Dual disk, dual boot for Mint, but system boots straight into Windows.

[ancient spade]

i think there's a fix by putting specific startup parameter to not look at root=UUID thing

but i wanna see fstab first

[remote smelt]

i wanna see it too

[fringe tangle]

"command not found"

[ancient spade]

it's not a command bro

[fringe tangle]

oh

[ancient spade]

open file manager

go to sdb2 (linux)

[fringe tangle]

opened

[ancient spade]

find etc folder

[fringe tangle]

found it

[ancient spade]

go in it

fstab is a white fil in there

type fst and it should take u there

[fringe tangle]

it isn't a folder, but a txt file

[ancient spade]

i said that. white file

[ancient spade]

good they match

what is not good, is that cd adapter

so install linux to the available 11.8 GB space remaining on sda

[fringe tangle]

ok, but how?

the option doesn't appear for me

[ancient spade]

run the installer

open gparted, and show sda now please

[ancient spade]

right-click sda1. unmount

right click it again. resize.

[fringe tangle]

okay

and now?

[ancient spade]

show it

[fringe tangle]

just gimme a second

[ancient spade]

the sizer window popup

[fringe tangle]

I'll drink some water

ok, I'm back

[ancient spade]

ya right click it and pick "resize"

show that popup

[ancient spade]

drag the right edge to the left

JUST the right edge

dont drag anything but that

then show it

[fringe tangle]

I think I'll record it

[ancient spade]

no i cant see the video good

[ancient spade]

just shrink it. drag from right to left

fine i'll have to download the vid

[fringe tangle]

I need to know when stop it

[ancient spade]

click in the free space 'following' field, put 12,000 then press Tab

then click resize button

[fringe tangle]

now there are 3 unallocated partitions

[ancient spade]

show pic

[ancient spade]

u did it wrong. cancel no changes

i said put 12000 in the space following

supposed to show big grey on the right

[fringe tangle]

where?

[ancient spade]

just watch the video u sent

space following . dont go 12,036, stop at 12,000

[fringe tangle]

ok, now it is set

next step?

[ancient spade]

did u hit the checkmark?

@fringe tangle

[fringe tangle]

yeah

[ancient spade]

ok close gparted. open installer

do 'something else' option like before

tag me when ur here.

@fringe tangle

[fringe tangle]

I'm back

it is finished

now it is right

[ancient spade]

i said tag me.. what happened?

@fringe tangle dont keep me in suspense.. what happened?

[fringe tangle]

"unmount partitions that are in use?"

[ancient spade]

no

i mean yes

yes.

[fringe tangle]

WHAT?

[ancient spade]

what exact step are u at

[fringe tangle]

ah shit-

[ancient spade]

sigh

i fogot to tell u but delete sdb2 from sdb

[fringe tangle]

ok, I'm in installation part

[ancient spade]

u can still do it anyway from the chart page

but u have to unmount the things

[fringe tangle]

really?

[ancient spade]

can just restart installer

[fringe tangle]

ok

[ancient spade]

yes because otherwise it will get confused, too many linux mints! 😛

[fringe tangle]

deleted

now is everything unmounted, so I think that advice will not appear anymore

@ancient spade pls remember me what are we doing

[fringe tangle]

and I'm here too

[ancient spade]

ok

find sda, find the free space u just made, 12 GB

hit the plus sing, make like last time, ext4 mount at: /

and change bottom box for boot loader to say sda

then show pic.

🕥 💀

[fringe tangle]

I'm back

[ancient spade]

...

done @fringe tangle

take 20 seconds to set those things and post a picture.

[ancient spade]

ok hit install.

i hope u did not unmount the usb stick or the Loop device.

[fringe tangle]

"no EFI system partition was found"

[ancient spade]

skip

[fringe tangle]

Continue?

[ancient spade]

ya

[fringe tangle]

That's the last thing I'll do for today, because I'll sleep

[ancient spade]

k

[fringe tangle]

will it fix my Windows?

[ancient spade]

should

then again u have infinite bad luck

if ur wifi was on today or u got mx iso last night this could have been fixed way sooner

i think the cd tray chip is no good for booting

only for storage.

in which case, you'd have to rearrange ur sda anyway

should be done now, @fringe tangle

[fringe tangle]

almost there

[ancient spade]

if doesnt boot, then tomorrow send me the exact "Boot Information Summary" text,

and do boot repair

because this is legacy old bios, such a pain the ass for 2025

[fringe tangle]

finished

I'll reboot

ok, now only Mint booted up

[ancient spade]

yayyyyyyyyy

[fringe tangle]

thank God

[ancient spade]

see it was the stupid cd tray or hdd

now in the install,

open terminal

do sudo os-prober

what is result?

[fringe tangle]

/dev/sda1:Windows 10 :Windows :chain

[ancient spade]

and linux too right?

[fringe tangle]

uhhhh, lemme see

no

only this one

[ancient spade]

ok whatever. do sudo update-grub

use proper sudo password

[fringe tangle]

It didn't ask me for the password this time

and it is done

[ancient spade]

k np. timer

ok next,

sudo mousepad /etc/default/grub

what's it show for grub timeout , and grub timeout style?

sorry

wrong

[fringe tangle]

no problem

[ancient spade]

ok fixed

do command

[fringe tangle]

"command not found"

[ancient spade]

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

...

well??

[fringe tangle]

it worked

[ancient spade]

what it say

[fringe tangle]

it seems that is a text file that I can edit

[ancient spade]

.

[fringe tangle]

"GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB TIMEOUT_STYLE = hidden
GRUB_TIMEOUT = 10"

[ancient spade]

change the word "hidden" to say menu

[remote smelt]

is there any progress?

[ancient spade]

put the timeout from 10 to a 5

yes monika

[remote smelt]

Sorry i had a nap.

[ancient spade]

booted linux mint off ssd no problem!

[fringe tangle]

Okay, how I save it?

[fringe tangle]

I need some sleep too

[remote smelt]

oh thats good! what was the problem with it?

[ancient spade]

u put menu right after the equal sign, yes?

...

[fringe tangle]

yeah

[ancient spade]

ctrl-o

then enter

[fringe tangle]

like this?

[ancient spade]

then ctrl-x

yes

[fringe tangle]

ok, the command worked and I'm back to terminal

and now?

[ancient spade]

now sudo update-grub

then reboot

[fringe tangle]

done

(the update)

lemme reboot it

YES

YES

[ancient spade]

both?

[fringe tangle]

FINALLY

[fringe tangle]

YEAH

[ancient spade]

I told u Plan 2 would have good chance of working

[fringe tangle]

tomorrow I'll try to install on the HDD

[ancient spade]

im not stupid or crazy

does windows boot now?

[ancient spade]

forget that shit. it's not going to work

use that drive for all storage

[fringe tangle]

can I use it as Linux storage?

[ancient spade]

make 50 GB space on ssd, then stretch linux bigger

and u can put all ur shit on the 500 gb drive

[ancient spade]

windows and linux

[fringe tangle]

ok, just asking

[ancient spade]

but right now u have only 12 GB linux. that's almost zero room for programs and other cache

u will need to stretch it

[fringe tangle]

if I delete all partitions of the HDD, I'll be able to save all the things?

[fringe tangle]

for me, it is ok

my goal is use Linux for coding and internet browsing

[ancient spade]

dude it's not enough. it will crash

proably in a week

u HAVE to make room.

go in windows now, delete the ISO

and delete more garbage

use ccleaner

[fringe tangle]

CCleaner?

really?

[ancient spade]

u can also delete the windows hiberfil.sys from C:\ since u never hibernate

hibefil is sleep file for hibernation and wastes like many gigabytes of space

and make 1,000,000% sure that fast-startup is off/disabled in Windows.

and also in windows cmd (admin) do chkdisk /f to scan n repair filesystem

[fringe tangle]

ok, I'll do this

just cleaning the storage

[ancient spade]

mhm

[fringe tangle]

I need to do this?

[ancient spade]

definitely

since u resized

[fringe tangle]

I'm afraid to mess with chkdsk again

[ancient spade]

or at least just chkdsk (no /f) to only scan to examine for errors

[fringe tangle]

ok

almost 12GB cleaned, is that enough?

@ancient spade

[ancient spade]

yes did u remove hiberfil.sys?

[fringe tangle]

I prefer not remove this for a while

[ancient spade]

ok

did u remove the mint ISO, and any other ISO?

[fringe tangle]

yes

[ancient spade]

ok

[fringe tangle]

I only have a Tiny Core ISO that I'm using in a Virtual Machine

[ancient spade]

do u want to leave for tomorrow?

[fringe tangle]

It will take a long time?

[ancient spade]

eh. 1/2 hour maybe

or 20 min

[fringe tangle]

so, yeah

I prefer

I tag you here and we do the operation

[ancient spade]

ok tomorrow, sure

[fringe tangle]

we will make this new storage be used by Linux, correct?

[ancient spade]

yes and make better DATA partition

[fringe tangle]

ok, great

thank you again bro, you saved me, seriously

[ancient spade]

yw. it was tough but all good

[fringe tangle]

only took a lot of time, but that's normal

I need to sleep after all these work

[ancient spade]

i need to relax too

[fringe tangle]

OH NO

rebooted just to see if it would work again

[ancient spade]

😒

[fringe tangle]

a new error

[ancient spade]

that's the cd maybe?

check boot order again

[fringe tangle]

nothing wrong

Hard Drive (SSD) is the first

[ancient spade]

what OS were u using last?

is there a fastboot setting in the bios? if so, turn off

[fringe tangle]

Windows 10

[ancient spade]

ok leave it for today

[fringe tangle]

yeah

I was so happy

[karmic furnace]

The only way is to force reinstall grub in chroot manually. At least to see why it fails.

Assuming /dev/sda is mint drive and /dev/sda2 is the root partition. Switch the user to root to don't lock yourself in chroot.

mkdir -p /mnt/a
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/a
mount --rbind /sys /mnt/a/sys
mount --rbind /dev /mnt/a/dev
mount -t proc /proc /mnt/a/proc
chroot /mnt/a
grub-install /dev/sda
cp /boot/grub/grub.cfg /boot/grub/grub.cfg.bk
update-grub
exit

[fringe tangle]

Hi guys, I'm back

I guess I'll try to recover my PC, or start doing it

So, I need help

This was the last screen that I've saw, after rebooting my PC

I was using Windows 10 and it was ok, until I reboot to test if it really worked

@ancient spade @remote smelt

[ancient spade]

hello

try typing normal at that prompt

n then enter

[remote smelt]

try this first

sorry stunner XD

[fringe tangle]

"unknown command normal"

plan B?

[ancient spade]

ok. i would try the Linux Mint Boot repair tool

[fringe tangle]

Live ISO?

[ancient spade]

simply have it do the recommended repair

yes

[fringe tangle]

ok, it is booting up

[ancient spade]

then u should be able to boot back into Windows after.. and u will have to do powercfg /h off from admin cmd prompt.

I think that is what caused the messup last time.

fast start was still on

that or a Windows update did something

[fringe tangle]

no, I didn't update Windows

and it didn't ask for any update

[ancient spade]

mkay

[fringe tangle]

ok, I did reco repair

and now?

[ancient spade]

reboot

[fringe tangle]

oh, it worked

no problems, nothing

[ancient spade]

which OS u went into?

[fringe tangle]

Win 10

[ancient spade]

ok immediately do that thing

[fringe tangle]

CMD command?

[ancient spade]

open cmd admin

[fringe tangle]

okay

it was supposed to appear something on screen?

[ancient spade]

no

[fringe tangle]

so it worked

[ancient spade]

if no errors it is done

[fringe tangle]

and now?

reboot to test GRUB?

[ancient spade]

ok next thing, i think you should get rid of any signatures on the storage disk

yeah reboot to Linux on SSD from grub

[fringe tangle]

oh good, no

NO

[ancient spade]

hm?

[fringe tangle]

Windows blue screen

blue screen loop, actually

[ancient spade]

u mean as u were attempting a shutdown?

[fringe tangle]

at least it is repairing itself automatically

[fringe tangle]

I rebooted my PC, and when my PC turned on, it happened

[ancient spade]

you should go in BIOS, and take that CD/DVD completely off the boot order.

100% off

because maybe it has some bootloader on it which is interfering

[fringe tangle]

I guess I can't bro

I mean, I don't know how to make it

[ancient spade]

put it to very bottom of list then

once that is done, boot to Linux.

[fringe tangle]

oh, Windows repaired by itself

perfect

[fringe tangle]

done

Windows it just taking more time to boot, but it is working, so, it's enough

[ancient spade]

i would still wipe that other disk. the HDD

in a special way

once u make sure anything u moved to that DATA partition is still available on the Windows system

do FULL wipe. (with gparted) then parition exactly half of it from Windows Disk Management to be NTFS

and other half using DISKS application in Linux Mint (installed version) make it to ext4. and put good labels.

eg: one of them (NTFS) WINDATA. The other one (ext4) LIN_DATA

[fringe tangle]

ok, I'm back

[ancient spade]

where did u go?

[fringe tangle]

drinking water

[fringe tangle]

well, I can't access Mint

GRUB isn't appearing anymore

[ancient spade]

why not?

ok well boot the LIVE usb. again. must clean up two things

[fringe tangle]

what's your plan?

[ancient spade]

looks like Windows undid the boot repair from before

plan 1 is to make SURE everything u put on the DATA drive, u already have it exactly wherever that data came from

then delete it 100% using new partition table

to erase any possible MBR signatures

[fringe tangle]

lemme test something first

[ancient spade]

after that, from live system, do sudo os-prober and after, sudo update-grub

[fringe tangle]

I just can access "DATA" files on Linux

[ancient spade]

using what?

[fringe tangle]

it is obvious, because it has ext4 filesystem, I guess

[fringe tangle]

Thunar

[fringe tangle]

delete what?

[ancient spade]

are you in the live desktop rn?

...

[fringe tangle]

I was

tried boot repair again

It didn't work

[ancient spade]

ha

[fringe tangle]

I will just backup some things before doing something

[ancient spade]

so u just boot to windows?

[fringe tangle]

enjoy while Windows is running properly

[fringe tangle]

yeah

[ancient spade]

just leave it then. if u want to use Linux, buy a usb to SATA cable and use the hdd externally

and when u go to install to external, TAKE THE WINDOWS DRIVE OFF THE MOTHERBOARD/ DISCONNECT.

put back when finished

[fringe tangle]

hm, ok so

maybe I'll erase Windows and download Linux some time

just asking something

I don't want to waste this HDD, how can I active it to use with Windows?

[ancient spade]

just wipe off

n reformat it to NTFS in disk management

[fringe tangle]

It will not work on CD tray?

[ancient spade]

not for booting

if u want to boot whatever OS from that drive, get sata to usb bridge cable

[remote smelt]

even if it was possible, using only disk is way too slow

[fringe tangle]

no, just for storage

[ancient spade]

hdd isnt that slow on linux anyway

[fringe tangle]

I'll give up of installing Linux on this PC for a while

maybe

[remote smelt]

was he talking like a laser disk or HDD? i thought he meant the first one

[ancient spade]

hdd in a cd slot

I'm stepping out of this.

[fringe tangle]

oh, my HDD appeared on Windows

perfect

[fringe tangle]

thank you for all your help bro, you saved me

and thank you all guys

@ancient spade so, I can erase the partition that Linux was installed, right?

[ancient spade]

risky

might break grub worse

[fringe tangle]

hm, okay

I don't want to break the boot again

at least I have storage to play some games

[fringe tangle]

@ancient spade hello bro, just another question

would another distro work on that HDD or not?

[ancient spade]

no

only if u use SATA-to-USB cable bridge

[fringe tangle]

I literally bought this CD adapter because I thought it wouldn't work

[karmic furnace]

I think you can make an USB drive with live persistence. When you want to use linux, just boot of the USB drive and that is it. All your files will be saved on the USB drive. Also dont need to mess with grub.

Read-write speed may not be so great but it will work.

[fringe tangle]

actually, it doesn't save my work after I reboot my PC, unfortunately

I think I'll try to install it on another external HDD that I have

If everything works correctly, I'll tell you here.

[fringe tangle]

(only showing that I finally installed Linux without any problems)

(running from an external HDD)

[ancient spade]

nice.

[fringe tangle]

now I can have fun with my OS

[ancient spade]

one warning. you should make a bootable usb using Ventoy, and keep Supergrub2 img on it, and Mint ISO too on it. In case something stops booting right (like Windows) you can use supergrub to start it.

Ventoy guide: #1295816480256163892 message

(6 steps)

Supergrub: #1200928716415566005 message

@fringe tangle ^

both Mint iso, and supergrub can fit on one 4 GB usb, prepared with ventoy.

then you will be all set in case something goes wrong.

[fringe tangle]

hm, ok

I'll do it

I've already used Ventoy, only didn't know about Supergrub

[ancient spade]

it's good to get familiar with it, and its orang screen menu

[fringe tangle]

orange screen?

the last time I used Ventoy, it was a white screen with a list of the OS that were on the USB stick

[ancient spade]

yes, you still use that to launch supergrub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JfU2lFucgQ

just make sure you extract it. (makes one big IMG file, which u then copy that to ventoy.)

[fringe tangle]

when I install it, I'll be here to ask for help

[fringe tangle]

@ancient spade When I open a app, it shows 2 sentences on taskbar, can I change it to something that looks like of Windows?

[ancient spade]

idk what you mean.

on xfce ?

[fringe tangle]

example : Vivaldi appears 2 times on panel, to show that are 2 instances running

Can I do something to change it?

[ancient spade]

how many vivaldi windows do you have open?

[fringe tangle]

2

but that's the point, I don't want them showing on panel

sometimes I click on wrong instance

[ancient spade]

that pic is in Linux right? with a modified start button?

[fringe tangle]

yeah

the Mint logo

[ancient spade]

do you want to see buttons with labels?

[fringe tangle]

I want something like this if possible (ignore the text pls)

so if there's no way to confusing which instance is the right

[ancient spade]

install DockbarX

[fringe tangle]

lemme search for it

[ancient spade]

and use it to replace the "window buttons" applet that xfce comes with

I presume you're using xfce

[fringe tangle]

yeah

I couldn't use CInnamon with HDD lol

I can't install it

[ancient spade]

dockbar?

[fringe tangle]

yeah

[ancient spade]

why not?

[fringe tangle]

there are some errors with terminal

sudo apt-get install dockbarx
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package dockbarx

(oh God, finally I can copy the terminal lines)

[ancient spade]

open software manager

n look it up

[fringe tangle]

it isn't avaliable

[ancient spade]

click the line menu in sw mgr

and do refresh packages

or similar wording

[fringe tangle]

ok, forget what I said, now it installed

or almost

"unable to locate package dockbarxC"

[ancient spade]

idk what that is

[fringe tangle]

so I have a problem now

[ancient spade]

?

[fringe tangle]

if you don't know

I'll try to fix this tomorrow

I will not search for problems now

[ancient spade]

it is in a PPA. sorry I didnt realize it. see this article. shows the simple commands on how to add private package archive (PPA) and install it and some themes for it. https://averagelinuxuser.com/dockbarx-xfce/

he has his own youtube channel too. good guy.

[fringe tangle]

oh, that's great

[fringe tangle]

@ancient spade update : I couldn't install the dependencies

[ancient spade]

oh. sorry to hear. do u have synaptic?

if not, get it.

then search "docklike taskbar for xfce"

it may say it is a plugin

once installed, then right click panel> add items

and add 'dock-like taskbar' and move it where you want

and remove the 'window buttons' item

[fringe tangle]

what is this? I've never heard about it

and I needed to get rid of my old internet browser, F

[ancient spade]

https://youtu.be/qxnM0rvVbDc?t=304 (5:04) how to use Synaptic, thorough and simple. best for searching key components and things the software manager may not find.

[fringe tangle]

ok, lemme see

only a question : I know that it isn't the intent of XFCE (actually, it is the opposite, because it was supposed to be more lightweight), but is there any way to set animations to the windows?

[fringe tangle]

and how do I change the lock screen wallpaper? it only appears when I set some of the standard wallpapers, but not a image that I downloaded

[ancient spade]

no, the only effects with the windows are in "window manager tweaks" for transparency while moving them. The lock screen wallpaper I think you have to put your image (with root mode file manager) into /usr/share/wallpaper/

[fringe tangle]

well, I can survive with it

[ancient spade]

did u find dock-like taskbar in synaptic?

[fringe tangle]

I found the DockbarX plugin

it is installing

installed

[ancient spade]

really?? it was in synaptic, or u had to do via PPA?

[fringe tangle]

synaptic

[ancient spade]

oh wow cool. I dont even have it on Debian. but I used to have it once on an old distro

I'll show u a pic of how I had it set up

[fringe tangle]

okay

[ancient spade]

I forgot the dockbarX preset, but it's the one that shows like nightlights shining down on the minimized windows, and I changed the colour of the active window to bright green

and when more than one of same task is open, it shows a number of how many

[fringe tangle]

it is appearing the instances of the apps

but the standard panel is activated at the same time

(the black box is DockbarX)

[ancient spade]

ya , remember I said to turn off the "window buttons" ITEM in 'panel preferences'

[ancient spade]

.

[fringe tangle]

Where?

[ancient spade]

i just said

[fringe tangle]

I'm on panel preferences already

[ancient spade]

right click on panel space

yes, now...

go to Items tab

[fringe tangle]

hm

[ancient spade]

search list for it

and click whatever button like (-) or remove

[fringe tangle]

so, I have to delete the buttons

ok

[ancient spade]

window buttons is the item i think

[fringe tangle]

all of them?

[ancient spade]

you can also remove launchers or leave them for now, til you learn how to set launchers up in dockbar

no just the window buttons item

[fringe tangle]

oh shit-

are you talking about the clock and the notifications?

[ancient spade]

no

just window buttons

show me the list of items if you're not sure. scroll it and look good though

[fringe tangle]

and another separator

all of them just to set the apps on the middle

[ancient spade]

where is dockbar?

[fringe tangle]

I didn't add it, I was trying to delete the buttons that you've said

[ancient spade]

i usually put "show desktop" to bottom of list, so it shows on far right of panel, like in Windows

[ancient spade]

you have to add the dockbarx plugin to that list

[fringe tangle]

added

[ancient spade]

move it in list below whisker menu, and below first "launcher"

U can drag or click the arrows up/dn

and delete "window buttons"

[fringe tangle]

before window buttons, right?

[ancient spade]

yep

[fringe tangle]

so, just delete it?

oh-

THAT is the window buttons

[ancient spade]

yes. to re-add if u wish, u press + button

[fringe tangle]

sorry, I didn't see it

removed

is it already working?

[ancient spade]

prob.

close panel prefs

[fringe tangle]

thank you

[ancient spade]

and opeen more applications

you can also edit the dockbar config. it has many preset themes to see

i think either right click, edit/prefs or go back to panel prefs> Items: highlight dockbarx plugin, and there's a small settings icon near bottom

or find "dockbarX settings" from start menu

[fringe tangle]

but the apps that are "pinned" on the panel will keep appearing, right?

example

[ancient spade]

those are those "launcher" items you saw in the Items list

you may remove them, but i would first set them up in dockbar

before removing any xfce launchers

for example, open vivaldi now

once it appears in dockbar, right click it there

i think u can choose pin from that

[fringe tangle]

it worked

that's better

[ancient spade]

then u can right click vivaldi icon in dockbar, and do "open new window/instance"

and it will show a (2) for it

[fringe tangle]

very nice

now my panel isn't bloated

I'll enjoy this chance and make another question (about customization again)

[ancient spade]

u can also open terminal, and discord, and use same method to add to dockbar

and get rid of the xfce launchers

[fringe tangle]

I added them

[ancient spade]

oh ok

what is ur other q

[fringe tangle]

can I set my panel like this? (yeah, pretty small)

[ancient spade]

yes

[fringe tangle]

is it compilcated to do?

[ancient spade]

what you can do is remove too many separators, and just have one, and adjust its own properties to 'expand'

and in panel pref's adjust width

[fringe tangle]

how do I adjust the width?

[ancient spade]

show a ss of panel prefs, first tab

[fringe tangle]

I only put too many separators because my panel was a mess

And I needed to do it do set the icons to the middle

[fringe tangle]

and now?

[ancient spade]

if you highlight just one of them, then find the 'edit' icon below, then tick the 'expand' (means it will grow dynamically)

Length slider ^^

[fringe tangle]

ok

[ancient spade]

49 is quite tall, but if u like that, fine

[fringe tangle]

is there any problem if I remove PulseAudio button and the other ones?

[ancient spade]

yes there is problem

if u need to see notifs, or check volume level, or middle click it to mute, it wont be there 😦

u can make a top panel tho

with those things

a short panel

or whatever

[fringe tangle]

tell me how

actually, wait

I know how to create a new panel

[ancient spade]

hit the green + here at top

[fringe tangle]

I created

[ancient spade]

then drag up by its little "handles" at left or right edges

[fringe tangle]

but I want to make it thinner

[ancient spade]

so select "panel2' in prefs menu

n row height: 28

or 32

however you like

[fringe tangle]

perfect

I'm setting up the buttons, or trying

I can't add status tray plugin

and power manager

[ancient spade]

make sure u have "panel 2" selected

then go to items tab

in worst case, u have to remove them from panel1 first

[ancient spade]

2nd pic. click +

then dont search anything. clear that field

and scroll list

[fringe tangle]

yeah, I can't click on it

[ancient spade]

.

[fringe tangle]

ok, I'll do it

oh, when I deleted, it spawned on panel 2 automatically

[ancient spade]

send a fullscreen screenshot when you're finished, if nothing too personal

[fringe tangle]

okay

oh God, my PC is so beautiful

[ancient spade]

oooo

lookin nice

[fringe tangle]

thanks man, and thanks for all the help you have been given me

[ancient spade]

btw, when u "lock" each panel, the little side handles disappear

[fringe tangle]

I use Windows since I was a kid, so switching to a new OS isn't very simple (thank God Linux is user-friendly)

[fringe tangle]

I forgot this lol

[ancient spade]

see here tickboxes for "lock"

[fringe tangle]

locked

tomorrow I'll try to customize some another things

oh, another thing before I leave

[ancient spade]

cool. have fun

sure, what is it?

[fringe tangle]

tell me how to open thunar on root again

I want to switch my lock screen wallpaper

[ancient spade]

open regular thunar first

right click any folder in main area

do u seee option?

[fringe tangle]

yeah

[ancient spade]

try it

[fringe tangle]

"open as root"

[ancient spade]

then from root thunar

u go where u need to go

u can hit ctrl-L and type path

or click around

[fringe tangle]

backgrounds or the folder that my wallpaper is?

[ancient spade]

well first go to ur image

select it. do ctrl-c (copy)

or ctrl-x (cut)

[fringe tangle]

ok, and now

[ancient spade]

then go to /usr/share/wallpaper/

n paste

then idk where the setting is but probably in "login window" settings u can choose it

[fringe tangle]

I could paste the file

nice

[ancient spade]

or screeensavr settings

[fringe tangle]

why I need to be "root" to do it?

I know Linux have this "secure philosophy", but is a photo

[ancient spade]

because it's dangerous and not permitted to mess around in /usr

usr is universal system resources

[fringe tangle]

oh, so the folder is the deal

[autumn stump]

It's untenable for the OS to analyze the net effect of any singular file operation instead files and folders have permissions

[ancient spade]

yes anything outside of /home is danger mode

[autumn stump]

whereas many many machines are basically single owner the OS is designed to be suitable for multiple users some of which may be unprivileged

[fringe tangle]

FINALLY WORKED

btw I love Hyourinjutsu

[fringe tangle]

I guess I understood now

thanks again @ancient spade

always saving my Linux

[ancient spade]

you're welcome. glad to help set up your new fun thing

[fringe tangle]

guess I won't need a Window Manager

it seems difficult to use, anyway

[ancient spade]

no u prob wont

xfce comes with xfwm, that draws the windows, and has transparency effect

you can set up window manager tweak settings for edge-snapping if they aren't already

[fringe tangle]

edge-snapping?

[ancient spade]

like when u drag window for example to left edge of screen

it will fill half the screen, top to bottom

it will 'snap' into a position

some people like that, some don't

[fringe tangle]

oh, I think I know what it is

actually I use it lol

or used on Windows some time ago

I guess I'll sleep and try to use it tomorrow

bye guys and thanks again for the help

[fringe tangle]

good night, guys

@ancient spade is there a way to make the app windows look like MacOS windows?

I mean, this

[ancient spade]

hang on

[fringe tangle]

okay

[ancient spade]

https://www.pling.com/p/2080863

[fringe tangle]

will this theme going dark?

or will use only the light theme?

[autumn stump]

in the same vein https://github.com/vinceliuice/WhiteSur-gtk-theme

[fringe tangle]

I'll try this one

[fringe tangle]

this appeared in terminal when I tried to use the command : cp: cannot stat 'Skeuos-Blue-Light-XFWM/': No such file or directory

[autumn stump]

some stuff is inapplicable for instance mint doesn't use gdm, and you don't gain any utility from gnome tweaks

[ancient spade]

you have to extract the zip first

then be in that directory at the prompt

[fringe tangle]

I extracted

[ancient spade]

or extract, then cut n paste the two theme folders from there with root file manager

to /usr/share/themes/

one theme is for window body, other one is for window border/titlebar (xfwm)

[fringe tangle]

actually, I installed the theme from this link

how do I do to activate?

(and yes, I installed Git for it)

[ancient spade]

appearance and window manager

both things in settings

[fringe tangle]

(when I tried to download, it says that I need Git, so)

the list ends here

[ancient spade]

check ~/.themes and usr/share/themes

if the files went

[fringe tangle]

yeah, they aren't there

gimme a minute

[ancient spade]

did u run the install script that the github author mentions?

[fringe tangle]

install.sh?

I tried

now it worked

[ancient spade]

that github thing may not work for window titlebars

[ancient spade]

since it seems to be for gnome

or maybe it does

[fringe tangle]

maybe it is only on images, isn't TOO beautiful (imo)

but it is ok

thanks again

[ancient spade]

it's ugly to mix light and dark

[fringe tangle]

now I'll search another thing to mod

[fringe tangle]

I agree

[ancient spade]

find dark titlebar theme (known as XFWM theme) from same link i sent

just look more pages

https://www.pling.com/browse?cat=138&page=3&ord=latest

[fringe tangle]

lemme see if I can find a good theme

if I install this one, the buttons will keep on the right side, isn't it?

better, I guess

[ancient spade]

i think win mgr tweaks lets u move butons

how about this one
https://www.pling.com/p/1409915

[fringe tangle]

sorry but I didn't like it

why all this glow?

[ancient spade]

this is nice

[fringe tangle]

thanks

now, I'll search more things to modify (can I call this "ricing"? I don't think so)

[latent oxide]

ive had this same issue before

[fringe tangle]

@ancient spade WHAAAAAAAAAAT?

it worked now

[ancient spade]

hm?

you had Mint from last time on 12 GB partition at end of your primary hard drive, remember?

I think I said to leave it so it wouldnt ruin the windows bootup

[fringe tangle]

@ancient spade bro, I need help

my DockbarX isn't turning on anymore

[ancient spade]

check start menu for it: settings

or panel preferences to make sure it is still an item in the items list

[fringe tangle]

yes, DockbarX still there

I mean, the item

[ancient spade]

maybe all the items got unpinned somehow

open an application and see

once application from start menu opens, it should appear in dockbar

from there just pin it again if you use it often

[fringe tangle]

I am with my browser opened

and it doesn't appear on dockbar

like it was turned off

[ancient spade]

can u go on Discord from firefox or the app, on the computer?

then pin the screenshot tool to panel (either top or bottom panel)

then show window of panel preferences> items

for bottom panel

[ancient spade]

@fringe tangle

[fringe tangle]

sorry, I was doing other things

[fringe tangle]

I can open these apps, but they don't appear on the panel

[fringe tangle]

why?

I updated my system, lemme see if it is the problem

[ancient spade]

so u dont have to take crappy pics with a camera, that's why

[fringe tangle]

and I tried to remove DockbarX and add it again, and didn't work

[ancient spade]

it's more clear and easy to read a true screenshot , from a helper's point of view (my view)

[ancient spade]

.

[fringe tangle]

here

[fringe tangle]

man, I'm not using my PC right now, so I think I'll let this for tomorrow (or just later)

[ancient spade]

good, select dockbarX, then click the gear icon below, to edit its properties. there may be something obvious there to adjust

or hit 'remove' and then 'add' and add it back, then the gear.

[fringe tangle]

@ancient spade here

[fringe tangle]

.

[ancient spade]

one sec

[fringe tangle]

k

[ancient spade]

try put solid colour

like deep black or whatever u like

put max size to 200

just as test

or can even tick the 'expand' tickbox, and set max size to 1000 or close to your usual screen horizontal resolution

@fringe tangle do those ^

u should see a difference right away

[fringe tangle]

oh, now I could see the Discord icon

[ancient spade]

so something shrunk the size value

[fringe tangle]

but it is extremely small

[ancient spade]

open few other apps, like calculator, files,

web browser

then show

[fringe tangle]

look at this

[ancient spade]

i meant show all the width of whole panel or whole desktop for context

[ancient spade]

can also pick dockbarx settings button probably to change icon sizing

[fringe tangle]

how?

I think I'll try another distro in a few days, it is slower than the last time I used it

[ancient spade]

it's hiding. only 1/3rd discord icon showing. make the bottom panel wider

and also put the 'expand' tickbox on

put max. size bigger like 1000 like I suggested

[fringe tangle]

i put the maximum

32767

[ancient spade]

ok go to panel, right click. panel preferences

[fringe tangle]

that's the result I got

[ancient spade]

put the width bigger

[fringe tangle]

It is

[ancient spade]

can u put background colour for dockbar to medium blue, so u can easily see where its extents are

[fringe tangle]

the maximum too (1366)

[ancient spade]

tick 'solid color' then pick blue

[fringe tangle]

did it

[ancient spade]

just play around with all those settings til u fix it

[fringe tangle]

didn't change anything

what if I reinstall it?

[ancient spade]

show the thing now. im curius to see where is blue exactly

[ancient spade]

if u do, do it from synaptic. and choose "mark for complete removal"

[fringe tangle]

now I just need to find it

[ancient spade]

has a search button

[fringe tangle]

yeah, isn't working anymore

even reinstalling it

[fringe tangle]

yeah, it is pretty slow

I'll install Tiny Core

[fringe tangle]

@ancient spade i'm using window buttons again

[ancient spade]

3 other alternatives are: Plank dock, Latte dock, Cairo dock

[fringe tangle]

I'll check

they work as the same way?

[ancient spade]

they dont reside in the xfce panel, but they are themselves a dock. probably can put app start menu too

[fringe tangle]

I installed Cairo Dock, now I just have to delete Panel 1 to make it my standard panel

[fringe tangle]

hey yo @ancient spade

bro, I installed a modified version of Win11 on my SSD, and now I have a good free space, like, almost 80GBs

can I install Mint on that SSD using 35/40GBs for the OS?

I'll have to use my external HDD on my Xbox

[ancient spade]

idk how u got win11 to install on a legacy BIOS system, but ya. disable its Fast Startup (powercfg /h off) in admin prompt

then set up a dualboot on same drive

[fringe tangle]

It is a modified version, it is called Tiny11

[fringe tangle]

Okay, so it was supposed to appear GRUB, isn't it?

I think I'll use Cinnamon this time, 'cause I'm not using a HDD anymore

[ancient spade]

remember the latest mint doesnt naturally set the boot flag

so you're best to reboot the live usb, and show me gparted what it did

[fringe tangle]

oh, God-

ok, so I'll try to install it tomorrow

[fringe tangle]

it didn't show anything, so I guess it worked

perfect

[ancient spade]

as long as u did it from admin command prompt or admin powershell, it should have worked

[fringe tangle]

I did it, so, there's no problem

[ancient spade]

alright see u tomorrow

make sure bitlocker is off

u can check in Windows Disk Management, if this version of windows includes that

[fringe tangle]

something is wrong

I have 79GB of free space

[ancient spade]

show it

[fringe tangle]

but Disk Management says that I only can use 20GB to create a partition?

[ancient spade]

ah u know..

it probably needs a reboot, after disabling fast startup

[fringe tangle]

(it is in Portuguese, but is saying that I only can use 19955MB/19GB on a partition)

[ancient spade]

i believe you. just reboot

[fringe tangle]

ok, just let Cinnamon ISO finish downloading

[ancient spade]

plus, you dont need to pre-shrink it (usually)

mint gives slider

in the 'alongside' install option

[fringe tangle]

oh, on G-Parted

[ancient spade]

well, as a second resort. usually the installer gives size slider

[fringe tangle]

yes, the live ISO

at least, Linux doesn't have this type of limitations

(I guess)

[ancient spade]

in Disk Management, did you see ANY mention of bitlocker?

if not, good.

[fringe tangle]

nope

[fringe tangle]

@ancient spade man, what's the filesystem for swap partition? (I'm already organizing my partitions to install it tomorrow)

and it's saying that I cannot make more than 4 primary partitions

[ancient spade]

dont make one it will make swap file

[fringe tangle]

hey @ancient spade

I'm here again, already organizing my Mint installation

I want to use this 4GB partition as my swap partition, but it says "unusable" (it is the same partition that GParted said I cannot set as a primary partition)

[ancient spade]

can u please minimize that, and show DISKS app

for sda

[fringe tangle]

I can't set my swap partition, thanks to this 2MB partition that I didn't create

[fringe tangle]

ok, I'll do this

[ancient spade]

thx

rememeber this system is pure legacy

[fringe tangle]

here

[ancient spade]

great

[fringe tangle]

I think this 2MB partition is what left over from my swap partition, but ok

[ancient spade]

just hang on

[fringe tangle]

that's what appears when I try to create my swap partition

[ancient spade]

click the first partition

just close that

[fringe tangle]

the 36GB one?

[ancient spade]

then back out of the installer and close installer

84 GB in DISKS APP

[fringe tangle]

ok, and now?

(installation closed btw)

[ancient spade]

does it say bootable at bottom in the info text?

[fringe tangle]

yeah

[ancient spade]

ok that is MBR

p1 is flagged as BIOS BOOT

what is that silly 3 MB exFAT partition?

[fringe tangle]

EFI partition

[ancient spade]

did u make that or windows installer made it?

[fringe tangle]

I made it

[ancient spade]

1. not exfat
2. dont make an efi partition on a pure legacy computer

does partition 4 contain anything?

[fringe tangle]

1° - ok, so what's the correct filesystem? I used an EXFAT partition on my HDD and worked well (I thought it was correct)

2° - without an EFI partition, I can't install the OS. and if I install, it can mess everything

[ancient spade]

u can install the OS

[fringe tangle]

which one are you talking about?

[ancient spade]

for example, right now, u booted mint live usb. do efibootmgr in terminal, and what does it result?

the 3MB one

labelled "partition 4"

[fringe tangle]

I cannot (at least that's what terminal's saying)

"EFI variables are not supported on this system"

[ancient spade]

it's say efi not supported?

[fringe tangle]

so, it is my EFI partition, I said

[ancient spade]

good. that means ur in pure legacy environment. which is true, for this non-uefi old computer

[ancient spade]

click it in Disks. click play button, click blue link text after

[fringe tangle]

done

[ancient spade]

what it show in file manager? any files in it

[fringe tangle]

no, it didn't show anything

[ancient spade]

when u clicked thee blue link

good

close file manager, go back to DISKS hit stop for p4

[fringe tangle]

stopped

[ancient spade]

delete p4

(red - button)

then open gparted, right click the 4.1 GB free space, and do "new" and make extended partition

then within extended partition, you can make swap partition

[fringe tangle]

ok, and now?

new partition created

[ancient spade]

show pic of gparted, to confirm where u are

[fringe tangle]

The partition is extended, but still... Unallocated???????? What?

[ancient spade]

ok so u wanted to make swap ?

was that the goal?

[fringe tangle]

yeah, and an EFI partition

[ancient spade]

u dont need efi partition, trust me

[fringe tangle]

and what if my OS wouldn't be able to boot anymore?

[ancient spade]

now this

[fringe tangle]

man, I really want to make an EFI partition

[ancient spade]

efi partition wouldnt help. this is not a uefi computer. u could use supergrub from ventoy if having issues

[fringe tangle]

if you're saying

if I have any trouble, I'll be here by anyway

[ancient spade]

extended partition
---4 GB swap
--100 MB esp

swap format is linux-swap

esp format is fat32

[fringe tangle]

what if I told ya that I can't change my extended partition anymore?

[ancient spade]

u can, u r-click in the free space under it and do "new"

[fringe tangle]

so...

[ancient spade]

i said under

[fringe tangle]

again

[ancient spade]

do resize for linux swap

make it 3.9 GB

[fringe tangle]

done

[ancient spade]

Then r-click the remaining .1 GB and do new

[fringe tangle]

what's the file system to ESP partition?

[ancient spade]

.

[fringe tangle]

I can't manage flags

oh, ESP flag will be set on installation. Ok

[ancient spade]

ur not supposed to

show what uve ddone before the final green checkmark

[fringe tangle]

resize the swap partition again?

[ancient spade]

no there should be space under it

[fringe tangle]

ok, where I have to make this partition with 1GB?

[ancient spade]

i said .1

[fringe tangle]

what is ".1"??

[ancient spade]

which is approx. 100 MB

[fringe tangle]

oh, ok

ok, what I'll do with this 100MB partition?

oh, God-

[ancient spade]

that's the esp u keep wishing for

which wont even make any difference anyway

[fringe tangle]

but

I had already done the ESP partition

[ancient spade]

show final pic of gparted once ready, but before checkmark

[fringe tangle]

(look, the FAT32 one)

but ok, fixed

[ancient spade]

ok then nvm, just resize ur swap bigger, to eat up that 101 MB

I didnt know u made the 99 MiB one already

[fringe tangle]

okay, done

[ancient spade]

show WIDE pic of all window

[fringe tangle]

lemme send a picture

[ancient spade]

good hit the checkmark

[fringe tangle]

uhhhh, GParted suddenly closed

I didn't do anything

is it normal?

[ancient spade]

not great

u mean it fully crashed and vanished?

[fringe tangle]

it didn't save my extended partition

FUC-

[fringe tangle]

yeah, exactly

[ancient spade]

yeah maybe was messed because u ran installer earlier. just reboot, and do again, from gparted. dont run installer.

[fringe tangle]

it vanished when was saving