Cygwin/X: KDE Desktop

Cygwin/X: KDE Desktop

[Maarten Hoes]

Hi,


When I run XLaunch and choose single window (or use the KDE 'Plasma'
shortcut), I get a black window (or grey, when also supplying '-retro'),
but I am not getting a desktop like when I do when I run KDE on Linux (KDE
taskbar/menu, pop-up menu with right-click on background, etc.). Is there a
way to do this ?  Or am I missing something obvious here ?


Any and all help is appreciated,


Thanks in advance,


- Maarten

Re: Cygwin/X: KDE Desktop

[Maarten Hoes]

Hi,


I tried a few different Desktop Environments for comparison. At least
GNOME-Openbox, KDE-Openbox, Plasma, and MATE give me a black screen and no
taskbar/menu, pop-up menu with right-click on background, etc., but I can
start applications on them if I open a Cygwin prompt through the 'Cygwin64
Terminal' icon by doing (for example) "export DISPLAY=:0.0 ; xterm".

However, the LXDE and Openbox desktops do give me the familiar things (like
a start-menu, right-click on desktop pop-up menu).

I have no idea where to even begin with troubleshooting the issue (of
getting KDE or GNOME working). Could it be as simple as some packages that
have not been installed ? I installed these desktops by selecting the
packages listed on the Cygwin/X website during the overall Cygwin
installation (setup-x86_64.exe).

Any and all help is appreciated.



- Maarten


On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 2:38 PM Maarten Hoes <hoes.maarten@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
>
> When I run XLaunch and choose single window (or use the KDE 'Plasma'
> shortcut), I get a black window (or grey, when also supplying '-retro'),
> but I am not getting a desktop like when I do when I run KDE on Linux (KDE
> taskbar/menu, pop-up menu with right-click on background, etc.). Is there a
> way to do this ?  Or am I missing something obvious here ?
>
>
> Any and all help is appreciated,
>
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
>
> - Maarten
>

Re: Cygwin/X: KDE Desktop

[Tony Richardson]

On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 7:11 AM Maarten Hoes via Cygwin <cygwin@cygwin.com>
wrote:

> Hi,
>
>
> I tried a few different Desktop Environments for comparison. At least
> GNOME-Openbox, KDE-Openbox, Plasma, and MATE give me a black screen and no
> taskbar/menu, pop-up menu with right-click on background, etc., but I can
> start applications on them if I open a Cygwin prompt through the 'Cygwin64
> Terminal' icon by doing (for example) "export DISPLAY=:0.0 ; xterm".
>
> However, the LXDE and Openbox desktops do give me the familiar things (like
> a start-menu, right-click on desktop pop-up menu).
>
> I have no idea where to even begin with troubleshooting the issue (of
> getting KDE or GNOME working). Could it be as simple as some packages that
> have not been installed ? I installed these desktops by selecting the
> packages listed on the Cygwin/X website during the overall Cygwin
> installation (setup-x86_64.exe).
>
> Any and all help is appreciated.
>
>
>
> - Maarten
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 2:38 PM Maarten Hoes <hoes.maarten@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> >
> > When I run XLaunch and choose single window (or use the KDE 'Plasma'
> > shortcut), I get a black window (or grey, when also supplying '-retro'),
> > but I am not getting a desktop like when I do when I run KDE on Linux
> (KDE
> > taskbar/menu, pop-up menu with right-click on background, etc.). Is
> there a
> > way to do this ?  Or am I missing something obvious here ?
> >
> >
> > Any and all help is appreciated,
> >
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> >
> > - Maarten
>

Sorry I can't provide help, I just wanted to mention that I have related (I
think) problems.  I only have the LXDE and Xfce desktop environments
installed.  Xfce starts consistently everytime.  LXDE only completely
starts every-other-time.  I get the black window one time (with a pop-up
openbox menu).  I can log-out and then the next time I get the full LXDE
desktop.  There is consistent alternation between the two. LXDE is my
preferred desktop, but I tend to use Xfce because of this problem.

I thought that there might be some weird interaction in the configuration
files used by the different desktop environments so I deleted all the
config files (dot files) in my home directory but I still see the same
behavior.

Tony

Re: Cygwin/X: KDE Desktop

[Maarten Hoes]

Hi,


Thanks for the effort.

Now that you mentioned that, I seem to be having similar behavior as you:
Xfce start every time I try it. But now that I tried it some more, LXDE is
not consistent for me either. Sometimes I get a black screen, sometimes a
black screen and the right-click-on-background-menu, and sometimes a normal
working LXDE environment. The first time I try to start LXDE after a reboot
of my PC seems to work always, and after that I get mostly the black screen
without pop-up menu. The only thing I seem to be able to reproduce reliably
with LXDE is the first try after reboot.

Also, after I have to exit from the 'black screen', I get some remaining
'bash.exe' processes left in MS-Windows task manager (regardless of what
desktop environment/desktop manager I tried to start). Sometimes it seems
to help if I kill these off before I retry to start LXDE, and sometimes not.

Thanks again,


- Maarten



On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 6:18 PM Tony Richardson <richardson.tony@gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 7:11 AM Maarten Hoes via Cygwin <cygwin@cygwin.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>> I tried a few different Desktop Environments for comparison. At least
>> GNOME-Openbox, KDE-Openbox, Plasma, and MATE give me a black screen and no
>> taskbar/menu, pop-up menu with right-click on background, etc., but I can
>> start applications on them if I open a Cygwin prompt through the 'Cygwin64
>> Terminal' icon by doing (for example) "export DISPLAY=:0.0 ; xterm".
>>
>> However, the LXDE and Openbox desktops do give me the familiar things
>> (like
>> a start-menu, right-click on desktop pop-up menu).
>>
>> I have no idea where to even begin with troubleshooting the issue (of
>> getting KDE or GNOME working). Could it be as simple as some packages that
>> have not been installed ? I installed these desktops by selecting the
>> packages listed on the Cygwin/X website during the overall Cygwin
>> installation (setup-x86_64.exe).
>>
>> Any and all help is appreciated.
>>
>>
>>
>> - Maarten
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 2:38 PM Maarten Hoes <hoes.maarten@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> >
>> > When I run XLaunch and choose single window (or use the KDE 'Plasma'
>> > shortcut), I get a black window (or grey, when also supplying '-retro'),
>> > but I am not getting a desktop like when I do when I run KDE on Linux
>> (KDE
>> > taskbar/menu, pop-up menu with right-click on background, etc.). Is
>> there a
>> > way to do this ?  Or am I missing something obvious here ?
>> >
>> >
>> > Any and all help is appreciated,
>> >
>> >
>> > Thanks in advance,
>> >
>> >
>> > - Maarten
>>
>
> Sorry I can't provide help, I just wanted to mention that I have related
> (I think) problems.  I only have the LXDE and Xfce desktop environments
> installed.  Xfce starts consistently everytime.  LXDE only completely
> starts every-other-time.  I get the black window one time (with a pop-up
> openbox menu).  I can log-out and then the next time I get the full LXDE
> desktop.  There is consistent alternation between the two. LXDE is my
> preferred desktop, but I tend to use Xfce because of this problem.
>
> I thought that there might be some weird interaction in the configuration
> files used by the different desktop environments so I deleted all the
> config files (dot files) in my home directory but I still see the same
> behavior.
>
> Tony
>
>

Re: Cygwin/X: KDE Desktop

[Maarten Hoes]

Hi,


TL;DR (The Management Summary) : I installed an old version (dated 2016) of
(all of) Cygwin where KDE does give me the 'full desktop' experience
(single MS-Windows window). Is there a desire for follow up (and more
details), in the sense that current Cygwin might be made to work as well ?


- Maarten



On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 6:57 PM Maarten Hoes <hoes.maarten@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
>
> Thanks for the effort.
>
> Now that you mentioned that, I seem to be having similar behavior as you:
> Xfce start every time I try it. But now that I tried it some more, LXDE is
> not consistent for me either. Sometimes I get a black screen, sometimes a
> black screen and the right-click-on-background-menu, and sometimes a normal
> working LXDE environment. The first time I try to start LXDE after a reboot
> of my PC seems to work always, and after that I get mostly the black screen
> without pop-up menu. The only thing I seem to be able to reproduce reliably
> with LXDE is the first try after reboot.
>
> Also, after I have to exit from the 'black screen', I get some remaining
> 'bash.exe' processes left in MS-Windows task manager (regardless of what
> desktop environment/desktop manager I tried to start). Sometimes it seems
> to help if I kill these off before I retry to start LXDE, and sometimes not.
>
> Thanks again,
>
>
> - Maarten
>
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 6:18 PM Tony Richardson <richardson.tony@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 7:11 AM Maarten Hoes via Cygwin <
>> cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>>
>>> I tried a few different Desktop Environments for comparison. At least
>>> GNOME-Openbox, KDE-Openbox, Plasma, and MATE give me a black screen and
>>> no
>>> taskbar/menu, pop-up menu with right-click on background, etc., but I can
>>> start applications on them if I open a Cygwin prompt through the
>>> 'Cygwin64
>>> Terminal' icon by doing (for example) "export DISPLAY=:0.0 ; xterm".
>>>
>>> However, the LXDE and Openbox desktops do give me the familiar things
>>> (like
>>> a start-menu, right-click on desktop pop-up menu).
>>>
>>> I have no idea where to even begin with troubleshooting the issue (of
>>> getting KDE or GNOME working). Could it be as simple as some packages
>>> that
>>> have not been installed ? I installed these desktops by selecting the
>>> packages listed on the Cygwin/X website during the overall Cygwin
>>> installation (setup-x86_64.exe).
>>>
>>> Any and all help is appreciated.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> - Maarten
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 2:38 PM Maarten Hoes <hoes.maarten@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Hi,
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > When I run XLaunch and choose single window (or use the KDE 'Plasma'
>>> > shortcut), I get a black window (or grey, when also supplying
>>> '-retro'),
>>> > but I am not getting a desktop like when I do when I run KDE on Linux
>>> (KDE
>>> > taskbar/menu, pop-up menu with right-click on background, etc.). Is
>>> there a
>>> > way to do this ?  Or am I missing something obvious here ?
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Any and all help is appreciated,
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Thanks in advance,
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > - Maarten
>>>
>>
>> Sorry I can't provide help, I just wanted to mention that I have related
>> (I think) problems.  I only have the LXDE and Xfce desktop environments
>> installed.  Xfce starts consistently everytime.  LXDE only completely
>> starts every-other-time.  I get the black window one time (with a pop-up
>> openbox menu).  I can log-out and then the next time I get the full LXDE
>> desktop.  There is consistent alternation between the two. LXDE is my
>> preferred desktop, but I tend to use Xfce because of this problem.
>>
>> I thought that there might be some weird interaction in the configuration
>> files used by the different desktop environments so I deleted all the
>> config files (dot files) in my home directory but I still see the same
>> behavior.
>>
>> Tony
>>
>>

Re: Cygwin/X: KDE Desktop

[briand]

On Wed, 13 May 2020 19:22:25 +0200
Maarten Hoes via Cygwin <cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:

> >
> > Now that you mentioned that, I seem to be having similar behavior as you:
> > Xfce start every time I try it. But now that I tried it some more, LXDE is
> > not consistent for me either. Sometimes I get a black screen, sometimes a
> > black screen and the right-click-on-background-menu, and sometimes a normal
> > working LXDE environment. The first time I try to start LXDE after a reboot
> > of my PC seems to work always, and after that I get mostly the black screen
> > without pop-up menu. The only thing I seem to be able to reproduce reliably
> > with LXDE is the first try after reboot.
> >

I missed the start of this thread.

the menu entries that you can find under the windows start menu work every once in a while, but the majority of the time they do like you say:

1 nothing
2 runs, but black screen
3 runs, and window manager comes up (very seldom)

interestingly , running "startx" in mintty is 100% working.

I am using the xfce desktop, and this all started on the last cygwin upgrade i did (which also broke graphics characters in terminals , although i'm sure the two are not related).

hangs in cygwin are quite common in my experience, i know that a lot of the time it is due to stupid network drives in the PATH variable causing problems.  I have very carefully set-up my bashrc file to remove all the corporate network drives from the path.  that helped a lot.

Re: Cygwin/X: KDE Desktop

[Maarten Hoes]

On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 3:08 AM <briand@pounceofcats.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 13 May 2020 19:22:25 +0200
> Maarten Hoes via Cygwin <cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
>
> > >
> > > Now that you mentioned that, I seem to be having similar behavior as
> you:
> > > Xfce start every time I try it. But now that I tried it some more,
> LXDE is
> > > not consistent for me either. Sometimes I get a black screen,
> sometimes a
> > > black screen and the right-click-on-background-menu, and sometimes a
> normal
> > > working LXDE environment. The first time I try to start LXDE after a
> reboot
> > > of my PC seems to work always, and after that I get mostly the black
> screen
> > > without pop-up menu. The only thing I seem to be able to reproduce
> reliably
> > > with LXDE is the first try after reboot.
> > >
>
> I missed the start of this thread.
>
> the menu entries that you can find under the windows start menu work every
> once in a while, but the majority of the time they do like you say:
>
> 1 nothing
> 2 runs, but black screen
> 3 runs, and window manager comes up (very seldom)
>
> interestingly , running "startx" in mintty is 100% working.
>
> I am using the xfce desktop, and this all started on the last cygwin
> upgrade i did (which also broke graphics characters in terminals , although
> i'm sure the two are not related).
>
> hangs in cygwin are quite common in my experience, i know that a lot of
> the time it is due to stupid network drives in the PATH variable causing
> problems.  I have very carefully set-up my bashrc file to remove all the
> corporate network drives from the path.  that helped a lot.
>
>

Hi,


With 'current' Cygwin, Xfce is the only desktop that works all of the time
for me. It's the other ones that give the described problems, where GNOME
and KDE always give a black screen, and LXDE works 'sometimes' and others
it's the black screen. I only tried to start X11 from the commandline (I
think with 'startxwin' and not 'startx' but I'm not sure) with a 'exec
/usr/bin/startkde' in my .xinitrc to get a KDE desktop, but I had the same
result as with the icons in the MS-Windows start menu.

Currently, I have downgraded all of Cygwin to a release dated 2016/10/02,
and there both KDE and GNOME work as expected for me (although a bit
slowly). To do the 'downgrade', I used the 'Cygwin Time Machine', [1] which
archives past Cygwin 'snapshots' (read: all packages that were 'current' at
some given date in the past) to try out older Cygwin releases (with
packages that are meant to go together as defined by release date). I fully
realize this is by no means a 'supported' configuration, but it seemed like
a better option than randomly downgrading individual Cygwin packages
without knowing if they were meant to work together to begin with.


- Maarten


[1]
http://www.crouchingtigerhiddenfruitbat.org/Cygwin/timemachine.html