Fienix 6.0.1

[Roland]

@Casey

I updated yesterday my Fienix 6.0.1 installation (all updates that were available). Today I 'cleaned' my system disk with "sudo fstrim -v /
". After that, all the disk icons on the desktop disppeared, and the pointer started to'blink' continuously, just like the system were trying to do something without success. Clicking the Mate menu applet opens it for a second, then it disappears.

Rebooting did not solve the problem. If I open 'Caja' from a terminal, the disk icons reappear on the desktop, but disappear again after 'Caja' is closed.

Could you please advice how to correct this issue? Thanks in advance!

[caseycullen]

@Casey

I updated yesterday my Fienix 6.0.1 installation (all updates that were available). Today I 'cleaned' my system disk with "sudo fstrim -v /
". After that, all the disk icons on the desktop disppeared, and the pointer started to'blink' continuously, just like the system were trying to do something without success. Clicking the Mate menu applet opens it for a second, then it disappears.

Rebooting did not solve the problem. If I open 'Caja' from a terminal, the disk icons reappear on the desktop, but disappear again after 'Caja' is closed.

Could you please advice how to correct this issue? Thanks in advance!

That's... odd...
I've never heard of this happening before and I don't know what would have caused it.
You could try running Desktop Mechanic from Fienix Companion, which would reset your schemas, layouts and window manager, but everything would be restored to defaults. If you want to try it, enter Ctrl + Alt + T to open a Terminal window and enter "fienix-companion", then run Desktop Mechanic.

[Roland]

That's... odd...
I've never heard of this happening before and I don't know what would have caused it.
You could try running Desktop Mechanic from Fienix Companion, which would reset your schemas, layouts and window manager, but everything would be restored to defaults. If you want to try it, enter Ctrl + Alt + T to open a Terminal window and enter "fienix-companion", then run Desktop Mechanic.

Thanks for your advice... I started to play with the Fienix settings, and I found that the issue is somehow related to the desktop backround picture. I have used so far the 'Winter_Aurora_Reflction" without problems. When I now replaced it with a simple vertical gradient, the issue disappeared completely! I tested also some of the other default pictures (1920x1080) but they showed the same problem.

I have a 1280x1024 monitor, and I created also a 1280x1024 version of one of the pictures, but it did not solve the issue. So it seeems not to be directly related to the picture size. Any suggestion...?

[caseycullen]

That's... odd...
I've never heard of this happening before and I don't know what would have caused it.
You could try running Desktop Mechanic from Fienix Companion, which would reset your schemas, layouts and window manager, but everything would be restored to defaults. If you want to try it, enter Ctrl + Alt + T to open a Terminal window and enter "fienix-companion", then run Desktop Mechanic.

Thanks for your advice... I started to play with the Fienix settings, and I found that the issue is somehow related to the desktop backround picture. I have used so far the 'Winter_Aurora_Reflction" without problems. When I now replaced it with a simple vertical gradient, the issue disappeared completely! I tested also some of the other default pictures (1920x1080) but they showed the same problem.

I have a 1280x1024 monitor, and I created also a 1280x1024 version of one of the pictures, but it did not solve the issue. So it seeems not to be directly related to the picture size. Any suggestion...?

Very strange. Perhaps there is an issue with a dconf setting, which are the "deep" system settings. If you want to check, you can install dconf-tools, which will install dconf-editor. You can use dconf-editor to view and change advanced settings, but you must be careful not to change anything that you don't understand, because you can end up with a very messed up system using dconf-editor. Take a look in org/mate/caja/desktop, which will show settings for hiding desktop icons, etc.
Fienix Desktop Mechanic also resets dconf settings to defaults.

[Roland]

Very strange. Perhaps there is an issue with a dconf setting, which are the "deep" system settings. If you want to check, you can install dconf-tools, which will install dconf-editor. You can use dconf-editor to view and change advanced settings, but you must be careful not to change anything that you don't understand, because you can end up with a very messed up system using dconf-editor. Take a look in org/mate/caja/desktop, which will show settings for hiding desktop icons, etc.
Fienix Desktop Mechanic also resets dconf settings to defaults.

I have already dconf-editor in use, but the caja settings did not seem to have effect on this issue.

When I run the Fienix Desktop Mechanic, the issue dissappeared, but reappeared as soon as I customized a few settings in "Control center/Appearance":

Theme/Controls: Adwaita
Theme/Icons: Menta

(I simply don't like the default desktop settings of Fienix - they make me nervous ).

[caseycullen]

Very strange. Perhaps there is an issue with a dconf setting, which are the "deep" system settings. If you want to check, you can install dconf-tools, which will install dconf-editor. You can use dconf-editor to view and change advanced settings, but you must be careful not to change anything that you don't understand, because you can end up with a very messed up system using dconf-editor. Take a look in org/mate/caja/desktop, which will show settings for hiding desktop icons, etc.
Fienix Desktop Mechanic also resets dconf settings to defaults.

I have already dconf-editor in use, but the caja settings did not seem to have effect on this issue.

When I run the Fienix Desktop Mechanic, the issue dissappeared, but reappeared as soon as I customized a few settings in "Control center/Appearance":

Theme/Controls: Adwaita
Theme/Icons: Menta

(I simply don't like the default desktop settings of Fienix - they make me nervous ).

Sure, I'd like you to be able to use whatever theme you'd like, I know not everyone will like the default
Could you try to run Desktop Mechanic and then switch to the full Menta theme (windows and icons) to see if the issue reoccurs? Perhaps the problem is caused by a newer version of Adwaita.

[Roland]

Sure, I'd like you to be able to use whatever theme you'd like, I know not everyone will like the default Could you try to run Desktop Mechanic and then switch to the full Menta theme (windows and icons) to see if the issue reoccurs? Perhaps the problem is caused by a newer version of Adwaita.

Menta is available only for icons, at least in my system. Selecting that does not cause issues, nor selecting e.g. Materia for controls and icons. But selecting Adwaita launches the issue. So the problem is indeed there...

[caseycullen]

Sure, I'd like you to be able to use whatever theme you'd like, I know not everyone will like the default Could you try to run Desktop Mechanic and then switch to the full Menta theme (windows and icons) to see if the issue reoccurs? Perhaps the problem is caused by a newer version of Adwaita.

Menta is available only for icons, at least in my system. Selecting that does not cause issues, nor selecting e.g. Materia for controls and icons. But selecting Adwaita launches the issue. So the problem is indeed there...

I'll try to look into the Adwaita issue this weekend. In the meantime, you may want to try installing greybird-gtk-theme from the repo. It's a more traditional theme somewhat similar to Adwaita.

[Roland]

I'll try to look into the Adwaita issue this weekend. In the meantime, you may want to try installing greybird-gtk-theme from the repo. It's a more traditional theme somewhat similar to Adwaita.

Thanks! I tested greybird, but it caused the same issue with disappearing/reappearing desktop icons as Adwaita!?

[caseycullen]

Thanks! I tested greybird, but it caused the same issue with disappearing/reappearing desktop icons as Adwaita!?

Ah, I wasn't aware before, but after looking into it, it looks like greybird is rebased on Adwaita, which likely explains the reoccurring issue.
Thanks for testing!