how-to open window in desktop 2?

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Bancobusto
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how-to open window in desktop 2?

#1 Post by Bancobusto »

Hi, I need some help again (go figure) :wink:

I am trying to figure out the right command to launch a program in another virtual desktop. Let me explain:

I have a folder that's full of mp3's - and I mean full. It takes a long time to process them, even with lightning fast Rox. What I'd like to do is have that folder load in the background when puppy starts up (ie, load in one of the other desktops, it can stay loaded there, I just don't want to see it). Because, once it's loaded and as long as it's open over where I can't see it, when I click the desktop icon on the desktop that I use it will open up right away.

So, I know that the script

Code: Select all

rox /mnt/hdb1/Music
will open up that window at boot, but what should I add to it to get it to open e l s e w h e r e ?

Any help deeply appreciated. Thanks.

PS: Could part of the reason that It takes so long to process that folder be that it's on a fat32 drive? There's nothing else over there except music, I'm considering formatting it as ext3 (or even Reiserfs)... Anybody have any thoughts on this? I don't have Windows happenning on my computer anymore, so I don't really NEED a fat32 partition. :idea:

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rarsa
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#2 Post by rarsa »

Try using chvt in your script (change virtual terminal)

Code: Select all

chvt 2
rox /mnt/hdb1/Music
chvt 1
I'm not sure if that command is available in puppy. I will try it when I get home.

Other sugestions
Have you tried setting rox to show small icons (or no icons)? Does it have an effect in the load time?

If chvt is not available, maybe the best solution is the simplest one:
As soon as you start puppy click on the second VT and work there as your primary desktop.

You can also categorize the files in that folder (subfolders). Why do you want so many files in a single folder? I know that some people prefer flat structures, I personally prefer categorized organizations. I cannot process too much information all at once.

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Bancobusto
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#3 Post by Bancobusto »

I'll try your suggestion, thanks.

There are over 300 subdirectory's in that folder, and each one has between 2-7 folders inside it. I've tried many differrent ways of organizing it, and have found that this system works best for me. I know what you mean, though.

No icons? I didn't think that Rox had that option, now you've got me curious. I'll take a deeper look. As far as setting them to small icons, it doesn't seem to make a differrence in load time.

Incidentally, it is this folder that is one of the reasons that I can't stand Nautilus. If you've had the pleasure of waiting 10 seconds for Nautilus to open up /etc, imagine the joy of having it crap out after almost two minutes of stalling over this sucker.

Thanks for you suggestions, I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

Cheers :D

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rarsa
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#4 Post by rarsa »

I also know what you mean about nautilus. Specially when browsing to /usr/share or /usr/lib

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Bancobusto
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#5 Post by Bancobusto »

:shock: O U U C H ! :shock:

Damn, I knew better (or should have, hee hee).

Puppy can't seem to switch between vitual terminals properly, as discussed here http://www.murga.org/%7Epuppy/viewtopic.php?t=1422

Maybe I'm not using the right words... not how to load a page silently in a differrent virtual terminal, but in a differrent ?workspace? - desktop?

I don't know. But that hurt, youch. I had to do a hard reboot, as I couldn't get back into X, but I could still here my music playing from one of the other VT's.

That's a good command to know though, thanks you. Hopefully we can get the virtual terminal bug straightened out :D

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rarsa
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#6 Post by rarsa »

Hey, look what I found!

http://mput.de/projects/code/virtualDesktopTools/

The previous advice to use chvt may not work in puppy, I think that Barry limited the number of VT in puppy. Besides, chvt does not switch the desktop but the virtual terminal.

This virtual desktop tools seem to be exactly what you need.

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Bancobusto
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#7 Post by Bancobusto »

Right on, I'll give that a try... :D

EDIT: That's strange, there's a Makefile but no configure file, yet it says that it can't make... It's beyond me, what a weird little thing. Oh well, I'll keep trying differrrent things...

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Walt H
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#8 Post by Walt H »

What about trying in JWM. The other day, I had xeznet crash on me and take me out of X. On a whim, I went back in, this time to JWM and saw four gray little boxes next to the start button on the taskbar. Suspecting they were separate desktops, I clicked one after I had another with several apps up and running on it. I found I was right!

After reading that JWM was a more minimalist WM, I was, however, surprised to see that my background and icons were still present, along with a taskbar and Start button. Are those supposed to be present (hope so!) or did it somehow carry over elements from FWWM before xeznet took me out of X? One thing I liked is that clicking on buttons on the taskbar with the left mouse button minimized and maximized applications just like I've come to expect with IceWM, KDE, etc.
Walt

Now that you point it out to me, the answer seems painfully obvious.

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Bancobusto
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#9 Post by Bancobusto »

Yes, that's my favorite thing about JWM as well, as oppsed to FVWM95.

I use Fluxbox, and it has a default of 4 desktops, which you can turn off if you like. And you can click to raise windows, which is nice.

I'll figure it out eventually, I suspect that I'm not doing the grandest of jobs explaining what I'd like ti do. Also, It's not that huge of a deal, I'm mostly just curious.

Thanks for your suggestions, cheers :D

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Ian
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#10 Post by Ian »

JWM presents the same background, icons and start menu as fvwm.

The one thing that I like is having the desktops available in the taskbar, this is my only criticism of fvwm but as I have used it for years I have become used to that feature.

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Bancobusto
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#11 Post by Bancobusto »

This is strange, yet only slightly related to the above...

I asked if it would make a differrence whether or not I reformatted the drive that the sais folder is in as ext3, and didn't really get an answer (that's OK, it was just an aside!).

Well, this is weird, I went ahead and did it, and it seems to hang a lot, lot less. Which is great. But listen....

That hard drive was where I was testing all the live cd Puppy's that I've been fiddling with... At this point I have a little stack of them, can't seem to stop fiddling. I knew that Puppy would most likely look for a vfat drive to place pup001, so I created a much smaller partition at /dev/hda3 (vfat, 3GB). This is where it gets weird...

Puppy doesn't wanna see that partition as vfat, and still insist that /dev/hdb1 (30GB, now ext3, the drive that I was going on about earlier) is vfat, when it defineately isn't. So it keeps dumping there, even when I choose the "choose HD" option... It just refuses to recognize /dev/hda3 as VFART!

In the list of HD's to choose from, I can see that hdb1 is listed as win95FAT32, and hda3 is listed as ext2. According to Debian, the System rescue disk, and even cfdisk from within Puppy, hdb1's listed as ext3 and hda3's listed FAT32.

Very, very strange... I've checked the partitions's ID numbers, and they are what I know them to be....

:roll: I'm sure I've done something to bung it up....

Bruce B

#12 Post by Bruce B »

May I suggest you do something like this:
  • # cd
    # probepart>post.txt
    # probedisk>>post.txt
    # fdisk -l /dev/hda>>post.txt
    # fdisk -l /dev/hdb>>post.txt
Post the contents of post.txt and let's have a look at what the output says. In order to give you an idea why I suggest this, here is the type of information you will get:

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/dev/hdc1|vfat|4096512|Win95 FAT32
/dev/hdc2|none|35985600|Win98 Extended (LBA)
/dev/hdc5|ext3|11984427|Linux Ext3FS
/dev/hdc6|ext3|11984427|Linux Ext3FS
/dev/hdc7|ext3|12016557|Linux Ext3FS
/dev/hda1|vfat|1863477|Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda2|none|14635215|Win98 Extended (LBA)
/dev/hda5|swap|273042|Linux Swap
/dev/hda6|ext3|7180992|Linux Ext3FS
/dev/hda7|ext3|7180992|Linux Ext3FS

/dev/hdc|disk|WDC WD205BA
/dev/hda|disk|Maxtor 90845U3

Disk /dev/hda: 8455 MB, 8455200768 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1027 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1         116      931738+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/hda2             117        1027     7317607+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5             117         133      136521   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda6             134         580     3590496   83  Linux
/dev/hda7             581        1027     3590496   83  Linux

Disk /dev/hdc: 20.5 GB, 20525137920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2495 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdc1   *           1         255     2048256    b  W95 FAT32
/dev/hdc2             256        2495    17992800    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdc5             256        1001     5992213+  83  Linux
/dev/hdc6            1002        1747     5992213+  83  Linux
/dev/hdc7            1748        2495     6008278+  83  Linux

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