It's a shell scripting framework, using ImageMagick, for creating an IceWM pixmap meta theme for the KWin window manager, which obbeys the active KDE color scheme.
Long answer:
The window manager of KDE, KWin, allows themers to create native window decoration by programming them in C++. However this requires quite some knowledge about programming in C++ and the KDE libraries. It's also a lot of work. However a lot of creative people have good ideas, but do not dare to start programming, most probably because they do not have the time to learn C++ just to write a theme. Even programmers, have to spend a lot of time on a coded theme.
Therefore KWin provides a wrapper for IceWM themes, which are pixmap based and simple and fast to create by non-programmers. However this also incorporates some drawbacks. IceWM themes are not as flexible as native themes, but IMHO the worst drawback is that the colors are hardcoded. To change the colors, someone has to change the pixmap images. That's what DynIce is trying to solve.
Themes that are created for DynIce are generating IceWM themes, which colors can be adjusted through the KDE color scheme. So you can call a DynIce theme a KDE-color-scheme-aware meta IceWM theme.
Installation ============
DynIce consists of the required dynice script and an optional patch for the color applet of kcontrol, which automatically updates the active DynIce theme after changing the color scheme.
See the INSTALL file for complete installation instructions.
Creating own DynIce themes ==========================
Please see the README file and download the axios DynIce theme (http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=12687), which also contains a install script that you can use for your own themes.
Screenshots ===========
1: Axios with default color scheme: http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=12687
2: iPod with lime color scheme: http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=12688
3: e-sense with dark color scheme: http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=13245
TRANSLATORS WANTED!!! =====================
If you speak English and another language, it would be very great, if you could take a couple of minutes and send me the translations of the message catalogue at the beginning of the DynIce script. It's not much, just a few lines.
Current localization are: - English - French (contributed by Eric Marin) - Spanish (contributed by Iv�n Escriv� & Abelardo Garcia) - German
A big THANK YOU to all the friendly people who helped with the localizations.Last changelog:
Version 0.2.3 ------------- - Patch for KControl color applet added and tested for KDE 3.3.
Version 0.2.2 ------------- - Bugfix release for French translation: Dialogs did not show all messages correctly.
Version 0.2.1 ------------- - Added French translation contributed by Eric Marin.
Version 0.2 ----------- - Added Spanish translation contributed by Iv�n Escriv� & Abelardo Garcia. - The IceWM theme directory is now cleaned before the new files are generated. - Patch for KControl color applet tested and added for KDE 3.2.3.
Version pre0.2 -------------- - Minor bugfixes. - Added L10N capability. - Added German translation. Please help with adding more translations by adding a case section for your language to the case statement in the LOCALIZED MESSAGES section of the dynice script.
Version 0.1 ----------- - Initial release - Basic functionality in DynIce script - Simple patch for the KDE 3.2.2 kcontrol color applet
I've noticed on every screenshot of yours you have that thing that tells you your stats n stuff on ur box, and i'm just wondering what its called n where i can get it =/
I believe the name of that gkrellm skin is 'prime23' http://www.muhri.net/gkrellm/prime23.tar.gz
Great idea but just one question on the ipod theme I keep getting yucky blue titlebar color can I change that to silver? Also I had to changed colorschemes in kcontrol which was not installed by your install script but it's still blue.
Can you send me a screenshot? One possibility is, that the window title font is too big.
What went wrong with the color schemes? Probably an install script bug.
Okay, i'm reading the install thing here now as we speak and it says about the sources of KDE Base, i'm using FreeBSD 4.10 i386 with kde, so where would I find my kde sources? I really want this enhancement as it looks really nice.
When i try copying i get this problem:
cp: ./dynice is a directory (not copied).
Then when I try copying the patch I get:
cp: ~/tmp/kde3.2.2/kdebase-3.2.2: No such file or directory
Please help :(
I guess you are refering to the instructions in the INSTALL file.
WRT step 3 (dynice installation):
You just have to copy the script, not the entire directory. So first change the current directory into the extracted tarball (see Step 1).
WRT step 1 (Patch installation):
The path ~/tmp/kde3.2.2/kdebase-3.2.2 is just an example where the sources are located on my system (this is also described in this step as example). See my reply to the posting above. Get the KDE sources, extract them and adjust the PATH to match your environment.
If you don't want to compile KDE it's still sufficient to just run the dynice script with either the -u or the -t option.
Uh... I don't know BSD and never have used it. How did you install KDE?
On Linux you would have to download the sources from KDE.org, extract them, apply the patch and build and install the sources.
First it works flawlessly. Very nice and the color update is reasonably quick. However I did have a promlem with ~/.kde/share/apps/kdisplay/color_schemes Not exitsting on my box and install.sh bombing out. Might I be so bold as to suggest this diff
*** install.sh.orig 2004-05-23 00:16:32.902089280 -0700
--- install.sh 2004-05-23 00:22:03.879237179 -0700
***************
*** 193,203 ****
echo "Copying color scheme(s)..."
if ! cp -rv color-schemes/* $COLOR_SCHEMES_DIR
then
! echo "WARNING: Cannot copy color scheme."
fi
fi
echo "DynIce theme $THEME_NAME has been installed successfully."
echo "To deinstall this theme run this script with the -d option."
! exit 0
\ No newline at end of file
--- 193,210 ----
echo "Copying color scheme(s)..."
if ! cp -rv color-schemes/* $COLOR_SCHEMES_DIR
then
! echo "The directory $COLOR_SCHEMES_DIR doesn't exist shall I create it?[Yn]"
! read answ
! if [ "$answ" = "[Yy]" ]; then
! mkdir -p $COLOR_SCHEMES_DIR
! else
! echo " I cannot complete installation. Please create"
! echo " $COLOR_SCHEMES_DIR and re-run the install.sh script"
! fi
fi
fi
echo "DynIce theme $THEME_NAME has been installed successfully."
echo "To deinstall this theme run this script with the -d option."
! exit 0
(hopefully not too munged by this comment editor.)
Thanks for a great little product.
To all others... this applies to the install script of the themes, which is not included in this package.
To Nightwriter... Thank you very much. Finally someone found a bug and I already feared that no one is using it. Indeed, you've found a problem. I have taken a look on your diff, but decided to implement it differently. The copy command cold also have different sources for failure. Therefore the new install script checks for the existence of the directory explicitely and then asks the user, if he wants to create it.
Again, thank you very much for your effort and telling me.
I'll update the themes 'axios' and 'iPod' with the new install script in a couple of minutes.
Well, a native, colorizable PixMap engine with more possibilities than IceWM would be better, of course (and first of all, faster when changing the colors).
But I do not have the time to do something like this and I wanted it now!
Ratings & Comments
12 Comments
I've noticed on every screenshot of yours you have that thing that tells you your stats n stuff on ur box, and i'm just wondering what its called n where i can get it =/
I guess you are talking about gkrellm. It's available from http://web.wt.net/~billw/gkrellm/gkrellm.html. The skin is called invisible and you get get it from http://www.muhri.net.
I believe the name of that gkrellm skin is 'prime23' http://www.muhri.net/gkrellm/prime23.tar.gz Great idea but just one question on the ipod theme I keep getting yucky blue titlebar color can I change that to silver? Also I had to changed colorschemes in kcontrol which was not installed by your install script but it's still blue.
Can you send me a screenshot? One possibility is, that the window title font is too big. What went wrong with the color schemes? Probably an install script bug.
Okay, i'm reading the install thing here now as we speak and it says about the sources of KDE Base, i'm using FreeBSD 4.10 i386 with kde, so where would I find my kde sources? I really want this enhancement as it looks really nice.
When i try copying i get this problem: cp: ./dynice is a directory (not copied). Then when I try copying the patch I get: cp: ~/tmp/kde3.2.2/kdebase-3.2.2: No such file or directory Please help :(
I guess you are refering to the instructions in the INSTALL file. WRT step 3 (dynice installation): You just have to copy the script, not the entire directory. So first change the current directory into the extracted tarball (see Step 1). WRT step 1 (Patch installation): The path ~/tmp/kde3.2.2/kdebase-3.2.2 is just an example where the sources are located on my system (this is also described in this step as example). See my reply to the posting above. Get the KDE sources, extract them and adjust the PATH to match your environment. If you don't want to compile KDE it's still sufficient to just run the dynice script with either the -u or the -t option.
Uh... I don't know BSD and never have used it. How did you install KDE? On Linux you would have to download the sources from KDE.org, extract them, apply the patch and build and install the sources.
First it works flawlessly. Very nice and the color update is reasonably quick. However I did have a promlem with ~/.kde/share/apps/kdisplay/color_schemes Not exitsting on my box and install.sh bombing out. Might I be so bold as to suggest this diff *** install.sh.orig 2004-05-23 00:16:32.902089280 -0700 --- install.sh 2004-05-23 00:22:03.879237179 -0700 *************** *** 193,203 **** echo "Copying color scheme(s)..." if ! cp -rv color-schemes/* $COLOR_SCHEMES_DIR then ! echo "WARNING: Cannot copy color scheme." fi fi echo "DynIce theme $THEME_NAME has been installed successfully." echo "To deinstall this theme run this script with the -d option." ! exit 0 \ No newline at end of file --- 193,210 ---- echo "Copying color scheme(s)..." if ! cp -rv color-schemes/* $COLOR_SCHEMES_DIR then ! echo "The directory $COLOR_SCHEMES_DIR doesn't exist shall I create it?[Yn]" ! read answ ! if [ "$answ" = "[Yy]" ]; then ! mkdir -p $COLOR_SCHEMES_DIR ! else ! echo " I cannot complete installation. Please create" ! echo " $COLOR_SCHEMES_DIR and re-run the install.sh script" ! fi fi fi echo "DynIce theme $THEME_NAME has been installed successfully." echo "To deinstall this theme run this script with the -d option." ! exit 0 (hopefully not too munged by this comment editor.) Thanks for a great little product.
To all others... this applies to the install script of the themes, which is not included in this package. To Nightwriter... Thank you very much. Finally someone found a bug and I already feared that no one is using it. Indeed, you've found a problem. I have taken a look on your diff, but decided to implement it differently. The copy command cold also have different sources for failure. Therefore the new install script checks for the existence of the directory explicitely and then asks the user, if he wants to create it. Again, thank you very much for your effort and telling me. I'll update the themes 'axios' and 'iPod' with the new install script in a couple of minutes.
this is a kind of weird thing - but COOL :-) indeed a nice idea to use imagemagick on the fly to change the pixmaps...
Well, a native, colorizable PixMap engine with more possibilities than IceWM would be better, of course (and first of all, faster when changing the colors). But I do not have the time to do something like this and I wanted it now!