Why was this so difficult?

[bbhaag]

I recently purchased a gently used laptop from a memeber here. I went about prepping it for Peppermint 3 x64 for use as my sofa side laptop since my last one bit the dust.

My son wanted me to install Minecraft on it so he could play in the living room. Fine no problem. Went about dl'ing the .jar. A few google searches later I realized I needed to install Java and then I got it working in /home/username. Then the fun started.

WHY THE HELL is it so difficult to create a desktop shortcut in Ubuntu? It took me atleast 30 minutes to get a working desktop shortcut to launch Minecraft. Then I had to go to google and dl an appropriate .png to use for the picture for the shortcut. WTF? Why do I need to copy and paste a special command into the terminal to create a desktop shortcut? Why no drag and drop? Why no right click and create shortcut? Why oh why was this so complicated for something that seems so simple?

 

[lxskllr]

Dunno, I don't use desktop items. I think Ubuntu wants you to use the Unity dock. Did you try putting it there?

 

[Jodell88]

It annoys me also but I think I know why. In Linux almost anything can be executable, coupled with the fact that .desktop files can get a bit complicated I really don't see how it can be implemented.

 

[bbhaag]

Dunno, I don't use desktop items. I think Ubuntu wants you to use the Unity dock. Did you try putting it there?

It took me 30 minutes+ just to figure out how to put it on the desktop. What's this Unity you speak of and how long will it take me to add it there? Will my 5yo son be able to figure out Unity?
I've been using Peppermint for just over 6 months and this is the first time I've heard of Unity.

 

[lxskllr]

It took me 30 minutes+ just to figure out how to put it on the desktop. What's this "Unity" you speak of and how long will it take me to add it there? Will my 5yo son be able to figure out "Unity".
I've been using Peppermint for just over 6 months and this is the first time I've heard of "Unity".

Crap, sorry. I had Ubuntu in my head for some reason. Ubuntu has a dock on the left side that gets used as a launcher, but it doesn't apply to you.

 

[bbhaag]

It annoys me also but I think I know why. In Linux almost anything can be executable, coupled with the fact that .desktop files can get a bit complicated I really don't see how it can be implemented.

Yes! That's what I had to do. I had to make the .jar and executable. Then I had to enter commands into the terminal to get a desktop shortcut.

Crap, sorry. I had Ubuntu in my head for some reason. Ubuntu has a dock on the left side that gets used as a launcher, but it doesn't apply to you.

Are you saying because I use Peppermint3 x64 I won't be able to use the Unity you mentioned?

 

[lxskllr]

Are you saying because I use Peppermint3 x64 I won't be able to use the Unity you mentioned?

Well, it would be a non-trivial change. Unity is a whole desktop, and includes a ton of Gnome components, as well as a compositor, and a bunch of other stuff. If I really wanted Unity, I think backing up and doing a fresh install would be easiest. If you're happy with Peppermint, I'd stay put. Personally, I like the Lxde desktop better than than Unity.

Edit:
What I mean to say is Peppermint is supposed to be a light Ubuntu. If you added all the stuff they took out, it would go against the distro's whole concept. Not much point imo.

 

[beginner99]

And then people wonder why 99.9% of users use Windows. Even the new "Modern UI" is not crappy enough to change that.

 

[ControlD]

I guess it all depends on what DE you are using. With MATE , you simply right click on the desktop and create a new launcher. Point it to your Minecraft start script, assign an icon and you are done.

I am using KDE now so I tend to just keep everything in my favorites menu to keep the desktop clean. Maybe I should try making a desktop shortcut there to see how easy/hard it is.

 

[Jodell88]

I guess it all depends on what DE you are using. With MATE , you simply right click on the desktop and create a new launcher. Point it to your Minecraft start script, assign an icon and you are done.

Ahh yes, the "make link" option in the right click menu in Nautilus. I forgot about that. :biggrin:

 

[lxskllr]

I guess it all depends on what DE you are using. With MATE , you simply right click on the desktop and create a new launcher. Point it to your Minecraft start script, assign an icon and you are done.

Same with Xfce. Even that's a PITA compared to Windows though. It isn't something I've run across because I like a clean desk, but that seems like obvious functionality.

 

[icanhascpu2]

Hey man. Shortcuts are advanced OS features. This is the cutting edge. What do you think this is? The future: 1992?

... Where am I?

 

[mv2devnull]

Shortcuts are advanced OS features.

No, they are not. They are desktop GUI features. Desktop GUI is an optional sugar coating, not the juicy core of an OS. Shortcuts do resemble symbolic links -- a filesystem feature, but filesystems are much lower level stuff. Guess which filesystem has only in its most recent versions added support for symlinks?

To me, icons on desktop are a useless abomination. If there are any, they are hidden by the window of the application. One application per workspace. Panel on the side has necessary launchers: for xterm, emacs, and browser.

Some proprietary program installer did add some desktop icons. I did not tell that I have xfce. Either it did detect that, or more likely did put stuff into "standard location" that happens to be used by xfdesktop. I don't even bother to guess how many "standards" there are.

Sure, having alternatives for almost everything fragments the already finite userbase. Sure, everybody chasing their own ideals means less focus on progress. Sure, "simple" details can make huge a difference. The price of free is not 0.

 

[ControlD]

No, they are not. They are desktop GUI features. Desktop GUI is an optional sugar coating, not the juicy core of an OS. Shortcuts do resemble symbolic links -- a filesystem feature, but filesystems are much lower level stuff. Guess which filesystem has only in its most recent versions added support for symlinks?

To me, icons on desktop are a useless abomination. If there are any, they are hidden by the window of the application. One application per workspace. Panel on the side has necessary launchers: for xterm, emacs, and browser.

Some proprietary program installer did add some desktop icons. I did not tell that I have xfce. Either it did detect that, or more likely did put stuff into "standard location" that happens to be used by xfdesktop. I don't even bother to guess how many "standards" there are.

Sure, having alternatives for almost everything fragments the already finite userbase. Sure, everybody chasing their own ideals means less focus on progress. Sure, "simple" details can make huge a difference. The price of free is not 0.

You bring up a good point with the panel statement and somehow I completely overlooked that. I think perhaps the reason so few of us seem to "miss" the desktop icons is because we tend to put that functionality in a panel instead. As you said, the panel is generally not covered by application windows so it is much handier to get to your shortcuts that way.

 

[icanhascpu2]

No, they are not. They are desktop GUI features. Desktop GUI is an optional sugar coating, not the juicy core of an OS. Shortcuts do resemble symbolic links -- a filesystem feature, but filesystems are much lower level stuff. Guess which filesystem has only in its most recent versions added support for symlinks?

To me, icons on desktop are a useless abomination. If there are any, they are hidden by the window of the application. One application per workspace. Panel on the side has necessary launchers: for xterm, emacs, and browser.

Some proprietary program installer did add some desktop icons. I did not tell that I have xfce. Either it did detect that, or more likely did put stuff into "standard location" that happens to be used by xfdesktop. I don't even bother to guess how many "standards" there are.

Sure, having alternatives for almost everything fragments the already finite userbase. Sure, everybody chasing their own ideals means less focus on progress. Sure, "simple" details can make huge a difference. The price of free is not 0.

http://i.imgur.com/axJmn.gif

 

[bbhaag]

So I guess desktop shortcuts are a thing of the past in the Linux community. It appears that most of you have the mindset that they are archaic and unsightly.

 

[lxskllr]

So I guess desktop shortcuts are a thing of the past in the Linux community. It appears that most of you have the mindset that they are archaic and unsightly.

Kind of :^D

When a distro comes with stuff on the desktop by default, one of the first things I do is remove it. I never realized setting shortcuts was a PITA cause I didn't do that. It really should be easier for those that want them though. It doesn't seem like it would be that difficult.

 

[ControlD]

So I guess desktop shortcuts are a thing of the past in the Linux community. It appears that most of you have the mindset that they are archaic and unsightly.

Not necessarily. I ran with the Mate DE for quite some time and I used lots of desktop shortcuts mainly because I was used to running things in a more "Windows" way and Mate makes desktop shortcuts pretty easy. Once I learned the benefit of placing things in panels however I found myself using desktop shortcuts less and less.

Desktop environments handle things in different ways. If you know going in that you want to use desktop shortcuts then I would suggest looking for a disto that uses a DE that will easily facilitate that, or at least look into replacing the DE you are currently using. That is part of the benefit of Linux. If you don't like something you can generally replace it with something else that will fit your needs better.

 

[anthero]

Just write a bash file and place it on the desktop

#/bin/bash
java -jar /path/to/minecraft.jar

Then toggle the executable button and change the icon.

 

[bbhaag]

Just write a bash file and place it on the desktop

bin/bash
java -jar /path/to/minecraft.jar

Then toggle the executable button and change the icon.

Man why didn't I didn't I think of that. DUH! I went through all that terminal work for nothing. All I had to do was write a bash file and place it on the desktop. It sounds so simple when you put it that way.
Thanks. You know whats even more simple? And this is why Linux isn't ready.

 

[Jodell88]

Man why didn't I didn't I think of that. DUH! I went through all that terminal work for nothing. All I had to do was write a bash file and place it on the desktop. It sounds so simple when you put it that way.
Thanks. You know whats even more simple? And this is why Linux isn't ready.

Actually it has to do with the fact that .jar files are zip files on linux. You'll always need a script to start them.

 

[bbhaag]

Actually it has to do with the fact that .jar files are zip files on linux. You'll always need a script to start them.

Thanks for the tip. Your explanation made it more clear. Now I know I need to write a script in order to create a desktop shortcut.
Good advice man. Writing scripts is second nature to me. No problems with writing scripts....

How would one go about writing a script?

 

[Jodell88]

Thanks for the tip. Your explanation made it more clear. Now I know I need to write a script in order to create a desktop shortcut.
Good advice man. Writing scripts is second nature to me. No problems with writing scripts....

How would one go about writing a script?

It's fairly easy. All scripts in linux start with a crunchbang aka shebang follow by the interpreter directive. In your case you will use

#!/bin/bash

After that it's just the commands. For instance.

#!/bin bash
firefox www.google.com www.anandtech.com www.forums.anandtech.com

This will execute firefox with three tabs with those urls.

 

[bbhaag]

It's fairly easy. All scripts in linux start with a crunchbang aka shebang follow by the interpreter directive. In your case you will use

#!/bin/bash

After that it's just the commands. For instance.

#!/bin bash
firefox www.google.com www.anandtech.com www.forums.anandtech.com

This will execute firefox with three tabs with those urls.

Excellent. Thank you for clearing that up for me and getting right to the point. That's the one thing I like about the community. No bullshit. Everyone just gets right down to it and solves the problem.

I'll keep you posted on my scripting endeavors and how they unfold in a *NIX environment. Shebang, crunchbang, and an interpreter to film it all.