Awesome E17

This video is in response to comments to my review of Enlightenment desktop environment. This video shows some ways [rather default ways] of how cool E17 desktop environment can be. [Interestingly, both meanings of the word 'cool' are appropriate.]

Valgrind issue on 64-bit arch linux

A few days back, I was using valgrind on Ertf; when I stumbled upon an interesting bug. On 64-bit Arch linux systems, valgrind 3.5.0-5 was showing a problem with getimeofday(). Finally, I had found a problem with Arch linux [the first since installation.]. However, the very next day,

pacman -Syu

showed valgrind 3.5.0-6, which had the bug fixed. To nail down the bug, I had tested valgrind with a simple program calling ecore_time_get(). The output is below.


==4230== Using Valgrind-3.5.0 and LibVEX; rerun with -h for copyright info
==4230== Command: ./try_timer
==4230==
./try_timer: error while loading shared libraries: libecore-ver-pre-svn-05.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
==4230== Jump to the invalid address stated on the next line
==4230== at 0x426: ???
==4230== by 0x400D604: _dl_signal_error (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== by 0x400C70D: _dl_map_object_deps (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== by 0x4002BA3: dl_main (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== by 0x4013B6D: _dl_sysdep_start (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== by 0x40046B6: _dl_start (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== by 0x4000A97: ??? (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== Address 0x426 is not stack'd, malloc'd or (recently) free'd
==4230==
==4230==
==4230== Process terminating with default action of signal 11 (SIGSEGV)
==4230== Bad permissions for mapped region at address 0x426
==4230== at 0x426: ???
==4230== by 0x400D604: _dl_signal_error (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== by 0x400C70D: _dl_map_object_deps (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== by 0x4002BA3: dl_main (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== by 0x4013B6D: _dl_sysdep_start (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== by 0x40046B6: _dl_start (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230== by 0x4000A97: ??? (in /lib/ld-2.12.so)
==4230==
==4230== HEAP SUMMARY:
==4230== in use at exit: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==4230== total heap usage: 0 allocs, 0 frees, 0 bytes allocated
==4230==
==4230== All heap blocks were freed -- no leaks are possible
==4230==
==4230== For counts of detected and suppressed errors, rerun with: -v
==4230== ERROR SUMMARY: 1 errors from 1 contexts (suppressed: 3 from 3)

E17 review

Enlightenment has been quite interesting to me. It has not even got a beta release so far yet I like to use it. That is because, it does things differently. It is very efficient, keeps the CPU far more cooler than any other desktop environment, has nice effects already built-in, and is far snappier than most mainstream desktop environments [I am not interested in comparisions here; so I won't point to any other desktop environment in particular.].

However, there still are some issues [Actually, when you install E17 and read the about dialog, they clearly acknowledge that it is under "heavy development"]. I would like enumerate a few of them here. These are the ones that have concerned me recently while trying to make E17 my regular desktop environment.

#1. emacs bottom-line problem

Well with auto-hide on, the emacs bottom line goes below the screen. Have a look.

I would rather have it as follows:

I have started a thread in their developer mailing list about this. Apparently, the issue isn't a serious one.

#2. no create file option in file manager

Well the file manager is good; but not good enough at this stage. It open C source files in read only mode in emacs, which I don't like. It does not have options to create new files yet.

I hope this will be fixed soon.

#3. keystroke problem

This was a strange problem I noticed recently in E17. Well I guess the best way to put it is through an example. Suppose I am using chromium. I have multiple tabs opened. After some time, all of a sudden Ctrl+L does not respond. I any streamed video has taken focus. If so, I click outside the streaming video frame and try again. However, no response again. I click on the URL bar and press delete or backspace to clear the field and enter the new URL. No response. Well basically, with some apps, suddenly keystrokes do not get passed to the apps [There could be alternate explanations.]. I am clueless with this issue.

4. with streaming videos temp rises very fast

While watching online streaming videos, I have noticed the temperature suddenly shooting up very fast. With temperatures around 40-50, its fine; but when it rises till 60 it becomes alarming. This isn't very serious though as the temp falls down after streaming; though at a much slower speed.

Overall, E17 is nice. It is nice to note that E17 keeps with latest development in software. For now, it is bleeding edge; however I suggest give it a shot before believing anything about it. Its a nice experience.