Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

shazbot · 2010-05-27 04:43:46

Is there anything at all that can be done to modify Xscreensaver's login prompt? It's so incredibly ugly, but I have found no way at all to tweak it or replace the theme of it somehow. System-wide theme settings don't seem to affect it either.

slapfish · 2010-05-27 11:09:30

You're not alone on that! I loved so much the 9.04 one, especially the "leave a message" feature. I don't remember the actual package but it was gnome-something. I think I have tried to install it but again I if I remember right, it wanted to drag a lot of its gnome friends and I never completed the installation. Maybe there is something else around...

p.s. sorry for not providing any help here...

winotree · 2010-05-27 15:20:00

I believe that the GNOME package is gnome-screensaver and its dependencies are

libalut0
libfribidi0
libglc0
libglew1.5
libopenal1
rss-glx

for a total download of 15.3MB and before you ask, no, I' didn't take a look at it, but perhaps between these couple posts we've narrowed the field for you. wink

slapfish · 2010-05-27 15:28:30

15.3MB? if only...

$ sudo aptitude install gnome-screensaver 
[sudo] password for jimmy: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information... Done
Initializing package states... Done       
Writing extended state information... Done
Reading task descriptions... Done         
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  alacarte{a} app-install-data{a} brasero{a} brasero-common{a} 
  capplets-data{a} cdrdao{a} cpufrequtils{a} deskbar-applet{a} 
  desktop-base{a} dvd+rw-tools{a} evolution-data-server{a} 
  evolution-data-server-common{a} genisoimage{a} gnome-about{a} 
  gnome-applets{a} gnome-applets-data{a} gnome-control-center{a} 
  gnome-desktop-data{a} gnome-media{a} gnome-media-common{a} 
  gnome-menus{a} gnome-netstatus-applet{a} gnome-panel{a} 
  gnome-panel-data{a} gnome-screensaver gnome-session{a} 
  gnome-session-bin{a} gnome-session-common{a} 
  gnome-system-monitor{a} gnome-utils{a} gvfs-backends{a} 
  libalut0{a} libao-common{a} libao4{a} libapm1{a} libarchive1{a} 
  libbeagle1{a} libbrasero-media0{a} libcamel1.2-14{a} 
  libcdio-paranoia0{a} libebackend1.2-0{a} libebook1.2-9{a} 
  libecal1.2-7{a} libedata-book1.2-2{a} libedata-cal1.2-6{a} 
  libedataserver1.2-11{a} libedataserverui1.2-8{a} 
  libegroupwise1.2-13{a} libgdict-1.0-6{a} libglc0{a} 
  libglew1.5{a} libgnome-media0{a} libgnome-menu2{a} 
  libgnome-window-settings1{a} libgweather-common{a} 
  libgweather1{a} libical0{a} libimobiledevice1{a} 
  libmetacity-private0{a} libnet-dbus-perl{a} liboobs-1-4{a} 
  libopenal1{a} libplist1{a} libslab0a{a} libtie-ixhash-perl{a} 
  libusbmuxd1{a} libxml-twig-perl{a} libxml-xpathengine-perl{a} 
  menu-xdg{a} metacity{a} metacity-common{a} nautilus{a} 
  nautilus-data{a} python-beagle{a} python-gmenu{a} 
  python-gnomeapplet{a} python-gnomedesktop{a} 
  python-gnomekeyring{a} python-wnck{a} rss-glx{a} 
  system-tools-backends{a} usbmuxd{a} 
0 packages upgraded, 82 newly installed, 0 to remove and 9 not upgraded.
Need to get 99,0MB/99,1MB of archives. After unpacking 245MB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] n
Abort.

winotree · 2010-05-27 15:46:51

What? Ah! My bad -- I forgot that I was running a 4GB USB with Debian Sid so that needs to be taken into consideration when reading the figures I posted earlier. roll I mean, it's so quick I didn't realize that I wasn't on my regular drive. I apologize for any confusion. smile

slapfish · 2010-05-27 16:01:26

I figured it was something like that... smile

cheers

johnraff · 2010-05-27 16:27:15

I don't know if this answers your question: http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/faq.html#toolkits

Piraja · 2010-05-27 17:59:58

johnraff wrote:

I don't know if this answers your question: http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/faq.html#toolkits

Thank you, John, the link is really worth following, and so is the further On Toolkits link there.

rizzo · 2010-05-27 18:49:04

shazbot wrote:

It's so incredibly ugly

I guess it's a matter of functionality over aesthetics. I've never really thought about its appearance. I type my password and a split second later it is gone.

corenominal · 2010-05-28 16:05:55

omns wrote:

shazbot wrote:
It's so incredibly ugly
I guess it's a matter of functionality over aesthetics. I've never really thought about its appearance. I type my password and a split second later it is gone.

It is definitely not the prettiest, but it is fairly functional. If I get chance, I will take a look at the code and see if there is anything that can be done to make it a little more pleasing to the eye. smile

corenominal · 2010-05-29 00:52:34

Hmm, just had a quick look at xscreensaver's source and found this:

/* XScreenSaver Logo designed by Angela Goodman <*****@******.***>
 */

/* If you are looking in here because you're trying to figure out how to
   change the logo that xscreensaver displays on the splash screen and
   password dialog, please don't.  The logo is xscreensaver's identity.
   You wouldn't alter the name or copyright notice on a program that
   you didn't write; please don't alter its logo either.
 */

I am not going to argue with that, but I am not sure it really fits with the free software mentality. C'est la vie. hmm

Toolz · 2010-05-29 02:09:34

That's just unreasonable.

I mentioned this here:
http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … questions/

corenominal · 2010-05-29 02:43:39

Toolz wrote:

That's just unreasonable.

It is certainly not what I would have expected. Like I mentioned above, it does not seem to be in the FLOSS spirit. sad

Toolz · 2010-05-29 03:17:32

So, in the FLOSS spirit, the acceptable workarounds would be: 1) forking (somewhat extreme), or 2) submit a bug report, or 3) patching some kind of theming capability ... perhaps? smile Somebody started on the latter:
http://www.swanson.ukfsn.org/xss/
... five years ago.

Following from the 'toolkits' link there's this:
http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/toolkits.html

For a dialog as simple as the password entry box, the "look" of the toolkit really just comes down to colors, fonts, and border widths. Personally, I think the current unlock dialog looks very much like the default GTK theme, but if you disagree, it's easy to tweak it by simply editing the colors and border sizes in the app-defaults file. (If you think you have changes that make it look more "conventional", please send them to me.)

(BTW this thread is a question, not a tip.)

chillicampari · 2010-05-29 03:21:11

I found on the Arch wiki that some theming configuration that doesn't touch the logo is possible locally via .Xresources so that could be something to set as a default maybe to integrate it better with the rest of the look.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xde … er_theming

I played around with it and mine looks *mostly* like this example below, but I've made a couple of changes and I can't figure out how to take a screenshot when it's running. My background is real black and the countdown/thermometer is gray.

Edit- the wiki refers to .Xdefaults (which I don't use and didn't test it with and might not work anymore on Debian) so try it in .Xresources instead.

It's pretty easy (except I'm having trouble finding fonts to substitute since they aren't antialiased).

! xscreensaver ---------------------------------------------------------------

!font settings
xscreensaver.Dialog.headingFont:        -*-dina-bold-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
xscreensaver.Dialog.bodyFont:           -*-dina-medium-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
xscreensaver.Dialog.labelFont:          -*-dina-medium-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
xscreensaver.Dialog.unameFont:          -*-dina-medium-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
xscreensaver.Dialog.buttonFont:         -*-dina-bold-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
xscreensaver.Dialog.dateFont:           -*-dina-medium-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
xscreensaver.passwd.passwdFont:         -*-dina-bold-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
!general dialog box (affects main hostname, username, password text)

xscreensaver.Dialog.foreground:         #ffffff
xscreensaver.Dialog.background:         #000000
xscreensaver.Dialog.topShadowColor:     #000000
xscreensaver.Dialog.bottomShadowColor:  #000000
xscreensaver.Dialog.Button.foreground:  #666666
xscreensaver.Dialog.Button.background:  #ffffff
!username/password input box and date text colour
xscreensaver.Dialog.text.foreground:    #666666
xscreensaver.Dialog.text.background:    #ffffff
xscreensaver.Dialog.internalBorderWidth:24
xscreensaver.Dialog.borderWidth:        20
xscreensaver.Dialog.shadowThickness:    2
!timeout bar (background is actually determined by Dialog.text.background)
xscreensaver.passwd.thermometer.foreground:  #666666
xscreensaver.passwd.thermometer.background:  #000000
xscreensaver.passwd.thermometer.width:       8

It's hard to tell from the source note- I wonder if a style update, while keeping the original design and credit (with a modification note and original still bundled) would be okay with the logo designer. I think it's a good logo, but it does look dated now.

Edit- toolz, those screenshots on your link look pretty kicky!

Last edited by chillicampari (2010-05-30 03:43:08)

Toolz · 2010-05-29 03:50:28

chillicampari wrote:

Edit- toolz, those screenshots on your link look pretty kicky!

I was worried you meant NSFW! smile

I couldn't access the before site and viewed the Google cache.

Just checked now via TOR and yeah, they look alright don't they? smile

corenominal · 2010-05-29 03:57:36

This is looking promising. smile

Toolz wrote:

(BTW this thread is a question, not a tip.)

It may have started that way, but it is now turning into more of a tip/trick thread. smile

chillicampari · 2010-05-29 06:36:58

Toolz wrote:

chillicampari wrote:
Edit- toolz, those screenshots on your link look pretty kicky!
I was worried you meant NSFW!
I couldn't access the before site and viewed the Google cache.
Just checked now via TOR and yeah, they look alright don't they?

Hehe, I was tossing the slang that sounds like other slang around again! Kicky is cool (and while some sexy looking screenshots they are totally work safe). big_smile

Last edited by chillicampari (2010-05-29 06:49:02)

slapfish · 2010-05-29 14:00:34

I'm trying to use your .Xdefaults but nothing seems to work... I log out/in, even rebooted but I still have the default lock screen...

I created ~/.Xdefaults and I copy the content you have posted... is there something else to be done???

chillicampari · 2010-05-29 16:35:49

Whoops! I tested in only in .Xresources so give it a try in that instead.

Edit- I updated the post after reading that .Xdefaults isn't really used anymore in Debian.

Last edited by chillicampari (2010-05-29 17:00:19)

slapfish · 2010-05-29 17:59:28

That did it!!! Thanks!

johnraff · 2010-05-30 02:59:26

If the developer of xscreensaver wants the logo left in, I wonder if it'd be OK to make it smaller, and moved off to a corner or something...

btw chillicampari, there's a line starting with a "#" in the .Xresources you posted. Comments like that don't work here, you have to use a "!" instead. (I don't know what effect that had though.)

Last edited by johnraff (2010-05-30 03:05:41)

chillicampari · 2010-05-30 03:45:47

johnraff wrote:

...
btw chillicampari, there's a line starting with a "#" in the .Xresources you posted. Comments like that don't work here, you have to use a "!" instead. (I don't know what effect that had though.)

Yikes.. thank you! Habit. tongue I fixed the post (and my .Xresources file). But yeah, it might have treated that as a comment or ignored it.

Last edited by chillicampari (2010-05-30 04:41:12)

shazbot · 2010-05-30 15:34:06

Some really great suggestions here everyone, thanks a lot! I fiddled with theming it, but if the Xscreensaver author really won't allow the logo to be removed or altered, I figure I'm better off with an alternate screensaver. I was tempted to just quietly patch it out on my own machine and not distribute the fix but it just doesn't feel right to do that, so I've gone with xautolock and slock from dwm instead. It's almost *too* minimal for my liking-- there is no prompt at all, it just blacks the screen and when you type in your password and hit enter it drops you back to X. But this is a much better solution than having to wrestle with Xscreensaver. Having to fight my software to make it do what I want is what sent me away from Mac and Windows in the first place.

This is probably a fairly obvious explanation for most readers here, but for sake of clarity, if anybody else wants to go the same route, just do a

sudo apt-get install xautolock slock

and then edit your Openbox autostart.sh, remove the whole line that starts with "xscreensaver" and add a line that says:

xautolock -time 5 -locker slock

...and change the number to the time in minutes that you want slock to activate.

Also in Openbox's rc.xml, you should change the lock screen keybinding to this:

    <keybind key="W-l">
      <action name="Execute">
        <startupnotify>
          <enabled>true</enabled>
          <name>Lock screen</name>
        </startupnotify>
        <command>slock</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

corenominal · 2010-05-30 18:46:42

I have played about with slock before, I really like it, but I do not think it is something which could be used as a default. hmm

Regarding xscreensaver's fugliness, I have implemented some of the suggestions here and I think my screen lock dialog is looking much better. The changes should make it into the next build. Thanks everyone! smile

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#1 2010-05-27 04:43:46

Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#2 2010-05-27 11:09:30

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#3 2010-05-27 15:20:00

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#4 2010-05-27 15:28:30

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#5 2010-05-27 15:46:51

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#6 2010-05-27 16:01:26

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#7 2010-05-27 16:27:15

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#8 2010-05-27 17:59:58

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#9 2010-05-27 18:49:04

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#10 2010-05-28 16:05:55

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#11 2010-05-29 00:52:34

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#12 2010-05-29 02:09:34

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#13 2010-05-29 02:43:39

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#14 2010-05-29 03:17:32

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#15 2010-05-29 03:21:11

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#16 2010-05-29 03:50:28

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#17 2010-05-29 03:57:36

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#18 2010-05-29 06:36:58

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#19 2010-05-29 14:00:34

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#20 2010-05-29 16:35:49

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#21 2010-05-29 17:59:28

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#22 2010-05-30 02:59:26

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#23 2010-05-30 03:45:47

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#24 2010-05-30 15:34:06

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

#25 2010-05-30 18:46:42

Re: Taking the ugly out of Xscreensaver

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