Hi,

I have made a few forum posts asking questions and checking I'm still sane, but I am bemused with this 'Guided Posting' thing - Every time I have wanted to post something it has nothing to do with the applications in the list I am provided with, meaning all my posts so far have gone into 'Forum Feedback', which I am certain is the wrong place for my questions.

1. I have a question regarding Thunderbird (again, not on the list) installation whereupon it has no icon in the menu.

I have seen a few pages where this issue is due to a file extension being present in the .desktop file's 'Icon' key (Icon=<path>/<filename>.png/.svg instead of just Icon=<path>/<filename>) and a certain menu application not being able to deal with this (Ubuntu-based - I am completely gobsmacked as to how this happens without concerted effort to either write bad code or forgo any standards.)

Do we need to manually check and edit each .desktop file for the applications we install? Forgive my ignorance of how things are currently being done, but shouldn't this be done in the installer scripts before the code is installed on my machine?

I must ask if I am missing something obvious or is this a 'feature' with an obscure reason? (I sincerely hope not)


2. Also, I installed the Steam application from steampowered.com and after installing, I went to run it, but the .desktop file had no icon and it asked me to trust it - Shouldn't that be done BEFORE installation happens, like when I initially request the package be installed? Again, am I missing some new cutting-edge security here? O_o


3. Lastly, the default name display for the applications menu - I may be completely illogical here, but would it not be intuitive to use the application name primarily, as this is what it is identified as everywhere else? i.e. Installing 'Thunderbird' yet identifying it with the indistinct text 'Mail Client' in the applications menu is a tad confusing, IMHO. Especially if you have multiple mail clients installed for reasons. Libre Office installs 'Database Development', 'Drawing Program' and 'Word Processor' lol - I don't think that this is user-friendly and this level of oversimplification eventually leads to confusion. I just think that the name, not the functional classification, specifically identifies the program.

Thank you for any clarification you can give for these and apologies if my questions are stupid or if I come across overly negative - I'm just tired of coming across the same problems year after year.

Both Steam and Thunderbird are not KDE applications, please ask your distribution about those, as this is a KDE Forum, not a general Linux forum or specific distribution forum.

The guided posting in the KDE Forum is about KDE applications, if you find anything missing, please click on the button to request a new entry.

As for the naming: in my menu all applications have the names and the program type description, you can change your Menu if you want this to behave otherwise. (Right click on the Launcher Icon gives you access to the edit options). You can even choose a different application launcher if you want to. Distributions choose a default one, it's entirely up to the user to change this.

I have found the desktop file for Thunderbird in '/usr/share/applications/', however, it doesn't specify a file extension, so that idea was wrong.

The .desktop file DOES, however, have it's correct icon.

If I then drag this to the 'Task Manager' (Launcher) it adds an empty button - no icon.

The properties for the launcher show no icon, but I can choose one. The properties for the entry for Thunderbird in the Applications menu doesn't show it and doesn't allow me to change it.

i can't seem to find any icons for Thunderbird under '/usr/share/icons/', they appear to be in '/usr/lib/thunderbird/chrome/icons/default/' instead, and they're not called 'thunderbird.xxx' but named per their respective resolutions, i.e. 'default16.png'. I'm guessing there should be a symlink to the 128x128 icon in the [presumably] central icon location for thunderbird at '/usr/share/icons/'?

RISC OS allows icon (and window furniture) customisation, for all icons, but tends to stick with modifying the OS icons. Other user applications kept their own icons regardless of the system icon set. I think if an icon set HAS to include every conceivable icon for every possible program a user might run, there's certainly going to be a lot of missing icons (and a waste of resources) :/ IMHO the idea of catering for every application in an icon set should probably be done away with... Allow the user to select icons for apps they personally use.

I can set the launcher icon manually, but the one in the 'Applications' menu, is still that white, dog-eared sheet of paper.

Strangely, in the 'Often Used' > 'Documents' list, the shortcut to the above '/usr/share/applications/' directory I recently opened (as with all other directories in the 'Recent' list) has an icon with a question mark box in it, not a directory icon as one would expect (the entry simply reads "applications", without the path specifying which folder called 'applications' it refers to.)

I'm going to try and reset any icon cache or just reset to default icons if it's going to be such a minefield :/

Incidentally, whilst looking for icons and trying to make the Thunderbird link show the correct icon, three new applications have appeared in my 'Internet' menu for KDE Connect - Maybe from an update?

[quote="Mamarok"]Both Steam and Thunderbird are not KDE applications, please ask your distribution about those, as this is a KDE Forum, not a general Linux forum or specific distribution forum.

The guided posting in the KDE Forum is about KDE applications, if you find anything missing, please click on the button to request a new entry.

As for the naming: in my menu all applications have the names and the program type description, you can change your Menu if you want this to behave otherwise. (Right click on the Launcher Icon gives you access to the edit options). You can even choose a different application launcher if you want to. Distributions choose a default one, it's entirely up to the user to change this.[/quote]

Ah... Thank you for that bombshell lol

I knew something wasn't right - I was following the instructions on the web page, but it appears my Asperger's has transformed what is most likely highly insightful and precise instructions into undefined confusion (I usually don't bother with forums, etc.)

I went to neon.kde.org and downloaded the Neon ISO.

Then, I logged into the 'Community Forum' linked from the footer of the download page at neon.kde.org.

When I registered and signed-in, I went to post about the issues I am having to see if I'm missing something obvious or if my install was broken.

When I tried to select the 'Program', I had no other option other than to click on 'Report Missing Application', since I thought the issue was with an application missing from the list. That's when the KDE Neon forum sent me to the 'Forum Feedback'... erm... forum :/

I have little experience of 'forums', but when it's the only option to get help, needs must when the devil drives.

So, I obviously don't know what the hell to do, then... I thought I was in the KDE Neon support forum.

I don't suppose you can see where I went wrong? Is there a KDE Neon support forum?

Never mind... I just read "KDE neon focuses on KDE software, most other software is not supported", so I guess I was mistaken by choosing KDE Neon for my main machine, since most software ISN'T KDE.

Thunderbird isn't KDE; FireFox isn't KDE; Remmina isn't KDE.......

Thank you for the heads-up. Bye :) *sighs*