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#1 2013-04-24 17:55:11

triplesquarednine
Member
Registered: 2011-04-12
Posts: 630

Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

Hi,

I just thought i would post about gnome-flashback to a). thank Arch-devs for including it in the repos and b). to point it out to anyone who may have not been aware of it's existence.

Gnome-flashback is a replacement for Gnome-fallback mode (non-hardware-accelerated desktop) present in Gnome 3.0-to-3.6.

https://live.gnome.org/GnomeFlashback

ie: not the new fallback mode (aka: gnome-shell made to emulate gnome 2 desktop). Nope, this is the 'real fallback mode', for those either a). who don't want H/W accelerated desktop or B). maybe using compiz, cairo-comp-manager, etc.... I must have missed this on the arch mailing lists, but was extremely happy to see this work continue, as it makes maintaining my desktop, so much easier - since i am not, nor likely ever will be, a gnome-shell user. (although, cinnamon is okay, but i digress).

Gnome-flashback in Arch repo;

https://www.archlinux.org/packages/comm … k-session/

For my setup, after installing this package (and dependencies), i simply copied gnome-flashback.session into (my new) gnome-compiz.session and removed/added whatever components that i wanted to use, then changed xinitrc (since i don't use GDM) to load my (gnome-compiz) session. After that, My desktop loaded up as it was pre-gnome-3.8 update (which broke my desktop), minus a few minor issues to do with changes in gnome, but i've fixed and/or worked around those minor issues. ~ and am also in the process of porting my gtk3 theme,

anyway, i just thought i would point this out to anyone who may be wanting to use the gnome (or parts of gnome) in a non-default Gnome setup.

cheerz

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#2 2013-04-28 22:21:55

beroal
Member
From: Ukraine
Registered: 2009-06-07
Posts: 325
Website

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

Thank you. I was desperate after upgrading Gnome to 3.8. I chose "gnome-flashback" without copying any files, just by

gnome-session --session=gnome-flashback

My top panel is empty (black), adding components to it does not change it.


we are not condemned to write ugly code

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#3 2013-04-30 22:43:46

solar
Member
Registered: 2011-03-01
Posts: 77

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

ye... I am fecking tired of the lost time in past months due to gnome pushing (and breaking) as much as possible, so it only works as they wish. If this 3.8 has brought back some functionality one would expect from a linux DE, and works well with say compiz, shout out. (I mean, you say it works fine, but the following poster gave an example of a typical gnome breakge thing).

Compiz + {gtk3/emerald}|cinnamon|lxde+{compiz/ob} are my fave combos. .. cinnamon being a "dealing with the new gnome". (And where has ecomoprh gone? ;/)

Last edited by solar (2013-04-30 23:26:41)


I am hilariously insane. yup. you won't notice though.. I promise...I think.

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#4 2013-04-30 23:52:37

triplesquarednine
Member
Registered: 2011-04-12
Posts: 630

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

@ Beroal - i am not sure what your issue is with gnome-panel. Mine works fine (although, i am not using it - i did test it).

@Solar - I use compiz with Gnome. Right now, the only breakage (with compiz) is nautilus desktop. In 3.8 nautilus renders it's desktop window RGBA/transparent and GS handles painting the desktop wallpaper... So, i first ended up swapping out nautilus for Nemo (which does handle drawing wallpaper), but now i am using a patched version of compiz / wallpaper plugin - that renders the desktop wallpaper properly with nautilus 3.8...

Cinnamon is pretty good, but for me, compiz tends to work better (i use a wacom tablet, so i like the customization better with compiz).

ecomorph has been dead for some time - probably because e17 handles it's own compositing quite well. (but i don't know much about that, since i don't use e17).

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#5 2013-05-01 00:41:10

solar
Member
Registered: 2011-03-01
Posts: 77

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

Hi 329... thanks... Good to know... then I will clear out the windows 8 testbed and whack arch back on again on the desktop. windows 8 certainly makes certain things for maintainers easier when fixing for end clients.. but it's so weird being on windows on bare metal again haha , I cant wait to get back to arch. Gnome and unity though really have been ruining the linux experience for a good while some yrs ago.. was fine with arch n the aforementioned solutions, till this past year, arch comm/extras has started to feel like testing so needed a lil break.

But if those Gnome feckers havent yet again broken as much as possible on purpose with 3.8, here I come.

329, I tend to have lxde running too so I often just use pcmanfm ahead of nautilus. I actually only recently did the aur gnome-session-compiz-cairo thing which broke a lil while ago, so don't really use nautilus.


I am hilariously insane. yup. you won't notice though.. I promise...I think.

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#6 2013-05-01 01:07:21

triplesquarednine
Member
Registered: 2011-04-12
Posts: 630

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

solar wrote:

Hi 329... thanks... Good to know... then I will clear out the windows 8 testbed and whack arch back on again on the desktop. windows 8 certainly makes certain things for maintainers easier when fixing for end clients.. but it's so weird being on windows on bare metal again haha , I cant wait to get back to arch. Gnome and unity though really have been ruining the linux experience for a good while some yrs ago.. was fine with arch n the aforementioned solutions, till this past year, arch comm/extras has started to feel like testing so needed a lil break.

I wouldn't know on the 'Windows' side of things - i haven't run Windows on any of my own H/W for over a decade. ( I use Linux / Mac ).  Unity, i have used a little but not being an ubuntu guy - it never really affected me too much ~ beyond the compiz development side - but i participated in that via bug reporting, testing, etc - and now things are pretty smooth again with compiz (with better performance to boot). So, i can't really say Unity has been a bad thing really. Gnome has been pretty up and down - but i do like gtk3 theming (i just wish they wouldn't always break it).

solar wrote:

But if those Gnome feckers havent yet again broken as much as possible on purpose with 3.8, here I come.

just make sure that you install a gtk3 compatible theme. (although, i had to manually fix mine), aside from that and nautilus breakage, the only other thing that annoyed me about gnome 3.8 - was removing the 'background' tab from gnome-terminal settings (ie: window transparency, using png for terminal background, etc - but i've downgraded and when i get around to it, will likely just bring those changes back into gnome-ternminal).

solar wrote:

329, I tend to have lxde running too so I often just use pcmanfm ahead of nautilus. I actually only recently did the aur gnome-session-compiz-cairo thing which broke a lil while ago, so don't really use nautilus.

well, then nautilus shouldn't be an issue wink

EDIT: totally O.T but - you are one or two people to ever abbreviate my nick to 329 (and i've been using this nick for years).... Well done! wink

Last edited by triplesquarednine (2013-05-01 01:29:32)

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#7 2013-05-01 01:20:35

solar
Member
Registered: 2011-03-01
Posts: 77

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

Ye, the themes.. I don't switch a lot, but usually need to scroll through them to find the one I like, especially if gnome breaks them on purpose as much as possible now.. but ye.. can always fix that manually.. that is the smallest of issues.. just an annoyance. ye.. I am not sure if it's nautilus or not, or under cinnamon, but the "files" plugin with cairo-dock on meego/meebo? theme, was very nifty and seemed to be nautilus as nemo was slightly different. I used cinnamon as an alternative since it was working with wine in a different way than on my custom session (launched another X server).


I am hilariously insane. yup. you won't notice though.. I promise...I think.

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#8 2013-05-01 01:21:19

solar
Member
Registered: 2011-03-01
Posts: 77

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

After 6 yrs of no games, I been playing a bit lately when I can... it's so fun big_smile civ5 some months ago, and now I am trying dragon origin... very nice.


I am hilariously insane. yup. you won't notice though.. I promise...I think.

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#9 2013-05-01 02:06:18

solar
Member
Registered: 2011-03-01
Posts: 77

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

https://launchpadlibrarian.net/13867369 … ound.patch <- might not be in the same place, so would need to create a pkgbuild ofc, but should make nautilus work since it seems you use it?


I am hilariously insane. yup. you won't notice though.. I promise...I think.

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#10 2013-05-01 03:22:08

triplesquarednine
Member
Registered: 2011-04-12
Posts: 630

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

solar wrote:

https://launchpadlibrarian.net/13867369 … ound.patch <- might not be in the same place, so would need to create a pkgbuild ofc, but should make nautilus work since it seems you use it?

nah, that is just an upgrade for for gtk+ 3.8 themes. (which i already have).  It's more complicated than that. Compiz/wallpaper plugin has to be patched. (something to do with stacking order). The nautilus desktop patch just tells your theme to render the window transparent (which if you don't do in 3.8 - you'll end up with a bg_color, instead of your wallpaper).... But with a non-gnome-shell desktop, you need something to render the wallpaper - this is where wallpaper plugin comes in - but it it had to be fixed to work properly.

it's all good though, i (patched and) updated compiz, just the other day.

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#11 2013-05-01 10:28:41

beroal
Member
From: Ukraine
Registered: 2009-06-07
Posts: 325
Website

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

triplesquarednine wrote:

@ Beroal - i am not sure what your issue is with gnome-panel. Mine works fine (although, i am not using it - i did test it).

That's sad. I even started Gnome for a fresh user. No luck.


we are not condemned to write ugly code

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#12 2013-05-01 11:32:24

solar
Member
Registered: 2011-03-01
Posts: 77

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

triplesquarednine wrote:
solar wrote:

https://launchpadlibrarian.net/13867369 … ound.patch <- might not be in the same place, so would need to create a pkgbuild ofc, but should make nautilus work since it seems you use it?

nah, that is just an upgrade for for gtk+ 3.8 themes. (which i already have).  It's more complicated than that. Compiz/wallpaper plugin has to be patched. (something to do with stacking order). The nautilus desktop patch just tells your theme to render the window transparent (which if you don't do in 3.8 - you'll end up with a bg_color, instead of your wallpaper).... But with a non-gnome-shell desktop, you need something to render the wallpaper - this is where wallpaper plugin comes in - but it it had to be fixed to work properly.

it's all good though, i (patched and) updated compiz, just the other day.

ok cool 329... when you say you patched it, do you mean yoyu packaged it and is available (a maintainer of say gnome-session-{flashback,compiz,-compat} or so? or did you mean just locally on your own installation?

I made a backup of my old system, so it includes the etc folder.. but kinda forgot about all my local patches and stuff I have edited myself... I always was one to try and keep an X -> (N/0) amount of information in Y -> (M/0) duration of time. I just never learn ,p

Last edited by solar (2013-05-01 11:34:40)


I am hilariously insane. yup. you won't notice though.. I promise...I think.

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#13 2013-05-01 16:55:23

solar
Member
Registered: 2011-03-01
Posts: 77

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

329, can you link to the patch(es)? I have tinkered around but atm on catalyst drivers.. opengl is somewhat slow and I get the windows trails effect , even if I disabled the filemanager option in tweak tools... anyway will look into it, but if there is a patched pkgbuild somewhere no need for me to redo it.


I am hilariously insane. yup. you won't notice though.. I promise...I think.

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#14 2013-05-01 17:58:32

triplesquarednine
Member
Registered: 2011-04-12
Posts: 630

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

solar wrote:

329, can you link to the patch(es)? I have tinkered around but atm on catalyst drivers.. opengl is somewhat slow and I get the windows trails effect , even if I disabled the filemanager option in tweak tools... anyway will look into it, but if there is a patched pkgbuild somewhere no need for me to redo it.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-gnome/+bug/1159430

have a read through the comments, there are links in there. I don't have a pkgbuild for this, specifically.

You also might want to check lp:compiz (launchpad) as it is possible that some work may have been done upstream (compiz), in the last few days - i have been busy on other things, and haven't checked it out.

but for now (until you have compiz pstched), you could substitute Nautilus with Nemo (for your desktop), since Nemo does handle dekstop wallpaper - another similar option would be to use the Unity-on-Arch; Nuatilus-ubuntu version of Nautilus. (also, found on the above linked bug report).

hope that helps.

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#15 2013-05-02 00:42:00

solar
Member
Registered: 2011-03-01
Posts: 77

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

ye, thats the bug link I gave you. ok, it sounded as you had fixed it... afaict on that link, one has to either patch the theme files.. which is just so broken approach thats a no go.

If patching compiz background plugin or something which is what you inidicated you had done? I thought you had a patch or so... I have nemo and nautilus, (they are not mutually exclusive) .. anyway, I have desktop icons but its the windows trailing.

Unity on arch? Isnt that unity then? Unity is horrendous and have no interest in using it. I can do patchwork and stuff from that bug link yes... was just hoping someone had confirmed something as in that bug report, it actually says: no longer affects archlinux.. so. hmm anyway, thanks.


I am hilariously insane. yup. you won't notice though.. I promise...I think.

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#16 2013-05-02 12:46:02

triplesquarednine
Member
Registered: 2011-04-12
Posts: 630

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

solar wrote:

ye, thats the bug link I gave you. ok, it sounded as you had fixed it... afaict on that link, one has to either patch the theme files.. which is just so broken approach thats a no go.

If patching compiz background plugin or something which is what you inidicated you had done? I thought you had a patch or so... I have nemo and nautilus, (they are not mutually exclusive) .. anyway, I have desktop icons but its the windows trailing.

go through that link again, you've over looked all of the compiz stuff. *I have fixed the problem* - your getting window trailing because there is nothing painting the wallpaper (as i have already explained to you).  You're option is to either use Nemo to manage your desktop (which paints wallpaper in it's window) or to fix compiz / wallpaper plugin or to revert commits in nautilus, like the unity-on-arch guys did... I've been pretty clear on this - everything that you need was linked to in that bug report. - you shouldn't need me to provide you any patches, you can get this stuff for yourself, pretty easily.

solar wrote:

Unity on arch? Isnt that unity then? Unity is horrendous and have no interest in using it. I can do patchwork and stuff from that bug link yes... was just hoping someone had confirmed something as in that bug report, it actually says: no longer affects archlinux.. so. hmm anyway, thanks.

It no longer affects Archlinux because of the Unity-on-Arch guy patching (or rather reverting) some commits in Nautilus, so that Nautilus again paints the desktop. - which they also made quite clear in that bug report... it has nothing to do with running Unity - other than that compiz(and thus untiy) has this issue with Gnome 3.8.

cheerz

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#17 2013-05-02 23:38:37

solar
Member
Registered: 2011-03-01
Posts: 77

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

hi 329.. well I linked it .. I know what I linked. I didn't specifically ask for a patch and I understood you had "fixed" it. I was asking if you maybe had specifics if it included patching.

It turns out gnome 3.8 is a bit of a buggy thing.. either way.. I didn't do any patching etc, I was on gnome-session-compiz. I installed flashback, still same issue... then I installed nemo-git* instead of nemo... just now, when I logged out of flashback and into gnome-compiz, it suddenly works. So it was a bit, that despite doing various things it wouldnt work here. I can't really say I know where or what changed the behaviour for others to know. ANyway, for now it's all good.

Thanks for input.

On a sidenote, cairo dock here is noticably slower in rendering (on catalyst) then when it is running on say metacity.

anyway.. have a nice 1.

PS. (So my point is, even if I had done everything *except* patching sources from the link we discussed, it wasn't working here, which is why I thought oh, there must be something more specific which is what I was asking for. this is why it seems we got a bit lost in translation here).

Siau,

so a side note for others.. if nemo is not helping and one has trailing windows, try again with the nemo-git. I did notice when I pulled it, it got some packages I am sure were installed earlier so maybe I had removed something.. I don't know.. either way. worth mentioning).

Last edited by solar (2013-05-02 23:40:17)


I am hilariously insane. yup. you won't notice though.. I promise...I think.

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#18 2013-05-03 04:24:26

triplesquarednine
Member
Registered: 2011-04-12
Posts: 630

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

solar wrote:

hi 329.. well I linked it .. I know what I linked. I didn't specifically ask for a patch and I understood you had "fixed" it. I was asking if you maybe had specifics if it included patching.

I'm using the modified compiz stuff, but before that had switched nautilus for nemo (just for the desktop).

solar wrote:

It turns out gnome 3.8 is a bit of a buggy thing.. either way.. I didn't do any patching etc, I was on gnome-session-compiz. I installed flashback, still same issue... then I installed nemo-git* instead of nemo... just now, when I logged out of flashback and into gnome-compiz, it suddenly works. So it was a bit, that despite doing various things it wouldnt work here. I can't really say I know where or what changed the behaviour for others to know. ANyway, for now it's all good.

are you sure that it wasn't nemo that fixed it then? ie: who is managing your desktop right now - nemo or nautilus? -> you should be able to determine that by killing one and/or the other and see which one was rendering icons on your desktop... or possibly have you updated your machine at all? (which may explain a difference).

solar wrote:

On a sidenote, cairo dock here is noticably slower in rendering (on catalyst) then when it is running on say metacity.

I have no idea, i'm not using cairo-dock and use nvidia H/W + blob.

solar wrote:

PS. (So my point is, even if I had done everything *except* patching sources from the link we discussed, it wasn't working here, which is why I thought oh, there must be something more specific which is what I was asking for. this is why it seems we got a bit lost in translation here).

maybe it did get lost in translation - but i did actually explain to you that you would either have to patch nautilus (like unity-on-arch did), or patch compiz stuff - so you tried everything, except you didn't try what i explained to you worked for me and that worked for other users in that link.... I'm not sure, how more clear i could have been. (?)

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#19 2013-05-04 13:57:22

shulamy
Member
From: israel
Registered: 2010-09-11
Posts: 453

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

i join the thanks.

but my resolution went law and i can't find the display settings.

ezik

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#20 2013-06-19 15:27:18

shulamy
Member
From: israel
Registered: 2010-09-11
Posts: 453

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

i have a keyboard lenguage problem (hebrew) in gnome-flashback.

i can't find the keyboard indicator which works in gnome,cinnamon and xfce,

and the regional settings does'nt work for me.

i can add language, add format, add layout and change option to change layout by alt-shift,

and copy my settings to the system (with autentication)

but when i close the window evrything get lost.

i didn't find any wiki or web article about it so if there is any please let me know.

ezik

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#21 2013-07-05 13:17:27

honestleaf
Member
Registered: 2011-07-03
Posts: 5

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

beroal wrote:

Thank you. I was desperate after upgrading Gnome to 3.8. I chose "gnome-flashback" without copying any files, just by

gnome-session --session=gnome-flashback

My top panel is empty (black), adding components to it does not change it.

I had the same problem. Got it fixed by set the GTK+ theme to gnome's default (Adwaita). I guess it is a gtk2/3 theme related problem.

Last edited by honestleaf (2013-07-05 13:27:29)

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#22 2013-07-21 07:46:21

trusktr
Banned
From: .earth
Registered: 2010-02-18
Posts: 907
Website

Re: Gnome-flashback (Formelly gnome-fallback).

In case anyone's curious, here's how you'd enable it manually had you not known about the above package (I didn't until now):

Put this inside /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-metacity.desktop:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=GNOME/Metacity
Comment=This session logs you into the GNOME desktop environment with Metacity and Gnome Panel
Exec=/usr/bin/gnome-session --session=gnome-metacity
Icon=metacity
Type=XSession

Place this inside /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome-metacity.session:

[GNOME Session]
Name=GNOME Metacity
RequiredComponents=metacity;gnome-panel;gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=notifications;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=metacity
DefaultProvider-notifications=notification-daemon

When you are at the login screen, you'll now be able to choose the Metacity option so when you log in you'll have Gnome Panel instead of Gnome Shell. You could replace Metacity with Compiz if you like in a similar fashion.


joe@trusktr.io - joe at true skater dot io.

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