- This topic has 41 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated Oct 28-8:57 am by ile.
-
Posts
-
augusteBurin
Hello folks, riding like a hero on antiX21 and iceWM, I dream of a useful feature for my wife born in mac and windoz universes.
The machine is old, and after a click on the taskbar in order to open , let’s say , Libreoffice Writer or Thunderbird, there are some seconds where there is no visible proof that the machine got your command. Would there be a way to make a change in the aspect of something on the desktop (pointer change, color change of icon or a little dance?) just to signify that something will soon come, and thus avoiding taskbar-icon-torture ?
Is this a pure IceWM subject?
Could be useful for other users?
Thank in advance
AB
christophe
I like to glance at conky for that type of confirmation. If you have conky running (with the antiX default setup), you’ll see a pronounced spike in cpu activity on the CPU graph when a program is starting. That will let you know something is happening.
confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019
BobC
Yes, since you are running IceWM, glancing at your CPU and Memory monitor graphs on the taskbar, you should be able to see something is happening starting almost immediately after you click.
augusteBurin
Ok, but that will never be enough for my wife!
oops
Ok, but that will never be enough for my wife!
A workaround can be with a custom menu like (via a terminal):
xterm -geometry 80x25+15+5 -hold -e "libreoffice --writer" xterm -geometry 80x25+15+5 -hold -e "thunderbird"Along the same lines as oops suggestion, you could program the toolbar with a little script that play the Jeopardy Think Music for a while https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWuQVpBeqLs
One week of that and I bet she’d be happy to check the CPU monitor 🙂
Is the machine that slow? Why not just run the programs she uses at boot automatically so she doesn’t need to click them?
That’s whay Moddit does for his kids, and how I setup my wife’s PC.
augusteBurin
…”you could program the toolbar with a little script that play the Jeopardy Think Music for a while…”
I thought of that too, but the loudspeakers are seldom switched on. And I would need to learn how to create scripts, which is surely an excellent idea, then I could go for a sound like this:
https://soundbible.com/680-Rigid-Fart.html
best regards
ab- This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by augusteBurin.
- This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by augusteBurin.
- This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by augusteBurin.
Wallon
Dear augusteBurin,
This thread is really fun.
I too am watching the Conky.
If I could choose, I’d get a circle that spins in the middle of the screen.Best regards,
WallonaugusteBurin
Yeah! Let’s get a circle that spins! Santa Claus, you there?
And dear Santa Oops, I yet don’t know how to realize your workaround, but after some study I still don’t figure out where to put those lines.
AB
(Eternal Newbie)- This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by augusteBurin.
No matter how you try to do it, the window manager doesn’t have this functionality built in, so a script of some kind would need to be written and called by the toolbar, replacing the regular program being called.
As I would see it, the script could:
1. pop up your spinning wheel
2. make a list of open windows
3. start a timeout counter
4. execute libreoffice writer & or thunderbird &
5. do loop
6. make a fresh list of open windows
7. spin the wheel and sleep 1 second
8. see if a new window was opened, if yes, you are done, so exit
9. if timeout counter exceeded, you are done, so exit
10. loop back to step 6augusteBurin
Thank you,
Things are getting serious. I’ll have to start learning scripts.
In case anyone is already scripting around, I would also be happy with easier (and lighter) things than spinning wheels, like for example a pointer change, or why not a haiku in a yad :
old pond frog leaps in water’s soundSo if this is easier:
1. pop up yad haiku close to the mouse pointer
2. make a list of open windows
3. start a timeout counter
4. execute libreoffice writer & or thunderbird &
5. do loop
6. make a fresh list of open windows
7. spin the wheel andsleep 1 second
8. see if a new window was opened, if yes, you are done, so exit
9. if timeout counter exceeded, you are done, so exit
10. loop back to step 6have a nice day (Every day is a good day, J Cage)
- This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by augusteBurin.
Its called pseudo-code. It becomes documentation and explains how the program should work, from a design view.
Step 8 and 7 should be swapped. If the window was added, just exit. No need to sleep another second before exiting.
See if you can figure out how to code it…
augusteBurin
Personally, I would need about a year to make that! meanwhile I hope.
Then you should consider some of the easy answers posted above.
Again, Moddit and I have had good success with non-techies just starting the browser and email programs at startup so they can just use them when they come up.
ModdIt
hi augusteBurin, in the first post you wrote the machine is old and not very responsive.
Making bouncy spinning doodads and sounds will slow start of applications even more.
Max out system memory, fit an SSD if possible and keep the system as light as possible.
If your wife complains antiX with ICEWM is too slow install windoze 10 and take some
vacation, safer than ear protection….
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
