Persistence for Virtual Desktops?

WetGeek · 2022-12-23 18:19:48

On the Solus OS forum, we maintain a series of threads called "Other Interesting Distros." Bunsen Labs Lithium was the first release from here that I explored and reviewed there, and I was impressed enough to want more.

I created a thread for Beryllium as soon as I saw its announcement on DistroWatch, and I'm enjoying it enough on a VM to install it on a spare laptop and use it as a daily driver for a while. There's just one potential showstopper -- my normal workflow uses 10 virtual desktops (workspaces), and I'd like them to persist from one session to the next.

Now, if I reboot or restart following some down time, the virtual desktops in use are changed to just 2 empty ones. Is there a setting that will allow the ones in use during a session to survive a reboot? Or perhaps a configuration file that lists the workspaces and their applications? If there is a way, I haven't found it yet.

Knowing that I can do that would elevate Beryllium from a very interesting curiosity to a potential daily-use OS. Currently, I'm using KDE Plasma, a DE that can restore a previous session, and I've become very accustomed to it. Thanks for reading!

rbh · 2022-12-23 18:42:03

WetGeek wrote:

Now, if I reboot or restart following some down time, the virtual desktops in use are changed to just 2 empty ones.
Is there a setting that will allow the ones in use during a session to survive a reboot?

Openbox is not a full DE. You can not as in XFCE or KDE save the session before shuting down. I use to hibernate my desktop during night. Then I can continue my work in the morning.

Or perhaps a configuration file that lists the workspaces and their applications? If there is a way, I haven't found it yet.

But if you have set up your box to have 10 desktops, you should have 10 desktops when you restart and login.
The setting in Obconf, is saved in ~/.config/openbox/bl-menu.xml. Search for "<desktops>". I have 3 on this laptop: "<number>3</number>".

I also autostart some applications in ~/.config/bunsen/autostart.

rbh · 2022-12-23 19:19:14

When I for some 20 years ago. started use openbox, I run it in XFCE. Then I could save my session to next reboot. Pure openbox is lighter than running it in XFCE, bu if you are using 10 desktops, you ought to have power in your box...

I guess it is possible to have BL running in LXQT...

WetGeek · 2022-12-23 19:36:12

Thanks, I do understand the difference between DEs and WMs. Your responses give me the information I need to preserve desktops from one session to another. I'll experiment with the config files, now that I know where they are, and enjoy more time with Beryllium.

WetGeek · 2022-12-23 22:24:28

Mission accomplished, and thanks again for your help. I'm a retired software engineer, so XML is a second language, but I found obconf to be an excellent help. For my purposes, Beryllium is now a useful OS. The engineer in me wonders how easy it would be to add an "Application" element to each desktop, and launch it upon startup in its desktop. That way, an entire session could actually persist across restarts. No "application" element or an empty one would just leave the desktop empty.

Last edited by WetGeek (2022-12-24 10:21:52)

brontosaurusrex · 2022-12-24 19:42:18

I guess part of this could be some sort of a script
some reading: https://askubuntu.com/questions/483554/ … mmand-line
the idea being to store the running apps and associated desktops before shutdown and then run them at startup. I don't have an exact solution, but playing around with:

wmctrl -x -l

should give you maybe useful list of apps (and desktops),
(It should also be possible to sniff the states, window sizes, window positions, ect)
and at boot something like

wmctrl -s 1 && geany

to start geany on desktop one for example...

Last edited by brontosaurusrex (2022-12-24 19:48:09)

sleekmason · 2022-12-24 21:06:55

After seeing this, I added Geany, terminal and Thunar lines in the Openbox autostart to open in desktops 1 & 2 a couple of seconds after login and that works great for quick initial access. Good way to separate out the desktops.

^ Pointing to a script to do the same instead would also allow additional commands for each item if needed. You can create a cool activation list on login or add a toggle to activate the script when wanted. Nice.

#1 2022-12-23 18:19:48

Persistence for Virtual Desktops?

#2 2022-12-23 18:42:03

Re: Persistence for Virtual Desktops?

#3 2022-12-23 19:19:14

Re: Persistence for Virtual Desktops?

#4 2022-12-23 19:36:12

Re: Persistence for Virtual Desktops?

#5 2022-12-23 22:24:28

Re: Persistence for Virtual Desktops?

#6 2022-12-24 19:42:18

Re: Persistence for Virtual Desktops?

#7 2022-12-24 21:06:55

Re: Persistence for Virtual Desktops?

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