Failing to get cbatticon to desktop

[tkay11]

I am an absolute newbie to MX Linux, which I have loaded on an old 32-bit laptop running Windows Vista. It is over 30 years since I worked with Linux so feel a little out of my depth. I am trying to show the batticon .desktop file that I created to run from the desktop or from startup.

I created the .desktop batticon file in /home/user/desktop as follows:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Name=Battery
Exec=/usr/Desktop/cbatticon.desktop
Icon=battery
Comment=
StartupNotify=true
GenericName=Battery status
Path=/usr/Desktop/

I have activated it in Launcher, but it does not appear on the desktop, although it can be started by clicking on it in its directory.

I have searched the forum extensively about how to place text files and apps on the MX desktop and in the manual but so far none of the suggestions I have come across seem to have helped. I have searched in vain for the directory in Settings manager > Session and Startup > Application Autostart and see no entry for Session and Startup.

At the risk of provoking ire for a common question, I would be most grateful if any members could help with a suggestion of what I am doing wrong, or how to go about it correctly.

Thanks to any for your kind help

Tony

[Eadwine Rose]

According to the forum rules (please read): Please provide full Quick System Info from the menu, use copy for forum button, no edits.

LiveUSB version is OK if needed.

[j2mcgreg]

Can you at least give us the make and complete model name of this laptop?

[Stevo]

This is a basic Linux question, so we don't need any system info, to be honest.

Try putting it in

/home/[your user name]/.local/share/applications/

.local is a hidden folder, so you'll have to enable seeing those in a GUI file manager.

[tkay11]

Thanks very much @Stevo . I'll try that. I suspected it might be hidden but didn't know how to find it.

@j2mcgreg : I am using a Sony Vaio TZ11 VGN from 2008.

@Eadwine Rose : Sorry I hadn't seen from the forum rules that I had to post the full quick system info. I hope that in this instance it was ok.

Tony

[tkay11]

Just in case it helps... !

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-37-686-pae [6.1.140-1] arch: i686 bits: 32 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-37-686-pae root=UUID=<filter> ro vga=791 quiet splash
  Desktop: Fluxbox v: 1.3.7 info: tint2 vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.6_fluxbox_386
    Libretto April 13 2025 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Sony product: VGN-TZ11MN_N v: J002N414 serial: <superuser required> Chassis:
    type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Sony model: VAIO serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Phoenix v: R0052N7 date: 07/11/2007
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 58.1 Wh (100.0%) condition: 58.1/62.6 Wh (92.8%) volts: 12.6 min: 10.8
    model: Sony Corp. type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: full
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core2 U7500 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Core2 Merom built: 2006-09
    process: Intel 65nm family: 6 model-id: 0xF (15) stepping: 2 microcode: 0x5C
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB
    L2: 2 MiB desc: 1x2 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 798 min/max: 800/1067 scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand cores:
    1: 798 2: 798 bogomips: 4256
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion
  Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT disabled
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; STIBP: disabled; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not
    affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile 945GM/GMS 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics vendor: Sony driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-3.5 process: Intel 90nm built: 2005-06 ports: active: LVDS-1 empty: VGA-1
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:27a2 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Ricoh Visual Communication Camera VGP-VCC7 [R5U870] type: USB driver: N/A
    bus-ID: 2-8:4 chip-ID: 05ca:183a class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: intel
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: i915 gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.21x7.99") s-diag: 414mm (16.31")
  Monitor-1: LVDS-1 mapped: LVDS1 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 size: N/A modes: 1366x768
  API: OpenGL v: 2.1 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: i915 (: 945GM) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Sony driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:27d8 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-37-686-pae status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Marvell 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Sony driver: sky2 v: 1.30 pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 2000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 11ab:4363 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network driver: iwl3945 v: in-tree:s modules: wl
    pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:4222 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Alps Bluetooth Controller (ALPS/UGPZ6) type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 2-6.2:5
    chip-ID: 044e:300d class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 1.2 lmp-v: 2.0
    sub-v: 77b hci-v: 2.0 rev: 77b
  Info: acl-mtu: 384:8 sco-mtu: 64:8 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park
    link-mode: peripheral accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, audio, telephony
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 118 GiB used: 7.72 GiB (6.5%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Zheino model: CHN-18ZIF001M-128 size: 118 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: <unknown> type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 0803 scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 118 GiB size: 115.59 GiB (97.96%) used: 7.72 GiB (6.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
    maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 1024 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swap/swap
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 1990 libs: 985 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm pkgs: 0
  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 bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mxlinux.mirrors.uk2.net/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
Info:
  Processes: 172 Uptime: 1h 4m wakeups: 2 Memory: 1.96 GiB used: 693.6 MiB (34.6%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: BIOS (legacy, CSM, MBR)

Tony

[j2mcgreg]

Your QSI shows a 64 bit cpu. Is there a reason why you chose the 32 bi version of MX 23 instead?
I installed cbatticon on my Aspire V5 yesterday and it seems to work fine when launched from a terminal and it add the percentage available to the existing battery icon in the panel. Is this close enough to what you are trying to achieve?

[tkay11]

@j2mcgreg : Gosh! Well spotted! I had thought it was 32-bit, based on the purchased installation of Windows Vista Business. Perhaps I'll try a new installation of 64-bit.

cbatticon works fine from a command line in terminal, it's just I haven't been able to get it to work from the desktop or in startup. I'll keep trying!

Thanks for your thoughts,

Tony

[timkb4cq]

Exec=/usr/Desktop/cbatticon.desktop

Your Exec line in the desktop file points to the desktop file.
It should point to the cbatticon executable - probably /usr/bin/cbatticon

[tkay11]

@timkb4cq : Thanks for the correction. I'll try that.

Tony