A few days ago a friend installed Ubuntu 16.04 MATE on my laptop. I have
since encountered a problem with very small terminal windows, too small to
be useful.
The problem first manifested when I associated files ending in .txt with the
editor jstar (a variant of joe). When I double click a txt file, jstar
does come up, prepared to edit the specified file, but the terminal window
is very small, about 3-3/4" by 2-3/4". The text font in the window is also
quite small.
The default terminal profile I am using specifies a font of size 12 and a
window of size 82 columns by 43 rows. When I launch a terminal manually
from the Application Panel, a window of the right size comes up, with the
right font size. If I then invoke jstar manually, everything is fine.
I wasted a bit of time trying to figure out if jstar is the problem, but I
have satisfied myself that it is not. I wrote the following simple C++
program:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
cout << "This is output by test-tiny.cpp" << endl;
cout << endl;
cout << "Press Enter to quit:";
char c[10];
cin.get(c, 2);
}
I compiled it with this command:
g++ -o test-tiny test-tiny.cpp
Then I created a Launcher specifying the test-tiny executable as an
Application in Terminal. When I click on this launcher, a window opens and
test-tiny is run. But the window is tiny. So jstar has nothing to do with
the problem. For some reason MATE seems to be ignoring the default terminal
profile.
BTW, everything works fine on Ubuntu 12.04.
I tried using the --geometry option as described here:
http://www.linuxandlife.com/2012/07/open-terminal-in-specific-size-and.html
But tiny windows still come up.
Any help will be appreciated.
Roger
Software Developer
