I am very new to Linux in general and antiX in particular.

[Member aha]

I am very new to Linux in general and antiX in particular. To introduce myself, I installed Ubuntu on my 64-bit desktop, and tried many light weight Linux on my 32-bit Aspire One netbook until I finally settled on antiX because it is the fastest OS system to load on this old 32-bit machine. I however am sruggling to learn my way through. for example, I am not able to figure out how to add a shortcut for an application on the desktop. Say I want to show an icon for LibreOffice on the desktop, how can I do it? I do a right click on LibreOffice on the hope that I get a sub-menu telling me save a shortcut to desktop.

What I would like to suggest is that we collectively create a document on how to use antiX; then we post it under Downloads. I will be happy to help on this project; it will give me a chance to shorten my learning curve.

[Moderator christophe]

Hi, aha, welcome!

I am not able to figure out how to add a shortcut for an application on the desktop

I hope you can follow along with this – It’s actually really simple (assuming your are using the default desktop):

1. Navigate your file manager to /usr/share/applications
2. Find the “libreoffice.desktop” file (or whichever application you want to make into a shortcut).
3. Drag-and-drop that file to your desktop.

Also, check these out:
http://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX-19/FAQ/index.html

Home Page

And after you’re ready, help us add to our wiki:
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page

• This reply was modified 4 weeks ago by christophe.

[Member Xecure]

Hello, and welcome!

You are right that antiX requires a bit of “manual labor” to configure things. Take a look at this article by PPC which should be able to introduce you to most of the things new users want to do:

Short essential how-to list for the complete Linux newbie

More info can be found in the FAQ and in the Tips and Tricks section in the forum.

Also, don’t hesitate to ask if you need help with anything.

And well done reviving the 32 bits computer!

[Moderator BobC]

Or, just add it to your toolbar… Click the pic to see where to find the Toolbar Icon Manager on the menu

• This reply was modified 4 weeks ago by BobC.

Attachments:

1. 

   screenshot_11.jpg
   

[Member skidoo]

for example, I am not able to figure out how to add a shortcut for an application on the desktop.
Say I want to show an icon for LibreOffice on the desktop,
I do a right click on LibreOffice

Each time a seemingly simple question like this is asked, potential respondants are left guessing “Are you using rox to manage the desktop, or spaceFM, or…”

The person asking, probably they are immersed in the “default” antiX experience ~~ in which the desktop session is (pre)set to “rox+icewm”… and, because by default autologin is enabled, the user might not even realize that other “possibilities” (other “experiences”) exist.

> collectively create a document on how to use antiX

Let’s carry that notion a bit further.
Imagine writing an “antiX vXX rox+icewm User Manual”, then collecting 61 translated versions of it…
(to support all of the lang= choices offered via the legacy bootmenu)
then, lather_rinse_repeat ~~ (62x) manuals for:
rox+jwm
rox+fluxbox
space+icewm
space+jwm
space+fluxbox
_______________
62 * 6 = 372

We can omit manuals for the barebones (“fluxbox”, “min-iceWM”, etc.) experiences, advising that “advanced users can figure it out, on their own”. Alternatively, we could altogether discard the “min” session possibilities; instead, the manual could coach how to customize the gamut of optionally autostarted desktop components/widgets.

The desktop-session startup would autodetect which lang= has been selected, as well as which sessiontype, and would automatically place a desktop shortcut pointing to a suitably-localized version the “antiX vXX YY+ZZ User Manual”.

[Moderator BobC]

Oh my, skidoo, 372 versions of a manual, yikes! That adds up to a lot of work. And then someone decides to change this or that…

Actually, with the newest App-Select if my custom add-ons were included, you would right click LibreOffice and click Copy to desktop, and it would add it to whatever desktop you are using.

@Aha, I don’t think this exists on standard antiX now, but you have to admit it would be cool…

Attachments:

1. 

   screenshot_12.jpg
   

[Moderator ModdIt]

Hi aha, welcome to antiX
May I encourage you to add starters to the toolbar with icewm as BobC suggested, having desktop icons means they are
often hidden behind open windows while working, move or close a window to click an icon, not efficient, especialy on a slower machine.
Set your toolbar to autohide and you have a clear work area, want to have more windows open, increase the number of
workspaces, I have 6 and just move between open applications, some of which are autostarted to desktop of choice.
Example: I login, claws opens my mail accounts and gets new mail, it is on first desktop (desktop 0 ) with the window size I
chose. Browser palemoon is open but minimized on second desktop.

There are also some excellent one click scripted setups available for fluxbox desktop which give a very windows like appearance and work
experience should that better fit your needs.

This all works fine on an EEPC which is somewhat similar to the device you have, i.e. also not in the list of most powerful devices :-).
I came to antiX because of that machine. Should you not have already done so, if possible fit maximum memory for your device, the performance
increase is well worth having.

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 6 days ago by ModdIt.

[Member seaken64]

Welcome to antiX. Yes, I remember having the same difficulty early on in my learning to use antiX. I had been using Windows and Ubuntu and was used to easily adding desktop icons (shortcuts). I did learn how to add shortcuts to the desktop, as already outlined above in the thread. But eventually I learned to do without that entire paradigm. I now appreciate the menus, toolbars and keybindings that are more commonly used with Linux distributions that use Window Managers and File Managers instead of the “Desktop Environment” setup used in Ubuntu.

Since you’re new to linux I suggest you try to learn about the options available for your “desktop” sessions before you decide what is best for you. The default “desktop” in antiX is rox-icewm. That means it uses the ROX desktop manager and file manager and the IceWM Window Manager. Spend some time learning how this works and then play with some of the other optional “desktops” – such as Fluxbox. I think you will find that it is this non-“Desktop Environment” desktop approach that gives antiX an edge on older and resource challenged machines.

Have fun,
seaken64

[Author]

Posts