Welcome to the first MacOS-theme for KDE

Version 0.50 10/1998 by Daniel Mettler 10/1998 modifications by Robert Flemming supported by: (only me myself so far ;-) Important notes: So far this theme does not work properly with kwm. Nevertheless I expect it to work correctly with future versions of kwm. UPDATE: This should be fixed now. --Robert

Overview
Screenshots
Installation
General Hints
Deinstallation
ToDo/Known Bugs
Links
Credits
License

Overview

Enjoy the power and stability of Linux without leaving the desktop feeling you are used to!

"Themes" are some kind of packages of graphical elements to personalize the appearance of your KDE/KWM desktop. With this MacOS-theme I tried to give KDE/KWM as much as possible of the appearance of a MacO$ 8.1.

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Screenshots

NB: This screenshot shows the desktop as it looks like when the pixmaps are not displayed properly by kwm. Expect it to look much better with future versions of kwm.

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Installation

For the following installation procedures I assume that you have installed KDE and that it is working correctly. Thus, you should have set an environment variable called KDEDIR pointing to your KDE base directory (usually /opt/kde). You can create links instead of copying files.

Global installation

Note: For the following procedure you need to be root. This installation method changes the KDE appearance defaults for all users on the system.

Follow the instructions in the next subsection, User installation, but replace all occurences of ~/.kde by $KDEDIR. The system-wide environment variable $KDEDIR points to the KDE base directory, usually /opt/kde.

User installation

Note: This method describes how to change KDE's appearance for an individual user without changing its appearance for other users.

Make backup copies (e.g. file extension *.ori) of all files you need to replace or edit in the following procedure!
Extract all files included with this package to a temporary directory. In this temporary directory a new folder called MacOS-theme_x.xx (containing the files in the package) will be created, where x.xx is the version number of this MacOS-theme package.
If you do not have the following directories yet, create them with mkdir <directory>:

~/.kde/share/apps/kwm/pics/
~/.kde/share/apps/kpanel/pics/
~/.kde/share/apps/kdisplay/color-schemes/
~/.kde/share/wallpapers/

The following files need to be copied from the MacOS-theme_x.xx directory (see above) to the appropriate directories:

Copy the file MacOS.kcsrc to ~/.kde/share/apps/kdisplay/color-schemes/
If it exists, copy the file MacOS.xpm to ~/.kde/share/apps/kpanel/pics/
Copy the file MacOS.jpg to ~/.kde/share/wallpapers/
Copy all other .xpm files to ~/.kde/share/apps/kwm/pics

Edit the file ~/.kde/share/config/kwmrc to match the values in kwmrc.MacOS
Edit the file ~/.kde/share/config/kpanelrc to match the values in kpanelrc.MacOS (if it exists)
Start the KDE Control Center and

choose ~/.kde/share/wallpapers/MacOS.jpg as wallpaper (see Desktop..Background).
choose MacOS as color-scheme (see Desktop..Colors).
choose a nice font for your desktop, e. g. lucida as general font (see Desktop..Fonts etc.)
enable "Draw widgets in the style of Windows 95" (see Desktop..Fonts etc.)
customize the appearance & functionality of the titlebar to your needs (see Windows..Buttons).

To get transparent desktop icons open a kfm-window and choose [Options..Configure Browser...] in the menubar. Under the tab Other enable "Transparent text for Root icons".
Run krdb and restart KDE.
If everything works correctly remove the directory MacOS-theme_x.xx of your temporary directory.

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General Hints

Aye, aye, Sir! ;-)

I recommend to use the color-scheme which is included in this theme package as most button pixmaps look ugly otherwise.
You can activate all titlebar-buttons you already know from your default KDE desktop (Menu, Close, Sticky, Iconify, Maximize). E.g. you can use a button for the pin-up/down feature (also called "sticky windows") which actually does not exist in MacOS. I tried to design these buttons in a MacOS-like manner.
Instead of enabling the menu button for your windows (apple pixmap for non-KDE applications) you can right-click on the title bar or hit ALT-F3 to get the same functionality.
So far there is no implementation of the un/shading feature by clicking on a button (as seen on MacOS) in KDE/KWM. In KDE/KWM un/shading of windows is done by double-clicking with the left mouse-button on the menu bar (similar to MacOS). Nevertheless I included an icon for un/shading of windows to be prepared for future implementations.
You are completely free in choosing another font. "Utopia" simply is a nice font for the desktop (authors opinion, sure) and the most MacOS-stylish font I found so far.
Do not forget to mowe the lawn in the background of your MacOS-theme every three days ;-) Hmm, actually this is a good idea for a new screensaver. If anybody likes to develop such a screensaver I would appreciate to include it with this theme. I think there already exists something like this for Micro$oft Window$.
If you are using this MacOS-theme please send me an e-mail message: Daniel Mettler, mettlerd@usa.net. Please do not send me a 10 KB message, just send me an empty message or a few lines of comment. If I get some feedback I will be encouraged to improve this theme (or create other themes).

Deinstallation

temporary

If you like to switch off the ShapeMode only without deinstalling this theme do the following:

Edit the file ~/.kde/share/config/kwmrc or $KDEDIR/share/config/kwmrc (depending on your installation method): Change the ShapeMode to ShapeMode=Off

permanent

Undo the steps you did under the section Installation.

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ToDo/Known Bugs

Until now this theme does not work properly with kwm. E.g. the borders and the corners do not match together; some of the pixmaps are not displayed correctly. Even if I do not know the reason for these issues I expect them to disappear with future versions of kwm.
The instructions given in this document have not been tested. You do everything related to this theme on your own risk.
Improve the pixmaps for pinup/pindown
Include a MacOS-like font for X with this theme. Please contact me if you have any.
If there is a demand for it include MacOS-like desktop icons (trash, HDD, FDD, CDD, ...) too.
What about MacOS-like system sounds?
lawn-mower-screensaver (?)
Perhaps include MacOS 8.5(tm)-like themes with this theme.
Set up a (small & humble) homepage for my themes. Hmm...last priority as there already exist at least two good sites for KDE-themes (see section Links in this document).

Note for SysOps/Webmasters: I am always looking for webspace for free (not only for a KDE-themes page), preferrably without advertisement banners. Please contact me, if you have any to offer. These server-space donations (as well as all other kinds of useful donations ;-) will be mentioned at least at the top of this document. See the Links & Credits section.

For bug-reports, comments, suggestions please drop me a few lines: Daniel Mettler, mettlerd@usa.net

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Links

So far there are no donations.

kde.themes.org	Themes for KDE. WWW site by Robert Flemming
home.clara.net/george.russell/	Themes for KDE. WWW site by George Russell
themes.org	Themes for other window managers. WWW site.
www.kde.org	WWW site of the K Desktop Environment
ftp.kde.org	FTP site of the K Desktop Environment
buglist.kde.org	Buglist/Error form of the K Desktop Environment

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Credits

Thanks to

my supporters:

your name and link-logo, if you support me.