http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=10567
it's an alternative to the programs using xcomposite extension, but it's kinda slower
kde 3.2.3/3.2.2/3.2.1/3.2 is supported as well, but won't be maintained any-more.
this patch, gives kwin the ability to put a shadow around any type of window.
configuration is done in kcontrol->appearance & themes->window decorations->shadows
two notes:
-shadows are calculated by cpu, so don't use this on slow machines
-focus-follows-mouse could be a bad idea -> lots of shadow-redrawing
Ratings & Comments
71 Comments
hi folks! well, i thought about re-porting the patch to kde3.4 kde3.5-cvs, as my notebook is too lame to handle xcomposite very well. and on the other side, the (xc|k)ompmgr kills my xserver regularly, so i'm not using it at all xD i just got back to kde last week, after trying to get kde-cvs (aka kde4) running, but qt4 doesn't seem to like my system, as i haven't got any fonts running in qt4 - thats not soo good ;-) i have no clue about the xinerama-problem. i tried to re-write the compositing manager, but have failed on a very slow and lame program... so if i get some time, i'll do my very best to re-port the patch, but i can't guarantee anything...
just an update: got em back working with kde3.5-cvs, but segfaulting here and there...lets see if i can find some time to check the code...
For all people who want this on kde 3.5, search the kde improvements pages
help! im a mandrake 10.2 user but dont understand where to get kwin directory. I don't have the kdebase directory. I searched for it, tried locate, but no success. nice shadows. I only want it too ^_^
you need the kdebase sources. grab it somewhere from kde.org. extract it, and there you'll find the right directories. but beware to have the right version!
I also would be very interested in a patch for KDE 3.4. Point is that my graphics card cannot support 3D direct rendering and xcompmgr simultaneously, since I rely on the ATI proprietary driver fglrx for the 3D rendering. This driver does not support the damage extension. It does not work together with xcompmgr. I believe, I am not alone with this problem, so a port of the fake drop shadow patch to KDE 3.4 would be great. Moreover, xcompmgr is still experimental. In my experience, the fake shadows, although they sometimes do not work perfectly, work very stable and reliable, while xcompmgr ist still flaky and crashes often.
Hi, will there be a kwin drop shadow patch for KDE 3.4? I know that with KDE 3.4, kwin supports xcompmgr, but unfortunately, this does not seem to work with xinerama. So users wanting xinerama and drop shadows still rely on your patch (which is great work, by the way!). Cheers, Ingo
no, currently not. but if i get time to have a closer look at the code, there might be a new release. but for now, the patch segfaults when maximizing some windows *ouch*
...if you need/want some KDE 3.3.2 packages for 5.3-Stable around December the 18th you can get it from my homepage :-)
Made quicky the rpm with checkinstall for KDE 3.2.3 (10.1 Mdk) See: http://membres.lycos.fr/billery/10.1/unstable/KDE_3.2.3_with_drop_shadows/
Hi... I have a "frankenstein" SuSE 9.2... not official 9.2 but 9.2 according to apt-get ;-)... are you planning on providing a SuSE 9.2 KDE 3.3.1 RPM or what not instead of figuring out how to install it from source? SuSE 9.2 now has X.org 6.8 and KDE 3.3.1 so it would be compatible with your patch. Thanks!
well, as i don't have a rpm-based distro (using gentoo), there won't be rpm's from my side. but if someobe wants to build some, i would host/link 'em if they aren't too big. if you wan't to use xorg's composite extension, than checkout this: http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=16114 if you still want to use this patch here, than get urself a kdebase-3.3.1.tar.bz2 or whatever kdebase-3.3.1-source-package you want and unpack it, cd into kdebase-3.3.1 and do: patch -p0 < /path/to/kwin_shadow_patch/kdebase-XXX.patch ./configure --prefix=`kde-config --prefix` --disable-debug cd kwin make make install (as root) ps ax | grep kwin kill && kwin & exit (if kwin started) thats all, simple, isn't it? :)
Hi! Could you tell where you got those packages? I searched SUSE and APT mirrors and found no 9.2 rpms.
Its not exactly 9.2 nor will it report that. All you need to do is after installing apt4rpm, make sure you have a source-list file that points to all the files you want. Then simply run apt-get update then run apt --force-rpm --no-checksig dist-upgrade and it will "upgrade" you to 9.2 files such as X.Org and KDE 3.3 and if you have kernel-of-the-day in your source file, the latest 2.6.8cvs kernel along with its sources... thank god for apt4rpm ;-)
Ah right :) I don't want that, I'm still running 8.2 and cannot afford to mess up my system now. But I did install SuSE 9.1 KDE-fied OpenOffice rpms, and the one in SUSE 9.2 seems even better (kde menus) so I was wondering if I could get it somewhere.
The link is broken.
the link is working again. i just downloaded it to my webspace ;) take this, if the other link is broken again. i hope the author doesn't mind... link:http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/~zuxez/projects/kwin_shadow/
I builded a DEB package, if someone would need it. http://fedem.publicshout.org/resources/debs/kwin-3.3.0-shadow-0.8.0_0.8.0-1_i386.deb DISCLAIMER: I provide no support and no guarantee about that package.
Can't install package: dpkg -i kwin-3.3.0-shadow-0.8.0_0.8.0-1_i386.deb (Reading database ... 80761 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking kwin-3.3.0-shadow-0.8.0 (from kwin-3.3.0-shadow-0.8.0_0.8.0-1_i386.deb) ... dpkg: error processing kwin-3.3.0-shadow-0.8.0_0.8.0-1_i386.deb (--install): trying to overwrite `/usr/bin/kwin', which is also in package kwin dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe) Errors were encountered while processing: kwin-3.3.0-shadow-0.8.0_0.8.0-1_i386.deb
hmm seems a --force to be needed, or something like that. and please be sure tu have kde-3.3.0 installed for the deb, as it is only for kde3.3.0
My kwin version is 3.3.0a-1, is it ok?
hmm yeah that _should_ be ok, but i can't guarantee that, cause i can't test the package or build one :/
Doesn't work complains about kwin and kdebase-dev.
look here for cool stuff: http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=16114 i'm posting there patches too :)
Does This patch work under gentoo? I am quite sure it does, but can it be, that the installation is a little different? my $KDEDIR is /usr/kde/3.3/ and in there I can't find a kdebase or kwin directory. I created them like /usr/kde/3.3/kdebase/kwin and placed the patch and the kdebase source file kdebase-3.3.0-rc2.tar.bz2 in there. It failed. What am I doin wrong? Please help.