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New install i3 small niggle

Just did a new bare metal install, i3 ISO 
Install went flawless on ext4, great news but SDDM the default display manager let it all down yes it worked in the fact that I could login, but then refused to disappear staying firmly in the centre of the screen.
So installed and enabled LXDM rebooted logged in all fine,
Well done guys I now have a lighter than lite i3 install 

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #1
Weird, I use sddm myself with great success. Where you able to use your i3 desktop after login?

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #2
Weird, I use sddm myself with great success. Where you able to use your i3 desktop after login?
Yeh worked fine just the login window did not close very strange but I don't like SDDM as it has other issues any way, so LXDM works with everything and is faster anyway.

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #3
I use sddm too with openbox.  It needs a background like nitrogen or feh in the autostart or it does not erase the previously drawn screen.  It creates a collage of any window that was closed.  So the login screen as an image remains until it is covered with something else.   Otherwise I have no negative issues with sddm.   It may be related to specific graphics hw, as lxdm did the same,

So, in my case it wasn't a login screen but a picture of the login screen as a background.

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #4
I use sddm too with openbox.  It needs a background like nitrogen or feh in the autostart or it does not erase the previously drawn screen.  It creates a collage of any window that was closed.  So the login screen as an image remains until it is covered with something else.   Otherwise I have no negative issues with sddm.   It may be related to specific graphics hw, as lxdm did the same,

So, in my case it wasn't a login screen but a picture of the login screen as a background.

You may be right a picture of a login screen. Lxdm does not do the same on 2 different setups i3 and JWM no wallpaper, I took SDDM off the cinnamon install as it would not startx again LXDM works fine the same as in obarun/void, where i had the same problems with sddm plus temps did not clear on reboot. mdm-no-systemd works fine and LXDM does as well, I think users should have the choice on install why use a qt based display manager on a GTK based system. Sddm is fine for QT based desktops mind you horses for courses.

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #5
$HOME/.config/openbox (or whatever your de is)
there should be an autostart file
If you have feh or nitrogen you can enter either one of these lines

Code: [Select]
(sleep 2 && feh --bg-scale ~/Backgrounds/bkimage.jpg) &
nitrogen --restore &

If you run nitrogen you can select the image library and the image you want displayed and how.  Then this command restores the last background set by nitrogen.  The (sleep #s && ...) creates a lag from login till things are drawn (like conky, panel, etc..)

At least that is what I do to openbox
I read through the i3 manual and decided on this lifetime I will not relearn what I am used to, so I passed.  I would need a background of all the i3 shortcuts for a few months to relearn new habits.

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #6
$HOME/.config/openbox (or whatever your de is)
there should be an autostart file
If you have feh or nitrogen you can enter either one of these lines

Code: [Select]
(sleep 2 && feh --bg-scale ~/Backgrounds/bkimage.jpg) &
nitrogen --restore &

If you run nitrogen you can select the image library and the image you want displayed and how.  Then this command restores the last background set by nitrogen.  The (sleep #s && ...) creates a lag from login till things are drawn (like conky, panel, etc..)

At least that is what I do to openbox
I read through the i3 manual and decided on this lifetime I will not relearn what I am used to, so I passed.  I would need a background of all the i3 shortcuts for a few months to relearn new habits.

You are trying to tell me things I have known for 15 years. some not correct you don't need a Feh, Nitrogen to redraw the screen to remove the login screen, Its been a done thing with minimalists not to use wallpaper in light WMs for years with no problem, its a SDDM problem LXDM  GTK 2 works fine without having to draw wallpaper.
I used openbox for years but in the last couple of years found better faster alternatives.
i3 is a better alternative, as is awesome, JWM being the easiest of them but all have a large learning curve, that gets some users out of their comfort zone. What they lack is clear user setup information i3 being the worst offender. awesome at least has the keyboard mapping available at a click on the screen.  but is a bit quirky till you learn how the code works then its very simple. As its all in one file you just need to google, very hard or have a friend that knows. Arch wiki has some help but their are some better help availible for i3, awesome and so customisable to boot. The JWM confige file can be split to make it much easier to understand and set-up.

 

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #7
I agree and I used to use a blacktop as well, till it started getting on my eyes, the contrast.  The only thing I may lean into disagreement is that what we did 15years ago with 15 years older machines is not as important in terms of minimalism.  There is a difference of robbing 25MB off a 512MB ram and from an 8GB ram. You can select a color tint into an image that is 25x25 and tile it if you dislike black (due to contrast), it doesn't have to be a 4000x3000 image.

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #8
I agree and I used to use a blacktop as well, till it started getting on my eyes, the contrast.  The only thing I may lean into disagreement is that what we did 15years ago with 15 years older machines is not as important in terms of minimalism.  There is a difference of robbing 25MB off a 512MB ram and from an 8GB ram. You can select a color tint into an image that is 25x25 and tile it if you dislike black (due to contrast), it doesn't have to be a 4000x3000 image.
Very true but why is Linux following windows for bloat, that is the reason I build my own wasted ram is not recoverable. I'm not paranoid so don't get me wrong. but OB, JWM, Awesome, i3 will do anything others do, That does not mean using all the latest GPUs, Mainboards just selecting what really works well together with Linux, I use a dated Nvidia not yet legacy, I keep reading screen tearing never had a problem in the last 10 years.
And don't get me wrong I'm no geek just a normal user that has tried it all.

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #9
I knew we were on the same universe :)  This bios here says 2005, my better one at work says 2008.  So 15yrs ago they were  just as much older :)    I can see spending money on guitar or motorcycle components but cpu unless someone was paying me for it I saw it as unnecessary.   I once had jobs where mine was better than anyone's on the building but it was their tool.  I had to use windows sometimes back then, and my first job was killing unnecessary processes when they went on and sometimes with db work I would shut windows down and run things on DOS.
I wrote elsewhere here about my evaluation of desktops.  I think apart from LXDE, xfce, and Mate the rest are irritating, not just bloat.  And I don't like MATE.  I think awesome I could live with, but ob has become my home-feel and as you say, if one can do anything all others can do, except for icons giggling and shaking, why waste resources when they can be used by what you really need.
I tried leaving from mozilla for a while, I suspect them for the next weave of evil, and used midori and qupzilla.  Too much dysfunction for little resource benefit.  Palemoon I should revisit maybe.
When the forces of evil are utilizing so much firepower and influence on things we will see some losses and wear.  When I created this blog of mine one of the first questions I got was whether plasma could be installed on Artix.  I have only seen screenshots of plasma.
On the other hand there is a fashion of minimalism, glorified anonymous-hacker culture without a cause.  I think i3 is a by-product of such fashion.  I don't see emacs and lynx developing as much as other minimalist projects, as handling multiple screens in one box!

I think the cause should determine the tools.  Rich kids don't need to steal, if you know what I mean.

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #10
My last CPU was a AMD 3200 dual core and a Asus motherboard 2004  the Asus was the weakest link  network went after 5 years so bought a second hand card, then the sound card a few years later, finally in 2014 the video driver chip gave up the ghost, I tried with no avail to get another board here in Peru. So i got a AMD 6 core and a Gigabyte board  but the board was faulty no sound the seller replaced the board and said don't bother to return the faulty one. So i think this will see me out now i'm 68 and living on borrowed time anyway.
Awesome is great a bit quirky in design but can switch tilling modes on the top panel or just use conventional  headers can be used or not used depends on you its a real hacker WM that is also very friendly to use, i3 is good but not user friendly. But for some its the best.

Re: New install i3 small niggle

Reply #11
Maybe you should open an off-topic thread and tell us of your first encounters with computing machines, other than calculators and registers.
I am from a certain age group that started with paper resolution, tapes, then cards.  I think such a discussion can b a benefit to youngsters who can't conceive such computing luxury as a 15yo machine provides.  Somehow I/O makes different sense to different generations.