Getting Enlightenment

[palo]

If you are a fan of Enlightenment like I am you may already know of the e17releasemanager's blog. I was running from the nightly svn and in my wanderings found a simple way to add the more stable snapshot version of this window manager/shell to Mint(precise,quantal). I thought it might be good to share with the hope that others might give feedback on discoveries and experiences with it.

Do not do this if you had previously installed by any other way including the old version in the Ubuntu repository. Any previously installed version must be purged prior to this. In a terminal:

Code: Select all

su
add-apt-repository ppa:efl/trunk
apt-get update
apt-get install e17 libedje-bin
exit
exit

That's it - the basic no frills E17. When you log in to the Enlightenment session the first time there will be a few setup screens. I found the default size a little smallish and choose the next one up. If your compatible graphics card is detected you will be notified and no further action required - otherwise you are stuck with software rendering.

Disclaimer: Anything you do based on this information would be at your own risk. If Enightenment eats your food, drinks all the beer in the fridge, and sleeps with your girlfriend I'm not responsible.

Pat

Edited to reflect the instructions for the E17 stable release of 12.22.12

[nomko]

Hmmm....i thought that E17 was already available in the repositories???

[palo]

Hmmm....i thought that E17 was already available in the repositories???

You are correct but the version you refer to is very old - this is posted for those who like their software a little more current.

[nomko]

You are correct but the version you refer to is very old - this is posted for those who like their software a little more current.

And what's the difference between version 17 in the repo and version 17 you refer too?

[palo]

You are correct but the version you refer to is very old - this is posted for those who like their software a little more current.

And what's the difference between version 17 in the repo and version 17 you refer too?

Wow! That's a tough question to answer. You see, the version in the Ubuntu repository you refer to is from 12.3.2010
http://download.enlightenment.org/snapshots/2010-12-03/
To answer your question one would have to go through the E17 changelogs and also through the changelogs for the foundation libraries
http://www.enlightenment.org/
that E17 is based on. Generally, expect bugfixes and software improvements by keeping updated.

Sorry if that's not the answer you were looking for.

Pat

[Asimov]

You are correct but the version you refer to is very old - this is posted for those who like their software a little more current.

And what's the difference between version 17 in the repo and version 17 you refer too?

Basically, with version 17 in the repo, you can not install most of the existing emodule ( the clock is a emodule). Only 5 emodules can be install in this version. it exist at least a dozen of new emodule. Not very useful gadgets, but personally, i would like the calendar.

[Asimov]

@palo

i did try your repo. But after an upgrade, a was unable to restart enlightenment.

[palo]

@palo

i did try your repo. But after an upgrade, a was unable to restart enlightenment.

Unfortunately you can not upgrade an old existing install by adding this repository. I underlined that warning in my first post. It may be possible for you to revert using ppa-purge, however there appears to be some bug with that package and you may want to have a look at these posts if you plan to go that route:
viewtopic.php?f=165&t=106497&start=0
viewtopic.php?f=90&t=103054&start=520#p613150

Something that may also work (instead of ppa-purge) - using Synaptic Package Manager:
After Reload select Origin and the PPA for Snapshot you added, mark each package for complete removal. After applying the changes, go to Settings>Repositories>Other Software and deselect the 2 snapshot listings. Reload again and search for E17 and mark for reinstall.

I have not done this but it may work - if not, there may be a couple files to remove by hand. Please let us know how you make out.

Pat

[Asimov]

I'm use to Yast and in comparison apt-get is very dumb. The RPM system would have detect the problem before the installation

Thank for the info, but the upgrade will have to wait. I will have to make a new re-installation in a few months. And i will certainly use your repo. This subject is now bookmark.

[MerelyJim]

Not sure about the main Mint repo's, but installed Enlightenment 17 from the LMDE side of the house by typing...
[sudo apt-get install e17] RETURN
Log out, log back in with a different session. Sorted.

[palo]

Hi MerelyJim thanks for the input. I know nothing of LMDE but intend to learn before long because I read nothing but great stuff about it but the learning curve looks big.
I thought some update might be good if anyone is reading this. I have been using the nightly builts in Vbox and there are so many improvements I just want to squeal (like the past 2 months have moved more than the past 2 years). There are snapshots being built periodically but they are not going into the PPA mentioned in my first post but instead they are being made as GZ and BZ2 files http://enlightenment.org/p.php?p=news/show&l=en&news_id=57. I'm too lazy and stupid to build and compile (discovering the PPA was the whole reason for this topic in the first place) so I got very impatient and purged everthing to install from the daily PPA. When I went to the launchpad site https://launchpad.net/~hannes-janetzek/+archive/enlightenment-svn and saw there were still a few dozen packages to build I decided to cool heals (I am new to this PPA thing but it just seemed sensible not to update while packages are building or waiting). Looking around I found another PPA that seems to have the recent testing snapshots. Though I haven't tried them thought worth mentioning - https://launchpad.net/~yunnxx/+archive/e17testing. So there just seems to be many options depending on how old or fresh you want your Enlightenment.

Pat

[gnappi]

If you are a fan of Enlightenment like I am you may already know of the e17releasemanager's blog. I was running from the nightly svn and in my wanderings found a simple way to add the more stable snapshot version of this window manager/shell to Mint(precise,oneiric,natty). I thought it might be good to share with the hope that others might give feedback on discoveries and experiences with it.

Do not do this if you had previously installed by any other way including the old version in the Ubuntu repository. In a terminal:

Code: Select all

su
add-apt-repository ppa:hannes-janetzek/enlightenment-snapshot
apt-get update
apt-get install e17 libedje-bin
exit
exit

Pat

The install went fine, Thx for the terminal mode apt instructions.

[palo]

Good to hear gnappi, and you're welcome. Enjoy.

Pat

[palo]

Some good news for anyone interested in testing the Alpha/Beta E17 releases - a PPA has been set up for it - announcement is here. It comes with the new default theme (woh!). Alpha3 atm and the PPA info is in the text body. This is especially good news because the the SVN repo has been lately.

Pat

[Zikco]

I installed E17 a couple of days ago (and updated yesterday) from the new ppa.
Works surprizingly well for an alpha release on my machine (few crashes, but recovers fast).

I have two small problems, though:

1. I have no idea how to switch to the compositor that comes with it (E17 complains about another compositor already running the desktop, when its own is activated).

and

2. I can't change the colours of the GTK themes, or get it to use the GTK themes that I have on my 'main' WM/DE, which is MATE.

I suspect that both issues are somehow related, but being new, I'm a bit in the dark here.
I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me out a bit.

Thanks in advance,
Z.

[palo]

Hi Zikco - I will try to help but more information is needed about how you installed and updated.

There are 2 compositors; e and ecomorph - they cannot run at the same time but I have a feeling that is not what you are doing or you would have said so. Furthermore, if you have ecomorph installed you have mixed packages from mixed repositories and that will cause problems. It is a simple procedure to switch repositories and if that is what you have done just say so and I will explain it.

If you started fresh with the Alpha PPA and updated to the next Alpha version, then prior to running E17 you must (from Mate session) delete the .e folder in your home directory. This will start a new profile and is necessary with the Alpha/Beta releases because of some setup changes that come with them.

As for switching GTK themes - Settings Panel>Look>GTK Application Theme to pick your theme. If the previously mentioned points are not right then that may not work either.

HTH
Pat

PS - you must have libedje-bin installed.

[Zikco]

Hi, palo.

I installed fresh from the Alpha PPA (never had E installed before), then updated to the current version from there.
I just tried deleting the '.e' folder from my home directory from MATE (hadn't thought of that), but it didn't fix it.

First thing I got after the initial setup was a popup saying something along the lines of:

Couldn't start the compositor because another compositor is already controlling the desktop

(exact wording escapes me (late, need sleep)).

I quickly found the GTK theme switcher after initial install. The problem is, that I only have access to the system default GTK themes in there, and none of the GTK theme variants that I'd saved with adjusted colouring.

libedje-bin (and all other *-bin from the PPA (*-libs, too)) is installed.


I'm off for the night, but I'll get back at it tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to help.
Z.

[palo]

That's a puzzle. I have run E on LXDE, Gnome2, KDE, Cinnamon and Xfce but never saw that problem. Someone else mentioned a problem with Mate too - I will install it over the next couple days and see what happens.

Pat

[palo]

I was a bit tired myself so I missed a few things:

I quickly found the GTK theme switcher after initial install. The problem is, that I only have access to the system default GTK themes in there, and none of the GTK theme variants that I'd saved with adjusted colouring.

All valid themes in /usr/share/themes should be shown - all I can think of is either you didn't put your themes there or they are not complete themes.

libedje-bin (and all other *-bin from the PPA (*-libs, too)) is installed.

Installing E17 and libedge-bin from PPA(Alpha6) you should have only 15 packages installed. If you have installed other bins and libs as you say, that could be a problem.

Is this a standard desktop setup with one monitor you have?

Can you start with a fresh profile again and uncheck composting to see if there are other errors at login?

Update: Installed Nadia Mate with updates today and Alpha6 from PPA - no errors about compositing or crashes.

[Zikco]

Sorry it took me so long to reply. Something came up.
Let's go through the list:

All valid themes in /usr/share/themes should be shown - all I can think of is either you didn't put your themes there or they are not complete themes.

They were in the user home/.themes/ folder I copied them over without luck.
They were saved with the theme switcher provided by MATE. All I did was adjust RGB levels to suit my preference on the default themes.

Installing E17 and libedge-bin from PPA(Alpha6) you should have only 15 packages installed. If you have installed other bins and libs as you say, that could be a problem.

I realized that I might have gone overboard there and completely removed/reinstalled E17 and libedje.bin, without grabbing all the extras and I have 15 packages now.
I still get the Compositor error.

Is this a standard desktop setup with one monitor you have?

This is a dual monitor setup with 2 desktops set up. 1 per monitor.

Can you start with a fresh profile again and uncheck composting to see if there are other errors at login?

Did that before the reinstall, I mentioned above. There were no other errors.

Update: Installed Nadia Mate with updates today and Alpha6 from PPA - no errors about compositing or crashes.

I'm using Maya.*) The crashes were mostly fixed by the update. The ones left are rare and usually happen when I'm changing a lot of things on the shelves.


*) How can you make that NOT sound dirty?