Kubuntu 12.10 - The Little Things Keep Getting Me

[Rikev]

Bit of a help and feedback post!

Two days ago I installed Kubuntu 12.10 and fought the dreaded audio system to bring it under control, installed and ran some Windows programs in WINE that used to give me all sorts of grief in their native lands and sorted out my Instant Messengers, Wacom pad, etc. I'm a bit of an OS hopper, jumping to Linux then jumping back again when it frustrates me too much before curiosity gets the better of me (again).

I cannot find how to change the desktop wallpaper though in a quick and easy fashion without it resetting the wallpaper on reboot. I have to download the file, open Terminal, shove it into some forgotten part of my filesystem with sudo and watch the aspect ratio go wonky. So I am wondering if I am doing something wrong and if there is an easier way of changing the wallpaper and using Centre, Stretch, Tile, etc.

My current setup is Ubuntu 12.10 with / on one drive and /home on another.

I'm also getting hassle with mouse pointers and my user picture resetting on reboot!

[Snowhog]

Welcome.

Is your PC a desktop, laptop, or netbook?

Changing the wallpaper is a simple processes. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Default Desktop Settings. From there you can select from the installed/available wallpapers; click on Get New Wallpapers..., or click on Open and browse to where you have images that you want to use.

[Rikev]

Aaaargh! I thought that menu option reset the Desktop to the default theme or something so I didn't click it! :lol: That's going in for feedback when I work out how.

Any idea for making it so I can get the settings to stick if I use my /home folder? It's a full desktop PC.

[Snowhog]

They should 'stick' - they do on my 12.10 install.

[oshunluvr]

As a matter of simplicity; you would only need to move a wallpaper to a system (like /usr/share/wallpapers) location if you wanted it to be available to other users. I just keep a "Wallpapers" folder in my home under Pictures and put my d/l'd wallpapers there.

The face icon issue is addressed elsewhere in the forum, so search for that one. I haven't heard anyone complain about it changing though. More often it's about how lightdm handles the face icons vs. kdm.

First time I've heard about changing mouse pointers.

[tek_heretik]

Sorry for butting in gentlemen but he/she may need to 'Restore previous session'....System Settings/Startup and Shutdown/Session Management, click the radio button 'Restore previous session', click apply. Now anything you set or leave open in future sessions will return with each new boot, anything you don't want opening, close it before shutting down. I actually prefer it so Pidgin, Thunderbird, etc, auto load with every boot.

[luckyone]

I'll not admit to missing clicking the Apply button. But it can happen.

[Jonas]

The face icon issue is addressed elsewhere in the forum, so search for that one. I haven't heard anyone complain about it changing though. More often it's about how lightdm handles the face icons vs. kdm.

Yes, it's a lightdm bug (or inconsistency) rename the .face.icon to .face

in /user/home

cp .face.icon .face

b.r

Jonas

[Rikev]

Wallpaper still doesn't stick after reboot unless I put it in /usr/share/wallpapers. Also have that option to restore session automatically set.

Thanks for the help so far, still stumped!

UPDATE - Face icon fixed though, thanks for the tip.

[oshunluvr]

What about when you log out and back in?

"Restore Previous Session" options should not effect wallpaper or mouse pointers.

The only time my wallpaper doesn't load is if my Pictures/Wallpapers folder isn't available at log in. My home data folders are not on the same drive as /home.

The only thing I can think of that might cause this is if you don't have permission for the folder that holds the settings.

Open a terminal and type: ls -lA ~ |grep root

You should not get any files listed.

[Rikev]

Nothing listed when I run that.

[tek_heretik]

/usr/share/wallpapers is the default wallpaper directory, that's where most distros look for what to display on the 'desktop'.

Edit: Forgot to mention this, you have to open /usr/share/wallpapers as root to add or delete files, maybe that is the problem. Added files as root will show in the desktop wallpaper selection dialogue window.

[Teunis]

I agree with oshunluvr this might be a permissions issue because in your first post you did mention using sudo...
In most cases where root is necessary, so not in setting a wallpaper from your /home , you should use kdesudo.

[Rikev]

What's the difference between sudo and kdesudo?

And if I use the GUI, will that copy the wallpaper into the right folder for me?

[Teunis]

The difference between sudo and kdesudo:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo
To give an over-simplified explanation, sudo has more, often unnecessary and dangerous privileges.

The place a file is saved depends entirely on your directions.