How to install themes?

ThisGuy1996 · 2016-02-02 18:09

I've download themes but can't change them. Help please?

bin · 2016-02-02 18:39

You may first need to run

sudo kcmodules --unlock

to give you full access to customisation of themes, icons etc.

Please be aware that you are effectively dealing with KDE 3.5 here. Later KDE4 themes may well not work or give unexpected results.

YMMV

ThisGuy1996 · 2016-02-02 18:44

Thank you both for your help. I tried both of these and they work. But how do I install new themes? I've downloaded them but don't know where to put them.

BTW, this is the theme I would like:http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/kde3+xp+style?content=1499

Thank you!!

bin · 2016-02-03 07:54

Ah - that one!

It depends on how much you want to learn from what you're doing. If you open the .gz file you'll see it contains 3 .sh scripts which are executable instructions - a bit like the .exe wrappers in windows - which place the contents in various locations as required. So, you could open the .sh scripts and see where it wants to put the discrete blocks of stuff as found in the filesystem folder. You can then work out how those locations relate to trinity, which may not honour all those locations especially in /opt, and manually copy the folders to the correct locations.......all of which is perfectly do-able. You will eventually be able to select the theme from the Theme Chooser after a few experiments in which you will learn some useful stuff about all sorts of fun things.

OR - as shown in this thread http://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=61
go here http://xpq4.sourceforge.net/
and follow instructions for Orion 1.4

(I'm not using my Q4OS box right now, but I have a vague memory about an XP theme/style in the repos - could be wrong. You could look in Synaptic = search for trinity XP. Only use it if it specifies Trinity)

Enjoy!

Last edited by bin (2016-02-03 07:57)

ThisGuy1996 · 2016-02-03 15:23

Thanks for the reply! So I just copy the contents of the theme to the /opt folder right? If I do, will it mess up my computer? Also, how can I execute the .sh scripts?

Thanks!

Edit: "So, you could open the .sh scripts and see where it wants to put the discrete blocks of stuff as found in the filesystem folder. You can then work out how those locations relate to trinity, which may not honour all those locations especially in /opt, and manually copy the folders to the correct locations.......all of which is perfectly do-able."

Duh! But will this mess up my system? I won't do anything yet unless I know.

Last edited by ThisGuy1996 (2016-02-03 16:39)

bin · 2016-02-03 17:21

No, theme files live in different locations. If you actually drill into the filesystem folder in the .gz file you'll see the various locations those bits should go in - provided you are using vanilla KDE 3.x from 2008. Trinity is not quite the same. You can work out where those bits need to go by looking at known themes in Q4OS.

BUT I really REALLY do suggest you use the installer described here:-
as shown in this thread http://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=61
go here http://xpq4.sourceforge.net/
and follow instructions for Orion 1.4

as this specifically works for Q4OS - the structure of Q4OS is not the same as original KDE3.5 - some stuff lives in different locations and if you don't know your way around then you could mess things up a bit - no harm but is just won't give you the results you're hoping for.

Having said that, you can customise Q4OS a lot with the tools at hand and the supplied themes and styles.

ThisGuy1996 · 2016-02-03 17:38

Okay, I might stick with the XPQ4 theme. I choose that kde xp theme because it had a few things XPQ4 didn't have. For example the file browser have a different style which I really liked. BTW, i'm runnung KDE/TDE 3.5. I don't know if its vanilla or not.

Last edited by ThisGuy1996 (2016-02-03 17:38)

ThisGuy1996 · 2016-02-03 23:44

Got that right. I'll just stick with xpq4. Thanks for all you help:)

Linuxer · 2016-02-23 22:51

Danke, hat mir auch geholfen, ist doch ein wenig anders als unter Ubuntu oder Mint! :-) its a great system for Low-Power Laptops

Jerome · 2016-02-26 17:35

I like the look of the xpq4 themes but I'm wondering whether they use significantly more memory than the "standard" themes? I don't have a lot to spare on my netbook...

Jerome · 2016-02-27 13:47

Thanks crosscourt. Well I installed the themes but decided I preferred my current them to any of them, so uninstalled the package. I thought the desktop would just revert back to the initial settings but they seem to have been lost. Grrr....

Dai_trying · 2016-02-27 19:13

This is one of the things that's made me swear A LOT, if you change your theme you lose your desktop settings, ALL OF THEM, I mean surely there must be a way to maintain settings between themes. Rant over

Dai

Dai_trying · 2016-02-27 22:28

I think I might look into making my own theme, One thing I will have different will be a simple config file in $HOME/.config/mytheme to save some settings which could then be picked up (probably only for my own theme) when reverting back. I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to do a config setting,,, hmmm maybe when I'm not so busy though...

Dai

q4osteam · 2016-02-27 22:45

Dai_trying wrote:

... if you change your theme you lose your desktop settings...

Revert to the default Q4OS theme:
http://www.q4os.org/dqa011.html#desktop.4

Dai_trying · 2016-02-27 23:00

Yes, but I have still lost all my changes, for instance I like to set up my favourite apps on the quicklauncher, these will disappear and I have to manually add them all again. I could probably find the directory location and backup the contents before changing theme and restore it after to see if that might work, but also things like settings:Desktop:Behaviour-Transparency and shadow effects are reset each time. I have to say it's not really a big deal, I would just like to keep settings as they are through theme changes.

Dai

Dai_trying · 2016-02-28 02:23

I've just examined the q4os script in #19 and it basically unpacks a zip file to overwrite anything that is existing and installs a link to the welcome screen into the autostart folder, so what I will do is copy the zip file and make some changes to it from the files that have the same name on my system and that way I can have all my settings as I want them by modifying the script to use my own zip file. I should be able to figure out whats needed without too much hassle, but watch out for posts if I get stuck

Dai

Dai_trying · 2016-02-29 18:33

Well I had to do it, I have created a small bash script that when used with the attached file will backup/restore your current desktop settings.
First unzip the file to your home directory

tar -C $HOME -xf q4os_util.tar

then from console type

./q4osDesktopSettingsUtil backup

This will create a file in your home directory named MyDesktopSettings.tar. Now make lots of changes or install that theme you wanted to test and when you are fed up just type into console

sh /usr/share/apps/q4os_system/bin/default_desktop_settings.sh

To ensure system is cleared correctly, and then

./q4osDesktopSettingsUtil restore

And re login to have your previous settings restored. It worked for me and might stop me swearing so much (until i forget to do it one day )

Dai

Attachments:

q4os_util.tar, Size: 10 KiB, Downloads: 1,063

rafaelramos · 2016-07-19 13:56

bin wrote:

You may first need to run
sudo kcmodules --unlock
to give you full access to customisation of themes, icons etc.
Please be aware that you are effectively dealing with KDE 3.5 here. Later KDE4 themes may well not work or give unexpected results.
YMMV

Thanks bin! Now I could choose the Redmond classic theme, my favorite!

Q4OS Forum

#1 2016-02-02 18:09

How to install themes?

#2 2016-02-02 18:39

Re: How to install themes?

#3 2016-02-02 18:44

Re: How to install themes?

#4 2016-02-03 07:54

Re: How to install themes?

#5 2016-02-03 15:23

Re: How to install themes?

#6 2016-02-03 17:21

Re: How to install themes?

#7 2016-02-03 17:38

Re: How to install themes?

#8 2016-02-03 23:44

Re: How to install themes?

#9 2016-02-23 22:51

Re: How to install themes?

#10 2016-02-26 17:35

Re: How to install themes?

#11 2016-02-27 13:47

Re: How to install themes?

#12 2016-02-27 19:13

Re: How to install themes?

#13 2016-02-27 22:28

Re: How to install themes?

#14 2016-02-27 22:45

Re: How to install themes?

#15 2016-02-27 23:00

Re: How to install themes?

#16 2016-02-28 02:23

Re: How to install themes?

#17 2016-02-29 18:33

Re: How to install themes?

#18 2016-07-19 13:56

Re: How to install themes?

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