Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

Conan · 2009-07-07 22:27:28

Hi, i want leave my panel +-GLASS but icons stay normal.
Have a program to make it?

ps. without compiz

crimesaucer · 2009-07-17 18:44:40

Yes. Xfce4 has the xfwm4 window manager that has compositing. You can also build the xfce4-panel using the cairo patch. Check out the screenshot thread for info about the cairo patch.

Conan · 2009-07-27 16:01:35

crimesaucer wrote:

Yes. Xfce4 has the xfwm4 window manager that has compositing. You can also build the xfce4-panel using the cairo patch. Check out the screenshot thread for info about the cairo patch.

Hi crimesaucer, the compositing from xfce is very limited, because if is "on" in the panel, "all" (include icons) stay transp... and i wanted something the panel... not the icons.

And about the cairo, its a simple act to turn-on?
[ ]s and good screens

crimesaucer · 2009-07-28 01:48:59

Conan wrote:

crimesaucer wrote:
Yes. Xfce4 has the xfwm4 window manager that has compositing. You can also build the xfce4-panel using the cairo patch. Check out the screenshot thread for info about the cairo patch.
Hi crimesaucer, the compositing from xfce is very limited, because if is "on" in the panel, "all" (include icons) stay transp... and i wanted something the panel... not the icons.
And about the cairo, its a simple act to turn-on?
[ ]s and good screens

The transparency for the xfwm4 window decorations and the panel is sort of lame with the icons and text becoming transparent as well. But you can build the xfce4-panel patched with the cairo patch and then the icons/buttons/text will not be transparent (some plugins might look bad or not work correctly, but for the most part it's pretty good).

This is my xfce4-panel as "GLASS" with my icons at 100%:

http://crimesaucer.deviantart.com/art/M … -131147409

As for xfwm4 window decorations I think they look really bad compared to emerlad..... so I stopped using transparency for them. You can browse my deviantART gallery with all of my xfwm4 compositing themes and xfce4/compiz/emerald themes..... all of them use the cairo patch for the panel: http://crimesaucer.deviantart.com/gallery/

The best thing about xfwm4 compositing is the performance compared to compiz/emerald.

Conan · 2009-07-28 14:11:38

Exactly!

The best thing about xfwm4 compositing is the performance compared to compiz/emerald.

And about Cairo, is something install ?

PS: Excelents screens man!!!! You are a great geek ;D .... I still get there smile Is CONKY ?

crimesaucer · 2009-07-28 16:28:57

Conan wrote:

Exactly!
The best thing about xfwm4 compositing is the performance compared to compiz/emerald.
And about Cairo, is something install ?
PS: Excelents screens man!!!! You are a great geek ;D .... I still get there Is CONKY ?

Thanks for the compliment, the cairo patch is just a few changes to the xfce4-panel. This is where it is located for a download from Wapush: http://forum.xfce.org/index.php?topic=3 … 5#msg17785

And yes, that is conky on both the right side (stats), and left side (weather) of my desktop, and in the middle is an embedded xfce4-terminal using "devilspie" to embed it on the wallpaper. And I'm running the music player called "MPD" with "ncmpcpp" as the front end client.

Here is some info to get you started:

MPD: http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Music_Player_Daemon_Wiki
ncmpcpp: http://unkart.ovh.org/ncmpcpp/

More HowTo guides for MPD + ncmpcpp:

http://www.nepherte.be/howto-use-mpd-an … ike-a-pro/
http://mytechrants.wordpress.com/2009/0 … lling-mpd/
http://redkar.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/ … xbindkeys/

This one is good for Arch users: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mpd

Conky info:

The weather script i used: http://sen7.deviantart.com/art/Conky-Mira-100078939
more info from ubuntu: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=869328
conky calendar: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=690753
conky nvidia gpu temp: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5322191

Devilspie info (easy with xfce4 terminal):

http://foosel.org/linux/devilspie
Arch guide: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Con … _Wallpaper
the devilspie part: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Con … sional_Way

Cairo Patch info:

http://forum.xfce.org/index.php?topic=3 … 5#msg17785

..... to build the xfce4-terminal with the "xfce4-panel-4.6.1_cairo.patch", just download the xfce4-terminal source code to your "~/Downloads" directory: http://www.xfce.org/archive/xfce-4.6.1/ … .1.tar.bz2

Also download the cairo patch to the "~/Downloads" directory: http://www.cooptel.qc.ca/~pggervais/xfc … tch.tar.gz

Then unpack both the "xfce4-panel-4.6.1.tar.bz2" and the "xfce4-panel-4.6.1_cairo-patch.tar.gz" with "Xarchiver".

Next with the Terminal change into the directory that you just unpacked the source code and the patch into, for example:

cd ~/Downloads

now move the patch into the proper folder:

cp xfce4-panel-4.6.1_cairo.patch ~/Downloads/xfce4-panel-4.6.1/xfce4-panel-4.6.1_cairo.patch

change directories again:

cd ~/Downloads/xfce4-panel-4.6.1

Then try to run this patch command:

patch -Np0 -i xfce4-panel-4.6.1_cairo.patch

If it succeeds then it will say so. If it fails then it will say that it failed and you will have to figure out the proper command to patch with. If you can't do it with the command then you can even patch each file by hand before you build from source..... which is really easy, you just open the patch with mousepad and read which files are being patched with the +++ and --- parts..... all a patch does is remove a part of the written code with the "-" part, then it adds the new part with the "+" parts. It's all plus/minus.

For example, this is the very first part of the cairo patch, this is the first file it patches, and then it moves on to the next file in the same way:

Index: plugins/launcher/launcher.h
===================================================================
--- plugins/launcher/launcher.h    (orig)
+++ plugins/launcher/launcher.h    (working copy)
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 
 #define BORDER                     (6)
 #define LAUNCHER_NEW_TOOLTIP_API   (GTK_CHECK_VERSION (2,11,6))
-#define LAUNCHER_ARROW_SIZE        (16)
+#define LAUNCHER_ARROW_SIZE        (12)
 #define LAUNCHER_POPUP_DELAY       (225)
 #define LAUNCHER_TOOLTIP_SIZE      (32)
 #define LAUNCHER_MENU_SIZE         (24)

The Index part shows the location of the first file to be patched, which is the "launcher.h" file located in "~/Downloads/xfce4-panel-4.6.1/plugins/launcher/launcher.h".

the ---/+++/@@ part tells the patch command to remove/add code at a certain location.

This part below will delete this line from the original "launcher.h" file:

-#define LAUNCHER_ARROW_SIZE        (16)

It is found below the lines of:

 #define BORDER                     (6)
 #define LAUNCHER_NEW_TOOLTIP_API   (GTK_CHECK_VERSION (2,11,6))

and above the lines of:

 #define LAUNCHER_POPUP_DELAY       (225)
 #define LAUNCHER_TOOLTIP_SIZE      (32)
 #define LAUNCHER_MENU_SIZE         (24)

Notice how there are no "+" signs or "-" signs. This means that this is the source code that is not changed, and it is how you can easily hand edit a patch if you can't use the command..... all you have to do is find the parts of the code (like above) and then edit the "-" lines with the "+" lines without bothering the rest of the source.

So the patch is actually the "+" lines that replace the "-" lines, and it is also the newly added "+" lines to add new parts to the original source code, for example, this is the only part that is patched in the section above (replacing the "-" part):

+#define LAUNCHER_ARROW_SIZE        (12)

..... so if you have a difficult time using the patch command (which you probably won't), then you could just hand patch it by editing every minus "-" and plus "+" part of each file.

I have already written too much info, but I might as well finish.....

So after successfully applying the patch, then all you have to do is build the package from source like you would with any other package (./configure make make install). You would also need to restart the xfce4-panel and use compositing with either xfwm4 or compiz.

Here is one last guide: http://www.linuxtutorialblog.com/post/t … l-tutorial

s0ulslack · 2009-07-28 16:33:28

Nice informative post crimesaucer smile

crimesaucer · 2009-07-28 16:46:03

s0ulslack wrote:

Nice informative post crimesaucer

Thank you, I might have gone a bit overboard, especially with the patch part.

It's so much easier for me to patch the xfce4-panel on Arch because we have PKGBUILD scripts that download the source and the patch, unpack them and place them in the correct directories, run the patch command, and then build the package with the ./configure and make commands.

All we have to do is run one command to preform all of that above: "makepkg"

Then we can just upload the newly built package with "pacman -U". It's so much easier. This is what the old version of the PKGBUILD looked like:

from: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=22081
PKGBUILD for old version: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages/xfce4 … o/PKGBUILD

I use a modified version of that with the new 4.6.1 versions.

Brinson · 2009-10-20 02:11:50

Why isn't the cairo patch included in xfce?

I think it would be huge...

s0ulslack · 2009-10-20 03:50:31

As mentioned by crimesaucer, either in this thread or another, it breaks some panel plugins. You could file a bug (feature request, low priority etc) and attach the patch, but it has slim chances of being fixed/included. Besides, Nick has rewrote the panel for 4.8 which should give everyone what they want.

Conan · 2009-10-20 14:15:31

First, very thanks to Crimesaucer... thank you, late but sincere smile
It´s a bible to tranparency in panel.

And other thing, I understand that the next version, the transparency of the panel will default ( -icons)?
4.8? and the 4.7?
[ ]s

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#1 2009-07-07 22:27:28

Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

#2 2009-07-17 18:44:40

Re: Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

#3 2009-07-27 16:01:35

Re: Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

#4 2009-07-28 01:48:59

Re: Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

#5 2009-07-28 14:11:38

Re: Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

#6 2009-07-28 16:28:57

Re: Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

#7 2009-07-28 16:33:28

Re: Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

#8 2009-07-28 16:46:03

Re: Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

#9 2009-10-20 02:11:50

Re: Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

#10 2009-10-20 03:50:31

Re: Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

#11 2009-10-20 14:15:31

Re: Its possible a GLASS PANEL without Compiz

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