Questions about BionicPup32's Desktop from a newcomer's perspective...

[computerblade]

Hello everyone. I am a newcomer to BionicPup32, or Puppy Linux as a whole. I want to ask a few questions regarding the desktop. In the desktop, how can I get rid of the upper panel, that looks very similar to the dock from macOS? How can I add items there? Also, how can I remove the drive icons from the desktop whenever a new drive is installed onto the computer? And how do I view the battery percentage from the panel at the bottom of the screen?

Searching on the Internet didn't yield me good results, and I will be grateful if somebody can help me!
Thank you!

[rockedge]

@computerblade Hello and to the forum!

Bionic32 has a few utilities that will help in configuring the JWM (Joe's Window Manager) desktop. There are also tools to customize the panels or reposition or remove them.

Even though it was real favorite of mine, I have not run a Bionic32 in a while so I'd have fire one up to be more specific with the steps to get to the GUI's to do the modifications.

Any moment some of the members should arrive with detailed help.....meanwhile I'll set one up so I can familiarize myself. There are still members of the community that use Bionic32 daily.

Try this for morre info on Bionic32..... open the Puppy Linux search engine here -> https://psearch.puppylinux.com/

Enter Bionic32 as a search term

[computerblade]

That's nice! I'm okay with anyone trying to help me..
Also good to see that BionicPup32 is being used by people, because I thought Bionic wasn't used all that much since I couldn't find information about it much...

[rockedge]

@computerblade Bionic32 is getting older these days......based on the binaries from Ubuntu Bionic Beaver, which has been replaced by 3 newer versions. Bionic32 is 32 bit and support for 32 bit systems is running thin these days with most developers and manufacturers working on and producing 64 bit machines. Almost none of the main "modern" browsers are being further developed for 32 bit systems so there is a problem using some web sites and web portals that have been recently designed.

I have an older DELL INSPIRON 1505e laptop that is only 32 bit that runs Bionic32 really well which can still be used for many tasks but surfing the Internet with a stable modern browser is lacking.

Do you have only 32 bit capability? If possible to run 64 bit, F96-CE_4 might be a distro to consider. Otherwise I'll fire up a Bionic32 and see if i can give some advice.

[rockedge]

Try this for more info on Bionic32..... open the Puppy Linux search engine here -> https://psearch.puppylinux.com/

Enter Bionic32 as a search term

Here is one of the main topics for Bionic32 -> https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=113244

[computerblade]

I unfortunately have only 32-bit in the system I am running. I am trying to make an old Netbook somewhat usable again.
It is a Samsung N100SP with a dual-core Intel Atom processor.

[wizard]

@computerblade

Bionic32 remove/change the top tray:
-Applications>Desktop>Desktop Settings>Tray>Setup Tray 1

Your Samsung N100SP probably has a Atom N2100 CPU which is a single core, hyper-threading, so is not a true dual core. That CPU has a Passmark v9 score of about 300. You should take a look at this topic for some ideas on Puppy distros for low power systems.

viewtopic.php?t=9701

wizard

[computerblade]

Also one critical thing, how do I view the battery percentage in the panel at the bottom of the desktop?
That is more important than the others...

Thank you @wizard for helping me with the tray problem, that I have fixed with the help of your advice!

[wizard]

view the battery percentage

right click the battery icon in the right side of the tray

wizard

[computerblade]

How do I bring the battery icon onto the bottom right of the panel? I meant that.

[wizard]

@computerblade

Just booted a fresh Bionic32 on an older system and the battery icon is black with a yellow lightening bolt in it. Left clicking it gives information about it's state.

wizard

[bigpup]

how can I remove the drive icons from the desktop whenever a new drive is installed onto the computer?

Those are controlled by the Puppy Event Manager ->Rox Icons tab

But you really should keep them showing and not try to remove them.
They are there for a good reason, after some time of using Puppy Linux, you will be happy they are there.

In Puppy Linux (Linux in general) to access what is on a drive partition.
It has to be mounted.
There is no auto- mount, when a drive is plugged in or not being used.
The only partition that mounts on bootup, is the one that has Bionicpup32 installed on it or the save is on. (usually the same partition)
No other drive partitions are mounted.

To make it easy to mount and UN-mount drive partitions.
The desktop has one drive icon for each of the partitions on all the drives the computer has.
To mount the partition you left click on the drive icon for it.
Rox file manager will open showing contents of that partition.
Close Rox and the partition stays mounted.
To UN-mount there will be a small mount symbol on top right of the icon. Left click on that symbol and it UN-mounts.

Only other way to mount and UN-mount is to use the Pmount program.
Which requires starting the program, making selection for the partition you want to affect, etc......

Using the drive icons on the desktop is much easier.

Hover the mouse cursor over a drive icon and info about it will display.

Also, right click on a desktop drive icon and a selection menu will pop up, with selections you can choose, for that drive partition.

Anytime you plug a drive into the computer (USB drive) and mount it.
Before unplugging it always UN-mount it first.
Easy to do with the desktop drive icon for it.

Same for a CD/DVD drive.
Use it's desktop drive icon to mount, UN-mount, and eject disk.

The desktop drive icons are a feature of Puppy Linux!
.
.

[bigpup]

BookwormPup32 is a newer version of Puppy.
viewtopic.php?t=10087

Understand it is still being developed and may still have a few bugs.
But overall it works and can be used to do stuff.

The developer of it, would probably like the know how it works on your computer.

[computerblade]

But you really should keep them showing and not try to remove them.
They are there for a good reason, after some time of using Puppy Linux, you will be happy they are there.

After using Puppy Linux for some time, I hid the icons, and when I tried to plug in a USB drive I opened Rox and the drive partitions (sdb, sdb1) weren't loading, but when I showed back the icons, I could access the drive again I agree with you that I should not hide them for a reason like this...

The developer of it, would probably like the know how it works on your computer.

I'll try it out when I have some time...

Just booted a fresh Bionic32 on an older system and the battery icon is black with a yellow lightening bolt in it

The icon doesn't even appear for me.

[computerblade]

I am posting a screenshot from the netbook at the moment to show you that I can't seem to find the battery icon on the bottom tray...

Image Link: https://filebin.net/p91be44t5sns121u/Screenshot.png
(after 6 days you might not be able to access the image)

[computerblade]

Last question: I can view the battery percentage from gkrellm but is there a 3rd party applet for the tray to view the battery percentage?

[BologneChe]

Last question: I can view the battery percentage from

Code: Select all

gkrellm

but is there a 3rd party applet for the tray to view the battery percentage?

Type this in the terminal : powerapplet_tray

[computerblade]

The command did not do anything

[computerblade]

Nevermind, I will just use gkrellm even if it doesn't show up on the taskbar. The netbook is mostly powered by AC anyway...