Q4OS Forum

jmdh01

Member

From: Lechlade, Gloucestershire, UK

Registered: 2021-01-28

Posts: 11

Changing window decorations trashes all desktop settings

The configuration of the desk top needs drastic improvement!
As a "final touch", I changed the window decoration to something "civilised".
I was told to log out for the change to be implemented. I thought this was
a little over the top for a minor change. Well, I logged out and then logged
back in again. Disaster! 90 minutes of setting up was trashed and I started
all over again reconfiguring the desktops (12 of them!) from scratch again.
I was less than pleased! This needs to be changed, as a matter of urgency as
this, I consider to be extremely user unfriendly. It should be rectified before
Gemini is put on general release.

Vers: q4os-4.5-x64-tde-testing.r2.iso downloaded 02/07/21 at 16:55

Hardware: Lenovo flex4 laptop Model 20404
RAM: 8GB
Disc:    450GB SanDisk SDSSDHII
    sda1: gpt 128MB
    sda2: /   40GB
    sda3: swap 12GB
    sda4: /home 125GB
    sda5: /archive 269GB

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 4,245

Website

Re: Changing window decorations trashes all desktop settings

... As a "final touch", I changed the window decoration to something "civilised". I was told to log out for the change to be implemented.

We have tested changing windows decoration via control panel, but no logout has been required. Please describe the way you configured the desktop and subsequently the window decorations for us to be able to reproduce and investigate the issue.

jmdh01

Member

From: Lechlade, Gloucestershire, UK

Registered: 2021-01-28

Posts: 11

Re: Changing window decorations trashes all desktop settings

I can list the changes, but the order in which the changes were made is lost.

1) Increase taskbar depth from 42 to 44 (or 48?) pixels.
2) Configure konsole: black print on light yellow background; default dimensions:44x80 (lines, columns) and made that the default.
3) Created 12 desktops, each given its own background (personal landscapes)
4) rearrange items in the task bar: menu button, icons for utilities (konsole, xfe, synaptic, chromium), desktop & pager applet, open tasks on this desktop, system applelets and clock (digital with seconds and date.
5) Using apt-get: update, upgrade and install: vim, nfs-common, xfe, libreoffice, chromium and a few others
6) Added local users using vipw and vigr. (using vim -- do not know of the so called "easy" editor; why cannot we have the unix native editor?)
7) Set up /etc/hosts for local network which includes a file server, then /etc/fstab
8)Then I turned to "Look Switcher"! I selected "Spring", which had the traditional undeline, box and X buttons instead of something looking like a beaten boxer on the canvass. The label said that the look would not be implemented until I logged out and logged back in again. That was the disaster move.
When I logged back in, the taskbar had returned to the original size, with none of the added icons. There were no longer 12 desktops, only one and that had the
original background.

Normally, when I install a newer version of Q4OS, it inherits the users' files and settings from the previous incarnation. I will have an opportunity, later this month, when I install this version of Q4OS onto an old Windows disc to test for this "bug" again. I am willing to apologise and eat humble pie if it turns out to be my finger trouble.
Vers: q4os-4.5-x64-tde-testing.r2.iso downloaded 02/07/21 at 16:55

Hardware: Lenovo flex4 laptop Model 20404
RAM: 8GB
Disc:    450GB SanDisk SDSSDHII
    sda1: gpt 128MB
    sda2: /   40GB
    sda3: swap 12GB
    sda4: /home 125GB
    sda5: /archive 269GB

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 4,245

Website

Re: Changing window decorations trashes all desktop settings

When I logged back in, the taskbar had returned to the original size, with none of the added icons. There were no longer 12 desktops, only one and that had the original background.

Lookswitcher just did its job. This tool switches desktop look'n feel to a completely new predefined one.

You can backup the current look before you apply a new one, most of Trinity user level configuration options are stored in the $HOME/.trinity folder. If you want to use Lookswitcher, we recommend you to switch the look first, and subsequently make fine tuning of your desktop. You can also get some additional control panel options available, see https://www.q4os.org/dqa011.html#desktop.10

All in all, this doesn't seem to be a bug as Lookswitcher just do, what it's intended for. Anyway, it could be worth to consider adding a warning dialog before applying the new look.