XFCE Issues

[r1bby]

Evening folks, I have been using Mint 5 XFCE for ages now and have a few issues that need resolving...

Every now and then when I turn on my PC the windows (for want of a better word) lose their top bar and I'm unable to move them around the desktop, minimize, maximize or close (unless I click on file, quit) and the only way I have to resolve this is to shut down & restart.

My start Icon has reverted back to the XFCE standard start icon, I would like to get my mint logo back.

K3B burning software seems to crash at a high rate unless I have all my other programs shut and am running only K3B even then it seems to crash less if I am burning a CD-ROM, rather than DVD.

My DVD-ROM won't play DVD movies, MPlayer crashes with an error message, VLC doesn't even open the disc & KMPlayer doesn't even recognise there is a disc. Not sure if I have to install any specific files or codecs but I'm not sure what to look for in the package manager.

I am aware that some (if not all) are non-XFCE related, but I though if I share it with the forum, I can see if other people have similar issues... Other than these very few minor niggly issues, I have been using XFCE as my sole OS for 8+ months now and am very happy with it's speed and reliability. Thumbs up & recommended

[merlwiz79]

My start Icon has reverted back to the XFCE standard start icon, I would like to get my mint logo back.

This shouldn't have happened.
Did you update anything related to XFCE?
You can right click to change the icon.
It should be in /usr/share/icon/(I think it's mint-green)

K3B burning software seems to crash at a high rate unless I have all my other programs shut and am running only K3B even then it seems to crash less if I am burning a CD-ROM, rather than DVD.

Could just be it's a kde app and not a gtk app.
You could try and load kde on startup.

My DVD-ROM won't play DVD movies, MPlayer crashes with an error message, VLC doesn't even open the disc & KMPlayer doesn't even recognise there is a disc. Not sure if I have to install any specific files or codecs but I'm not sure what to look for in the package manager.

Try changing the device to /dev/scd0 or /dev/scd1 from /dev/dvd

[r1bby]

Sorry for the delay in reply I have been busy (

My PC still loses the top bars every now and then when I load up the OS, only a shut down & restart resolves this.

I've looked for the icon in the folder specified and there is nothing in there (which is why I guess it reverted back to the standard mouse logo),
is there anywhere I can download the mint logo start button?

K3B burning software seems to stop crashing recently, I think it may be an update to mint or K3B or both that I have installed, not 100% sure which,
but the problem seems to have solved itself.

My DVD-ROM won't play DVD movies, MPlayer crashes with an error message, VLC doesn't even open the disc & KMPlayer doesn't even recognise there is a disc. Not sure if I have to install any specific files or codecs but I'm not sure what to look for in the package manager.

Regarding the DVD-ROM, how do I change the devide to /dev/scd0 etc? Please explain further...

I have now noticed a new issue that wasn't there before my £ GB Pound logo (shift + 3 for those not with a UK keyboard) disappears, if I press shift + 3 all that comes up is 3.
All the other numerical shift functions work fine, so I thought it could be something to do with the language settings, I go into settings / keyboard settings / layouts / and unclick Use X configuration then reclick it and close the screen and the £ issue has resolved itself. I guess it must be a bug, is anyone aware how to stop this?

Finally I am thinking of upgrading my Mint XFCE to Felicia, however I need to back up my files first (any recommendations of software for this?) then upgrade,
is upgrading relatively easy or I can expect a headache? So I know how much time to set aside for this task... Thanks )

[Zwopper]

What window decorator do you use - Xfwm or Compiz?
Because I had these issues with compiz in the past, then I got bored of it all together and now I only use Xfwm.

[FedoraRefugee]

One thing you can do about the missing window bars on startup, if you are running compiz you can install fusion icon and put it in the autostart menu with the command "fusion-icon." This will put the icon in your system tray and when you start up and the bars are missing you can simply right click the icon and reload window manager. My son's computer is doing this also for some strange reason, compiz is autostarted but despite the right selection it is starting in xfwm and needs to be restarted to get the decorations back.

I am with zwopper, I have gave up on compiz. It is a cool app and I have enjoyed the eye candy but I am tired of messing with it.

My advice to you would be to do a clean install of Mint 7 when it is released. It sounds like your install went buggy for some reason and you might find it easier just starting over with a long life cycle to look forward to. I would def. do a clean install instead of an upgrade though, you dont want to carry your current problems along with you. Back up your data to something external and this time do a manual partition with a separate /data partition, then you wont have to ever do this again, you can reinstall as much as you like and your data stays safe. There are numerous threads in here on how to do this.

[r1bby]

I am using Compiz, it seems we have a work around! ) yey!
All I now need to do is sort out my fstab file which I have incorrectly edited
back up my data (which is proving too troublesome, some nice back up data software as default on the menu would be nice)
then wait for mint 7 XFCE, rather than 6 upgrade, and do a fresh install

I was wondering if it would be worthwhile in having 2 HDD's? 1 for the OS and 1 for the data?
That way if I balls anything up in the future I will still have my data intact, and only need reinstall the OS
I was thinking about a velocity raptor HDD for the OS drive + XFCE on the 2nd HDD should motor along very nicely...

[FedoraRefugee]

I am using Compiz, it seems we have a work around! ) yey!
All I now need to do is sort out my fstab file which I have incorrectly edited
back up my data (which is proving too troublesome, some nice back up data software as default on the menu would be nice)
then wait for mint 7 XFCE, rather than 6 upgrade, and do a fresh install

I was wondering if it would be worthwhile in having 2 HDD's? 1 for the OS and 1 for the data?
That way if I balls anything up in the future I will still have my data intact, and only need reinstall the OS
I was thinking about a velocity raptor HDD for the OS drive + XFCE on the 2nd HDD should motor along very nicely...

That all is VERY good thinking! You could get a 10,000 rpm drive for the OS because it could be very small and cheap(er). I suppose it would be hard to find anything under 80GB these days though. Then get a nice big drive for the data. I mirror my data drive to a third drive myself, on top of making DVD backups every quarter. I will also manually save to both that computer and my server if it is important.

Out of interest I have installed Xfce 4.6 in Mint 7 Gnome RC and it has been good so far. I miss a few of the Mint features but cant be bothered to figure out how to do them myself. Remember with your data on a separate partition the OS becomes expendable. You can back up important config files like .mozilla to your data partition, but it is usually easiest to just reconfigure everything upon install. Because of this it is little effort to run Mint 7 Gnome now and just reinstall when Xfce comes out.

another hint- look to xmarks (FF addon) for migrating bookmarks, especially if you have more than one computer!