Enlightenment - for those who have nothing better to do with an OS than change settings

Curiosity about the Enlightenment desktop drove me to use nearly 500MB of my internet-data allocation to install it on Ubuntu 22.04, which I now admit is nice, although in my opinion the workspace-switching scheme is a solution in search of a problem. In a nutshell, "Enlightenment" is a misleading name, because as far as I'm concerned, it's one of the least enlightened desktops I've used, although I never actually got around to using to do anything. For example, the default fonts are microscopic, and I couldn't figure out how to change them. Perhaps it was meant for developers to use as the basis for an actual desktop, such as Bodhi and Elive, by setting it up to make it usable.

The file manager (Fileman) is a PITA to use. To open an encrypted partition, I had to use Disks to unlock and mount it, but it still didn't appear in the file manager's devices-column, so to access it via the file manager (although it would have been easier to just keep using Disks), I had to go to the /media/<user-name> directory, and I finally found it. Perhaps it was meant to conceal encrypted partitions from those who aren't aware of them, but most other file managers display encrypted partitions in the devices-column as soon as they're plugged in. Bodhi Linux, which is Ubuntu combined with Enlightenment, uses Thunar, the XFCE file manager, which is one of my favorites, so I'm not the only one who doesn't like Fileman.

I was also expecting some sort of a whiz-bang window-manager which would make it easy to move from one to another, but as far as I can tell, that's not the case. Anyways, taskbars seem like the optimal approach for doing this when the window of interest is hidden behind another, and Enlightenment has an optional taskbar in addition to its "i-bar."

But it's not all bad - there are various innovative features, but they don't make up for the deficit in usability.

So, I'm not going to waste any more time on Enlightenment. My distro of choice is MX-Linux XFCE, because I can get a lot done with it, without having to change a lot of settings and figuring out how to change them, and it has the Snapshot tool that makes it easy to create an ISO of a configured MX-Linux installation, with all of the settings and added software. The resulting ISO can be turned into a live installation on a USB2 drive (instead of one of those warm/hot-running USB3 drives), and the resulting installation can be run on an air-gap PC, for the ultimate in security, since it retains no session-data upon shutdown. Instead, data would be saved on separate drives.

Using Conky standard MX-antiX configuration as disk I/O monitor

Rev 8/15/22

 

A good option for a disk I/O monitor is to install Conky (conky-std) and use the standard MX-antiX configuration (see image). To obtain the corresponding configuration file from MX-Linux, open the Home directory, press Ctl-H to display hidden files, then open the .conky directory, then the MX-antiX directory, and copy the "MX-antiX17" file and rename it Standard_antiX_Conky_conf_file.txt. The same version is supposedly on the internet, but I tried the posted version, but it didn't produce the same results, so below I have included a copy of the version which I copied from MX-Linux, which you could test on a live installation.

There are various ways to use it as the configuration file, one of which is to put it in a text file, name it conky.conf, and place it in the Home/.conky directory created by installing Conky. The previous conky.conf directory would have to be removed or renamed. Another way is to put it in a text file named whatever you like and placed wherever you like, although I'd name it Standard_antiX_Conky_conf_file.txt and put it in the .conky directory. Then shut Conky down and restart it with the command "conky -c <path/name of configuration file>." To get the path of a file, right-click on it and select Properties in the menu which appears.

Standard MX/antiX Conky configuration-script:

conky.config = {
-- Standard antiX .conkyrc file written by Team antiX.
-- Feel free to use.
-- anticapitalista@riseup.net

-- Note: delete the line above to disable automatic scaling with DPI
-- on the live system.

-- set to yes if you want Conky to be forked in the background
    background = true,

    short_units = true,

    cpu_avg_samples = 1,
    net_avg_samples = 1,

    out_to_console = false,

-- X font when Xft is disabled, you can pick one with program xfontsel
--font 7x12
--font 6x10
--font 7x13
    font = '8x12',
--font 7x12
--font *mintsmild.se*
--font -*-*-*-*-*-*-34-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
--font -artwiz-snap-normal-r-normal-*-*-100-*-*-p-*-iso8859-1

-- Use Xft?
    use_xft = true,

-- Xft font when Xft is enabled
--xftfont gentium:size=12
--ftfont DejaVu Sans:size=10
    font = 'DejaVu Sans:bold:size=9',
--xftfont DejaVu Sans:size=9

-- Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus, pcmanfm and rox desktops)
    own_window = true,
    own_window_transparent = true,
    own_window_hints = 'undecorated,sticky,skip_taskbar',

-- Text alpha when using Xft
    xftalpha = 1.0,

--on_bottom no

-- mail spool
-- mail_spool $MAIL

-- Update interval in seconds
    update_interval = 1,

-- Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
    double_buffer = true,

-- Minimum size of text area
    minimum_width = 5, minimum_height = 5,
    maximum_width = 180,

-- Draw shades?
    draw_shades = false,

-- Draw outlines?
    draw_outline = false,

-- Draw borders around text
    draw_borders = false,

-- Stippled borders?
    stippled_borders = 0,

-- border margins
--border_margin 10

-- border width
    border_width = 1,

-- Default colors and also border colors
    default_color = 'white',
    default_shade_color = 'white',
    default_outline_color = 'white',

    color1 = 'ffffff',
    color2 = 'ffffff',
    color3 = 'ffffff',
    color4 = 'yellow',
    color8 = '77ccff',
    color9 = '5599cc',

-- Text alignment, other possible values are commented
-- alignment top_left
    alignment = 'top_right',
--alignment bottom_left
--alignment bottom_right

-- Gap between borders of screen and text

    gap_x = 30,
    gap_y = 30,

-- Add spaces to keep things from moving about?  This only affects certain objects.
    use_spacer = 'right',

-- Subtract file system buffers from used memory?
    no_buffers = true,

-- if_up_strictness link:  up | link | address
    if_up_strictness = 'address',

-- set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
    uppercase = false,

-- boinc (seti) dir
-- seti_dir /opt/seti

--# antiX additives examples. Add below Text##
--#Battery examples##
--#${color}battery: ${color}$acpiacadapter, ${battery_percent BAT1}%
--#${color}battery:${color} ${battery}
--${color}ACPI Battery: ${color}$battery
--${battery_bar 11,0}
--#Wireless example##
--${color}Wireless:
--${color}essid: ${wireless_essid $template6}
--${color}IP:${color} ${addr $template6}
--${color}speed: ${color} ${wireless_bitrate $template6}
--${color}link strength: ${color} ${wireless_link_bar 7,50 $template6}


    own_window_argb_value = 0,
    own_window_argb_visual = true,
    own_window_colour = '000000',

-- time template
    
    template0 = [[${if_match "pmfix${time %p}" == "pmfix"}${time \1}${else}${time %I:%M}${endif}]],

-- battery templates

    template1 = [[${if_existing /sys/class/power_supply/BAT\1}\n${color}bat\1:${color3}${alignr}${battery_percent BAT\1}%\n${color1}$alignr${battery_bar 4,170 BAT\1}${endif}]],
    template2 = [[${template1 0}${template1 1}]],
    
-- network templates

--    template3 = [[${color}\1 \2: $alignr${color3} ${\2speed \1}\n${color2}$alignr${\2speedgraph   \1 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}]],
--    template4 = [[${if_up \1}${template3 \1 up}\n${template3 \1 down}\n${endif}]],
--    template5 = [[${template4 $template4}${template4 $template5}${template4 $template6}${template4 $template7}]],

    template4 = 'eth0',
    template5 = 'eth1',
    template6 = 'wlan0',
    template7 = 'wlan1',

    
};

-- fluxbox adjustment
return_code = os.execute('pidof -q fluxbox')
if _VERSION == 'Lua 5.1' and math.floor(return_code/256) == 0 or
   _VERSION ~= 'Lua 5.1' and return_code then
   conky.config.own_window_transparent = true
   conky.config.own_window_argb_visual = false
end

-- stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen

conky.text = [[
${color3}${alignc}MX Linux
${color8}$alignc${font DejaVu Sans:size=12}${template0 %H:%M}$font
${color}${alignc}${time %a %d %b}
${color}${alignc}Uptime: $uptime

${color}res:${alignr}${color3}${execi 600 xdpyinfo | awk '/dimensions/ { print $2}' }
${color}dpi:${alignr}${color3}${execi 600 xdpyinfo | awk '/resolution/ { sub(/x[0-9]*/,"",$2); print $2}' }
${color}cpu use:${alignr}${color3}${cpu}${color}%
${color}cpu freq:${color3}${alignr}${freq}
${color}$alignr${cpugraph cpu0 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}\
# battery
${template2}
${color}disk I/O:${alignr}${color3}${diskio}
${color}${alignr}${diskiograph 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}\
# network
${if_up $template4}
${color}$template4 up: $alignr${color3} ${upspeed $template4}
${color}$alignr${upspeedgraph   $template4 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}
${color}$template4 down: $alignr${color3} ${downspeed $template4}
${color2}$alignr${downspeedgraph $template4 30,170  5599cc 5599cc}${endif}${if_up $template5}
${color}$template5 up: $alignr${color3} ${upspeed $template5}
${color}$alignr${upspeedgraph   $template5 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}
${color}$template5 down: $alignr${color3} ${downspeed $template5}
${color2}$alignr${downspeedgraph $template5 30,170  5599cc 5599cc}${endif}${if_up $template6}
${color}$template6 up: $alignr${color3} ${upspeed $template6}
${color2}$alignr${upspeedgraph   $template6 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}
${color}$template6 down: $alignr${color3} ${downspeed $template6}
${color2}$alignr${downspeedgraph $template6 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}${endif}${if_up $template7}
${color}$template7 up: $alignr${color3} ${upspeed $template7}
${color2}$alignr${upspeedgraph   $template7 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}
${color}$template7 down: $alignr${color3} ${downspeed $template7}
${color2}$alignr${downspeedgraph $template7 30,170 5599cc 5599cc}${endif}
${color}${alignr}${color8}Used / Total
${color}mem:${alignr}$mem ${color3} /${color} $memmax
${color}swap:${alignr}$swap ${color3} /${color} $swapmax
${color}root:${alignr}${fs_used /} ${color3} /${color} ${fs_size /}
]]

Xubuntu 22.04: Not my top choice, but a serious contender

Although between MX-Linux 21 XFCE and Kubuntu 22.04, my OS-needs are fulfilled, I couldn't resist getting a copy of Xubuntu 22.04 and giving it a spin. What I found was basically a fun distribution with lot of good stuff, but also with some minor problems, and not a slick as Kubuntu 22.04 or Linux Mint 20.3. Still, I could easily live with it.

The main feature I wanted to try on Xubuntu was zooming the screen with a keyboard, which turned out to be easy, with the help of a couple of simple xdotool commands which someone posted to the internet:

running the following command from the terminal, zooms in:

xdotool keydown Alt click 4 keyup Alt

and this command zooms out:

xdotool keydown Alt click 5 keyup Alt

As he suggested, I turned them into shell scripts, but ultimately assigned each one to a function key. (First create the scripts, give them execute-permission, and then put them somewhere safe such as in a bash-scripts folder in your Home directory, and perhaps make them read-only so they can't be deleted inadvertently. To create a shortcut-key, select Settings in the main menu, then the Keyboard utility, and then the Application Shortcuts tab, and the rest should be obvious.) He suggested a key-combo, but each time the command is run, the display in or out by a discrete amount, and if you want to zoom more, you have to press the key-combo again, which isn't convenient. But by assigning it to a function key, I can hold the key down, and it continues to zoom, although still not smoothly.

My other main interest was whether it's particularly well suited for use as an offline installation which cannot be connected directly to the internet, which it isn't. However, it can be used as such using the technique I describe in this post for authenticating a package index obtained via APT-offline by installing it via APT-offline on an installation of the same type which has been updated via a direct internet connection.

A direct update installs missing keys and updates outdated keys, but without providing any indication that this is taking place. I learned this accidentally, by entering "echo 'Binary::apt::APT::Keep-Downloaded-Packages "1";' | sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10apt-keep-downloads" (which can be copied w/o the beginning and ending quotes, and pasted into the command-line via Ctl-Shift-V, and ensures that software-modules which are installed via a direct connection are retained in /var/cache/apt/archives after being installed - the archives-directory is the destination for software-modules downloaded as part of the normal installation-process). I entered this command before performing a direct update on Kubuntu 22.04, and later found the Debian-archive-keyring package in the archives-directory even though I hadn't installed it or anything which requires it. So, it was obviously installed during the direct update, without any indication that it was being done. As far as I've been able to determine, there is no other way to install or update keys, without a thorough familiarity with the APT security system, and as far as I can tell, there are no current, publicly-available descriptions of this system.

Although debian-archive-keyring apparently isn't installed during the initial direct update on Xubuntu 22.04, as it is on Kubuntu 22.04, some keys are apparently installed or updated on Xubuntu 22.04, because until a direct update is installed, some of the required keys are apparently missing or outdated, as indicated by the "cannot authenticate packages" (CAP)-warnings which appear when installing software, using a package index which has been installed via APT-offline. (The package manager, APT, is disabled until the package index is updated. The direct update required a 45MB download, and the update via APT-offline required about 48MB.) It appears that APT's developers designed its security system so that keys can be updated whenever necessary, without regard for a schedule, and distributed with updates, so that the updated package index can be authenticated.

Xubuntu 22.04 has a good selection of apps, although the text-editor doesn't have a functional spelling-checker (it has a plugin, but I couldn't get it to work). One of my posts describes a "custom action" for Thunar, XFCE's file manager, for opening text-files with the spelling-checker Aspell (included in Xubuntu) by right-clicking on them and selecting the spelling-check option. The image viewer is great except for its limited zoom-capability, so I usually install Eye of Mate. Although Xubuntu has some good widgets, it doesn't have a disk I/O widget, but you could use Conky with the MX-Linux standard configuration (described in one of my posts), nmon, or GKrellM. I decided against installing APT-offline's GUI, because it would have required many packages, totaling about 18MB. Installing Kdenlive would require a 200MB download, as opposed to 60MB for Kubuntu 22.04.

Xubuntu 22.04 doesn't have a package-installer GUI, which surprised and disappointed me until I realized that the command "sudo dpkg -i <deb-pkg>" accomplishes the same thing. So, I was wrong about not being able to install APT-offline on plain Ubuntu until the package index is updated.

The bottom line is that although Xubuntu 22.04 isn't the most highly-polished distro I've used, and it has some minor problems which are apparently left as an exercise for the user, it's fun to use, unlike some distros I've used, such as MX-Linux Fluxbox, which is too much work for too little reward, and not sufficiently polished for my tastes. But Fluxbox is fast, and compared to antiX, which looks as if it was designed by someone who is legally blind, and which for example can't copy/paste between apps or open encrypted drives without entering text-commands, even Fluxbox is very user-friendly.