Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

mulanee · 2014-04-26 07:11:13

Hi there,

I just move from a 19" screen to a 17" screen same resolution (1280x1024).
I have openbox, lxde and xfce installed.
I have a conky too.

Issues:
openbox (nitrogen used for wallpaper) has wallpaper badly spread and conky badly placed

lxde has conky badly placed

xfce has no conky working.To get it I need to initiate a separate script in autostart with some seconds delay for launch and it works.
In this case, openbox and lxde have 2 conkys working at different screen locations.

What happens?

Thank you

Last edited by mulanee (2014-05-05 18:35:40)

ondoho · 2014-04-26 08:43:11

are you running lxde and xfce seperately?
are you sure there's no conflicting services/apps running at the same time?

the first screenshot looks really fishy.

but on both screenshots i see that you have 2 instances of conky running where there should be only one.
to remedy that, you have to find where conky gets autostarted and remove one command.
one place to look is $HOME/.config/autostart.
also you might want to refer to your own previous thread.

emeres · 2014-04-26 08:59:19

In that case, let the script check if xfce is running

if [ $(pidof some-xfce-basic-process) ]; then conky; fi

XFCE should have their own autostart structure, should use that.
Or let the script check if conky is already running.

if [ ! $(pidof conky) ]; then conky; fi

For the wallpaper problem, open nitrogen and change scaling type. Did you refresh your xorg.conf[.d]?

mulanee · 2014-04-26 19:33:08

>you have to find where conky gets autostarted and remove one command.
>one place to look is $HOME/.config/autostart

Good!
Conky was launched in global autostart and in lxde and openbox autostarts.
Removed from openbox and lxde autostarts, now it works.

But I always get the wallpaper issue with openbox.
In fact I manage wallpaper with nitrogen and I wrote this in ~/.config/openbox/autostart:

nitrogen --restore &

Is there any other way to manage wallpaper?

emeres · 2014-04-26 19:44:57

You could use feh. Since you also use LXDE, pcmanfm can change the wallpaper also.

mulanee · 2014-04-26 20:05:19

Thanks, nevertheles I always get this issue (picture is centered):

edit:
When I launch the same in console, I don't have the issue, it occurs only when I open openbox session:

feh --image-bg black --bg-center '/media/IMAGES_SYNO/Wallpaper/beach-1280.jpg'

Last edited by mulanee (2014-04-26 20:12:20)

emeres · 2014-04-26 20:07:27

That is tiling mode. What did you use to set up that particular wallpaper?

Could it be that you have defined global rules in rc.xml? (<applications> section)

Edit:
I misread again. So you set this wallpaper using feh from ~/.config/openbox/autostart (with an & at the end of the line)? Do you start openbox with exec openbox-session from ~/.xinitrc? How did you set up your monitors resolution? With xrandr or xorg.conf?

Last edited by emeres (2014-04-26 20:23:03)

mulanee · 2014-04-26 20:29:09

I opened this wallpaper with feh, then File/Background/set centered
Inside ~/fehbg there is :
feh --image-bg black --bg-center '/media/IMAGES_SYNO/Wallpaper/beach-1280.jpg'

As it is the same result between nitrogen and feh, for sure it something linked to openbox

ondoho · 2014-04-26 20:59:26

maybe something else is interfering with your desktop's background.
(like with the conkies, check all autostart places)

emeres · 2014-04-26 21:01:54

mulanee wrote:

I opened this wallpaper with feh, then File/Background/set centered

I think we misunderstand each other. Feh is a commandline only utility. Did you do "File/Background/set centered" in pcmanfm? Or do you use a gui for feh? And you mentioned nitrogen, which I also use. You only need one of those.

What happens when you put

feh  --image-bg black --bg-center '/media/IMAGES_SYNO/Wallpaper/beach-1280.jpg' &

into ~/.config/openbox/autostart, instead of just feh.
If you can set the wallpaper fine within a running openbox-session with feh, then there should be no problem, unless you use simultaneously nitrogen, feh and pcmanfm.
To see if openbox is at fault move rc.xml:

mv ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml{,.disabled}

And restart openbox-session or reload configuration. You may want to copy the default rc.xml (/etc/xdg/openbox/rc.xml), otherwise openbox might not want to start.

You may also want to use a different image to see if the changes are applied.

Last edited by emeres (2014-04-26 21:09:21)

mulanee · 2014-04-27 06:06:21

Yes, I set this wallpaper using feh from ~/.config/openbox/autostart (with an & at the end of the line)

To use feh as wallpaper manager, I open file manager (thunar) in the proper directory and right click on the picture to "open with feh"
In this case, wallpaper is at the good size and good location.
The problem issues at the session opening
To open openbox I use

startx ~/.xinitrc openbox

.xinitrc content:

#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)
if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then
for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*; do
[ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
done
unset f
fi
# Here LXDE is kept as default
session=${1:-lxde}
case $session in
# enlightenment) exec enlightenment_start;;
# fluxbox) exec startfluxbox;;
# gnome) exec gnome-session;;
# kde) exec startkde;;
lxde) exec startlxde;;
openbox) exec openbox-session;;
xfce) exec startxfce4;;
# No known session, try to run it as command
*) exec $1;;
esac

After moving rc.xml, same result

What happens when you put

Same result

emeres · 2014-04-27 09:09:43

I doubt that the environment file openbox uses has anything significant in it. Does the same happen with other resolutions, say 1280x960? Since the development of Openbox is sometimes slow, there are only a few releases of the same version in arm. You could create ~/.config/autostart/wallpaper.desktop file with feh setting background. Maybe the timing of starting wallpaper manager are at you specific hardware not optimal, or there is a leftover from the previous monitor configuration, or you found a bug, but then it has to be hardware specific. What gpu, gpu driver and compositing are you using?

ondoho · 2014-04-27 09:48:37

i'm beginning to suspect the lxde session handles things differently than plain openbox, which sometimes (quite often actually) causes confusion on forum help threads.

all this is looking very messy right now.

feh is a background setter AND an image viewer (and it has a rudimentary gui if you use it in this mode).
i think using feh to solve this problem will cause only more confusion and i suggest dropping it for now.

mulanee, i suggest you find out what program is setting the background at the moment, and make sure it is only ONE program which is doing that at login.
basically emeres is suggesting the same, but, in all respect, their approach is not newbie friendly.

as i said before, running lxsession is rather going to complicate matters imho.
if you already disabled desktop management (as i gathered from your previous thread), do you even need it? it doesn't do much.

since it looks like you're using lxsession, let lxsession handle these things.
you already did that in your last thread, the file to edit seems to be ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE/autostart with its modified syntax... not my cup of tea...

mulanee · 2014-04-27 14:49:50

To be honest I don't know how resolution is taken into account.
Changing resolution in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf doesn't change resolution at all.

Changing manually resolution like this

xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 1024x768

works, but again when I force 1280x1024 I have the issue
Inside neutrogen when I force the wallpaper (always the same), it works
When I force at session opening (autostart), it doesn't work.
Issue is not depending on feh or neutrogen.

ondoho · 2014-04-27 16:14:54

mulanee, your last answer suggests that you are not interested in my input, so to avoid further confusion i will stay out of it until you say otherwise.

mulanee · 2014-04-27 16:30:19

ondoho, sorry for misunderstanding.
I dropped out feh as you suggested, only nitrogen remains installed.
Not sure to understand what you mean.
My station is (should be) able to work under openbox/lxde/xfce.
Only openbox had trouble, lxsession and xfce work reasonably.

It seems I found solution, probably not the most elegant but it works.

I just added 5 seconds delay before launching nitrogen through openbox autostart; looks ok.

#
# These things are run when an Openbox X Session is started.
# You may place a similar script in $HOME/.config/openbox/autostart
# to run user-specific things.
#
# If you want to use GNOME config tools...
#
#if test -x /usr/lib/openbox/gnome-settings-daemon >/dev/null; then
# /usr/lib/openbox/gnome-settings-daemon &
#elif which gnome-settings-daemon >/dev/null 2>&1; then
# gnome-settings-daemon &
#fi
# If you want to use XFCE config tools...
#
xfce-mcs-manager &
lxpanel &
sleep 5 && nitrogen --restore &
numlockx

emeres · 2014-04-27 17:37:15

ondoho wrote:

approach is not newbie friendly.

Noted, go ahead.

ondoho · 2014-04-27 20:14:46

@mulanee, so everything is working properly now?

for future reference: lxde (lxsession) and xfce are desktop environments.
openbox is "just" a window manager.
however, the lxde desktop environment is using the openbox window manager.
that is often causing confusion, particularly because lxsession parses different configuration files than plain openbox.

@emeres: i hope i didn't insult you.

emeres · 2014-04-27 20:42:50

LXDE usually uses its own lxde-rc.xml for openbox.

@ondoho
No, do not worry about it. I try to solve problems rather than create them.

mulanee · 2014-04-30 06:11:41

That's fine, probably my old computer doesn't appreciate this fast software and needs time to wake up :-))

Thank you guys for these helpful advises.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-04-26 07:11:13

Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#2 2014-04-26 08:43:11

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#3 2014-04-26 08:59:19

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#4 2014-04-26 19:33:08

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#5 2014-04-26 19:44:57

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#6 2014-04-26 20:05:19

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#7 2014-04-26 20:07:27

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#8 2014-04-26 20:29:09

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#9 2014-04-26 20:59:26

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#10 2014-04-26 21:01:54

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#11 2014-04-27 06:06:21

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#12 2014-04-27 09:09:43

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#13 2014-04-27 09:48:37

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#14 2014-04-27 14:49:50

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#15 2014-04-27 16:14:54

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#16 2014-04-27 16:30:19

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#17 2014-04-27 17:37:15

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#18 2014-04-27 20:14:46

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#19 2014-04-27 20:42:50

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

#20 2014-04-30 06:11:41

Re: Screen resolution + conky issues (openbox/lxde/xfce) - SOLVED

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