Partition/drive icons on desktop.
Forum: DSL Ideas and Suggestions
Topic: Partition/drive icons on desktop.
started by: ShawnMilo
Posted by ShawnMilo on Aug. 30 2005,19:32
Would it be realistic to request icons like Knoppix has? For example, you'd have an hda1 partition (or any drives seen during boot, including USB, etc.). If you click on the icon, it mounts it. If you right-click on the icon and it's mounted, you can change the r/w mode. If you double-click on the icon when it's mounted, it opens it in the file manager.It's difficult to work with USB drives, etc. as a normal user, because you either have to su and do everything from the command line, or go to all the trouble to set up user-readable directories with all the right permissions, mounting the partition, etc.
This would make DSL an even more awesome tool for recovering files from systems with a crapped-out OS to a spare drive.
Thanks,
Shawn
Posted by adraker on Aug. 30 2005,20:56
Hmmm..I don't have any need for partition mounting icons,I use the mount.app at the bottom of the screen, or I might
sometimes right click on a /mnt/hdx in emelfm to mount it.
I usually have one instance of Emelfm as SuperUser open,
and on another desktop Emelfm as dsl, both of which are in the menu.
I'll use the Emelfm as dsl, for loading apps/packages,
and Emelfm as SuperUser for file transfers to unusual
places, and getting into trouble and corrupting my filesystem.
Where would we be without Frugal/LiveCD?
Posted by ke4nt1 on Aug. 30 2005,21:57
If DSL was only a "knoppix" , then that might work for some.But DSL is much more dynamic in it's location and install
possibilities ..
Sometimes, /cdrom is a true cdrom disc, sometimes not...
It could be the frugal mount, with only /knoppix ..
Sometimes, /mnt/auto/cdrom is the CD, sometimes not...
Othertimes, it really IS /cdrom ..
Sometimes, sda1 may or may not be the pendrive..
It could be sdb1, if you have a scsi hd, or other scsi device.
What about hda1? Usually windows?
A recent post here in the forums had the HD on hdc, and the
cdrom on hda ..
With so many install possibilities, onto so many different medias,
how is one to anticipate every combination ?
and then you have all the different root filesystems?
Is / a pendrive? cdrom? C.Flash? SCSI? IDE?
73
ke4nt
Posted by RoGuE_StreaK on Aug. 31 2005,00:01
On a similar but unrelated ( 
) train of thought, how about a key shortcut to emelfm using the "Windows - E" combo? I assume nothing else in DSL uses the "windows" key?
Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Aug. 31 2005,03:10
ShawnMilo,Knoppix uses KDE and it's intuitive icon creation system to create those icons dynamicly according to fstab. DSL has no such way to create icons. Ours are all static, and new ones have to be added manually.
RoGuE_StreaK,
The windows key is not even recognised by the keymaps that DSL uses, afaik, but you can add a fluxbox shortkey to do it.
Just edit the ~/.fluxbox/keys file.
Look to the fluxbox site for the proper syntax.
-J.P.
Posted by ShawnMilo on Aug. 31 2005,03:20
JP,Thanks for the explanation. That's good to know. I wish there was a different answer, mainly so I could recommend a DSL CD to people as readily as a Knoppix CD. But I still love DSL and will continue to use it.
Milo
p.s.
May the light illumine you.
Posted by mikshaw on Aug. 31 2005,03:52
I guess it would depend on what people consider important in an operating system. Personally I don't see icons as being important at all, or very useful, and i definitely don't base my recommendations on whether or not icons are created dynamically according to your hardware =O)For a liveCD, I'd find it hard to recommend something that requires as much ram as many distros do (for example, the Suse liveDVD recommends a minimum of 384mb...bleh).
For creating mount icons, Xtdesk has a separation of "program" and "mount" icons. I'm not exactly sure what the difference is, but here is an example that you can compare to the "program" icons that are included with DSL:
| Code Sample |
| table Icon Type: Mount Caption: /dev/cdrom Command: mount IconMount: /home/dsl/.xtdesktop/cdrom_mount.gif IconUmount: /home/dsl/.xtdesktop/cdrom_umount.gif X: Y: MenuCommand1: Mount CDROM : mount /dev/cdrom MenuCommand2: Umount CDROM : umount /dev/cdrom MenuCommand3: Eject CDROM : eject /dev/cdrom end |
Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Aug. 31 2005,05:25
Heck I don't even use icons. Not even in Windows. I use < BBlean > instead of exploder, and an alrernate filemanager.In Ubuntu, I use XFCE or enlightenment.
Icons are ugly, and get in the way of my wallpaper anyway.
Posted by adssse on Aug. 31 2005,12:49
I know people that swear by using icons, but I myself dont like to use them either. One of the first things I do when I do a new install is goto 'no icons'. I much prefer to use the menu's because it looks much cleaner without icons and I believe it saves me some ram on my old system too.
Posted by cbagger01 on Aug. 31 2005,17:35
noicons does save RAM.xtdesk typically uses about 1MB of RAM for me.
Each dockapp also uses a similar amount of RAM.