Desktop "grid" for icons [Solved]

[paddys-hill]

Somehow, I have changed something that has resulted in the desktop icons only being allowed in an 4 x 8 "grid". I can't find anything or reference to what controls this layout.

Can anyone please help me with "What config file controls the desktop icons arrangement?"

tia
bruce at paddys-hill

[thinkpadx]

try right clickon desktop and scroll down to arrange icons on desktop. maybe that will help maybe not -

[JayM]

What desktop, Xfce KDE or Fluxbox? Quick System Info, please.

[paddys-hill]

Xfce

Code: Select all

Snapshot created on: 20210806_0747
System:    Host: <filter> Kernel: 5.10.0-5mx-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-5mx-amd64 
           root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.5 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
           Distro: MX-19.4_ahs_x64 patito feo March 31  2021 base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire A315-21G v: V1.02 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: SR model: Squirtle_SR v: V1.02 serial: <filter> UEFI [Legacy]: Insyde v: 1.02 
           date: 05/12/2017 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: AMD A9-9420 RADEON R5 5 COMPUTE CORES 2C+3G bits: 64 
           type: MCP arch: Excavator family: 15 (21) model-id: 70 (112) stepping: N/A 
           microcode: 6006704 L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 11976 
           Speed: 2760 MHz min/max: 1400/3000 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3224 
           2: 3316 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass 
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Stoney [Radeon R2/R3/R4/R5 Graphics] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
           driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus ID: 00:01.0 chip ID: 1002:98e4 
           Device-2: AMD Jet PRO [Radeon R5 M230 / R7 M260DX / Radeon 520 Mobile] 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 
           chip ID: 1002:6665 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.10 driver: ati,radeon 
           unloaded: amdgpu,fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD STONEY (DRM 3.40.0 5.10.0-5mx-amd64 LLVM 11.0.1) 
           v: 4.5 Mesa 20.3.4 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: AMD vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:01.1 chip ID: 1002:15b3 
           Device-2: AMD Family 15h Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus ID: 00:09.2 chip ID: 1022:157a 
           Device-3: Microsoft LifeCam VX-1000 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,sonixj 
           bus ID: 1-3.4:4 chip ID: 045e:00f7 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.10.0-5mx-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 02:00.1 
           chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Lite-On 
           driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 168c:0042 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 326.68 GiB (35.1%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: MQ04ABF100 size: 931.51 GiB block size: 
           physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> 
           rev: 1J scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 212.75 GiB size: 208.41 GiB (97.96%) used: 18.25 GiB (8.8%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda12 
           ID-2: /home raw size: 109.60 GiB size: 107.38 GiB (97.97%) used: 39.16 GiB (36.5%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda11 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 72.2 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
           GPU: device: amdgpu temp: 75 C device: radeon temp: 50 C 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security/ buster/updates main contrib non-free
           3: deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main contrib non-free
           4: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-backports non-free contrib main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mirror.datamossa.io/mxlinux/antix/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
           2: deb http://mirror.datamossa.io/mxlinux/antix/mx/repo/ buster ahs
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 229 Uptime: 1d 3h 58m Memory: 7.24 GiB used: 2.08 GiB (28.8%) 
           Init: SysVinit v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 
           Shell: quick-system-in running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36 

(Don't know what happened there. I was sure I included the system info.)

[JayM]

Xfce's documentation is a good place to start: https://docs.xfce.org/. Click on the Desktop Manager link.

[paddys-hill]

Also, the pic link seems to have disappeared.

https://imgur.com/4gXOPayl.png

[paddys-hill]

Ahah! Finally found it! (After about a day wandering through the Xfce docs - thanks JayM)

For the benefit of anyone in a similar boat...

For MX 19 the .config file is ~/.config/gtk-3.0/no-ellipse-desktop-filenames.css (now that makes sense )

Code: Select all

-XfdesktopIconView-cell-spacing:0;
-XfdesktopIconView-cell-padding:0;
-XfdesktopIconView-cell-text-width-proportion:2.3;

The first two are multipliers for another xfce configuration to do with the icon size. I don't know which one, all I do know is that setting those two to zero allows the third one to be used (by experimentation) to get a tighter/looser arrangement of the "grid".

After you get the arrangement you want do not use the "Arrange Desktop Items" in the desktop context menu or you will become sad.

Anyway I finally got what I wanted, viz

Thanks to all.
bb at paddys-hill