Dark GTK+2 themes for older, 4/5-series Puppies...

[mikewalsh]

Evening, gang.

I'm trying to find a 'dark' (either grey or black) GTK+2 theme that will work with 5-series Slackos.

I found a nice bunch of GTK+2/3 themes a couple of years ago, zipped together in a 'pack' entitled "Shades of Gray", from a link that led me to the Gnome website. These are supposed to be 'combo' themes, i.e., supposed to work with either GTK2 OR GTK3, only.....they don't.

They work fine in all the current 64-bit Pups I run - which support GTK+3 OOTB - but 32-bit 5-series Slackos, for instance, ignore them. As far as they're concerned, to all intents & purposes these themes simply don't exist.

-------------------------------------------------

Can anybody point me towards some 'dark' GTK+2 themes that will work in older Puppies? I'm talking about the 'background' themes for applications, like turning ROX's background dark.....NOT themed icon sets, and NOT JWM themes. Those, I have in abundance, and am well-covered in that respect. A straight-forward dark GTK+2 background theme would be ideal.....IF such a thing exists.

Any useful suggestions will, as always, be very much appreciated.

Ta, all.

Mike.

[bigpup]

Here is one place to get GTK2 themes
https://www.opendesktop.org/browse?cat=136&ord=top

A few only show the them and do not provide a download for it.

Example:
Click on BSM Simple 1.3
Below the image is:
Product
Files (1)
Changelogs (1)
Ratings & Reviews (65)
Affiliates (0)
Fans (26)

If files shows (1) then it has a downloadable file of the theme.
Click on Files (1)
The theme package and download link will show.

Note:
The theme packages are only good for Puppy Linux, if they contain all needed stuff.
Just like any software packaging.
Depends on how well the theme package was put together.
Is everything needed in it or did they miss something, when making the package.
Most of them will work in Puppy Linux.
.
Example:
trinity_green theme, used in Raspup, a 32bit Slacko for the Raspberry Pi computer.
Hard Info program
.

Screenshot.jpg (55.59 KiB) Viewed 2111 times

[mikewalsh]

@bigpup :-

You're a star, buddy. Cheers!

I've found some crackers on there already. A few that I downloaded proved to be no good, as they've not been constructed in such a way that Puppy can use them.....constructed to either a newer/later standard, or else simply not in a format that JWM can make use of.

Similar domain to AppImageHub, where I regularly browse to see what else I can find for us here in Puppyland, so I'm used to the file/items layout.

Out of 8 I've downloaded so far, 3 have had to be discarded. But the remaining 5 are all "good'uns".....and work a treat in my rebuilt/reworked/resurrected Slacko 5.6.0. Which means they ought to work in the other 5-series 'Slacko' in the kennels; Sailor Enceladus' re-spin on Micko's classic 5.7.0, 5.7.1. There's hope yet.

It might seem a lot of messing around to some, but after years working with highly-abrasive powders at the family firm, my eyes are very averse to bright light. I have to wear photo-reactive glasses, and I make extensive use of dark themes and the various utilities we now have available for adjusting the night-time red tint.

Dark themes may not be to everybody's taste. For some, they're an enjoyable "aesthetic" effect; for me, they're more of a "must-have" item these days....

I'm going to do some more exploring, see what else there is on that site. Thanks again.

Mike.

[bigpup]

Some of the theme packages do have stuff other than GTK2.
Do have to make sure you are trying to use the GTK2 stuff.

I have found some theme packages, that were not put together very well.
Usually missing something needed to be a good theme package.
There is some basic stuff, that has to be in it, to work.

[mikewalsh]

Some of the theme packages do have stuff other than GTK2.
Do have to make sure you are trying to use the GTK2 stuff.

I have found some theme packages, that were not put together very well.
Usually missing something needed to be a good theme package.
There is some basic stuff, that has to be in it, to work.

What I DID find was that the 'gtk-2.0' directory does need to be immediately inside the main theme directory, i.e., the next level down. So long as it's there, it doesn't matter if it also contains 'gtk-3.0' OR 'metacity', the GTK 2.0 version will work.

Some I had to discard because they contained 'nested' tarballs, and in two cases they were specifically set-up to work with 'Nautilus' and NOTHING ELSE.

Mike.

[bigpup]

Nothing is ever just simple, is it?

[mikewalsh]

Right, gang. Now then:-

I've made up a wee pack of the 8 best dark GTK-2.0 themes I've been able to find on the above site that bigpup linked me to. These definitely work in older Puppies, 'cos I finally have a dark theme I like; "SlicknesS-black" - and can live with! - in both Slacko 5.6.0 AND Slacko 5.7.1.

Themes are as follows:-

"Arsenic":-

"Gred":-

"Newtonian-Flynn":-

"Old West":-

"OPS":-

"Overglossed":-

"SlicknesS-black":-

"Smoked Glass":-

For anyone who may be interested, the pack can be found here:-

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/0n90hh ... TK2+themes

Download; unzip; place the named theme directories in /usr/share/themes. The GTK-2.0 theme-changer will pick them up.

Enjoy..!

Mike.

[xenial]

Superb theme pack mike and thank you. Old west theme is magnificent.Shame i can't get my taskbar and menu in the same selected themes.

[mikewalsh]

@xenial :-

Superb theme pack mike and thank you. Old west theme is magnificent.Shame i can't get my taskbar and menu in the same selected themes.

Yeah, that one's the kind of thing musher0 used to like; he was a nut for 'wooden-effect' stuff, IIRC. Anyways, glad ya like 'em. Al 8 of them DO work in older Pups, 'cos I tested them all out to make sure.

Can't help with the taskbar & Menu, though I tend to customise the /root/.jwm/jwmrc-theme file for my Menu anyway. May be possible to do that for the taskbar, though I'm not sure where the 'appearance' config file for that one lives. /root/jwmrc-tray is for the items, not the appearance....

Mike.

[amethyst]

I used to edit existing themes by changing their colours, fonts (and sizes), etc. Basically making my own themes. There was also a tool with which one could create your own themes, don't know if it's still around. Actually, I've just ripped it from Precise and made a .pet. Attached.

[mikewalsh]

I used to edit existing themes by changing their colours, fonts (and sizes), etc. Basically making my own themes. There was also a tool with which one could create your own themes, don't know if it's still around. Actually, I've just ripped it from Precise and made a .pet. Attached.

Cheers, Nic. I'll take a look at this.

I've seen it as a built-in app in several older Puppies, but never as a standalone app. Doubtless somebody will come along and prove me wrong.......I just don't have the patience to search the old Murga Forum the way I once did.

Thanks, anyway. Should prove interesting, if nothing else.

Mike.

[HerrBert]

Just had a crush on OPS
Needed to install gtk-theme-engines clearlooks and mist in Slacko64 7.0
Made a matching jwm-theme:


Code: Select all

<?xml version=1.0?>
<JWM>

  <WindowStyle>
    <Font>DejaVu Sans-10</Font>
    <Width>4</Width>
    <Height>22</Height>
    <Corner>4</Corner>
    <Foreground>#876000</Foreground>
    <Background>#000000</Background>
    <Outline>#876000</Outline>
    <Active>
      <Foreground>#f2ac00</Foreground>
      <Background>#262626</Background>
      <Outline>#f2ac00</Outline>
    </Active>
  </WindowStyle>

  <TrayStyle>
    <Font>DejaVu Sans-10</Font>
    <Foreground>#f2ac00</Foreground>
    <Background>#1a1a1a</Background>
    <Outline>#262626</Outline>
    <Active>
      <Foreground>#f2ac00</Foreground>
      <Background>#3d3834</Background>
    </Active>
  </TrayStyle>

  <PagerStyle>
    <Outline>#3d3834</Outline>
    <Foreground>#876000</Foreground>
    <Background>#262626</Background>
    <Active>
      <Foreground>#f2ac00</Foreground>
      <Background>#3d3834</Background>
    </Active>
  </PagerStyle>

  <PopupStyle>
    <Font>DejaVu Sans-10</Font>
    <Outline>#f2ac00</Outline>
    <Foreground>#f2ac00</Foreground>
    <Background>#1a1a1a</Background>
  </PopupStyle>

  <ClockStyle>
    <Font>-11</Font>
  </ClockStyle>

  <MenuStyle>
    <Font>DejaVu Sans-10</Font>
    <Foreground>#f2ac00</Foreground>
    <Background>#3d3834</Background>
    <Outline>#f2ac00</Outline>
    <Active>
      <Foreground>#FFE93F</Foreground>
      <Background>#504c48</Background>
    </Active>
  </MenuStyle>

</JWM>

Not sure, where your themes are stored. Either in /root/.jwm/themes or /usr/share/jwm/themes
Also not sure about jwm version this theme may work with... (created and tested on version 2.3.6)

[mikewalsh]

@HerrBert :-

These are not stored in either of the Puppy-specific locations, for the simple reason they were never built specifically FOR Puppy. They're stored in the standard default location of /usr/share/themes.

I found them by browsing the opendesktop.org site location bigpup linked me to in post #2. I know very little about JWM's 'internals', and even less about creating themes for it; I tend to use whatever I can find on-line that just happens to work WITH Puppy.....

These days, I tinker less, and am becoming more of just a 'user'; thus, making use of other folk's work. I also no longer have the patience to spend hours, even days digging through the vast depths of the old Murga Forum.....which at one time, I would have thought nothing of doing!!

(*shrug*)

Mike.

[xenial]

An element picker within the jwmdesk manager would be very useful as i could simply pick the element from the gtk theme and use it on the taskbar.

[Amol]

Hi mikewalsh !
Very beautiful your smoked glass theme.I use it right now on Fossapup 9.5
THANKS !!
Amol