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[Software] LXDE, Openbox, etc, where are all the desktops?

Graphical Environments, Managers, Multimedia & Desktop questions.
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ab1jx
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[Software] LXDE, Openbox, etc, where are all the desktops?

#1 Post by ab1jx »

I've used LXDE/Openbox in some form since about 2007, I haven't always been aware of what I was dealing with. At some point I discovered I could bring up obconf and give myself a half-dozen desktops, which had been a standard part of my everyday machines since. Until lately. I've used both Raspberry Pis and generic ARM or i386 machines, they worked about the same. But it seems harder and harder to get them working. Raspberry Pi officially "doesn't support" multiple desktops anymore, I have a couple Buster machines with the desktops like I prefer them. So I'm running this RPI 3B with Debian Bullseye and it has multiple desktops like I'm used to. I don't use Wayland.

But things are a little strange here and there, I've been using it about a year and tend to overlook its oddities. I'm wondering if the OpenGL ES is up to snuff because I want to do some 1920x1080 video streaming and there aren't many resources to waste. I want it for MLB baseball and I haven't started a paid subscription yet so I haven't actually tested it. If you go to https://www.mlb.com/video/?q=yesterday% ... t=FREETEXT once the page loads you should see highlights of the previous day's Red Sox games. These seem to work but I can't test full screen until I pay. I'm also quite new to video streaming. I need multiple desktops because the live video is only going to be on one of them, controls will be on another.

Raspberry Pi seems to have dropped multiple desktop support when they added Wayland, I don't know if it could be fixed or not. Raspbian/Raspberry Pi OS does seem to be a little faster and smoother. The speed is marginally fast enough at full resolution on a 3B.

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Re: [Software] LXDE, Openbox, etc, where are all the desktops?

#2 Post by ab1jx »

Experimenting a little on my Debian Bullseye machine in /root/.config I did an ls -lRt after changing from 8 to 7 desktops. A relevant change was in
/root/.config/openbox/lxde-rc.xml. Hope the indentation works right here:

Code: Select all

<desktops>    <!-- this stuff is only used at startup, pagers allow you to change them       during a session             these are default values to use when other ones are not already set       by other applications, or saved in your session             use obconf if you want to change these without having to log out       and back in -->    <number>7</number>    <firstdesk>1</firstdesk>    <names>      <!-- set names up here if you want to, like this:    <name>desktop 1</name>    <name>desktop 2</name>    -->    </names>    <popupTime>865</popupTime>    <!-- The number of milliseconds to show the popup for when switching       desktops.  Set this to 0 to disable the popup. -->  </desktops>

That's awful but notice the <number>7</number> in there, that was what I changed. But now I know what file I need to watch (/root/.config/openbox/lxde-rc.xml) Yes, I'm one of those do everything as root people, please don't lecture me, I've been doing it for 29 years.
Last edited by ab1jx on 2023-03-25 03:24, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: [Software] LXDE, Openbox, etc, where are all the desktops?

#3 Post by kent_dorfman766 »

cannot read xml in your post unless you tag it as code so that it isn't reflowed.

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Re: [Software] LXDE, Openbox, etc, where are all the desktops?

#4 Post by ab1jx »

But there can be no /root/.config anything because there's no /root/.config I quickly came to the conclusion that Raspberry Pi OS is a disappointing piece of crap. Raspbian wasn't bad, this looks like child of Raspbian. Openbox is already the window manager (by update-alternatives) but setting the number of desktops in obconf does nothing (yet the value you set stays). Obconf is copyright 2003-2008 like it's been abandoned. OK, so I can't go back to Raspbian where most things worked fairly well, I wish Debian could inherit that code. I used it for about 10 years and it was pretty good.

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Re: [Software] LXDE, Openbox, etc, where are all the desktops?

#5 Post by kent_dorfman766 »

FWIW, your chosen window manager has very little to do with video streaming performance. Performance is most related to GPU/driver and a cpable computer IO channel. Real GPUs have a shortcut to video display memory and all the Xserver does is reserve a rectangle on the display for that rendering. re pi...don't even get me started. They are not real computers in the first place and they have done irreparable harm to the embedded systems field by giving feeble minded managers a false sense that embedded development is cheap...wayland?...well, it's a monstrous hack to try and push thru an "agenda" rather than to solve a problem.

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Re: [Software] LXDE, Openbox, etc, where are all the desktops?

#6 Post by ab1jx »

I think in 10 years there might be a place for wayland. I've done a bit of xlib programming and in some places you spend a lot of time just accommodating obsolete stuff (like color planes) so there's room for some streamlining. I think Pis are real computers, that's about all I own anymore. Screen memory when the GPU owns it is different so xwd can't see it, just a hole, but that memory is just elsewhere under different management.

Of course, a shortcut/pointer to video display memory, I've been trying to rationalize Android keeping old screens around, but if you think of each as a pointer to malloced memory it makes sense that the OS can just cut them loose when it wants, reference counting or not.

So why can't Openbox deal with wayland? Seems like a good objective to aim for. Oh, but the sheer power of the GPUs that can run hundreds of tasks at once may make that infeasible.

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