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I just installed antiX Linux 19.3. When I (auto-)login and IceWM comes up, I get an error dialog saying:

The pin board has not yet been used ... set the default background. Start ROX-Filer with 'rox -p = Default' to activate the pin board.

  1. WTF? I haven't done anything. Haven't even touched any configuration settings, and already an error?
  2. Who starts rox? i.e. where should I start it differently?
  3. What is the pin board, and should it be "activated" at all?

Note: I've seen some forum threads suggesting an increase to some startup delay; and people reporting mixed results with that. I'd like a proper solution please.

muru
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einpoklum
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1 Answers1

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Session control in antiX (full/base) is managed by desktop-session, which handles the launching of the window manager, desktop-icons (if any rox- or space- sessions are started), programs and applications that launch during startup (like conky, volumeicon, etc).

If programs/scripts try to load before the window manager is fully loaded, then errors occur. One of them is the desktop icons handler not starting properly. To solve this, the antiX developers offer an option to delay the startup of programs.

Editing the /home/user/.desktop-session/desktop-session.conf file, and increasing the STARTUP_DELAY should solve most of these problems (the delay is in seconds).

You will often see this behavior with old and slow CPUs. The default delay time of 2 seconds is too short for the window manager to completely load, so you may experience a rox-filer pinboard error or find that there are no icons at all on the desktop (the desktop icon manager didn't launch at all).

Note: rox-filer manages the desktop icons with what it calls a "pinboard". Different from other desktop icon handlers, the pinboard ignores the ~/Desktop folder and saves its configuration in a separate file inside ~/.config. If you want a more traditional desktop icon experience, switch to a space- session from the menu > Desktop > Other Desktops, for example space-iceWM

nXecure
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  • 1. Why isn't this managed so that programs are loaded upon indication that the window manager is ready? That seems like the solution, rather than an arbitrary delay. 2. Why would it matter to me if the icons are in `~/Desktop` or in another file? In what sense is this a "different experience"? – einpoklum May 08 '21 at 12:08
  • 1. Probably the four different window managers in antiX work differently, so checking if they are fully loaded would require a different implementation for each case. You can also use desktop-session with other window managers not included in antiX, so any already working implementation would be useless and you would still need to rely on the startup delay. I am just guessing here, so don't take it as the official reason. – nXecure May 08 '21 at 15:43
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    2. "Normal" desktop icon handlers will reflect changes in ~/Desktop folder (and will let you operate with copy/paste/delete on the desktop as if inside a folder). ROX pinboard is only to place "links" or "launchers" in the desktop, storing this a config file. You don't manipulate real files, but only "links". Any any change in ~/Desktop is ignored, so the Desktop folder becomes a bit useless. That is the main difference. – nXecure May 08 '21 at 15:46