NOTE: this is now integrated in my CDE Theme. Please download that for the newest version :
https://www.opendesktop.org/p/1231025/

Common Desktop Environment (CDE) front panel app emulation written in python. Get the 90-ties retro look and feel on your linux machine ! Comes with the original CDE color schemes and integrates with Xfce4 (Window decorations/backdrops)

Tested on Xubuntu 16.04/17.10 and Linux Mint 18.3. Gtk themes work best on 17.10

Features:
Smooth scaling for high dpi screens
Antialiasing of all rendered elements
Drag & Drop configuration
Functional clock and workspace switcher
Default CDE color schemes
Qt/Gtk theme
Theme integration with Xfce4
CDE Backdrops
Single file install via pyinstaller
It all kind of works on xubuntu 16.04/17.10


README FILE -------------------------------------------------------------------------


cdepanel 0.8 / jos@josvanriswick.com

CDE front panel emulation with some xfce4 theme integration.

HOW TO TEST:

Make fresh a live usb of xubuntu 16.04 and run the binary 'cdepanel.16.04' or
'cdepanel.17.10' (you may need to do 'chmod u+x cdepanel')

NOTE: for this version of xfce: go into xfce Settings Manager/Desktop and
uncheck 'Apply to all workspaces' to make backdrops display correctly.

NEWS:

In this 0.8 version I polished the Gtk2/3 themes as much a possible. Ie, all
applications will now hopefully look like on the CDE desktop now. For Gtk2 and
Gtk>3.20 it works quite well (xubuntu 17.10). Gtk.20 not so well (xubuntu
16.04).


REQUIREMENTS:

1) linux
2) a /tmp directory
3) python2.7
4) imagemagick convert
5) gtk2 pixmap engine
6) python and PyQt4

Preferably use with xfce4! It was tested on xubuntu 16.04/17.10. On ubuntu,
python and imagemagick should come installed. But if not, do:

sudo apt install imagemagick python gtk2-engines python-qt4 gtk2-engines-pixbuf

INSTALLATION

1) extract the zip to some place you can access

2) copy 'cdepanel.x.y' to your path, or just run it from there

(maybe you need to make it executable, do: 'chmod u+x cdepanel')

NOTE: If you are using xfce4 the script will set a different CDE
backdrop to every workspace. However, not all versions of xfce4 allow
setting the backdrop from a script. So you may need to go into
Settings/Desktop and uncheck 'Apply to all workspaces'.

USAGE:

Configuration can mostly be done by right click on the panel.
Apps can be added to the panel and drawers using drag and drop.

Keys and mouse:

mousewheel: switch workspace
=/- or ctrl-mousewheel: change size
h/H or shift-mousewheel: change sharpness/antialiasing
p/P: quick palette switch
s/S: tweak displayed saturation
c: pop up config dialog

TWEAKING

The file 'cdepanel' is a pyinstaller executable containing almost all
dependencies. So running that has the greatest chance of just working. The
cdepanel script will try to make an initial configuration based on what it
finds on your system. If you want to manually tweak or modify/improve the
configuration or scripts, here are some pointers:

cdepanel.py: the source file of the main app

CdePanel/: the configuration directory. On initial run, this is
copied to your ~/.config directory.

CdePanel/layout: file that determines what is shown on the panel

CdePanel/config: some configuration options

CdePanel/cache: icon cache. If your icons look funny, empty this dir

CdePanel/drawers: contains drawer files (the arrow things that pop up a list of
apps). On inital run, a set of default drawers is created.

CdePanel/cdetheme: directory contains xfwm4, gtk-2.0 and gtk-3.0 'theme' files.
Script will create links to this directory from ~/.themes/cdetheme and
~/.themes/cdetheme1. Reason: when you choose a different color palette, the
xfce theme is switched from one to the other, so the changes take effect.

PYHON DEPENDENCIES

If you want to use the python modules instead of the 'binary' please install
the following dependencies:

sudo apt install python-dev build-essential python-sip-dev python-sip-dev libpythonqt-dev libqt4-dev libqt4-dev libqt4-dev python-qt4-dev python-qt4 python-yaml python-xdg python-pil python-pip

sudo pip install ewmh
sudo pip install colors.py
sudo pip install pyinstaller

QT THEME

Hmm in xubuntu 17.10 the gtk style now doesnt seem to be applied to QT apps. To do this install

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mati75/qt5ct
sudo apt install qt5ct
sudo apt install qt5-style-plugins

and in .bashrc set

QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt5ct
export QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt5ct

(one of the 2)

start qt5ct and pick 'gtk+'

So yes.. I hope you can get it to work !