Ubuntu
unity package

how to refresh the dash / head-up display

Asked by Aisano

I have a question about dash -- or is it the head-up display (HUD)? I never quite got what is the difference between the two but I mean the thing that opens when I click the Ubuntu symbol and that replaced the menu. In the process list it seems to show up under unity-2d-shell.

Since I have been on Ubuntu 12.04 I sometimes experience the problem that after log-in the dash contains no applications. Waiting a reasonable amount of time (say, five minutes) and reopening the dash many times does not help. So far the only solution I know is to log off and back on. (I do not need to reboot.)

Is there a way to force a refresh of the dash's contents without logging of? Such as sending it a signal or so? I can open a terminal by pushing Ctrl-Shift-T (not by Alt-F2, though).

Thank you in advance,
Reinhard (Aisano)

Question information

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Ubuntu unity Edit question
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Aisano
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This question was reopened

Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#1

Terminology.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/10228/whats-the-right-terminology-for-unitys-ui-elements/62842#62842

Dash is displayed by super-key.
https://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/ubuntu-help/unity-dash-intro.html

HUD is displayed by alt-key.
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/939

Long-press super-key displays overlay shortcuts.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/28086/what-are-unitys-keyboard-and-mouse-shortcuts/64572#64572

Processes can be viewed in system monitor, e.g. hud-service, unity-panel-service.

Monitoring activities is done by zeitgeist.
http://zeitgeist-project.com/

Since Dash works with locate try in a terminal:
sudo updatedb

Revision history for this message
Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino) said : 		#2

Thank you, Sam and sam. I now understand what is the dash and the HUD. And I will try updatedb the next time I experience the problem.

Revision history for this message
Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino) said : 		#3

The problem has not appeared for about a week, so I consider my question solved. The hints on terminology were, in any case, very useful.

Revision history for this message
Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino) said : 		#4

Thanks Sam_, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino) said : 		#5

Just for the records: Today the problem reappeared (no applications in the dash, only recent files and downloads. So I tried "sudo updatedb". It took about two minutes to complete but did not help.

(I wish I had my old menu back.)

Revision history for this message
Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino) said : 		#6

It's five days now that my dash does not show any applications, just "recent files" and "downloads". In the meantime I memorized the names of the applications I normally use, so I can start them from a terminal, and I put shortcuts on my desktop. Still this is just a workaround.

Has anybody got an idea what I can do to get my dash working again? Or, since I am not too fond of the dash anyhow, how I can get a decent way of navigating through Ubuntu applications?

Many thanks,
Aisano

Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#7

When you click on the application lens there're no applications displayed?
http://i.stack.imgur.com/S0uwm.jpg

The 'home lens' displays recently, last used and others.
The 'application lens' displays all installed apps.

Revision history for this message
Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino) said : 		#8

Thanks for the image to avoid confusion about terminology. my home lens displays just two sections, which I (naively) translate as "recently used" and "download". The application lens is completely empty; clicking on "filter results" does not change anything, as there is nothing to filter. Until about a week ago the two lenses were mostly full of applications. The present problem was only sporadic; now it seems to be permanent.

I reboot every day, and I usually accept all proposed updates, though for many weeks update-manager would not show me the changes (suggesting me a TTT address instead).

Revision history for this message
Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino) said : 		#9

I just got an e-mail that Sam_ pointed me to bug 962265 but this hint does not appear here. I do not, however, think that bug 962265 is my problem as it affects only the home lens. I have used the home lens for several weeks until the problems appeared, and I think it is the empty application lens that is at the root of the problem. I understand the application lens is almost never supposed to be empty. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#10

Please close all open applications and open a terminal only: ctrl+alt+t
Enter:
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get -f install

Please post complete output here. Thanks.

Revision history for this message
Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino) said : 		#11

It is like witchcraft: I had the problem for five consecutive days but when I had posted it here it disappeared. Both my home lens and my application lens now display applications again. But I will post my apt-get output here all the same.

I had not updated for two days so I got a couple of lines under "update" / "upgrade". I forgot to switch LANG to English, so the output is a mixture of German and Esperanto.

As presently I cannot reproduce the problem I am setting this question to "solved" again. Many thanks.

$ sudo apt-get clean
$ sudo apt-get update
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise InRelease
Ign http://archive.canonical.com precise InRelease
OK http://extras.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg
OK http://archive.canonical.com precise Release.gpg
OK http://archive.canonical.com precise Release
OK http://archive.canonical.com precise/partner i386 Packages
Ign http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise InRelease
Ign http://archive.canonical.com precise/partner TranslationIndex
Ign http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security InRelease
Ign http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates InRelease
OK http://extras.ubuntu.com precise Release
OK http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Sources
OK http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main i386 Packages
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.canonical.com precise/partner Translation-eo
Ign http://archive.canonical.com precise/partner Translation-de_DE
Ign http://archive.canonical.com precise/partner Translation-de_AT
Ign http://archive.canonical.com precise/partner Translation-de_CH
Ign http://archive.canonical.com precise/partner Translation-en
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-eo
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-de_DE
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-de_AT
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-de_CH
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en
Ign http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed InRelease
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise Release.gpg
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security Release.gpg
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates Release.gpg
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed Release.gpg
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise Release
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security Release
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates Release
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed Release
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise/main Sources
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise/universe Sources
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise/main i386 Packages
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise/universe i386 Packages
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise/main TranslationIndex
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise/universe TranslationIndex
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security/main Sources
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security/universe Sources
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security/main i386 Packages
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security/universe i386 Packages
Hole:1 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security/main TranslationIndex [73 B]
Hole:2 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security/universe TranslationIndex [73 B]
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates/main Sources
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates/universe Sources
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates/main i386 Packages
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates/universe i386 Packages
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates/main TranslationIndex
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates/universe TranslationIndex
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed/main Sources
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed/universe Sources
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed/main i386 Packages
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed/universe i386 Packages
Hole:3 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed/main TranslationIndex [3564 B]
Hole:4 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed/universe TranslationIndex [2850 B]
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise/main Translation-eo
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise/main Translation-en
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise/universe Translation-en
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security/main Translation-en
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-security/universe Translation-en
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates/main Translation-en
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-updates/universe Translation-en
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed/main Translation-eo
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed/main Translation-en
OK http://gd.tuwien.ac.at precise-proposed/universe Translation-en
Es wurden 6560 B in 24 s geholt (265 B/s)
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig

$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig
Abhängigkeitsbaum wird aufgebaut
Statusinformationen werden eingelesen... Fertig
Die folgenden Pakete werden aktualisiert (Upgrade):
  gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 gir1.2-pango-1.0 gnome-control-center gnome-control-center-data
  gnome-panel gnome-panel-data gnome-settings-daemon gnome-settings-daemon-dev
  libgnome-control-center1 libgtkhtml-4.0-0 libgtkhtml-4.0-common libgtkhtml-editor-4.0-0
  libpanel-applet-4-0 libpango1.0-0 libpango1.0-dev unity-lens-video
  unity-scope-video-remote xdiagnose xkb-data xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
20 aktualisiert, 0 neu installiert, 0 zu entfernen und 0 nicht aktualisiert.
Es müssen 7577 kB an Archiven heruntergeladen werden.
Nach dieser Operation werden 56,3 kB Plattenplatz freigegeben.
Möchten Sie fortfahren [J/n]? J
Hole:1 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main libpango1.0-dev i386 1.30.0-0ubuntu3.1 [473 kB]
Hole:2 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main gir1.2-pango-1.0 i386 1.30.0-0ubuntu3.1 [22,7 kB]
Hole:3 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main libpango1.0-0 i386 1.30.0-0ubuntu3.1 [361 kB]
Hole:4 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main xkb-data all 2.5-1ubuntu1.3 [474 kB]
Hole:5 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/universe libpanel-applet-4-0 i386 1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1 [94,1 kB]
Hole:6 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/universe gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 i386 1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1 [5044 B]
Hole:7 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main gnome-control-center-data all 1:3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3 [1121 kB]
Hole:8 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/universe gnome-panel i386 1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1 [485 kB]
Hole:9 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/universe gnome-panel-data all 1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1 [2621 kB]
Hole:10 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main gnome-settings-daemon i386 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3 [477 kB]
Hole:11 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main libgnome-control-center1 i386 1:3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3 [79,3 kB]
Hole:12 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main gnome-control-center i386 1:3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3 [660 kB]
Hole:13 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main libgtkhtml-editor-4.0-0 i386 4.2.2-1ubuntu1.2 [83,8 kB]
Hole:14 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main libgtkhtml-4.0-0 i386 4.2.2-1ubuntu1.2 [364 kB]
Hole:15 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main libgtkhtml-4.0-common all 4.2.2-1ubuntu1.2 [76,5 kB]
Hole:16 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main unity-lens-video all 0.3.5-0ubuntu1.2 [8280 B]
Hole:17 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main unity-scope-video-remote all 0.3.5-0ubuntu2.1 [7250 B]
Hole:18 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main xdiagnose all 2.5.2 [58,5 kB]
Hole:19 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main xserver-xorg-input-synaptics i386 1.6.2-1ubuntu1~precise1 [72,3 kB]
Hole:20 http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/ubuntu/archive/ precise-proposed/main gnome-settings-daemon-dev i386 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3 [33,2 kB]
Es wurden 7577 kB in 55 s geholt (136 kB/s)
(Legado de datumbazo ...793453 dosieroj kaj dosierujoj aktuale instalitaj.)
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi libpango1.0-dev 1.30.0-0ubuntu3 (uzante .../libpango1.0-dev_1.30.0-0ubuntu3.1_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto libpango1.0-dev ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi gir1.2-pango-1.0 1.30.0-0ubuntu3 (uzante .../gir1.2-pango-1.0_1.30.0-0ubuntu3.1_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto gir1.2-pango-1.0 ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi libpango1.0-0 1.30.0-0ubuntu3 (uzante .../libpango1.0-0_1.30.0-0ubuntu3.1_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto libpango1.0-0 ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi xkb-data 2.5-1ubuntu1.2 (uzante .../xkb-data_2.5-1ubuntu1.3_all.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto xkb-data ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi libpanel-applet-4-0 1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1 (uzante .../libpanel-applet-4-0_1%3a3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto libpanel-applet-4-0 ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1 (uzante .../gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0_1%3a3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi gnome-control-center-data 1:3.4.2-0ubuntu0.2 (uzante .../gnome-control-center-data_1%3a3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3_all.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto gnome-control-center-data ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi gnome-panel 1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1 (uzante .../gnome-panel_1%3a3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto gnome-panel ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi gnome-panel-data 1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1 (uzante .../gnome-panel-data_1%3a3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1_all.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto gnome-panel-data ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi gnome-settings-daemon 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.2 (uzante .../gnome-settings-daemon_3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto gnome-settings-daemon ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi libgnome-control-center1 1:3.4.2-0ubuntu0.2 (uzante .../libgnome-control-center1_1%3a3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto libgnome-control-center1 ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi gnome-control-center 1:3.4.2-0ubuntu0.2 (uzante .../gnome-control-center_1%3a3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto gnome-control-center ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi libgtkhtml-editor-4.0-0 4.2.2-1ubuntu1.1 (uzante .../libgtkhtml-editor-4.0-0_4.2.2-1ubuntu1.2_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto libgtkhtml-editor-4.0-0 ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi libgtkhtml-4.0-0 4.2.2-1ubuntu1.1 (uzante .../libgtkhtml-4.0-0_4.2.2-1ubuntu1.2_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto libgtkhtml-4.0-0 ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi libgtkhtml-4.0-common 4.2.2-1ubuntu1.1 (uzante .../libgtkhtml-4.0-common_4.2.2-1ubuntu1.2_all.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto libgtkhtml-4.0-common ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi unity-lens-video 0.3.5-0ubuntu1.1 (uzante .../unity-lens-video_0.3.5-0ubuntu1.2_all.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto unity-lens-video ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi unity-scope-video-remote 0.3.5-0ubuntu2 (uzante .../unity-scope-video-remote_0.3.5-0ubuntu2.1_all.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto unity-scope-video-remote ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi xdiagnose 2.5.1 (uzante .../xdiagnose_2.5.2_all.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto xdiagnose ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.6.0-0ubuntu1~precise1 (uzante .../xserver-xorg-input-synaptics_1.6.2-1ubuntu1~precise1_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto xserver-xorg-input-synaptics ...
Ni prepariĝas por anstataŭi gnome-settings-daemon-dev 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.2 (uzante .../gnome-settings-daemon-dev_3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3_i386.deb) ...
Elpakado de anstataŭanto gnome-settings-daemon-dev ...
Procezado de ekigiloj por man-db ...
Procezado de ekigiloj por hicolor-icon-theme ...
Procezado de ekigiloj por desktop-file-utils ...
Procezado de ekigiloj por bamfdaemon ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index...
Procezado de ekigiloj por gnome-menus ...
Procezado de ekigiloj por libglib2.0-0 ...
Procezado de ekigiloj por gconf2 ...
Procezado de ekigiloj por menu ...
Procezado de ekigiloj por ureadahead ...
ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot
Ni alĝustigas libpango1.0-0 (1.30.0-0ubuntu3.1) ...
Ni alĝustigas gir1.2-pango-1.0 (1.30.0-0ubuntu3.1) ...
Ni alĝustigas libpango1.0-dev (1.30.0-0ubuntu3.1) ...
Ni alĝustigas xkb-data (2.5-1ubuntu1.3) ...
Ni alĝustigas libpanel-applet-4-0 (1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1) ...
Ni alĝustigas gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 (1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1) ...
Ni alĝustigas gnome-control-center-data (1:3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3) ...
Ni alĝustigas gnome-panel-data (1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1) ...
Ni alĝustigas gnome-panel (1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1) ...
Ni alĝustigas gnome-settings-daemon (3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3) ...
Ni alĝustigas libgnome-control-center1 (1:3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3) ...
Ni alĝustigas gnome-control-center (1:3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3) ...
Ni alĝustigas libgtkhtml-4.0-common (4.2.2-1ubuntu1.2) ...
Ni alĝustigas libgtkhtml-4.0-0 (4.2.2-1ubuntu1.2) ...
Ni alĝustigas libgtkhtml-editor-4.0-0 (4.2.2-1ubuntu1.2) ...
Ni alĝustigas unity-lens-video (0.3.5-0ubuntu1.2) ...
Ni alĝustigas unity-scope-video-remote (0.3.5-0ubuntu2.1) ...
Ni alĝustigas xdiagnose (2.5.2) ...
Ni alĝustigas xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (1.6.2-1ubuntu1~precise1) ...
Ni alĝustigas gnome-settings-daemon-dev (3.4.2-0ubuntu0.3) ...
Procezado de ekigiloj por libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Procezado de ekigiloj por menu ...

$ sudo apt-get install
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig
Abhängigkeitsbaum wird aufgebaut
Statusinformationen werden eingelesen... Fertig
0 aktualisiert, 0 neu installiert, 0 zu entfernen und 0 nicht aktualisiert.