Disappearing Menu Items

Sorry if this is the wrong thread, but it concerns disappearing icons in the Mint menu. I first installed LinuxCNC some time ago in Mint 19.1 but that proved to be a dog for me so I now have Mint 18.3 (with the same desktop on a different disc, and so it still has ~/linuxcnc/{nc_files,configs}. Yesterday I installed it all afresh. The kernel needed libelf_dev as an extra dependency, and the automatically generated initramfs failed to recognise the boot disc - fixed by running 'update-initramfs -u -k 4.19.1-rt3. The rest was installed into /usr/src for some odd reason, but it all came out OK. This morning the main icons had gone from the menu, the launch object on the panel was empty, and there was no linuxcnc executable in the path. I then tried to reinstall into my home directory as me rather than root, but it failed at the point where it runs 'debian/configure -uspace' with 'permission denied'. Adding emc to the path did not help, and in fact I got the same error as root. This seems to be a Mint thing - I don't recall ever getting this with Gentoo - and as Google had no answer I reinstalled again under /usr/local/bin. This has worked before with source installs of Blender and the like, and it worked again as LinuxCNC is up and running.

My main concern is that it may disappear again. I don't quite understand "uncheck each item on the right then recheck them" on Mint 18.3, does this apply to the favourites? They weren't checked but have been now. What should I do?

I also converted a wavefront.obj file to gcode with a little perl script and offered it up - it seems to be accepted and the shapes even showed up in the window. Quite encouraging. Most of the menu under Machine is greyed out, so I guess it's time to read more.

I would appreciate any help on stopping it all from going south again.
Cheers, Lyn

is it posible you probide the perl script to get the obj to gcode

or is it the standard Blender script to use

I'll be happy to post it a bit later after I've built the pen plotter and got it running properly. The script will need tweaking as I learn how CNC works, and I need to find out how to extend it to include text and arrows into gcode.

@Lyn,

Disappearing Menu Items

The problem could be in your .config folder (select show hidden files, then you see it problably, maybe Mint or something.)

I don't tell you to delete the config folders of Mint, but it could restore Mint to your needs. Google how to restore the draftsight missing toolbars by linuxcnc Grotius.

If you delete them, first save them.... Just in case.

Thanks. I've found some single-line fonts designed for plotters, but then found that Blender is a bit clumsy in handling them. So I just made up a small library of alphanumeric and arrow objects that can be imported as needed into Blender and then exported as part of the obj file, and then converted to gcode. They are only to write IDs and directions in various places.