Just upgraded to Mint 12

[floppybootstomp]

This evening..... from Mint 11 d/l Mint 12 ISO, used inbuilt md5sum check in Mint 11 to verify, burnt ISO to DVD (1Gb version with codecs, 64 Bit).

Swapped out 250Gb Mint 11 HDD caddy for fresh 160Gb HDD in caddy and installed Mint 12 from disk, took a fair while.

Installed Nvidia 3D drivers and Nvidia video config software and Scribus. Looked for new Cinnamon desktop, it no there.

Updated system, lots of updates, took a fair while. Looked for Cinnamon desktop, it's there, so installed 'Cinnamon_Sessions' as advised on Mint web page.

Can't figure out how to change to Cinnamon from Gnome but it's late, I've had a few drinks so I'm sure I'll figure it out in the morning. Wondering whether it's cos I have auto login enabled and so am not offered a choice of desktops at start. Probably not.

Have drawn up a list of things to do or try and do with new install:

Local printer enabled? Edit: Yes
Networked printer enabled?
Label printing on Avery label sheets
Video editing
Audio editing (Probably Audacity)
Burn multiple video files to one DVD with menu
Make CD & DVD label templates within Scribus
I-Pod management?
Gamepad recognised?
Joystick recognised?
Install Opera browser and bookmarks
Install Download Helper to Firefox to enable capture of online video
Will my scanner work with this?


That should keep me busy

 

[Urmas]

Wondering whether it's cos I have auto login enabled and so am not offered a choice of desktops at start. Probably not.

Probably yup. Log out and you'll land on the login screen. Click on the gear-looking thingy and choose Cinnamon from the dropdown menu.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Alright, logged out and as pointed out choice of desktops available when logging in again, there's five of 'em. Chose Cinnamon, logged in, the screen was a mush, that sort of thing you get when a video card is on the way out or just plain faulty. Still navigable though so I rebooted and it auto-logged-in to Cinnamon desktop and it looked ok. Then I tried Mate as well, quite a few differences between them all.

I always disable all 'energy savers' and I had done in Mint 12 but still the screen went black after five minutes. Only done it once though then everything stayed on.

Um, after using Gnome default, Mate & Cinnamon I think I actually prefer the standard Gnome desktop. Yep, that one that's app based and not Windows based.

Is there no hope for me?

From the list of tasks I posted above, today I opened a MS Word 2003 document in Libre Office and printed it on local printer so that's one I can tick off

 

[Urmas]

Um, after using Gnome default, Mate & Cinnamon I think I actually prefer the standard Gnome desktop. Yep, that one that's app based and not Windows based.

Is there no hope for me?

A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for its persuasive effect without the expectation of a reply. Rhetorical questions encourage the listener to think about what the (often obvious) answer to the question must be. When a speaker states, "How much longer must our people endure this injustice?", no formal answer is expected.




But... I know. When I upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10, I tried to live with the Unity desktop. No go. Then I tried Gnome 3. No go. Gnome 3 "Fallback Mode". No go.

Then I went and installed KDE 4.7 with all trimmings. Yes! Cooking with...

... again!

 

[floppybootstomp]

I noticed the KDE version of Mint 12 just released. So, first i tried Beta, then finished version, then Cinnamon version so now I have to try KDE version? Sheesh.

By the time I get stable they'll have released V.13

Rhetorical question? Quite so, quite so, you're not an eccentric University lecturer by any chance?

 

[Urmas]

Rhetorical question? Quite so, quite so, you're not an eccentric University lecturer by any chance?

I am The Internet -- infinite and unbounded.

 

[Quadophile]

Anyone for Razor-qt?

http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2012/01/12/how-to-install-razor-qt-on-linux-mint-12-kde/

 

[floppybootstomp]

Bit of an update, I've been using Mint 12 KDE for a while now and by and large I like it. It is not though, imo, as straightforward to use as previous versions and I'm having a bit of a job finding my way around some areas.

I could not for the life of me get the monitor to stay active all the time, it kept shutting down after a period of inactivity despite me supposedly disabling that function in the energy settings. Then I decided to update KDE and after looking at the Mint forums used these settings to do so:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

It took about 30 minutes to change but I now have latest version of KDE. And would you believe it, monitor doesn't shut down now, which is how I like it.

I'm also having a problem changing my desktop image, strange to say, right-clicking on desktop gives me no options to do so and browsing all of 'System Settings' I could not find a way to do it. I did manage to find one option where it could be changed but only offered the images in the Wallpaper folder, which I found in root/usr/shared/wallpapers So I thought I'd put the image(s) I want to use into the wallpapers folder but I can't. Every time I try the 'Paste' option is grayed out when I right click. So that's kinda baffling me.

With the computer I have Mint 12 KDE installed on I have an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo scanner attached, which works fine in Win XP on same machine. I'd like to use this scanner within Linux Mint and I saw Epson actually provided Linux drivers. There are a lot of them, I have downloaded them all, there are rpm and deb files I think. I have not a clue how to go about installing these but there is a pdf file which gives instructions for installation. Quite impressed with Epson for providing these but I don't know if I'll be capable of installing them.

I shall browse the pdf file (46 pages worth) and give it a go anyhow.

I have the Nvidia drivers installed and some extra software such as Scribus, all working well, and overall, as I said, I quite like it. My Epson P50 printer was recognised straight away and works well. I will say though that compared to earlier Mint versions this one takes longer to boot and shut down, though that is not a biggie for me at all.

If anybody has any ideas how I can change desktop image I'd be glad to hear.

 

[Urmas]

Sorry, gotta be gone right now... wait a bit, mate!

 

[Abarbarian]

I just tried out KDE on me Porteus os. Right click on desktop,then Display settings and you should manage from there.

On Porteus there are two Dolphin file managers, one as user and one as root or superuser. Do not know if Mint has this. You would need to use the root Dolphin to make the changes or add files to "root/usr/shared/wallpapers". You could use a terminal but I am not sure wether you use "su" or "sudo", probably "sudo".

You might find that your scanner will already have drivers installed on Mint. have you tried to set up the scanner through the "system settings" or some feature from the menue at bottom left on the screen.
Or you may be able to get a Epsom driver pack through the buntu repositories. Arch provides several driver packs for various printer/scanners.

Glad you are liking your penguin.

You might find Zorin os of interest.

http://zorin-os.com/tour.html

 

[Urmas]

OK, here we are:

A decent guide on KDE:
http://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/html/openSUSE_113/opensuse-kdeuser/book.kdeuser.html

The relevant bit (RE: wallpaper) is chapter 3.2.2 / procedure 3.4 -- but you may find procedure 3.6 interesting as well.

Two things here: the "Open" button pops open the usual file selection dialogue, so you can have your wallpaper images stored wherever you like. The "Get New Wallpapers" button gives you the wallpaper selection @KDE-Look.org.


Your scanner: http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/scanner_epson

Plusieurs paquets sont parfois nécessaires (comme par ex pour le scanner 4490 Photo: 3 paquets iscan-data_xxx.deb, iscan_xxx.deb et iscan-plugin-xxx.deb, à installer dans cet ordre.)

OK, so... you need to download three packages (32 or 64 bit versions according to your OS) and install them in this order (by double clicking 'em):

Either 32 bit:

1. iscan-data_1.13.0-1_all.deb
2. iscan_2.28.1-3.ltdl7_i386.deb
3. iscan-plugin-gt-x750_2.1.2-1_i386.deb

Or 64 bit:

1. iscan-data_1.13.0-1_all.deb
2. iscan_2.28.1-3.ltdl7_amd64.deb
3. iscan-plugin-gt-x750_2.1.2-1_amd64.deb

Download sites (both seem to contain same versions):
http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/
http://www.avasys.jp/lx-bin2/linux_e/scan/DL1.do

 

[floppybootstomp]

From the KDE Manual Urmas linked to:

To use a custom picture, click the folder button beneath the list and select an image file from the file system.

That's what I was misssing, thank you Abarbs & Urmas. By going that route I can now add as many desktop pix as I like to the wallpaper folder.

In former Mint distros, and other Linux distros for that matter, using a desktop image was dead easy. Sometimes I get the impression that change is sometimes made just for the sake of change and isn't always a good thing. Oh well, I'm there now.

I've already downloaded all the Epson drivers they are in a folder in my Home directory. I'm using a 64 Bit version of Mint so shall select the three Urmas has listed and double click them all and see what occurs.

I do seem to recall though that maybe something else had to be installed first before installing drivers. Maybe not, perhaps I'm getting confused. Ok, let's give it a go.

After that, let's see if it will recognise a Microsoft Gamepad controller....