Transparency in menu

brenryan · 2009-07-05 21:41:26

Hi all!

Can anybody please tell me how to get transparency in the desktop menu, also I've seen icons in some screenshots. Does anybody know how to add these?

I'm new to linux and am loving #! at the moment, I've seen a lot of screenshots on these forums and would love to be able to get a setup like the ones some of you guys have!

Many Thanks,

Bren

corenominal · 2009-07-07 00:38:30

Hello Bren smile

I am not sure if this will help, but I do not believe you can achieve transparency within Openbox's desktop menu without hacking xcompmgr. Having said that, you also mentioned having icons within the menu, which leads me to think that the screenshot was taken by someone using Xfce (I know there are a few Xfce users on these forums), where it is possible to have transparent menus with icons.

Sorry I could not be more help.

Evolution · 2009-07-07 02:09:59

you want transparancy just in the menu itself?

rizzo · 2009-07-07 02:45:46

corenominal wrote:

Having said that, you also mentioned having icons within the menu, which leads me to think that the screenshot was taken by someone using Xfce (I know there are a few Xfce users on these forums), where it is possible to have transparent menus with icons.

Oops, that would have been me roll I must remember that when posting screenshots in the future smile

It is possible to use xfdesktop in openbox to control the desktop which would give you the ability to have a transparent xfce menu. The downside to this of course is you lose the groovy crunchbang menu smile

FiniteStateMachine · 2009-07-07 03:09:22

omns wrote:

The downside to this of course is you lose the groovy crunchbang menu

Then surely it is madness no one would ever risk. tongue

Last edited by FiniteStateMachine (2009-07-07 03:09:38)

ADcomp · 2009-07-07 10:03:36

@ omns : I think that "xfdesktop" can't give you a transparent menu. xfdesktop manage wallpaper and menu .. but transparent is manage by xfwm4 , no ?

@ blackbinary : if you use xfdesktop for xfce menu , you can always call openbox menu with keybind ( and with xdotools )

rizzo · 2009-07-07 10:09:38

ADcomp wrote:

@ omns : I think that "xfdesktop" can't give you a transparent menu. xfdesktop manage wallpaper and menu .. but transparent is manage by xfwm4 , no ?

Yes, that would be correct smile

david · 2009-07-07 12:24:06

Openbox supports the possibility of transparent menus and it can be implemented using the xcompmgr-dana package that I think is in the crunchbang repos with this command:

xcompmgr -I1 -O1 -Ff -m.95

However I believe if you use shadows with this xcompmgr it will mess with your conky (you can probably fix this by setting conky to the type of dock or something?) I think it will also work using cairo-compmgr (at the cost of half your cpu), it is all bit of a faff on if you don't know what you are doing for pointless see through menu though.

Anyway it probably was XFCE after all.

Screenshot to confirm point as not being lies :)

rizzo · 2009-07-07 12:49:43

^This is good to know. I'm a bit of a fan if this particular type of faff on smile

ADcomp · 2009-07-07 17:11:31

cairo composite manager can do it , too .. but last update ( march 2009 ) and no jaunty package

brenryan · 2009-07-07 23:35:43

Thanks guys!

So can anybody tell me how to change over from openbox to xfce?

Thanks!

corenominal · 2009-07-07 23:44:03

You can install the Xfce environment with the following terminal command:

sudo apt-get install xfce4 xfce4-goodies

Once the above completes, logout of your current session and when the GDM login screen appears, select the Xfce option from the sessions menu. Hope this helps. smile

brenryan · 2009-07-07 23:48:45

corenominal wrote:

You can install the Xfce environment with the following terminal command:
sudo apt-get install xfce4 xfce4-goodies
Once the above completes, logout of your current session and when the GDM login screen appears, select the Xfce option from the sessions menu. Hope this helps.

Cool, thanks!

I'll give it a go now, is it reversible if things go wrong?

Sorry I'm a total noob to linux, loving crunchbang at the moment though...

corenominal · 2009-07-08 00:06:52

brenryan wrote:

I'll give it a go now, is it reversible if things go wrong?

sudo apt-get remove xfce4 xfce4-goodies

^^ should do the trick smile

brenryan · 2009-07-08 00:12:24

I use auto login, will I be able to get it to go into xfce automatically?

Thanks again for your help!!

corenominal · 2009-07-08 00:51:19

Hmm, you may have to adjust the default session using the GDM set-up tool. From within Openbox's main menu, see: System -> Login Set-up (GDM). Once it is loaded, you should be able to find an option to either disable auto login or change the default session.

brenryan · 2009-07-08 04:03:54

I'd really really like to get my menu and desktop looking like the one in this screenshot posted by omns, I think it looks amazing!

http://fc09.deviantart.com/fs47/f/2009/ … y_omns.png

I have installed Xfce but I can't figure out how to do it.

Can anybody tell me what I have to do?

Thanks!

rizzo · 2009-07-10 18:42:01

^ I'd seriously suggest having a look at david's solution above. The xcompmgr-dana package works a treat and is in the crunchbang repos. Once installed just add something like this to your autostart.sh and the effect is the same as using xfce. The last two numbers are varied depending on what level of transparency you desire.

xcompmgr -I1 -O1 -Ff -m.86 &

Still working on my desktop. Will post a screenshot when completed smile

Edit: Here 'tis - http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/26983/#p26983

brenryan · 2009-07-10 19:40:18

Thanks,

Would you be able to tell me quickly how to go about the install or point me to a link that can?

Sorry to bother you, google didn't turn up anything.

sevenup · 2009-07-10 19:43:11

thanks for your advice here david and omns, it looks great! cool

rizzo · 2009-07-10 20:03:58

brenryan wrote:

Would you be able to tell me quickly how to go about the install or point me to a link that can?.

In a terminal

sudo apt-get remove xcompmgr

then

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install xcompmgr-dana

Then you can either run the compositor by using alt-f2 then

xcompmgr -I1 -O1 -Ff -m.86

or add this to your autostart.sh

Preferences-->Openbox Config --> Edit autostart.sh

and add this line to the enable eyecandy section

xcompmgr -I1 -O1 -Ff -m.86 &

This will start transparency at the next login or run it straight away with the alt-f2 command above or

Preferences-->Openbox Config --> Restart

Edit: a more permanent solution that integrates better with the Crunchbang Menu

The above options can also be added to compositing options that already exist in the crunchbang compositing script. I've added the following to /usr/bin/crunchbang/xcompmgr-crunchbang so that I can enable it from the Compositing Preferences in the menu

In a terminal

sudo gedit /usr/bin/crunchbang/xcompmgr-crunchbang

then change the Set xcompmgr settings section to

# Set xcompmgr command options
#EXEC='xcompmgr -c -t-5 -l-5 -r4.2 -o.55' #basic
#EXEC='xcompmgr -cCfF -t-5 -l-5 -r4.2 -o.55 -D6' #more effects
#EXEC='xcompmgr -c -t-5 -l-5 -r4.2 -o.55 -I1 -O1 -Ff -m.86' #basic and transparent menus
#EXEC='xcompmgr -cCfF -t-5 -l-5 -r4.2 -o.55 -D6 -m.86' #more effects and transparent menus
EXEC='xcompmgr -cCfF -t-5 -l-5 -r4.2 -o.55 -D2 -m.86' #more effects, quicker fade and transparent menus

^Lots of options there. Choose the one that suits you best smile

I've also enabled the eye candy options in autostart.sh but that is a matter of personal preference

# Enable Eyecandy - off by default
# see "/usr/bin/crunchbang/xcompmgr-crunchbang" for more info
xcompmgr-crunchbang --startstop &

brenryan · 2009-07-10 20:16:25

Thanks for getting back to me, I just tried that and it went through up dating and stuff and then I get an error message, I followed your instructions to the letter

Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/universe Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/multiverse Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/multiverse Sources
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package xcompmgr-dana
a2412460@2412460:~$

anonymous · 2009-07-10 21:08:06

I checked and xcompmgr-dana is in the CrunchBang 9.04 repo. Maybe the 8.10 repo doesnt have it though?

Edit: You can add this PPA though to get xcompmgr-dana:

https://launchpad.net/~crunchbangers/+archive/ppa

rizzo · 2009-07-10 21:09:14

^It should be there. I've just removed the package, cleared the at-get cache and reinstalled. Perhaps the mirror was down when you tried to install. Try again.

brenryan · 2009-07-10 21:26:16

Hmmm, I'm not sure how to do that,

I could only find 7.10 and 8.04. I'm starting to think this might not be worth the hassle.

Thanks for all the help and input, these forums are a great resource. Keep up the good work!

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2009-07-05 21:41:26

Transparency in menu

#2 2009-07-07 00:38:30

Re: Transparency in menu

#3 2009-07-07 02:09:59

Re: Transparency in menu

#4 2009-07-07 02:45:46

Re: Transparency in menu

#5 2009-07-07 03:09:22

Re: Transparency in menu

#6 2009-07-07 10:03:36

Re: Transparency in menu

#7 2009-07-07 10:09:38

Re: Transparency in menu

#8 2009-07-07 12:24:06

Re: Transparency in menu

#9 2009-07-07 12:49:43

Re: Transparency in menu

#10 2009-07-07 17:11:31

Re: Transparency in menu

#11 2009-07-07 23:35:43

Re: Transparency in menu

#12 2009-07-07 23:44:03

Re: Transparency in menu

#13 2009-07-07 23:48:45

Re: Transparency in menu

#14 2009-07-08 00:06:52

Re: Transparency in menu

#15 2009-07-08 00:12:24

Re: Transparency in menu

#16 2009-07-08 00:51:19

Re: Transparency in menu

#17 2009-07-08 04:03:54

Re: Transparency in menu

#18 2009-07-10 18:42:01

Re: Transparency in menu

#19 2009-07-10 19:40:18

Re: Transparency in menu

#20 2009-07-10 19:43:11

Re: Transparency in menu

#21 2009-07-10 20:03:58

Re: Transparency in menu

#22 2009-07-10 20:16:25

Re: Transparency in menu

#23 2009-07-10 21:08:06

Re: Transparency in menu

#24 2009-07-10 21:09:14

Re: Transparency in menu

#25 2009-07-10 21:26:16

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