Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

mjg · Posted: Thu 12 May 2005, 03:59 Post subject: General appearance

I love Puppy and it's my favorite small distro. I've been away for a while, because my main office computer is Windows only. At home I have dual boot Windows and Suse 9.2. My work involves web development and graphic design, but I like to switch off sometimes and use Puppy for general browsing and email.

Although it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of Puppy, I don't understand why Firefox, Thunderbird and other programs appear kind of "boxy and clunky" for want of better expressions?

The general look and feel is less rounded than it is in Windows, Suse and Mepis, which I also use.

Are there settings I should be changing myself, or is this a distro issue? Either way I maintain that Puppy is much better than its rivals.

BarryK · Posted: Thu 12 May 2005, 08:21 Post subject:

Are you referring to the general appearance of the windows?
Maybe IceWM would be an option to try?

Pizzasgood · Posted: Thu 12 May 2005, 19:18 Post subject:

The TrueCurve theme for IceWM is very nice. It has curved corners and the taskbar actually looks decent (in most themes the buttons look like doggy-doo). It's also crisp and clean, and doesn't try to mimic XP (I hate XP). What I don't get is why all the XP clones look worse than XP (that's pretty bad...) and always mimic the blue colorscheme. If I had to use XP by some misfortune, I'd use the silver colors because it's about 7X as good as the blue. Even the green is better than the blue. Oh well. I still wouldn't use an XP clone anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter. Rolling Eyes

Guest · Guest

Excuse my ignorance, but how do I try the IceWm option?

mjg · Posted: Fri 13 May 2005, 08:20 Post subject:

PS: Guest was me, I thought I was logged in! Sorry.

PPS: Barry, what is your avatar? Is it a ferret or what breed is the pup?

Flash · Posted: Fri 13 May 2005, 09:41 Post subject:

golpy_penguin · Guest

Hi, I'm using the default window manager for puppy.

I am wondering how to remove icons from the start menu.

Is there a config file somewhere I can edit ?

I have tried opening a shell and typing: " Computer, please remove an icon from the start menu"
But that didn't work.

I also tried, "Computer, please tell me how I can remove an icon from the start menu".
Which, also resulted in an error message.

Thanks,

Golpy_penguin

BarryK · Posted: Mon 16 May 2005, 05:51 Post subject:

Umm, why do you want to remove icons?

golpy_penguin · Guest

To customise it.
I want a particular list of apps available on the task bar.
Some icons I don't want to see.

ta

BarryK · Posted: Tue 17 May 2005, 05:15 Post subject:

Changing the menu for JWM and FVWM95 is a problem as when Puppy upgrades to a new version Puppy will overwrite whatever was there before.

You would have to have your own little script that runs after the upgrade, to restore your own config file...

or, use a different window manager that Puppy doesn't mess with.

Jawshc · Joined: 09 May 2005 Posts: 5 Location: Portland,OR

Is there a DotPup for the TrueCurve theme for IceWM? It looks really cool but I'm not sure how to install a IceWM theme without it being a DotPup installer. Thanks!

mjg · Posted: Wed 18 May 2005, 06:11 Post subject:

I just read the good review of Puppy on Desktop Linux and it had a nice pointer to installing IceWM.

Appearance is much better. I too though would like to know about installing the True Curves theme.

rob · Joined: 18 May 2005 Posts: 50

silver is 7X as good as blue? I think its closer to 6.3X actually! Anyway, I was looking around distrowatch and found an interesting distro called symphonyos at http://www.symphonyos.com. Its got the most amazing desktop system! I would love to see puppy adopt it. It is html based, so your desktop is customisable. Unfortunately, their project is using knoppix as a base which makes it run like dried glue! Its a real shame. Their desktop makes using a pc so easy, even for noobs!

GuestToo · Puppy Master Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 4078

i've tried TrueCurve a few times, and never liked it much

the purple colour doesn't really match other colours on Puppy's wallpaper or apps ... when i made my own theme, i used the eye-dropper program to get colours from the wallpaper and rox, so you may not like the colours, but they do blend

i find the close/maximize/minimize buttons a bit ugly ... i prefer simpler, cleaner looking buttons

i find the font size rather small ... some people like small fonts

for the theme to work properly, you are supposed to change a bitmap for the screen resolution you use, so the corners are rounded

in fact, to have the theme working really properly, they expect you to patch and recompile the Icewm source ... i think that's a bit much

it's easy to install Icewm themes ... just download the tar.gz file, unzip it so the folder is in /root/.icewm/themes ... it should show up in the themes menu immediately ... a dotpup is just a little bit easier and automatic

i'll probably make a TrueCurve dotpup eventually, if someone doesn't make one first

Jawshc · Joined: 09 May 2005 Posts: 5 Location: Portland,OR

Thanks for the info GuestToo, I've never used TrueCurve but I saw a few screenshots. I had no idea it took some much work, I think it's a bit much to recompile IceWM for a theme. I'm using the Elberg theme now, I really like it alot. I hope we get more IceWM themes as dotpup files, I'm addicted to collecting them now. Smile