xscreensaver -no-splash
@lxpanel --profile LXDE
@pcmanfm -d


I looked at xorg.conf, and found only defaults. My installation is an absolutely stock Debian Lenny LXDE.

I am running this machine via a Belkin OmniView Pro 8-port KVM switch, if that makes a difference. I have only one other machine on this switch, and that's an old HP Vectra PII running Puppy Linux 4.3.1. That automagically selects the correct resolution to fill the screen through the KVM. I also looked at Xorg.0.log, and that seems to simply invoke defaults and add a long list of ATI video cards that are supported. I can find no reference in the file to a resolution, either default or otherwise.

I had occasion once before to edit xorg.conf on an older Toshiba laptop, and that worked well. But I see no similar entries here. Is there a way to reset Preferences/Monitor Settings to a preferred value?

Thanks again for your help! Resetting the resolution isn't a deal-beater; this is a fast and competent desktop that has turned an obsolete machine into something usable, and I'm curious as to how it does that!

Thanks also for your explanation of handling the toolbar entries. I'll pursue that when I get a few more minutes to rub together.

[rockdoctor]

1.) Right now, I have to reset the monitor resolution every time I reboot. How do I set it so that it remains at the new setting at reboot?

My monitor apparently doesn't report the proper EDID info, so I must use a custom xorg.conf file if I want the full 1680x1050 that is my monitor's native resolution. Doesn't matter if it's Puppy (which creates an xorg.conf file when you run the xorgwizard), Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora, Crunchbang, Mint, Kuki, or Suse,. With no xorg.conf file, all I get is 800x600.