This is about the panel (taskbar?) at the bottom of the screen

[GoldenYears]

Installed LM 22.1 on two desktops. One (DELL) is just great. The other (Lenovo) has turned into a disaster. I will attempt getting Snapshots to show the difference. My ignorance is the culprit - I mistakenly try something and it blows up and I don't understand a recovery method.

The Lenovo has the "Menu" icon button to the right of the "launch" apps (Firefox, Terminal, and File). The "Letter" icon is for the Thunderbird app which is active - I would want it further to the right (like DELL) . The Firefox icon I guess is missing which is running and should be like DELL. Also notice the Inbox and Mozilla icons are left aligned (which at times during this fiasco the have been right aligned). The volume control on the DELL is as I have always known it to be - whereas on the LENOVO it is to the immediate left of the day/month/time. The icon for the menu for LENOVO is a "LM" whereas the DELL is a "gear".

Please help. I may have buggered up the exact names of things due to ignorance. Forgive me.

The top is the DELL panel. The bottom is the LENOVO panel.

 

[Mike-W0BTU]

No need to apologize or ask forgiveness, my friend. This is not a forum where everyone must be an expert.

You're new to Linux. So was everyone else here.

That's easy to fix. Unfortunately it's been a long time since I used Linux Mint, so someone else will have to help you.

I love Very Retired in your description. I think I'll borrow that for mine!

 

[Condobloke]

Oh isn't it fun!

The following can be applied to either the dell or the lenovo

On the lenovo..single click on the menu icon....and hold the click down....then drag the icon to the left hand corner, and release the click.
The menu icon should stay there.
The firefox icon is present...it is sitting where the menu icon should be. To move it, left click, hold the click...shift it along the row to where it suits you best.
if the firefox icon was missing from there altogether....click on menu and type in Firefox....right click on it and select 'add to panel' ....Then shift it in the panel to where you want it.

The volume icon can be shifted as well....but slightly more detail required.

Right click on the panel..(anywhere...blank space....and select 'Panel edit mode'.......the panel will show a green square in the middle of the panel. Now single click on the volume icon and shift it where you want it. That area to the immediate left of the day/month/time etc is called the 'system tray'.

When you have done this. ....right click the panel and turn the panel edit mode OFF

Don't panic when something like this bugs the heck out of you...it is all fixable/adjustable ....you can even relocate the entire panel to the side of the screen !

If you have an external drive which you can plug into a usb port, I will show you how to use Timeshift. In a nutshell, Timeshift restores system files to an earlier date.

I mistakenly try something and it blows up and I don't understand a recovery method.

Timeshift fixes the above. It is supremely reliable. More about that later

The menu icons...different appearance....right click on the menu icon, and select 'configure'

The window that opens will look like the below

Click on the menu icon over on the right hand side up the top (red arrow).....it opens a whole host of different icons to choose from....click on one to highlight it and then click on Select down the bottom.
While you are in there, take a look around.....click on Menu up the top and look at the choices...good for making yourself familiar with a few bits and pieces.

Have fun...Do not panic. There is no need for that.

 

[GoldenYears]

I have a suggestion: let's do one thing at a time. You wrote a book - I did not get past the first PAGE (metaphorically).

On Lenovo:
I did a right click on the "LM Menu" icon and held it down. The MENU did in fact pop up BUT I could NOT drag that icon anywhere. I did have an "ahha" moment though. I tried your next suggestion about moving the Firefox icon that is totally left aligned, That sucker is NOT the Firefox icon that SHOULD be there - it's actually the icon that should be in the center of the panel to indicate an app running (when I did the right click on it as you suggested a miniature screen popped up with THIS window shown).

So let's begin, again...don't give up on me yet!

And thanks for your help!

 

[GoldenYears]

And FYI Condobloke - I did keep reading (just NOT doing, I'm a stick in the mud, one thing at a time guy) and saw the recovery method suggestion about Timeshift. Since I did the total install there have been 4-5 Timeshift snapshots. Sooo,
thinking I could recover from some of my mistakes I did a restore to the previous day - DID NOT WORK!

And yes, I have in fact used Timeshift many, many times. Have total faith in it. It did not restore my previous customizations and save my bacon (as it has done so well for many years). We'll hit this later.

Thanks.

 

[KGIII]

To move it, righclick, hold the click.

Hmm... That struck me as odd, so I went and checked on a Mint box - but it's Cinnamon, which I think OP is using.

On my system, it is a left click. If they're using MATE, then we can safely ignore this post. I don't really know much about MATE.

 

[GoldenYears]

I'm vanilla Linux Mint Cinnamon.

 

[Condobloke]

Hmm... That struck me as odd, so I went and checked on a Mint box - but it's Cinnamon, which I think OP is using.

On my system, it is a left click. If they're using MATE, then we can safely ignore this post. I don't really know much about MATE.

Corrected in original post. Thanks

 

[KGIII]

I'm vanilla Linux Mint Cinnamon.

In that case, the bottom is called the 'panel'.

Right click on that and check out the 'panel settings'.

Once you have those set, you can use 'panel edit mode' to move things around.

If you right click on the panel and see 'applets' you can also manage those. You can install them from there and you can adjust their settings from in there. If they can be modified, they'll have a gear next to them. Clicking that gear will let you change the settings for that applet.

In that same right click window on the panel, look near the bottom. You can also click on 'troubleshoot' and one of the options is to reset the panel to the default. You can use that if you screw it up too royally.

 

[KGIII]

Corrected in original post. Thanks

Oh, good. I thought I was losing my mind for a second there. I figured they must be using MATE or the like, even though it looked like Cinnamon.

I think I've shared enough info for OP to be sorted, now that I know they're on Mint Cinnamon. Those directions should at least let them restore it to the original settings. They can keep messing about until they figure it out, because it's nice and easy to just restore it to the way it was when it was shipped.

 

[GoldenYears]

That's a drink with a fire hose and precisely what has gotten me into the mess I'm in. Since I am ignorant, don't know what I'm doing, letting me know all kinds of things I could do just gets me to where I am now. What I really need is step by step, do this one thing, confirm that it worked, and go to the next thing.

Thanks.

 

[KGIII]

What I really need is step by step, do this one thing, confirm that it worked, and go to the next thing.

Those were the steps. Those steps let you do anything you need to do with the panel.

Start with this one...

Find a blank spot on the panel.
Right-click on it.
Look near the bottom and click on 'Troubleshoot'.
Reset the panel to the defaults.

That gets you back to where you were before you got into this situation.

 

[GoldenYears]

YES and NO! I followed those steps. Sure enough it looks (almost) like when I first installed the live 22.1 - ALMOST!

From the left extreme of the panel: "LM Menu" File Firefox (with blue underline) Terminal and then the Icon for email (with blue underline). If I hover the pointer over the Firefox icon I see a little display of where I am at this instance. That is NOT RIGHT and certainly NOT THE DEFAULT! That specific icon should invoke Firefox NOT display a currently executed Firefox screen. I brought up this issue earlier in a post.

I tried to move the Firefox icon (right click and drag) to the right of the email icon but it would not take (bounced back to where I picked it up). I could relocate the icon to the immediate right of "LM Menu". But again - it's a reflection of a running app NOT A LAUNCH ICON.

If no one has any ideas about this issue I already know the answer "reinstall from scratch"!

And the bottom line here: I have learned absolutely NOTHING.

Thanks.

 

[KGIII]

Hmm...

If you right click on the Firefox icon, did you "Pin to Panel"? Is there an option to 'Unpin' it?

 

[Mike-W0BTU]

But again - it's a reflection of a running app NOT A LAUNCH ICON.

Ok then ... if you close Firefox then the icon disappears. Correct?

 

[Condobloke]

Question: have you enabled the Firewall yet?

to enable it:
Open Terminal (ctrl+alt+T)...... copy and paste the command in and press enter. Put your password in and hit enter again.

sudo ufw enable

Check that it is on and working:

sudo ufw status

That's it.....the firewall will now start each and every time the pc is restarted or rebooted.



APPLETS
Applets should cause the apps to open in the space to the right of where the launch icons are, but before the system tray...in other words, where they should be.

I will put a list of the applets I use, here.

keyboard

menu

Network Manager

Notifications

Panel Launchers

Power Manager

printers

Removable Drives

Separator

Sound

System Tray

User Applet

Window List

Windows Quick List (not sure of this one. Install it, but remember it...write it down)

XApp Status Applet

I realise that is a longish list, but they install easily enough.
Click on the applet in the list so it is highlighted.
Then click the + sign down the bottom. That will install it. A tick will be placed beside the applets name (left hand side)

As a result of using those, my Panel looks like the below:

 

[Condobloke]

Panel Settings:

right click panel, select panel settings

Panel height....makes th panel taller...perhaps easier to see

Font size: you move that to whatever suits you
Coloured icon Sizes: Scale to panel size optimally
Symbolic icon size(px) mine is set at 28....smaller or bigger, your choice.

Allow the pointer to pass through the edges of panels.....tick it

 

[GoldenYears]

Got lots of responses to do here: first I did a right click on the Firefox icon - the popup has 9 lines and DOES have an option of "Unpin from panel". Then I exited Firefox completely and repeated - this time the popup has 4 lines and offers "Unpin from panel" as the fourth option. And this actually answers the other question I got: NO, the icon did not disappear as I could still right click (albeit somewhat different results).

No, I have not enabled the Firewall. I have no intention of doing so at this time.

Condobloke: those Panel Settings you provided are very familiar to me and I have been consistently successful at using them. I do not suspect them as the cause of my problems - which to me are choices made (somewhat carelessly) in doing customization.

Thanks to all.

 

[MikeWalsh]

That area to the immediate left of the day/month/time etc is called the 'system tray'.

We're ALL being "picky" today, Brian...

From what I've always understood, isn't 'system tray' the Windows term for it? Doesn't Linux call it the 'notification area'?

(Maybe that's just a ROX/JWM thing.....but I'm sure I've seen it called that elsewhere, too. Maybe not. I could be wrong.....it HAS been known!)


Mike.

 

[GoldenYears]

I am sooo close. I did the "unpin" as suggested. That leaves me with (L - R) Menu Terminal Text File (No Firefox). Lenovo_1 pic.

Next: Menu/Internet/Firefox Left click on the icon and dragged to the Launch Area. Lenovo_2 pic.

Double clicked the Firefox Icon on the Desktop. Firefox executed as expected. The just installed Firefox icon in the launch area was then blue line underscored. There was no Firefox icon posted to the right of the Launch area. Lenove_3 pic.

Please refer to the Dell pic. That shows what I think should happen along with another executed app (email icon).

DELL

I apologize - somehow all the pics got a second insert. The top wide one is DELL, followed by Lenovo_1,2,&3. The last one does not show the blue underline beneath the Firefox Icon - but it is actually there.