[solved 2/3] A few minor Xfce issues

Mrhnhrm · Last edited by Mrhnhrm on Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:23 pm; edited 2 times in total

So, I've finally managed to successfully install the fundamentals of the Gentoo system on my somewhat uncooperative HP 4515s laptop. The next obvious necessary thing is X and stuff, I've chosen Xfce for a desktop environment and I'm quite happy with it, although there are several things in it yet to perfect.

1. Rendering is somewhat laggish, especially when Xfce's built-in desktop compositing features (windows transparency, shadows and such) are on. Not too slow to cause obvious problems, but it still stabs pain into my eyes. It's not quite what I've expected from a lightweight, performance-oriented desktop environment

I'm using fglrx driver for my ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4300 and video system seems to work finely. At least, it does some reasonably good FPS in GL screensavers :roll:

2. Sorry, I was inaccurate with original statement of the problem #2 - I thought that taskbar buttons don't flash on Urgency (like, e.g. an inactive chat window's button in taskbar should flash upon a new incoming message). However, upon closer examination I've found out that they DO blink in fact. But no wonder it was so difficult to notice - I can hardly call that "blinking", it's more like slowly and gradually transiting from a pale shadow of gray into a pale shadow of blue, and then backwards. Such phenomenon doesn't really catch too much attention. Oh, and then a solution seems obvious - use a more contrast colour scheme, like xfce4-redmondxp. Such solution will do for me

3. Missing icons. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words. http://i50.tinypic.com/25k1x11.jpg

I'd deeply appreciate a few pointers at where to start looking into these issues.
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Nerevar · l33t Joined: 31 May 2008 Posts: 720

Mrhnhrm · Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:20 pm Post subject: Re: A few minor Xfce issues

Looks like I've been inaccurate with defining problem #2. I've already solved it, see starting post for details.

Anon-E-moose · Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:27 pm Post subject:

Icons might be related to whatever theme you have it set to use but I installed these

[IP-] [ ] kde-base/oxygen-icons-4.3.3 (4.3)
[IP-] [ ] x11-misc/icon-naming-utils-0.8.90 (0)
[IP-] [ ] x11-themes/gnome-icon-theme-2.26.0 (0)
[IP-] [ ] x11-themes/hicolor-icon-theme-0.11 (0)
[IP-] [ ] x11-themes/tangerine-icon-theme-0.26 (0)
[IP-] [ ] x11-themes/tango-icon-theme-0.8.90 (0)
[IP-] [ ] x11-themes/tango-icon-theme-extras-0.1.0-r1 (0)
[IP-] [ ~] x11-themes/xfce-gant-icon-theme-3.9_p6 (0)
[IP-] [ ] x11-themes/xfce4-icon-theme-4.4.3 (0)

For the rendering/display check the refresh rate.
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Nerevar · l33t Joined: 31 May 2008 Posts: 720

It's been a long time since I've used the fglrx driver, but these are the settings I once used:

enigma59 · n00b Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 13

fglrx does not have very good performance with any compositing manager. Resizing a window with compiz on a 5870 is even slow, takes 1-2 seconds to actually change the window.

Nerevar · l33t Joined: 31 May 2008 Posts: 720

Interesting. Thanks for the info enigma59.

Oh, you'll also want to add this section to your xorg.conf:

Mrhnhrm · Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:13 pm Post subject:

Nerevar · l33t Joined: 31 May 2008 Posts: 720

The fglrx driver doesn't even support my card now, so I can't help you much.

Try enabling the options one at a time and see which one is causing the failure. I'd try disabling the Extensions section first.

Here's the manpage describing the options (you might be able to use "man fglrx" as well):
http://debian.wgdd.de/temp/fglrx_man/fglrx.4x.html