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view logs in the backround of the desktop

Open echo2go opened this issue 3 years ago • 7 comments
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Hello, Could you add these features in one of the next versions of contour?

  • borderless window, no window decorations
  • start at a specific screen position
  • no information in the taskbar
  • window visible on all virtual workspaces

I would like to use it to see some logs in the background of my desktop. It would be nice if I could use it in the profile section of the configuration file.

Many thanks.

echo2go avatar Apr 23 '22 16:04 echo2go

Hello,

* borderless window, no window decorations

Already exists, check in contour.yml file profiles.main.show_title_bar

* start at a specific screen position

You mean at X and Y coordinates of a screen?

* no information in the taskbar

Will need bit more info here

* window visible on all virtual workspaces

Which DE is in question? What's the current behavior?

I would like to use it to see some logs in the background of my desktop. It would be nice if I could use it in the profile section of the configuration file. This one is interesting

uspasojevic96 avatar Apr 23 '22 19:04 uspasojevic96

* borderless window, no window decorations

Already exists, check in contour.yml file profiles.main.show_title_bar

Oh yes, you are right. I thought title bar means ONLY the title bar. Sorry.

* start at a specific screen position

You mean at X and Y coordinates of a screen?

Yes. Actually the window starts every time in the middle of the screen. I would like to say it should open the window on this coordinates.

* no information in the taskbar

Will need bit more info here

I use XFCE 4.16 as desktop manager. Each window gets its own icon and name in the taskbar to easily switch between the windows. In XFCE it is named as "Window Button" I believe. Because I would like to have a terminal in the background it should not be visible in the taskbar and may be not in the "Alt+Tab"-menu.

* window visible on all virtual workspaces

Which DE is in question? What's the current behavior?

I am using XFCE 4.16 and any new window opens on the currently active virtual desktop. When I switch to the other virtual desktop, the window is not there until I tell the window manager to move it to the other or show it on all.

I would like to use it to see some logs in the background of my desktop. It would be nice if I could use it in the profile section of the configuration file. This one is interesting

Thanks :) I have tried this with many Terminals, but the only that came very close to my wishes was rxvt-unicode. That's a very old terminal and it has some disadvantages... Because I like contour, because of the many functions, I would like to see my wishes fulfilled with it. :)

echo2go avatar Apr 24 '22 12:04 echo2go

I use XFCE 4.16 as desktop manager. Each window gets its own icon and name in the taskbar to easily switch between the windows. In XFCE it is named as "Window Button" I believe. Because I would like to have a terminal in the background it should not be visible in the taskbar and may be not in the "Alt+Tab"-menu.

Is there any existing terminal that does this? If I understood this correctly, you want terminal that is in background to not appear anywhere? Is this XFCE specific thing?

I am using XFCE 4.16 and any new window opens on the currently active virtual desktop. When I switch to the other virtual desktop, the window is not there until I tell the window manager to move it to the other or show it on all.

Again is there any existing terminal that does this? Would be nice to see how they do it. Is this XFCE specific thing?

uspasojevic96 avatar Apr 24 '22 13:04 uspasojevic96

@uspasojevic96

Is this XFCE specific thing?

KDE KWin also has a "Move to Desktop > All Desktops" option.


As a side note, around 15 years ago, I used a tool called conky which showed a lot of things overlayed on your background. It could emit the output of any command whatsoever, so tail -n 50 /var/log/syslog worked.

whisperity avatar Apr 25 '22 07:04 whisperity

@uspasojevic96 I use XFCE 4.16 as desktop manager. Each window gets its own icon and name in the taskbar to easily switch between the windows. In XFCE it is named as "Window Button" I believe. Because I would like to have a terminal in the background it should not be visible in the taskbar and may be not in the "Alt+Tab"-menu. Is there any existing terminal that does this? If I understood this correctly, you want terminal that is in background to not appear anywhere? Is this XFCE specific thing?

I'm unsure. In the very old days I used Gnome 2 and Eterm (enlightenment V16 Terminal ) in this way. I'm unsure which of the two was responsible for this feature. Today I know no terminal who could do the job. Only root-tail -g 800x500+3000+1600 -reverse -update -partial -wordwrap -outline -id $(xwininfo -name 'Schreibtisch' -int | awk '{if ($1=="xwininfo:") print $4}') /var/log/messages,red creates no icons and text in the taskbar. But the tool has graphics problem on my system...

I am using XFCE 4.16 and any new window opens on the currently active virtual desktop. When I switch to the other virtual desktop, the window is not there until I tell the window manager to move it to the other or show it on all. Again is there any existing terminal that does this? Would be nice to see how they do it. Is this XFCE specific thing?

After thinking about it for a long time, I think this will be a feature of the desktop environment. I doesn't know a program that do this at all. image

@uspasojevic96 As a side note, around 15 years ago, I used a tool called conky which showed a lot of things overlayed on your background. It could emit the output of any command whatsoever, so tail -n 50 /var/log/syslog worked.

I know conky, but it consumes a lot of CPU resources on my desktop. So I have not used it for a while.

echo2go avatar Apr 25 '22 08:04 echo2go

Looked into root-tail from what I have seen it's directly working with X11 and drawing, that could be why it doesn't have any task info, will look into it more

http://cvs.schmorp.de/root-tail/root-tail.c?view=markup

uspasojevic96 avatar Apr 25 '22 08:04 uspasojevic96

I tried root-tail, but I get graphics problem with it. (look at the post above ;) ) The output is not readable after a while. And it has problems with the focus. You click on the desktop and the root-tail isn't visible for a while.

http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/root-tail.html

echo2go avatar Apr 25 '22 09:04 echo2go