Is it time to "start a standard session"?

Question

Hi!
I've been happy for a long time with my startx + xinitrc "lightweight"  environment. Using compiz as a tiling WM, some "independent" things like conky and geany... some xfce stuff... But it seems to get more and more complicated to keep stuff from breaking or to get new features working. And the parts of xfce I'm using constantly seem to loose functionality or pull more "crap" (gnome packages) that they need to work properly.
Is it time to move on and "start a session"? Maybe a gnome-session (can't get rid of gnome dependencies anyway -.-)? Or will xfce work better if I start it the way it seems to be intended?
Or am I just doing it wrong and should keep looking for better / newer alternativ for the things that "break" - component by component?
In case you're wondering: at the moment, I can only mount usb devices as root. Something is spamming my log files because it wants "more dbus" or "less dbus" - not sure, but I'll soon have to empty those again before I run out of disk space if I don't have time to figure out what's it about & fix the problem by then.  I've gotten used to avoid copy+paste when it comes url's, file locations etc because most programs stated using different "strange paths" like "file://" - which do not work in others... sometimes, broken stuff "pops up", because it got pulled along by a new "feature" of something I have used for years and that is now trying to swallow something else that I have used for years... and a lot more that I already got used to and forgot but that most likely is still having an influence on my work grumpiness level
Opinions, hints? Thanks!
Last edited by whoops (2011-03-17 13:59:04)

Answer 1

Thanks!
Inxsible wrote:
whoops wrote:.....scale plugin etc very extensively, almost can't work without it
I used to think that I couldn't work without a panel until I went cold turkey one day and simply uninstalled it from my openbox setup.
I am sort of working without a panel (and without window decorations), but If I get "cold turkey" off compiz, I need binoculars... and maybe a guy that carries my keyboard around after me or something like that. And I don't even know where to begin if I want to dim windows that are too bright easily without brightness plugin. Also many more things.
You have to realize that the DE's are huge.
Yes... but so is "my" Desktop Enviroment and there I'm sort of alone. Some of the bugs concern hardly anyone else. And even worse are those that are not really "bugs", just a "change in the way stuff has to be configured by the user that doesn't happen automatically". Lots of those.
whoops wrote:...problems with "updates breaking stuff / time you need to keep everything working" getting more and more over the last year or so
With the rolling release nature of Arch and the fact that its aimed at intermediate to expert level users, you have to expect breakage and the ability to fix your system for yourself. If you don't find this appealing, Arch, unfortunately, might not be for you. Other alternatives do exist.
I find this "appealing". It's not "the breakage & fixing" per-see that bothers me - it's the amount. It seems to grow & get worse. A year ago, I had to spend a few hours a week, some stuff was broken for a while sometimes and that was fine - helped me learn. Now I'm not an expert but I know a lot more already than a year ago, but with only the "few hours a week" fixing stuff, a lot more is always broken than it used to be. Not sure if I chose the wrong applications... or the wrong ways to do stuff... or if it's just the way that is at the moment with so many important updates and maybe small / unusual solutions "being left behind" in a way...?
whoops wrote:Guess it'd take me a few months to adjust... stuff / myself).
You said it !
Problem is, I don't know to what - can't try everything for a few months...
So you'd all guess, that switching to a "standard session" would most likely not work out much better than "beginning anew with other 'random' / independent components" or "just keeping up what I've been doing until everything works"?
XFCE seems to be a main offender these days
Mmmh... or maybe just get rid of xfce first? Things actually got less confusing when I went from gnome to xfce a few years ago... but xfce changed and I already threw out most of it (just I can't find a terminal / file manager that suits me better... mmh, don't really need a file manager beside the termina...).
functionality(
Thunar[which I only use for thumbnails / media files]
+ xfce4-volman
+ xfce4-panel[which I only use for alsa volume control])
) =< functionality(
lighttpd+php[for thumbnails / media files / browser as media player]
+ autofs
+ alsa-mixer[in a terminal widget layer]
Or something? I might find a better combination... Don't know... Never tried that "picasa" thing all the "windows people" are talking of. Maybe that's something that I should consider when I "long for thumbnails" instead of running local website...
Simpler is always better, so I would say if you like compiz stick to it, as stripped down as possible, and then try to only use cli or at least non-DE (non-gtk2/qt) apps as much as possible. At least ones without a ton of dependencies.
After about 2 years of hating gconf, my system is pretty much stripped of everything it can be stripped off without having to add more than I removed. There's still gstreamer, but I guess the reasons for choosing that over the others are mostly all broken or replaced by now... the rest isn't that bad. gtk2 I like by the way - as long as it's not trying to pull half of gnome (evolution-data-server... gconf... really not sure, surrendering isn't easier than killing those over and over again).
Maybe I'll just do more "customizing" until (a) all is all fine or (b) I'm so traumatized I have to switch to windows - whatever comes first. Not sure yet. Maybe I'm more confused than in the beginning... gotta sleep over that.
Last edited by whoops (2011-03-17 15:48:50)