Hi guys, I am Ahmutkadim. Not my real name but feeling anonymous feels good sometimes. I a new comma to linux and would like to experience it to the fullest. That’s why I choose an arch based distro. However, there is a reason besides how hard to install that I did not go with arch directly. I require screen based magnification in order to use a computer. I am coming from MacOS where such accessibility features are very well accommodated; however on linux I saw several caveats which hinger my usage. I prefer to use modifier+mouse-scroll for dynamic zooming; however, in most of the DEs that I have tried, it was not supported or magnification was supported insufficiently. For instance, in Cinemon and Xfce, dynamic zoom manipulation would not function when some settings windows or pup-ups were open. Sorry about mumbling about this too long; however, I wish to utilize linux to the fullest and for that I need to be comfortable with the tooling. So I am writing this to both introduce myself and for suggestions about which DE/tooling that I can use. Thanks
KDE has an inbuilt zoom function, I can’t get it to work with mouse shortcuts but it seems pretty functional. BTW welcome to the forum.
Thanks for the suggestion. I heard and even used KDE zooming while testing EndeavorOS but modifier+scroll zoom is something too critical for me. I also heard about super+ctrl+scroll or its derivatives; however they are not official implementations as of my knowledge and behave very buggy in touchpads. Do you know anyway that I can bind mouse-wheel to a key bind?
Unfortunatly no, there may be a way. Perhaps make a new post to ask that specific question and you may get some more suggestions.
I don’t follow your problem with XFCE. I haven’t been able to interfere with its workings so far - so please describe your problem in more detail! BTW - I use it quite a lot - something with being over 70 has taken some visual sharpness away…
The interface feels old but the main issue I had was that I couldn’t change the zoom level when a system pane (from the top menu) was opened. Also in Xfce the zooming functionality is not named as “zoom”, “magnification” or similar. So it is hard to find and figure out settings about the zoom.
I don’t need it, but I tested this in Cinnamon, and it has the same issue as you mention here. With time, I could get used to it, but I can see how it’s kind of annoying at first.
What is weird to me is that it works as expected in Firefox, as I can zoom in and out no matter what I’m doing. But it doesn’t allow me to zoom in/out in Nemo (the file manager) once a drop-down menu is activated. I have to click away from it first, whether I am already zoomed in or fully zoomed out.
This is also true for Dolphin (KDE’s file manager), but I used it in Cinnamon, so maybe it works better in a KDE environment.
I have never tested any of these things before, but based on how it works in Firefox, it seems it’s something the Cinnamon and KDE teams need to work on.
EDIT: Did some further testing with Firefox, and it seems it’s not perfect there either. If my mouse cursor is above a drop-down menu, I can’t zoom. This is for a Firefox drop-down menu, not the webpage itself. Webpage drop-downs work as I would expect.
But I can zoom if I move the cursor to the side. Again, not experienced with these things, so I don’t know what would be considered as normal or ideal behaviour.
Thanks for testing it. Do you have any experience with gnome s magnification tool? Although it does not support modifier+scroll zoom, some people suggest to use xbindkeys to bind b4 and b5 with modifier to modify zoom level. I plan to test it in a default-gnome live iso like fedora but I am uncertain whether I can install packages in live iso.
You’re welcome.
No. No recent experience with Gnome.
Quick reply as I am on my way out.
I’m on gnome
I just tried control+the wheel on my mouse and it zooms/unzoomes my browser and libreoffice but it doesn’t zoom evolution.
There are also a number of extensions related to zoom, but it’s not something I use so I don’t have any info.
Welcome @ahmutkadim!
I used XFCE for years. (Now on KDE.)
IIRC:
Alt + two fingers on the mouse pad, would zoom in/out the desktop and everything on it.
Alternatively:
Ctrl+Alt+Keypad+ to zoom in
Ctrl+Alt+Keypad - to zoom out.
Kde of course! 
I’ve gotten to the point where I love Cinnamon as much as I do KDE. So I have Arch KDE on the laptop and EOS Cinnamon on the PC. I can wholeheartedly recommend both.
I am looking through DEs that are supported by Endeavor and want to ask whether MATE comes with Compiz or not.
Usually the non-flagship DEs aren’t themed or extended. If a community edition exists, there’ll be some touch ups there. I do not see a MATE community edition.
The Arch Wiki instructions look pretty straightforward to add compiz to almost anything: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Compiz
I am a bit confused, so is MATE not supported by Endeavor. Fedora and Linux Mint comes MATE shipped with Compiz and they are spins. I am just looking for the settings manager. There might be some settings about zooming that might be useful to me.
All DEs are supported, but not all DEs have customised support or a customised experience and/or theming/configuration.
In terms of full-featured DEs, it’s usually just three: KDE, Gnome, and Cinnamon.
Budgie, Xfce, Pantheon, etc. are limited in comparison, and apart from Xfce, they have way fewer users, so you may have to try them yourself.
Reference: List of DEs
You can add the things you need post installation.
yay -S compiz
Or maybe picom instead:
yay -S picom
See the same link posted above.
Lastly, even though a DE may not be full-featured, that doesn’t mean it won’t have exactly what you need. So, again, you may really just have to test it.
PS: In a year or so, Cosmic will likely be re-added to the full-featured group.
Exactly. @ahmutkadim, you’ll end up with vanilla MATE. I tried Cinnamon on Arch and had the same thing. Purer vanilla Cinnamon. NOT a fan. But since Cinnamon has some Endeavour sparkle, I love it. I pretty much leave it as-is (maybe icon change and such).
XFCE ::
ctrl + mouse-wheel (firefox, thunar,…)
To create an arch app on panel ::
right-click desktop - - > applications - - > multimedia - - > kdenlive (press left mouse-key and drag to panel)
To create a wine app on panel ::
right-click panel - - > panel preference - - > item(s) - - > add items - - > add launcher
edit launcher to configure the following settings :
name = .google-earth-1
command = /home/username/.google-earth-1
working directory = /home/username
/home/username/.google-earth-1 has the following context:
xfce4-terminal -e “env WINEARCH=“win64” WINEPREFIX=”/home/username/.wine-staging" wine64 /home/username/.wine-staging/drive_c/Program\ Files/google/Google\ Earth\ Pro/client/googleearth.exe " --hold
don’t forget to make the file /home/username/.google-earth-1 executable
To change window on desktop ::
alt + tab
i set panel in the following way to change window launcher on panel
…
seperator launcher
seperator launcher
seperator launcher (edit and choose transparent and check extension)
seperator launcher
window button (edit and check only control handle)
seperator launcher
seperator launcher (edit and choose transparent and check extension)
seperator launcher
…
For now, i make my own iso and use ‘Papirus-dark’ as launcher icons on panel.
During iso boot for installing system, once ‘Papirus-dark’ is chosen as mouse icon in appearance, all arch app launchers and all wine app launchers are ready.
After installation, all arch app launchers and all wine app launchers are ready including the above seperator launcher and window button settings.
~/phefftor-iso-master/archiso/airootfs/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel
containing all arch app launchers and all wine app launchers files
~/phefftor-iso-master/archiso/airootfs/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/ (all configures for desktop, thunar, panel, and others)
containing the following files
displays.xml
keyboards.xml
pointers.xml
ristretto.xml
thunar.xml
thunar-volman.xml
xfce4-desktop.xml
xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml
xfce4-notifyd.xml
xfce4-panel.xml
xfce4-power-manager.xml
xfce4-session.xml
xfce4-settings-manager.xml
xfce4-terminal.xml
xfwm4.xml
xsettings.xml