Create aMSN-icon on desktop

Can anyone tell me how to create an aMSN-icon on my desktop
of my aAcer aspire one (linux/Linpus) machine?

 

You can just move the icon from your start menu to the disktop, if the desktop is locked then you have first to unlock the desktop before to do this operation
http://www.unixmen.net

 

Is this the advanced desktop or the 'basic' one?

If it's the advanced one, the advice above will work; if not, you need to edit the group-app.xml file. There are a number of threads already on how to do this; search for 'xml' and you will find them.

 

I think it is the 'basic' one from Acer. I followed the procedure as described
by 'Daldred' before I posted my question. I don't know what triggered me but
somehow felt the need to do some experiments with small and capital letters
in the group-app.xml file and this worked :lol:

The problem was, I refered to 'aMSN.desktop' (this is the actual file name in the
applications-directory) while editing the group-app.xml file. After correcting
this into 'amsn.desktop' the shortcut was visible on the desktop.

Can anybody explain why this is the case?

 

That shouldn't happen - Linux should be case sensitive at all times, so amsn.desktop and aMSN.desktop should be two separate things (so what you were doing was right in normal Linux terms).

I can't be sure on this, but I suspect more Acer "simplification" (aka breaking standards to make things look windows-ish!). The program reading the group-app.xml file is Acer's modified xfce desktop system.

 

Thank you for your replies. We probably never know what the
exact reasons are. Fact is it works !!

 

Okay so I've attempted this both with aMSN written as "aMSN" and "amsn".

I've tried putting it under different groups.

I've tried all sorts and the icon won't show up at all.

I've got other stuff added through the terminal when installing new programs but can't seem to get it to work when editing the group-app.xml.

Anyone have any idea what I could be doing wrong?

 

Could you post the relevant part of your group-app.xml file and we can have a look?

 

The section of the group-app.xml is:

Code:

<group>
       <id>5</id>
       <sequence>4</sequence>
       <directory_file exec="" tag_background="/usr/share/backgrounds/images/blue-bk-title.png">/usr/share/desktop-directories/Connect.directory</directory_file>
       <background_picture>/usr/share/backgrounds/images/blue-bk-large.png</background_picture>
	 <app is_arrow="1" name="" sequence="-10">/usr/share/applications/blue-back.desktop</app>
	 <app sequence="2" acs="email">/usr/share/applications/AME.desktop</app>
         <app sequence="1" acs="im">/usr/share/applications/acerim.desktop</app>
         <app sequence="0">/usr/share/applications/linpus-web.desktop</app>
   	 



	 <app sequence="3">/usr/share/applications/acerrss.desktop</app>
      	 <app sequence="5">/usr/share/applications/edesktop/googlemap.desktop</app>
	 <app sequence="4">/usr/share/applications/edesktop/wikipedia.desktop</app>
	 <app sequence="6">/usr/share/applications/edesktop/webmail.desktop</app>	 
<app sequence="7">/usr/share/applications/MobilePartner.desktop</app></group>

and when I tried to add aMSN to the list

Code:

<group>
       <id>5</id>
       <sequence>4</sequence>
       <directory_file exec="" tag_background="/usr/share/backgrounds/images/blue-bk-title.png">/usr/share/desktop-directories/Connect.directory</directory_file>
       <background_picture>/usr/share/backgrounds/images/blue-bk-large.png</background_picture>
	 <app is_arrow="1" name="" sequence="-10">/usr/share/applications/blue-back.desktop</app>
	 <app sequence="2" acs="email">/usr/share/applications/AME.desktop</app>
         <app sequence="1" acs="im">/usr/share/applications/acerim.desktop</app>
         <app sequence="0">/usr/share/applications/linpus-web.desktop</app>
   	 



	 <app sequence="3">/usr/share/applications/acerrss.desktop</app>
      	 <app sequence="5">/usr/share/applications/edesktop/googlemap.desktop</app>
	 <app sequence="4">/usr/share/applications/edesktop/wikipedia.desktop</app>
	 <app sequence="6">/usr/share/applications/edesktop/webmail.desktop</app>	 
<app sequence="7">/usr/share/applications/MobilePartner.desktop</app>
<app squence="8">usr/share/applications/aMSN.desktop</app></group>

Doesn't work... Suggestions welcome.

Solutions appreciated.

 

You've misspelt sequence and missed the first / before usr

I find it best to copy an existing line and alter carefully.

Also, would be worth checking you have the correct name for the .desktop file. Check that

Code:

sudo mousepad /usr/share/applications/aMSN.desktop

brings up the file for you. If not, manually navigate to the folder (cd /usr/share/applications and then ls to list) and get the correct title, including that the case is correct.

 

I tried with that sequence with the / at the beginning (baring in mind I've tried this several times so I might have gotten it "right" before) and it's still not working.

How do I manually add it to the list manually with the ls

I'm pretty out of practice with all this as I've spent the past three years on a Windows machine for my computer courses and only JUST started using Linux again.

 

You definitely need the "/" - look at all the other lines. A full path to a file in linux always starts with a "/".

If, having moved to the correct directory in the terminal using cd, you use the command ls, you will get a list of all files in that directory. Because you're in terminal, the true filename will appear, whereas in the file manager, it sometimes gives a differing name. If it's called something different from aMSN.desktop, then use /usr/share/applications/correctfilename.desktop in your group app.xml, and all should be fine.

 

Okay so I tried that and the only file name I could find similar was "fedora-amsn.desktop".

Other than that I can't find anything else.

Tried that in the group-app.xml and it didn't work.

Any more suggestions?

 

Ok, so first confirm this - the line you have in there is exactly:

Code:

<app sequence="8">/usr/share/applications/fedora-amsn.desktop</app>

If that is exactly correct, then open the fedora-amsn file in mousepad and copy and paste the contents into here. It's possible, though unlikely, that there is a problem with the desktop file.

 

Okay so I copied and pasted that line exactly into the "group-apps.xml" and it didn't work either so here is the contents of "fedora-amsn.desktop"

Code:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=aMSN
Exec=amsn
Icon=amsn
Categories=Network;InstantMessaging;
Comment=MSN Messenger for Linux
Comment[fr]=MSN Messenger pour Linux
Comment[de]=MSN Messenger für Linux
Comment[nl]=MSN Messenger voor Linux
Comment[no]=MSN Messenger for Linux
Comment[es]=MSN Messenger para Linux
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
X-Desktop-File-Install-Version=0.13
GenericName=

 

Hmm. Both the file and the group-app line look OK. When you say it's not working, do you mean there is no icon appearing or that the icon appears but doesn't work?

If no icon, check that the icon file /usr/share/pixmaps/amsn exists; comparing with other .desktop files I'm wondering if the .png is missing from the icon line.

If there's an icon but it doesn't run, try running it from a terminal instead and see what errors it throws up.

 

No icon was showing up at all.

I looked under "/usr/share/pixmaps/" and there wasn't a folder called "amsn".

I also looked for a PNG for the same name and there wasn't that either so I assumed that must be why it's not working.

So how do I go about fixing that? Sorry but I am a bit of a n00b with all this now.

 

The easiest way is probably to download from here: http://www.4shared.com/file/71945358/69f345cc/amsn.html

Then copy the downloaded file into the /usr/share/pixmaps directory. Do ALT-F2, and type 'sudo thunar', which will get you the file manager as root, then find your downloaded file and copy it; put /usr/share/pixmaps into the address bar and paste the file into that folder.

Then see if the thing works; if it still doesn't try editing the fedora-amsn.desktop file and add ".png" to the line which starts 'icon'.

 

Okay I tried putting a PNG into that folder and also tried putting ".png" at the icon of "icon=" blah blah blah

Nope still doesn't work...

 

I've run out of ideas, sorry. If group-app.xml has a valid line pointing to fedors-amsn.desktop, fedora-amsn.desktop has an Icon line pointing to amsn.png, and /usr/share/pixmaps/amsn.png exists and is valid, the thing should bring up the icon.

One thing to try might be changing the icon line to something else: pick an icon which exists in the /usr/share/pixmaps directory, and replace Icon=amsn.png in the dektop file with Icon=whatever.png.