Solved - move window buttons left -> right

solved: ran metacity --replace.

Svens, could you please enlighten me - what exactly did you do?

I've used gconf-editor for a while now with ubuntu 11.04 and have always managed to get the window buttons to the right corner. Now with 11.10 it doesn't work any more (GNOME classic desktop, just installed). I have no idea which window manager is in use here though. Typing "metacity --replace" in a terminal starts the metacity application, blinks the whole screen a few times, then it runs and blocks the terminal. What am I supposed to do? Let it continue in the background maybe?

Hope you (or someone else) can help -- I'm soon getting overly tired from struggling with what WAS an excellent distribution!

Thanks

- Bernt

Hey Bernt,

I stopped using Ubuntu 11.10 since I solved that.
Please see the list of commands I have issued even soon after the installation completed.
I then ended up in installing the MATE project, but I did somehow manage to run metacity and
after that re-ordering the buttons comes easy with the buttons_layout in gconf-editor.

History: (Just skip the non-important things and focus more on metacity and gconf-editor).
Good luck my friend, I'll just hope that MATE project will get more and more advocates.

(l and ll are just aliases for 'ls -l' and 'ls -la' )

svs@svs-VirtualBox:~$ history
    1 gconftool-2
    2 sudo apt-cache search dconf
    3 sudo apt-cache search dconf-editor
    4 sudo apt-get install synaptic
    5 dconf
    6 sudo dconf
    7 gconf-editor
    8 sudo apt-get install dconf-tools
    9 dconf-editor
   10 gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string menu:minimize,maximize,close
   11 gconftool --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string menu:minimize,maximize,close
   12 gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string menu:minimize,maximize,close
   13 sudo apt-get install git
   14 metacity --replace
   15 sudo apt-get install libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libglib2.0-dev libidl-dev libdbus-1-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libpolkit-backend-1-dev flex libpopt-dev bison libbz2-dev libgcrypt11-dev libcanberra-dev libgail-dev libgtk2.0-dev libart-2.0-dev libglade2-dev libtasn1-3-bin libxklavier-dev libsoup2.4-dev icon-naming-utils libunique-dev libcanberra-gtk-dev libwnck-dev librsvg2-dev libpolkit-agent-1-dev gobject-introspection libgirepository1.0-dev libupower-glib-dev intltool xsltproc libtasn1-3-dev libtool gtk-doc-tools libgamin-dev
   16 uname -a
   17 cd
   18 cd Desktop/
   19 mkdir files
   20 cd files/
   21 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/
   22 rm -rf index.html
   23 ftp
   24 ftp matsusoft.com.ar
   25 wget -nH --cut-dirs=4 --level=0 http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/
   26 rm -f index.html
   27 dir=http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/
   28 lynx -dump $dir | sed -n "s|.*\(${dir}*\)|\1|p" > filelist
   29 sudo apt-get install lynx-cur
   30 lynx -dump $dir | sed -n "s|.*\(${dir}*\)|\1|p" > filelist
   31 more filelist
   32 nano filelist
   33 ll
   34 wget -i filelist
   35 wget libmatecanvas_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   36 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/libmatecanvas_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   37 ls
   38 rm -f libmate*
   39 l
   40 wget -i filelist
   41 l
   42 rm -f *
   43 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/libmate_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   44 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/libmatecanvas_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   45 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/libmatecomponent_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   46 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/libmatecomponentui_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   47 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/libmatekbd_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   48 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/libmatekeyring_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   49 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/libmatenotify_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   50 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/libmateui_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   51 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/libmateweather_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   52 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-backgrounds_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   53 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-common_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   54 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-conf_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   55 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-conf_2011.9.26_i386.deb -r
   56 rm -f mate-conf_2011.9.26_i386.deb*
   57 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-conf_2011.9.26_i386.deb -r
   58 ll
   59 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-corba_2011.9.27_i386.deb
   60 rm -rf matsusoft.com.ar/ libmatecomponent_2011.9.26_i386.deb.1
   61 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-desktop_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   62 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-dialogs_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   63 rm -f mate-dialogs_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   64 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-dialogs_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   65 wget -c http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-dialogs_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   66 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-doc-utils_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   67 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-file-manager_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   68 uname -a
   69 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-icon-theme_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   70 wget -c http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-icon-theme_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   71 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-keyring_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   72 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-menus_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   73 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-mime-data_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   74 l
   75 wget -c http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-mime-data_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   76 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-notification-daemon_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   77 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-panel_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   78 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-polkit_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   79 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-session-manager_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   80 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-settings-daemon_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   81 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-vfs_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   82 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-window-manager_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   83 wget -c http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-window-manager_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   84 ls -l
   85 ls -la
   86 ls wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-conf_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   87 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-conf_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   88 wget -c http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-conf_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   89 wget http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-control-center_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   90 wget -c http://matsusoft.com.ar/repository/ubuntu/mate/i386/mate-control-center_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   91 ll
   92 dpkg -i *
   93 sudo dpkg -i *
   94 dpkg -i libmate_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   95 sudo dpkg -i libmate_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   96 dpkg -i libmatekbd_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   97 sudo dpkg -i libmatekbd_2011.9.26_i386.deb
   98 cd
   99 mkdir perberos
  100 cd perberos/
  101 git clone https://github.com/Perberos/Mate-Desktop-Environment.git
  102 l
  103 cd Mate-Desktop-Environment/
  104 l
  105 cd mate-doc-utils
  106 l
  107 ./configure --prefix=/usr && make && make install
  108 l
  109 cd distro/ubuntu/
  110 l
  111 ./build
  112 ll
  113 cd ../
  114 ll
  115 cd ../
  116 ll
  117 ./py-compile
  118 ./install-sh
  119 ./configure
  120 ./configure --prefix=/usr
  121 make
  122 make install
  123 sudo make install
  124 cd distro/ubuntu/
  125 sudo ./build
  126 ll
  127 mkdir ~/Desktop/perberos
  128 mv mate-doc-utils_2011.9.26-1_i386.deb ~/Desktop/perberos/
  129 cd ../../../
  130 cd mate-common/
  131 ./configure && make && sudo make install
  132 ll
  133 sudo sh distro/ubuntu/build
  134 ls distro/ubuntu
  135 cd distro/ubuntu/
  136 sudo ./build
  137 ll
  138 mv mate-common_2011.9.26-1_i386.deb ~/Desktop/
  139 cd ../../
  140 CD ../
  141 cd ../
  142 cd mate-corba/
  143 ./configure && make && sudo make install
  144 sh ./distro/ubuntu/build
  145 sudo ./distro/ubuntu/build
  146 cd distro/ubuntu/
  147 ls
  148 sudo ./build
  149 ls
  150 mv mate-corba_2011.9.27-1_i386.deb ~/Desktop/
  151 cd ../../
  152 cd ../
  153 find . -type d -exec ./configure && make && sudo make install
  154 find . -type d |xargs ./configure && make && sudo make install
  155 find . -type d |xargs sh configure && make && sudo make install
  156 ll
  157 cd mate-conf/
  158 ./configure && make && sudo make install || sudo sh distro/ubuntu/build ; ls distro/ubuntu/
  159 ls distro/ubuntu/
  160 ls
  161 ./configure && make && sudo make install
  162 cd distro/ubuntu/
  163 sudo ./build
  164 cd ..
  165 l
  166 ./configure
  167 ./configure --prefix=/usr && make && sudo make install
  168 cd ../
  169 cd libmatecomponent
  170 ./configure --prefix=/usr && make && sudo make install
  171 sudo ./distro/ubuntu/build
  172 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tiheum/equinox
  173 sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install faenza-icon-theme
  174 sudp apt-cache search murrine
  175 sudo apt-cache search murrine
  176 sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-nodoka - Nodoka theme engine for GTK+ 2.x
  177 sudo apt-get install murrine-themes
  178 sudo apt-cache search radiance
  179 sudo apt-get install light-themes
  180 gnome-panel
  181 gnome-panel &&
  182 gnome-panel &
  183 ps x
  184 pkill *panel*
  185 ps x | grep -i panel
  186 kill -9 1734
  187 mate-panel &
  188 pkill mate-panel
  189 mate-panel &
  190 mate-panel-test-applets
  191 gnome-panel &
  192 ubuntu-bug mate-panel
  193 sudo apt-get install htop
  194 sudo apt-get install mc
  195 htop
  196 top
  197 gnome-panel &
  198 \
  199 pkill gdm
  200 ps x
  201 pkill mate-session
  202 uname -a
  203 lsb_release
  204 sudo apt-get install pidgin pidgin-plugins-pack
  205 sudo apt-get install pidgin pidgin-plugin-pack
  206 cd
  207 cd .purple/
  208 nano .cloak.pl
  209 mv .cloak.pl ../.xchat2/
  210 sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
  211 sudo apt-get update
  212 sudo apt-get install tor tor-geoipdb
  213 sudo apt-get install nmap
  214 nmap localhost
  215 reboot
  216 sudo 1!
  217 sudo sudo 1!
  218 sudo reboot
  219 ps -aux | grep -i meta
  220 hist
  221 history
svs@svs-VirtualBox:~$

Hi again,

thanks for your post - it's amazing how many people use the 'l' and 'll' aliases - it should be made standard I think... Anyway - I wouldn't mind NOT using ubuntu 11.10 myself - whether it is the OS, X or Gnome I don't know, but it's pretty unstable for me. I won't blame Linux for not being stable, nor X, so I guess we know the answer then. And Unity I won't even touch - so I'm stubbed here. Can you come up with an alternative? I loved ubuntu before, but I think someone has made very wrong decisions lately.

And yes - I somehow obviously managed to get metacity back, and gconf-editor again places my buttons where I like them. Instantly, no need to log out.

I'll look into the MATE project and see what it is all about.

- Bernt

Hi Bernt,

I'm glad you made it.
Anyway, Ubuntu tends to be TOO 'user friendly' as they say, or more 'distract-less' computing as
Gnome has said about their 3rd version release.
MATE is a Gnome v2 fork, maintained by Perberos, a guy like us, who don't really like sudden changes that much. :)
I'm thinking to switch back to CentOS, even if it's not that suitable for home usage, but that's life, I hope MATE
will get a PPA repository so we can automate the installation and to solve dependencies/conflicts.
Now I reverted back to 11.04 as it provides Gnome 2 without having to mess around with things.

Best regards.

Yes, Ubuntu is indeed too user-friendly, but that's OK for me as long as the environment is good. Now it is not, so an alternative is needed. Looking for MATE I stumbled upon Arch Linux. Their philosophy reminds me of an earlier fling I had with LFS (Linux-From-Scratch) in my early Linux days. Quite interesting and lots to learn, but today I believe the options are too many NOT to go for a pre-packaged system.
What can you say about CentOS? My requirements for a usable system are getting very watered out now, but I do want a system that sports the desktop cube as well as a quick way to navigate between running applications. I guess this simply means GNOME2 and Compiz. And it must be stable!!!

PS: have you looked at Mint? That's supposedly the new Ubuntu, or Ubuntu-done-right according to DistroWatch... I tried Mint 11, but can't remember why it's no longer installed here. Maybe I had too high expectations then(?) Mint 12 is around the corner they say.

- Bernt

Just for fun -- Mint 12 comes with MATE they said - I'm happily running Mint 11 right now - guess I just missed the mouse-button-two-on-the-desktop to rotate the cube, but that's no problem. Keep in touch!

- Bernt