How to link desktop icons?Forum: Other Help Topics Topic: How to link desktop icons? started by: Fox7777 Posted by Fox7777 on May 30 2005,20:46
I have DSL installed but when you click on a desktop icon, nothing happens. On this Dell Optiplex GMT 5166 computer dtd 1996, is there a way to click on a desktop icon and launch the application?
Posted by Fox7777 on May 30 2005,21:02
I just answered my own question. You need to do a vigorous double click to launch the application. Any chance of changing this to an easy Linux single click?
Posted by Fox7777 on May 30 2005,23:45
1 What is the easiest way to autologin so that we go straight to the desktop when booting without having to login? There was a post about reinstalling & not checking multi-user. Will that work? Is there an easier way?2. Is there an easy way to add an icon that you can click on it to connect to the internet? The reason we are asking is not only to make it easier to set up older computers for ourselves but to set them up for others. Most people need an easy toolbar or desktop icon to launch the applications they want to use. Posted by ke4nt1 on May 31 2005,02:02
1. yes, installing without multiuser option does take you straight to the desktop upon booting up DSL. 2. With most connections, it's already connected as soon as you hit the desktop. ( DSLmodem, Cablemodem, DHCP, Network ) If you want a dialup connection to do this, first you must set it up for your connect number, userid/passdw, etc.. Making an icon for the desktop that runs your startup commands should be easy with a small script, and your provided icon.. See the /home/dsl/.xtdesktop icon groups for some examples.. For some single-clicking fun, try the wmdrawer.tar.gz extension.. It's a neat little tuck-away drawer dockapp, that leaves your desktop free for other uses ( apps, wallpaper,etc..) , and uses the lazy, non-M$ method of single-click to launch any applications you choose to put in the /home/dsl/.wmdrawerrc file.. 73 ke4nt Posted by Fox7777 on May 31 2005,22:15
We are stumped on how to create a new icon called launch to launch our dialup internet connection. We tried copying an exisitng emelfm file even as root but can''t find it. Also the launch image is at /home/dsl/photos/launch.jpg because we couldn't figure out how to get it in /home/dsl/.xdesktop . Is that OK? Do you have to use a script &, if so, how do you do that?
Posted by clacker on May 31 2005,22:43
The H button in emelfm shows hidden files (files that start with a . are hidden). Or open a bash shell and type cp photos/launch.jpg .xtdesktop/launch.jpg
cp .xtdesktop/emelfm.lnk .xtdesktop/launch.lnk beaver .xtdesktop/launch.lnk
restart the icons by choosing the desktop->icons only option Posted by Fox7777 on June 01 2005,01:50
We made directories & copied the files as stated (except we decided to change launch to dial). emelfm shows dial.jpg/ & dial.lnk/ in blue- not black like the others & / following. We also don't see a place to enter code as shown in code sample even though we have tried all options. Too bad its not easier but what is the solution?
Posted by RoGuE_StreaK on June 01 2005,06:50
Hmm, doesn't sound right, not in DSL at the moment so can't say whether blue means directory or what... so, here's another way from scratch:1. Open emelfm, click the "H" buttons to show the hidden directories and files. 2. Open the ".xtdesktop" folder 3. In the other panel, browse to where you have your "dial.jpg" icon. Select it, and click the "copy" button. Should now have a copy in the .xtdesktop folder. 4. Select an existing .lnk file, and click "edit", which should open up Beaver. IMMEDIATELY go to "file / save as", and save the file as a new link, ie "dial.lnk", so that you don't accidentally overwrite another link. Now tweak the link to the right code. Basically the .lnk files are just text files you edit with Beaver or a similar text editor, which specify the icon, the link, and it's position on screen. Oh, once created, you can drag the icon around and the X and Y cordinates will change in the lnk file, so you can move it to roughly where you want it, then do fine tuning of the coordinates through Beaver. 5. Right-click the files you created, and check both "permissions" and... um... I think "user/group", they should both be under the same sub-directory. Just check that the permissions and user are the same as the other icon images and lnk files, don't think it makes much difference, but good to get into the habit of doing. Or, another way of doing this is to select all of the files in the directory, then when you check permissions and user, if the current file being checked is one of the original files, just tick the "apply to all" box and hit OK, this will set the permissions and user/group to the same thing for every file in the directory. Sorry about the long-winded way of writing that, can't be bothered rewriting it... 6. From the main fluxbox menu, say "desktop / no icons", then "desktop / icons" or "desktop / fully enhanced". I've found that often the icons aren't refreshed if you don't turn them off first. PS. For an "easier" solution, check the forum a little while back, where we were discussing an "auto-create link" script. But that would currently involve actually adding the script yourself, and that's probably more complex than making these links anyway... Posted by Fox7777 on June 01 2005,07:13
Thanks, we ended up going to the root screen by entering su, password & startx in the XTerm because we weren't allowed to make the changes in dsl. We now have a dial (telephone) icon on the desktop but when you click on it the PPP Dial window comes up with "provider" not entered in the window so we have to enter "provider" & then click dial. This is a step forward but is there a way to just click on the icon and have it automatically dial?
Posted by Fox7777 on June 01 2005,21:11
Just clicking on the dial icon and having it automatically dial like you can in Suse 9.3 would be nice but if that is not possible, the next easiest thing would be to click on the XTerm icon and enter "pon". We can do that in root but when you try to do that on the dsl desktop, you get the "Please configure /etc/ppp/peers/provider or use a command line argument to use another file in /etc/ppp/peers/directory" message. We have tried editing providers & even peers for different users, groups, permissions so that we could click on XTerm & enter "pon" on the dsl desktop but it won't dial & we still the same message. What is the solution?
Posted by Fox7777 on June 02 2005,19:59
After further consideration we created a new dialup account for dsl called "1" so now we click on the telephone (dial) icon, the PPP Dial window comes up, we enter 1 in the window, click Dial & the internet connection is made. We are trying to make connecting, surfing, using office apps, etc. as easy as possible for the average user. If anyone knows of an easier way to connect, please let us know but for the time being this isn't too bad.
Posted by Fox7777 on June 02 2005,23:36
Apparently we spoke a little too soon on this. The dsl login described above works great the first time but not when you try to do it again- even after rebooting. Also when you exit out of appications like Firefox, you can't restart them without rebooting. What is the solution?.
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