Desktop went black [solved]

[Governor]

Desktop went completely black. How do I get it back again?
Thanks.
------------
[solved:]
In the "Exit" menu:
"Restart window manager" didn't work, but "Restart graphical interface" did work!!

[Wiz57]

This may be related to viewtopic.php?p=114094#p114094 where you lose USB after some time of inactivity.
Have you checked your laptops BIOS for power saving settings? The only other thing I can think of with only one cup of coffee this morning is it could
be the beginnings of hardware failure, and these can be tricky to diagnose, especially on a laptop.
Wiz

[Governor]

I am connected to the internet via a USB Ethernet card. Sometimes the network connection goes out for no apparent reason and I must run the network connection wizard to get it back. I wonder if there is a setting somewhere that is causing a network cutoff after a certain time period.

Another issue:
I use a powered USB hub for all of my USB connections, including mouse and keyboard. When I go away from the computer for several hours, I turn off the USB hub, but not my computer. When I turn the hub back on, naturally, the network connection and peripheral USB drives are no longer registered. However, my keyboard setting has unfortunately returned to the Puppy default setting, even though the setting has not changed in the GUI. So the setting shows that the keyboard is set correctly for my keyboard (as I have set it), but the setting is lost every time the keyboard connection is lost and reestablished. I can see no reason for the stored setting to be ignored in this case and I call this a software oversight or a bug.

I can still use the computer with a black desktop, but it slows me down a lot more and is a major annoyance.
Is there a setting somewhere that turns off the desktop?

This may be related to viewtopic.php?p=114094#p114094 where you lose USB after some time of inactivity.
Have you checked your laptops BIOS for power saving settings? The only other thing I can think of with only one cup of coffee this morning is it could
be the beginnings of hardware failure, and these can be tricky to diagnose, especially on a laptop.
Wiz

[Wiz57]

Why are you turning off your powered USB hub? It's no wonder everything quits working, you've effectively disconnected them!
Might as well power down, then just reboot when you come back...don't turn off the USB hub until AFTER powerdown!

[Governor]

I noticed this happens a lot in this forum, but please do not try to make it my fault that I found a software bug. Ok?
Disconnecting and reconnecting a USB keyboard should not negate the software setting, which remains correctly set in the GUI.

I keep my laptop on as long as possible because I run Puppy in RAM-only mode. If I turn off my laptop, it takes a long time to get it up and running and configured again. I turn off the USB hub to conserve power and limit wear and tear on the hardware, especially my external disk drives. My internal drive is solid state.

My immediate problem is the black desktop. The taskbar is still there, and a right click on the desktop still brings up the menu. I can still use the computer with a black desktop, but it slows me down a lot and is a major annoyance.
So my question is:
Is there a setting somewhere that turns the desktop on or off?

Why are you turning off your powered USB hub? It's no wonder everything quits working, you've effectively disconnected them!
Might as well power down, then just reboot when you come back...don't turn off the USB hub until AFTER powerdown!

[Wiz57]

I noticed this happens a lot in this forum, but please do not try to make it my fault that I found a software bug. Ok?
Disconnecting and reconnecting a USB keyboard should not negate the software setting, which remains correctly set in the GUI.

I keep my laptop on as long as possible because I run Puppy in RAM-only mode. If I turn off my laptop, it takes a long time to get it up and running and configured again. I turn off the USB hub to conserve power and limit wear and tear on the hardware, especially my external disk drives. My internal drive is solid state.

My immediate problem is the black desktop. The taskbar is still there, and a right click on the desktop still brings up the menu. I can still use the computer with a black desktop, but it slows me down a lot and is a major annoyance.
So my question is:
Is there a setting somewhere that turns the desktop on or off?

Why are you turning off your powered USB hub? It's no wonder everything quits working, you've effectively disconnected them!
Might as well power down, then just reboot when you come back...don't turn off the USB hub until AFTER powerdown!

Not trying to find fault, only a cause. If your computer is still responsive use the Pup Shutdown control in the start menu,
then choose "Restart window manager" and see if your normal desktop returns.

[HerrBert]

...
My immediate problem is the black desktop. The taskbar is still there, and a right click on the desktop still brings up the menu. I can still use the computer with a black desktop, but it slows me down a lot and is a major annoyance.
So my question is:
Is there a setting somewhere that turns the desktop on or off?
...

Just to point to a direction: Your description sounds like ROX-Filer quits after you power off your usb-hub.
To answer your question: In this case, no. There is no mechanism that tells ROX to quit after disconnecting any usb device.
It is a system failure.

[williwaw]

making changes to the desktop on first boot sometimes brings up a "pinboard not set" or similarly worded error often with a black desktop background. I have since avoided this behavior by making a save at first boot with only the customizations asked for in the setup dialogs and postponing desktop and other customizations until subsusquent sessions.

[OscarTalks]

My immediate problem is the black desktop. The taskbar is still there, and a right click on the desktop still brings up the menu. I can still use the computer with a black desktop, but it slows me down a lot and is a major annoyance.
[So my question is:
Is there a setting somewhere that turns the desktop on or off?

I agree with HerrBert. Sounds like ROX-Filer has crashed (for some reason) but JWM is still running so you still have tray and menus.
Since you still have menus, you should be able to open a terminal (urxvt or lxterminal) and restart ROX.
Try typing:-
rox -p /root/Choices/ROX-Filer/PuppyPin
and press Enter
That should restart ROX and loads the PuppyPin file as configuration for the desktop pinboard.

[Governor]

In the "Exit" menu:
"Restart window manager" didn't work, but "Restart graphical interface" did work!!

Thanks!

... If your computer is still responsive use the Pup Shutdown control in the start menu,
then choose "Restart window manager" and see if your normal desktop returns.

[Governor]

So far, I have not been able to do a "save", so each time I boot, it is from scratch. Well actually, I have "saved" numerous times, but to no avail. I run Puppy in Ram-only mode after booting from a closed CD. I keep the OS running as long as possible, but eventually, the OS slows down too much and I have to re-boot. I think my record is 13 days running.

making changes to the desktop on first boot sometimes brings up a "pinboard not set" or similarly worded error often with a black desktop background. I have since avoided this behavior by making a save at first boot with only the customizations asked for in the setup dialogs and postponing desktop and other customizations until subsusquent sessions.

[williwaw]

I think my record is 13 days running.

try installing bookwormpup to a top level folder named bkwm on your ext4 partition. make a save with the default name. keep it in its default location in bkwm.

[Governor]

Where can I obtain bookwormpup?

try installing bookwormpup to a folder on your ext4 partition. keep the savefolder in the same place.

[williwaw]

try installing bookwormpup to a top level folder named bkwm on your ext4 partition. make a save with the default name. keep it in its default location in bkwm.

https://rockedge.org/kernels/data/ISO/B ... 10.0.6.iso

[Governor]

I got the bkwm on an ext4 partition, but I don't know how I can use it there. I put it on my Ventoy USB, but that is FAT32.

I now have the following distros on my Ventoy USB:

Code: Select all

alpine-extended-3.17.0-x86_64.iso
bionicpup64-8.0-uefi.iso
BookwormPup64_10.0.6.iso
DARKPUPPY-BE_24_1_1.iso
devuan_daedalus_5.0.1_amd64_netinstall.iso
LxPupJammy32-22.04+6.iso
MX-23_ahs_x64.iso
MX-23_KDE_x64.iso
S15Pup64-22.12+1-T.iso
vanilladpup-10.0.28.iso

I tried bionic and vanilla pups, but didn't care for them much. If I remember correctly, I also tried Lxpup and S15pup with unsatisfactory results.
Next time I boot, I plan to try the bookworm. It could be a while, my uptime is only 6 days now.
Thanks.

try installing bookwormpup to a top level folder named bkwm on your ext4 partition. make a save with the default name. keep it in its default location in bkwm.

https://rockedge.org/kernels/data/ISO/B ... 10.0.6.iso