How to get the date to show in MATE (SOLVED)

[lou002]

Hello,

I'm back after a year and 7 months (!?) wow..first let me say hello again, I can't believe I'm back with Linux Mint!

Anyway, here I am using Linux Mint 13 MATE edition and I have a question. The date only reads "Thu August 9," and then that's it. why is there a comma there if there's no year showing? And how do I get the year to show?

Thanks in advance. I know it's a little quirk but the English major/perfectionist in me won't let that go

caribriz, everything you just described did not come up for me. I found out Linux Mint 13 had an XFCE version, so I switched to that. Maybe I'll go back and give MATE or Cinnamon a try again.

[den68]

is it because you left for almost 2 years that you are wondering now what year it is ?
sorry, I don't have an answer to your question, but couldn't resist to say
it got me wondering as well, I guess the comma is just to separate with the hour. Showing the year would be a waste of space in my opinion, but I agree it should at least be an option.

sorry for not helping

[remoulder]

how do I get the year to show

Not running MATE so may be wrong, but have you tried right clicking on the date? Is there a preferences/options there?

[lou002]

is it because you left for almost 2 years that you are wondering now what year it is ?

LOL! that made me chuckle

sorry, I don't have an answer to your question, but couldn't resist to say
it got me wondering as well, I guess the comma is just to separate with the hour. Showing the year would be a waste of space in my opinion, but I agree it should at least be an option.

sorry for not helping

No worries, you gave a laugh and some levity to a thread that could have gone wrong

And yes! I first used Mint in January of 2011, used it till about June of 2011 then moved back to windows for a short while, then started using linux again in about April of 2012. I've gone form distro to distro, but as long as mint keeps MATE, I'll be fine. I don't like GNOME3

[lou002]

how do I get the year to show

Not running MATE so may be wrong, but have you tried right clicking on the date? Is there a preferences/options there?

I hope that attachment works, but nope no setting.

[caribriz]

Try:
Menu > System tools > Configuration Editor
apps > panel > applets > applet_clock > prefs

Double-click format line - in Value box, type custom, click ok

Double-click custom_format line - type in your desired date format
eg. Saturday 11 August 2012 03:52pm
would be

Code: Select all

 %A %e %B %Y %I:%M%P

click ok

Configuration Editor - prefs.png

caribriz

[lou002]

Try:
Menu > System tools > Configuration Editor
apps > panel > applets > applet_clock > prefs

Double-click format line - in Value box, type custom, click ok

Double-click custom_format line - type in your desired date format
eg. Saturday 11 August 2012 03:52pm
would be

Code: Select all

 %A %e %B %Y %I:%M%P

click ok

Configuration Editor - prefs.png

caribriz

That didn't help at all. there's no 'ok' to click, I did exactly as you said, even following your photo as a guide and nothing.

[caribriz]

Place your cursor exactly on the word format and double-click - you get a pop up box where you can type in custom then click ok

Screenshot-2.png

Then double-click exactly on the words custom_format - you get another pop up box where you type your desired layout, then click ok

Screenshot-3.png

Then you should have something like this

Screenshot-1.png

caribriz

[caribriz]

caribriz, everything you just described did not come up for me. I found out Linux Mint 13 had an XFCE version, so I switched to that. Maybe I'll go back and give MATE or Cinnamon a try again.

Well, the problem isn't really solved then, is it?

I'd be interested to see if anyone else using LM13 Mate can follow the above instructions to get the year to show in the date (in the panel).

It worked for me not only on LM13 Mate, but in LM9 Gnome which has a similar default date format.
In LM9 Gnome I used similar steps with gconf-editor.

caribriz

[squeezy]

I'd be interested to see if anyone else using LM13 Mate can follow the above instructions to get the year to show in the date (in the panel).

Yep, works perfectly well here. I've got MATE 1.4 installed on a custom Ubu 12.04 setup, but that's pretty much LM 13 anyway

One thing, my mconf key is called clock_screen0 instead of applet_clock. Do you have MATE 1.2 by chance?

PS - You can click in the field and edit the info there directly as well.

[caribriz]

Thanks for checking, squeezy.

One thing, my mconf key is called clock_screen0 instead of applet_clock. Do you have MATE 1.2 by chance?

Yes, I have Mate 1.2 - the Configuration Editor is 1.2.0.

Maybe that was why the OP couldn't follow the instructions - they may have Mate 1.4 and the layout is not quite the same as what I saw with Mate 1.2

At least, we now know if they have Mate 1.4, they can follow your picture instead - editing clock_screen0> prefs.
If they have Mate 1.2 - follow my picture and edit applet_clock> prefs.
It works in both versions.

Thanks ...
caribriz