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KDE GUI

IBM KDE Theme Contest 95

Posted by CmdrTaco from the thats-a-cool-idea dept.
frknfrk writes "i stumbled across the IBM developerWorks KDE theme contest. apparently there are three prizes, $3000, $2000, and $1000 which entrants can win for the non-profit OSS group of their choice. and Sam Lantinga (SDL, Loki) is one of the judges. they also have a tutorial on building KDE themes for Linux." I've been running KDE on my laptop since I melted the old hard drive, and have been disappointed by the existing choice of themes. Hopefully this contest will change that, as well as hook up an open source group with some cash. Get gimpin' people!
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IBM KDE Theme Contest More

IBM KDE Theme Contest

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  • Re:All your Themese are Belong to IBM (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    "UPDATE! Due to an overwhelming response from the community, calling us on a few not-so-subtle gaffs, we have changed our KDE theme contest. First and foremost, entering the contest does not mean you are giving us ownership of your code or exclusive rights to it (we'll be sacrificing a lawyer to the OSS gods for that rule tonight at midnight). All your entries (see revised rule 7 below) must be licensed under an OSI-approved public software license. Yes, we screwed that one up the first time. Apologies!"
  • I think that it's incrediably stupid to have to sign up to read a few (small) pages on how to make or edit a theme.

    However, I'm impressed that IMBs site defaults to the option of "don't use my information for markinet or give it to anyone" instead the standard of having the "send spam to me" checkbox checked by default.
  • Is IBM onto something here? No, I don't think so.
    --
  • I don't use KDE, but I wouldn't mind entering this contest. My graphics tools haven't been used as much recently as I would have liked to use them.

    So I ask you KDE users, what's the quickest way to get an install up and running? I have Slackware 7 with WindowMaker running and, hey, I've even got a fairly recent version of QT compiled.

    I don't need a completely usable install, and I'll probably want to delete it afterwards, as I'm quite happy with the performance of my system at the moment. I just want to be able to test my theme out. Whadya say?

  • I run debian on three other machines because of it's low maintenance packaging system. However, I like to configure my workstation system from scratch. Thanks for coming out.

  • As I read the story, I read they're giving away cash prizes. I thought to myself, 'I could use a few grand.' Then I got to the part that indicated it all going to a non-profit OSS group. Why wouldn't IBM give money to the person who made the theme instead of an OSS group (aside from the claim of 'intl $$ swapping being a pain' on their site)? They're getting a tax write off for it!

    Ya know, thats actually quite good marketing of them: spending six thousand dollars to get who knows how many people to their site, via a few posts from a number of different OSS-esque sites. Not to mention it falls in line with their current marketing scheme and is a writeoff after all that. Can't say that I wouldn't do the same if I were in their position.

    Have we read through enough lines yet?

    -----
    If Bill Gates had a nickel for every time Windows crashed...
  • Slackware has a packaging system, but thanks for playing, fudboy.

    wgetting the slakware/kde1 directory from -current and running installpkg *tgz will get you KDE 2.1. Idunno how current you've been keeping your system, though, so you may also need to upgradepkg your glibc packages.

  • They're not source archives. A Slackware package is compiled and installed software -- binaries, documentation, whatever needs to go onto the system -- that is tarred up from a pseudo (or real) / and packaged with an install script. The database is two directories of text files, one in /var/log/scripts and one in /var/log/packages. This means you can play with it to your heart's content with standard text utilities. (What package contains grep? "grep 'grep$' /var/log/packages/*" will tell you.)

    The fact that they're gzipped tar files shouldn't lead you to believe that they're just source. That doesn't even make sense. You might also consider that because they're gzipped tar files, you only need gzip, tar, and a shell to manipulate them any way you like. You can blow open a slackware package, edit a few files in it, and then repackage the whole thing without in all of three steps-- tar zxpvf , edit the files, tar czpvf .

    That's just one benefit of using a simple, popular, and easily-recognized file format. That the occasional idiot thinks everything with a .tgz extension is a source distribution is just something we live with, I guess. If you're going to be snotty about your packaging system of choice, you might at least consider having a clue about the ones you're slamming.

    (Normally I'd be more polite, but misinformation is not something I'm dealing with well today.)

  • Re:Packaging systems and dependencies (Score:3)

    by dangermouse ( 2242 ) on Friday April 20, 2001 @04:28PM (#276186) Homepage
    Well, it may be true that Slackware has one of the last remaining packaging systems that doesn't include a dependency-checking system, but to call dependencies integral to packaging ignores decades of packaging systems that never had dependencies. (Let's see how many times I can use those two words, here. ;)

    Look at it this way... in Slackware:

    1. The installed software/docs/whatever is rolled into a single file
    2. Installation scripts are generated and embedded
    3. Information on what files on the system came from which of those distribution files is stored in a database
    4. Tools exist for installing, upgrading, and removing components of the system using those distribution files
    That sounds like a system of packaging software, to me. :)

    It lacks the dependency-checking subsystem that many other packagers use, but consider that (A) that has yet to prove itself necessary, given the way we split our system into packages, (B) it adds complexity and brings new problems (note that most, if not all, of the packaging systems you refer to cannot have the same file exist in two different packages, without making a mess), (C) most dependancy systems force the user's hand in ways we don't approve of, and (D) if the need does arise, and the issues with current dependancy systems are worked out, that subsystem could be added with fairly little effort to our existing system.

  • Re:Alpha channel? (Score:3)

    by spitzak ( 4019 ) on Friday April 20, 2001 @07:43PM (#276187) Homepage
    Transparency is only supported for rendering into existing windows, as far as I know. The windows themselves do not have transparency.

    Supporting this nicely requires a good deal of changes to the X interface. I believe it will require all windows to be stored with off-screen backing stores. This requires changes to Xlib because there is no "update the screen" command in the current X protocol, Xlib would have to send this when the appliation waits for events (plus there should be interface to turn off the automatic update and let the program control it).

    Double buffering would vastly change the internals of the X server. It would also defeat the hardware acceleration on most systems.

    Any alternative to double buffering would require transparency to be seperate from the drawing and very difficult to alter. This is not nice because you cannot animate the transparent edge, or it will not animate cleanly with respect to the interior. For this reason I would rather have a complete solution or none at all, not some half-way and hard to program arrangement.

    However making half-way and hard-to-program interfaces seems to match the current X design!

  • If I recall correctly, it has alpha blending for icons like the desktop icons. I think I remember reading about this coming out and I tried it back when I had KDE 2 installed but it didn't seem to make much of a difference.

    This brings up a question though, when are we going to see translucent windows? I know that keith packard's render extension is suppose to add support for this in X. Anyone know if there are programs you can get that use this extension to do translucent windows? Surprised there isn't a hack of Eterm to do it or something, perhaps I'm missing something and they can't do it?
  • Yes, I think you probably are.

    The rest of us are too busy enjoying our software to get into little squabbles like this.

    No offense man, but I think we're all sick of bickering about gnome or kde.

  • Just out of curiosity, what would "we" do about it if "we" decide we don't want IBM supporting Linux? Seriously.

    We'd pretty much have to bend over and take it. Linux and most of the software surrounding it are under the GPL; that gives anyone, including IBM, the right to modify that software for whatever purposes they like, and to distribute the modified software so long as they release the source code.

    So, we'd have no legal options. We could have social options, such as being extremely unco-operative with IBM. Frankly, I don't see most Linux geeks doing this; I'm personally pleased as could be with IBM's involvement.

    ObJectBridge [sourceforge.net] (GPL'd Java ODMG) needs volunteers.

  • Where can I get this theme?

    Hey, I think having an IBM "Peace, Love, and Linux" theme would be pretty darn funny, myself...I wonder how many of the first 100 will be just that?


    ---
  • Interesting that you mention that... an RPM is simply a cpio archive with a really big header stuck to the top of it. A DEB is two tarballs stuck together using ar. A TGZ is a tarball with embedded control scripts.

    If you're going to call a Slackware package a "source archive with a wrapper", then you're going to have to say the same thing about the other two systems as well.
  • In my dealings with DEBs, they consist of two things: (1) a series of control files that have been tarred up (control.tar or control.tar.gz, I believe) and (2) all the actual contents of the package laid out in a filesystem (data.tar or data.tar.gz). These two files are then catted together into an archive using the ar program to form the finalized package.

    I believe that this would then fail your definition of a package, since it's really just an archive with a wrapper around it.

    I'm sure that Debian packgers have a much more thorough explanation, but this is what information I have figured out from blowing a few apart.

  • IBM Frisco Theme (Score:5)

    by sharkey ( 16670 ) on Friday April 20, 2001 @01:16PM (#276194)
    Where can I get this theme? It's supposed to scrawl graffitti across the desktop, in what looks to be bio-degradeable but non-water-soluble chalk.

    --
  • For the uninitiated, here are some photos of the IBM graffitti:

    Sidewalk [cnn.com]

    Building banner [cnn.com]

  • But the ASPL is not OSI-approved. It might be ironically sweet to do it if the contest were run by Apple, but it's not...
  • They last updated their page a week ago...
  • linuxmafia.net->search for KDE(or look at most downloaded list) installpkg kde.tgz
    it's in slack-current!!

  • I consider the lack of dependency checking the major benefit of Slackware--no more forcing everything to install!
  • how many times do you need to type rpm -Uvhf (or however you forc rpm's to install after dependency checking failed, which it will for soo many packages) to see that what you really want is to soemthing that installs or removes a packages files, and nothing more!

  • Re:Irony Alert (Score:3)

    by abelsson ( 21706 ) on Saturday April 21, 2001 @01:03AM (#276201) Homepage
    No, it just teaches us that choosing a window manager isn't a life altering decision. Use the best app for the job, and don't discard one set of apps just because it's written using the wrong widgetset. No one is going to come and arrest you if you use Konqueror and KMail together with the Gimp and abiword.

    -henrik

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • From Rik Hemsley's original post [kde.org]:

    Tutorial on writing your own KDE widget style from scratch.

    Includes a full working example and an easy-to-use empty framework you can use to start from.

    Other tutorials can (will) be found here [kde.org]

    Daniel.

  • No it couldn't mean something else. The article was on creating KDE themes. It wouldn't make sense to then have a GNOME theme contest now would it? Information and tutorials do not automatically mean opinion. Nor does the article explicity represent IBM.
  • Try ebay [ebay.com]. While you might not find anything as cheap as current DIMMS, it's pretty easy find SIMMs for under a buck a meg, which is still fairly reasonable.

    This post is still on topic because buying said memory from ebay will allow you to run those sexy new themes that will come out of this contest. ;-)

  • I wonder how Apple feels about this contest.
    ----------
  • Yes, there is a great lack. However, why is there a great lack? KDE's theming system is very inflexible and stunts creativity. I've looked at porting some sawfish/e themes to kde and its just not possible with KDE's current pos theming engine.
  • When my North Pole theme wins...

    I think people will think Linux has a "white screen of death".
    --

  • How on earth will the open-source community be offended by IBM giving money to the open-source project of the winners' choice?

    "Well, shit, Bob! They just donated 1000$ to Samba!"
    "Dammit, I'm not going to stand for this support of the open-source community anymore! That's it, I'm installing NT."
  • Slackware has a packaging system

    Well, that depends if your definition of what includes a packaging system involves dependencies. Most people define packages as a way of distributing software in modular chunks with meta information about their relationships with other packages. This allows them to be installed and uninstalled in a uniform and automated fashion (and by most people, I mean Red Hat, Debian, Microsoft, Sun, IBM, and every other maker of a package management system).

    Slackware is, AFAIK, the only software that calls a software installation system without dependencies a packaging system.

    They might be right, they might be wrong, but you've got to admit this definition is pretty unique.

  • It's basically a customized look and feel for your desktop. It allows you to change fonts, window borders and darn near any thing else you'd like. KDE and Gnome allow you to do this.

    It sounds like a great idea, and it is easy to create one. However, it's quite hard to do it well. Some themes look really cool, but are coolness doesn't make for the best or most usable user interface. They're fun to play with a little, but most people end up back with the one that came installed in the distribution, or with one that's pretty plain-jane.
  • I would rather have only a few good ones than lots of trash. The themes.org site desperately needs to review the mishmash of incompatible KDE themes sitting there and delete all the old crap.

  • And the reason you're looking the gift horse in the mouth is?
  • First of all, comparing KDE to Blackbox in size is like saying "but Netscape is much smaller than Windows!". KDE is not just a window manager, and if you want to compare window managers, look at kwin.. It's about 3.1kb, I don't think you can beat that. :-) (Yes, I know about shared libraries. If you do want to know, kwin uses about 2MB of RAM here and starts in under a second.

    Yes, KDE is big. That's because it does so much more than just window management, and provides a complete API set for applications (via Qt). It's a very important step towards a "common" desktop interface, the lack of which is one reason why many companies hesitate to port their apps to Unix systems.

    That said, of course there is room for improvement. And those things happen, 2.1.1 has improved a LOT in respect to speed.

    And THAT said: A fully blown KDE desktop with mixer, licq, project manager applet, newsticker, XMMS, and two Konqueror browser windows uses LESS memory on my machine say IceWM and two Netscape windows. Blame Netscape if you want, but then what browser did you say you were using?

  • Huh, well thats cool of them and funny too.... Can we get a live video feed of the lawyer burning? that would be more popular that the tim mcviegh killing(if it is webcase) hehe and we can donate all the money from the lawyer buring to OSS projects :)

  • hey kids,

    If you read the fine print(always fun i know) under the terms, you'll see that the themese you create become property of IBM.... intersting... contest to win money for your favorite OSS and you create a theme for an OSS program and you don't even get to keep rights to it..... nifty eh?

  • /me makes big blue theme with kde logo!

  • Just out of curiosity, what would "we" do about it if "we" decide we don't want IBM supporting Linux? Seriously.

  • Those were the original rules (apparently written by their lawyers, stuck in there with all the other required legal mumbo jumbo (no purchase necessary, void where prohibited, chances of winning depends on number of entries, etc)), but when people complained they changed it and apologized profusely.

    The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
  • QT 3 will include alpha channel support using the Render extension. This means hardware accelerated per channel alpha. Matt Newell
  • there's probably a cleaner way to do this, but it works:

    in your .xinitrc, put this:

    exec xterm

    then run startx; when you get the prompt in the xterm window type:

    [window manager of your choice] &

    and once that's running, type:

    startkde &

    or you could just put "exec windowmanager" in your .xinitrc, then open a term window, then "startkde"

    whatever. the only disadvantage for most users is that the KDE environment is then a bit dismembered. for example, you can treat the KDE desktop and control panel like any other window, and minimized windows don't get represented in KDE's panel, but they *are* represented in the window manager's windowlist (if it has one).


  • Hey, what the heck. I was all excited to learn all about KDE 2.1.x theming, got the theme tutorial from IBMs web site (registration suprisingly painless, by the way) and started sifting through it only to find that it's basically ALL FOR KDE 1.x, Environment with the "Ugliest Themes on the Planet(TM)"!!! Can't someone (mosfet?) get something better going? The last thing we need are $3000 dollar prizes awarded to UGLY KDE 1.x themes!

  • I'm pretty sure that the original contest rules said that individuals could win the money for themselves, provided that they were US citizens. Is this still not the case? My understanding was that donating the money to an OSS group was optional, although non-US citizens may not have a choice...
  • There is a SERIOUS lack of themes for KDE2.1.1

    Have you looked at kde.themes.org? Hardly any at all for KDE2.1.1!

    • 7:
    • All entries must be licensed under one of the Open Source Initiative's approved public software licenses (for a list of these licenses, please see http://opensource.org).
    I hadn't realized that OSI approves IBM's licenses.
  • Of course... What would you expect when theming windows is difficult (you need to know C++) and theming widgets is either too limiting, or difficult (again, you need to know C++). This is unlike Sawfish where making nice-looking themes is pretty stright-forward with the included editor and unlike GTK+ where the pixmap engine is much more flexible and easier to grasp, but which is slow and generally buggy, if I can use that word...

    --
  • This was pointed out to them a while ago, they're fixing it.
  • Am I the only one who thinks it ironic to design themes for KDE using the Gimp (which was the birthing ground and original app of GNOME) ?

    Or maybe we should use the Qt port...

  • Honestly, do you expect to make a lot of money with a theme? Because my "Using the verdana font and making the titlebar fade from blue to black in Win2k at school" theme hasn't got me a whole lot... yet.

    Tell me what makes you so afraid
    Of all those people you say you hate

  • Installing KDE from source is pretty easy. First, I should tell you that it will run best if QT2 has been configured with -no-g++-exceptions, which I believe Slackware does. This basically will cut memory use and increase speed noticeably. That said...

    Pick a mirror [kde.org] to download from, and get the packages from the stable/2.1.1/distribution/tar/generic/src/ directory. Installing KDE is done with the standard ./configure, make, make install. Do kdesupport, then kdelibs, then kdebase, and everything else is optional and can be done in any order. KDE2 works best from its own directory like /usr/local/kde2 or /opt/kde2, so just make $KDEDIR the directory you want to install to and the scripts will use that. Once it's installed, "exec startkde" should go in your .xinitrc (or xdm, or whatever). And that's pretty much it.

  • I don't know about KDE (Don't use a "desktop" myself) but I can not imagine life without the Irix theme for E. http://e.themes.org/themes.phtml?action=search&the metxt=irix&submit=Search&odby=download&disptype=no rm&numthemes=10&showmod=off I'm going to have to learn how to theme just so I can update it since it looks like the person who did it first has fallen off the face of the earth. Buth there are some *very* nice themes out there.
  • Yet another clueless slashdot reader who doesn't know the difference between "open source" "free" and "free-as-in-beer".

    Do some reading before you start trying to slam the open source community and you won't come off sounding like such an idiot.

  • There are plenty of themes available for Blackbox [themes.org]. >:)

    I used to use KDE, and I really liked it. But then I upgraded to 2.1, and was bombarded by such a plethora of useless proccessor time-consuming shit (i.e., the whole blue theme, all the stupid event sounds, etc) that I immediatly started looking for another window manager. Just because I have a high powered computer does not mean that I want to waste it's cycles on a bloated desktop. So then I found blackbox. The binary size is about 1/25 of KDE's, and it is FAST and allows for extreme custimization (hence the myraid of themes available for it) and eye candy, without taking up much processor time. Now I can devote it to something usefull, like cracking RC5 [distributed.net] :).
    --

  • look close enough and youll see the line saying that only the first 100 will be eligable. hate to see 150 goatse.cx themes get submitted today, and make it so that the quality themes arent even eligable.

    .brad


    Drink more tea
    organicgreenteas.com [organicgreenteas.com]
  • Very true... I, for one, am signing up for the tutorial, at least to help give IBM the impression of people interested in linux desktops...

    ------
    C'mon, flame me!


  • No one ever got fired for choosing KDE.

    ** Not my personal choice -- but KDE is by far the safe choice for a corporate Linux desktop.
  • $3000, $2000, and $1000 which entrants can win for the non-profit OSS group of their choice.

    I'd like to see how many of the winners donate their money to the Gnome Foundation or Gnome projects...
  • This is seriously old news. Especially when you consider that we've already been through the IBM fixes oopsies on KDE themes contest [newsforge.com] a week ago.

    To me, the real story here is that IBM has decided to promote KDE. Why? Is it:

    1. That KDE has a reputation for being a pretty easy transition from Windows?
    2. KDE needs themes?
    3. GNOME still has a too far to go before meta-themeing [gnome.org] makes us all weep tears of joy?
    4. IBM is leaning toward KDE for some other reason?
  • Rob, you run Mandrake now?
  • could I start and OSS project of my choice and dontate to that?

  • Originally, KFM, KDE's file manager, used a lot of features originally found in OS/2's WPS.

    Maybe IBM likes the fact that KDE was on that track? Of course, they've lost that with konqueror, so it's a moot point anyway.

  • What is a theme anyways?
  • IBM can afford to throw money on a hopeful cause. Their not like linux companies. They have a stable business that isn't likely to go down the tube anytime soon.

    I think you may have just suffered a sense of humour failure.

  • If someone is running an old "cheap-assed" system, they might not have any DIMM slots. I've got an old 200 Mhz pentium on my LAN that I'd love to put memory in, but it only has SIMM slots. SIMMs are so expensive that putting 128 MB in is not an option (I could build a new system for the cost).

  • The only really original KDE2 theme are Aqua ones which I don't like much...

    Before anyone flames that Aqua themes aren't original I'd like them to know I meant good and was think they aren't original and thus wrote original instead of good.

    It should read:
    The only really good KDE2 themes are Aqua ones which I don't like much...


    --Volrath50

  • However, if fonts are your only problem, couldn't that be solved with a quick trip to the Fonts control panel?

    I tried that.... The KDE font thing has no effect on them... They work perfectly as Gtk+ themes though.... If I wasn't using (ugh.) Windows right now I'd take a screenshot....

    OT: One of the reasons I use KDE, other than it seems more polished, is that GNOME take 6 hours to download on a 56k Modem. KDE takes about 2. Man I hate my Small-Broadbandless-Canadian-Town(tm)...


    --Volrath50

  • I have the opportunity to see the basement one day: Foosball table, couches, TV, fridge, pinball machine, MS Pac-Man... The employees looked like ZZ Top rejects: beards down to their guts, hawaiian shirts, sandals, shorts. Damn, I wanted to join this crowd!

    Heh, I guess I should change my joke to:
    OS/2 IS PROGRAMMED BY HIPPIES!!!
    I guess the "[NON-MS-OS] is Written by a bunch of Hippie Freaks!!" are right for at least one OS....


    --Volrath50

  • I know KDE can import GTK+ themes, I've tried to get my favorites working on KDE before.... Though what no one seems to notice is that GTK+ themes screw up all the nice KDE fonts and makes them look horribly jagged/ugly.

    Though I use KDE as my desktop I quite often boot up GNOME to test out the new Themes or Nautilis or other nice looking program....

    Thanks for the info about the IceWIn/KWin plugin, I'll have to look into that...


    --Volrath50

  • Good, (Score:3)

    by V50 ( 248015 ) on Friday April 20, 2001 @01:09PM (#276250) Journal

    This is really a Good Thing(tm). My biggest reason for keeping GNOME on my drive is that it has the better themes. I like KDE as it seem more polished (no flamewar, please)... But the themes suck, generally. The only really original KDE2 theme are Aqua ones which I don't like much...

    Anyway hopefully this will at least bring some good KWM themes, I don't like the default ones much and there are no other ones that I can find... Come to think of it does anyone know how to run other WMs in KDE? I must be possible...

    But lastly it's good for IBM as the charity part in peticular makes the look quite nice, despite the fact that $6000 is pocket change for them... Combine this with the grafitti bit and I've come to the conclusion that:

    IBM IS RUN BY HIPPIES!!!


    --Volrath50

  • Wow, i like the new mangled URLs you use for goatse.cx.
    Too bad you can't get moderated to -1, Annoyingly Creative
  • apt-get install task-kde

    having a package system has its benefits.
  • yes, i forget source archives with a wrapper = packaging system.

  • a deb consists of package database information (to store that it has been installed), possibly documentation, and a binary.
  • You said linux WM.

    I hope you know that GNOME is a desktop environment and not a WM and in fact, I run KWIN (KDE2's WM) as my default gnome WM on the rare occasion on which i do start up gnome.

  • When my North Pole theme wins, the Dancin Santa retirement fund will see a nice $3000 boost.
  • If the polar bears don't kill you, the subzero temps will.

    Imagine killing processes by directing a polar bear to bite its head off.

    Dancin Santa
  • So easy to say with no userID, huh?

  • This could mean something else... (Score:3)

    by MSBob ( 307239 ) on Friday April 20, 2001 @01:30PM (#276259)
    This could mean that IBM will be promoting KDE as their default (standard?) Linux desktop for IBM systems. Now that's interesting because that would mean that IBM would be going up against Sun's choice of GNOME as the default Linux WM. Is IBM onto something here?

  • I hope IBM can afford those enormous prizes they're giving out!

    I'd hate to see them go under just when they've started supporting Linux!

    :-)

  • IBM was informed of that error long ago, and it has been corrected.

    Due to an overwhelming response from the community, calling us on a few not-so-subtle gaffs, we have changed our KDE theme contest. First and foremost, entering the contest does not mean you are giving us ownership of your code or exclusive rights to it (we'll be sacrificing a lawyer to the OSS gods for that rule tonight at midnight). All your entries (see revised rule 7 on the contest page) must be licensed under an OSI-approved public software license. Yes, we screwed that one up the first time. Apologies!

    http://dot.kde.org/987115027/

  • IBM can afford to throw money on a hopeful cause. Their not like linux companies. They have a stable business that isn't likely to go down the tube anytime soon.

  • Ha! I didn't even see the sarcasm till you pointed it out. Flew right over my head.

  • I not putting themes down, but most of the ones I've seen aren't very good. Artistically, yes! In a practical sense though, they tend to mess up the UI. I don't think I should have to re-maximize my windows after installing a them. What's even worse is when a theme makes the borders so thick that I can't see part of the app even when it's maximized. I haven't used any of the themes for the new KDE yet. I just upgraded from mandrake 7.1 to 8.0. I hope they've fixed these things.

  • FYI, GTK themes can be imported by KDE. Check out the "Legacy theme importer." Despite the unfortunate name (no its not an insult, its the result of coders who don't speak English as a first language) it does in fact import GTK themes.

    About KWM themes - Acually they're KWin themes now. KWin has a great new modular architecture that allows all sorts of incredible C++ plugins. Unfortunately, that means that it is required to code in C++ to make a new theme! This is the reason there are no good KWin themes yet (programmers usually aren't good artists and vice versa).

    That is about to change, though. Just recently, a KWin plugin was released that imports IceWM themes and uses them as-is. This is the strength of a plugin architecture. Now you can use any IceWM theme you want. Its in CVS now, you can download it youself or wait until KDE 2.2. In the future, also expect to see many more style plugins for KWin (KDE 2.2 will include several new ones). Eventually someone may make a generic themeable plugin that will allow themeing of KWin without C++ coding. Either that or everyone will simply make IceWM themes for KDE!

  • For info on the IceWM plugin, as well as some other KWin themes and a KControl module to configure them (configurable button placement! Nice!), go here [n3.net].

    I have also noticed that the GTK theme importer doesn't work perfectly. Some GTK themes will cause QT to choke, requiring you to go and delete some config files just to start KDE again! However, if fonts are your only problem, couldn't that be solved with a quick trip to the Fonts control panel? The GTK themes might use odd-sized fonts, and we all know how well X fonts scale (not well at all). If you select sane font sizes, or even different fonts, they should be quite readable. Or, enable font anti-aliasing as I have done and kiss your jagged fonts goodbye!

  • Consider if IBM is developing a product for MS. The more successful the product is, the stronger their enemy will be. IBM will always be on the downside of the competition. IBM, Lotus, Netscape .. had learn it the hard way.

    A recent casualty in the game is small company that provide the hand-written-text-recognition program for Chinese character.

    Sometimes I wonder why these companies, big or small, do not invest more of their company resources to build a better Linux.

  • I wonder if the "open source community" will be offended by IBM offering money for what should be "free"? --- "My boss says we need some eunuch programmers"
  • I chalked my theme on the sidewalk, but everyone complained...
    Used the open source chalk, that washes away in the rain

    I just realized that's kind of catchy...

  • Is it just me or has IBM decided that since their products suck endorsing Linux will save them? IBM looks to me like a 40 something parent who finally realized they are out of touch with their kids. Now they are scrambling to find the new "cool" thing, which in this case happens to be linux and OSS. I am a _huge_ linux supporter, and it is nice to se a large entity take some interest and begin backing us, but is this really the way we want it?

    DocWatson
  • Have you used an AS/400 or Lotus Notes recently? How about _any_ Lotus apps for that matter.
    DocWatson
  • Why would I not be surprised if the winning theme is an 8-bit work of art that consists of a purple background, blue titlebars, and the KDE Icon on the panel replaced with a big IBM one. In fact I think I'm gonna go start working on it... :)

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