I'm currently using Mandrake 9.2 and I was wondering if there was a theme for Gnome to make the Main Menu drop down box appear transparent? Thanks for any replies!


--JBot

Dunno about gnome, as I just use the kde default with mandrake, and then for that kind of stuff the best place to start would be kde-look.org

I can only presume that there's an equivalent for gnome

regards

John

hi

does any one has some more links to some sexy themes...

thx

I only use KDE and you just go into KDE look and feel/style.. then set transparancy.. also as posted already kde-look is the best place for eyecandy..

check the screenie

http://erc.qmuc.ac.uk/screenshot.jpg

Your desktop looks AWESOME! How the heck do you do that? I tried downloading a theme from kde-look, I untarred it, did ./configure, make, became root and make installed, however it doesnt show up anywhere. Please help a newbie out.

Personally, I have also have had problems installing stuff from kde look (though I succeeded eventually).

So, surf for "plf" (no quotes), at para 1.2, there's a link for easy urpmi (which is the package updating thingy for mandrake), follow the instructions - though I understand it's best to select mirrors closest to your location, then do the cut and paste as mentioned into a konsole/terminal/shell or whatever the hell you want to call it (I didn't even have to enter it, except when stuff stopped scrolling up the screen).

When it drops you back to a $ prompt, open the mandrake control centre and open the software manager "rpmdrake+" and follow the instuctions, again when it's done it's thing, look in all packages (by group) and then look in graphics, graphical desktop, kde and anything else that soundslike it may be to do with eye candy/graphics and desktops. You should look for stuff like kdeartwork and kdemoreartwork. Any stuff like that, when installed will give you themes, icons, backgrounds and so on.

Oh, before I forget, when you are doing easy urpmi, make sure you select mirrors for plf and texstar, in other words select a mirror for everything it suggests so you get the maximum of options, because some of the stuff from plf and texstar is better/nicer looking that normal mandrake stuff (in the rpmdrake+ package listing, if it has mdk in the title then it's mandrake, plf or texstar stuff is then obvious (I think they come via "contrib").

Sounds complicated, it's not, it's arguably a lot easier than going straight to installing from source (which is what you are doing at kde look, work out how to do that later - though if you can remember the name of what you downloaded from kde look, then you could try whereis whatever" or "locate whatever" in a terminal/konsole, that might find it.)

And don't forget, because installing mandrake is easy, if you mess things up big style, just re-install.

Finally, if you select artwork stuff from rpmdrake, it should install perfectly, but some of the packages that need to be downloaded (as opposed to what may be on your install disc's) are quite big, and can take a while to download, even with a cable or broadband connection.

regards

John

Okay I have done that, however, how do I install a theme from kde-look.org? The two in particular that I am trying to get are Knifty and Plastiks.
Where in particular am I supposed to install these files?

Nice looking desktop!! What is that on the right side? Looks like the Mac taskbar. All the way to the right center. Also, what proggy is that on top? Giving you all your vitals?

Lostman, the bit up the right hand side of the screenshot is "kicker" the kde task bar, and the small window that's open with the system info is gkrellm.

Phibby, the stuff from kde-look is usually downloaded as tar.gz (or whatever) if you've already downloaded the bit's that you want, you can either follow the instructions to install from source here or if you've got the packages in your /home then right click on the package and if you get an open with, and Ark underneath that, then you can click on Ark (you may not have it installed by default), but then you will still have to work out where you want to put it, i.e. if it's a whole theme, the something like /usr/share/themes or /usr/share/kde/themes (though you might have to put it in the /usr/share/.kde/thems hidden directory - and I don't recall whether you have to be root or not to do this).

In the mean time, I'm gonna have a look at the themes you've mentioned, and if I like them, I'll have a go myself.

regards

John

p.s. sorry if my instructions don't make sense, but different systems, make for big confusion!

Just had a quick look, and from memory, I've just followed the "how to install" instructions on the page with the theme/whatever info.

Sorry if that's no help.

regards

john

Thanks for your John. Luckily I found an RPM for the theme Plastiks, so that one is installed now. I will continue to play around with it later and use your instructions. Thanks again for all the help

de nada

regards

john

What about the news feeder and all that up top? Very "active desktop" like. What is that called? Was it hard to install? Linky?

Although I could never really find a folder in /usr that contained the theme stuff, I ran ./configure --prefix=/usr and everything showed up perfectly in the KDE Look N Feel area. Thanks for all the tips guys

Sorry, I didn't notice it the first time I looked at the screenshot, but I've just e-mailed _KDF to ask what it's called.

It would save me considerable time to have the register beaming it's way straigt to my desktop though.

regards

John