If Linux is to open to customization, why can't I choose what to upgrade?

[GreyGeek]

... of course.......................the whole SIDE of my tower is always open and the hard drive stands beside it! lol

But.....it did occur to me...

lol Is it that you are missing rocket launcher?

woodjustaskingsmoke

One of the white box desktop towers that I built from parts had a Plexiglas side surrounding by blue LEDs and a hole that a fan sucked air through and blew onto the CPU fins. I set it up that way deliberately so show off the then SOTA technology, sort of like hauling your nads around in a wheelbarrow for all to admire! Also, I could snap open the plexiglas and have quick and easy access to the peripheral slots and HD swaps, etc....

The laptop I currently use, plus the wifi router, plus the HP monochrome laser (which is in sleep mode 99.999% of the time), and the external speakers and the USB hub, probably doesn't use over 100 watts combined when they are all active. I turn the laptop off every night. That last desktop I used had a 500 Watt power supply and I left it running 24/7/365.

[elijathegold]

I still don't get what you mean by "flat"?

[jglen490]

I was reading this thread with a great deal of interest - not having yet gone on to 16.04. Then someone mentioned "metro", and I almost threw up.

O.K., if some sort of "metro" look is the new default look of plasma5, then that would be disgusting on anything larger than a small smart phone. If there is no other "look" available in Kubuntu 16.04, then perhaps it is time to move on. So, are there options?

Having vowed to never again look at KDE's forum again due to the stock answer, to anyone questioning authority, of "It must be YOUR fault." I somehow quite expect that no other "looks" might be available in 16.04. So the bottom line is, and this is really consistent with the OP's original comment, are there options available? If so, fine, let's discuss them. If not, not so fine, but maybe then it's time to question authority.

[woodsmoke]

Hi
lol I'm probably the first person in the thread to mention the word "metro", I use it in lieu of "flat and matte" as opposed to "nuanced, with shading or a glassy effect".

So, don't take what I said the wrong way.

But, to your question, yes, there are indeedy several "stock / provided" options.

This was not the case at the very first, there were, I think, probably am wrong, maybe three, options and that situation has stuck in the ever ubiquitous glue of the internet.

There, is indeed, a "shaded / black " option that is now "stock" and is in the OS as provided, however, it doesn't have the "glassy" look.

And there are also myriad options for transluscency ,etc. provided as stock.

I am typing this on a Trusty machine, and there are only three options or themes, one of which is "Oxygen" which is black, transluscent, rounded corners with "some' shading, but it is not "shiney".

However, as I said, the latest and greates has a lot more options.



And there are others available for download.

[woodsmoke]

Please see my immediatly previous post.

Just for grins and giggles:

sudo sudo apt-get install kde-full

and then I went to the "get new themes" and downloaded:

Gnome Shell KDE , which is "gnomish" and black
Underworld, which, is again black
Blackness
Seven Black

I'm presently running Underworld, which is "black" and very DIMENSIONAL with shading, I also went to application appearance / style and enabled "plastique", in colors, I did "Zion - (reversed) which gives a very white text on black buttons, etc. in icons I did "gnome", In GTK i did "gnome", (which I don't particularly like) so I changed it to oxygen, and I did a black cursor.

so, I now have a Black, XPish appearance to the system.

The sliders are very dimensional, and the small buttons are very dimensional also.

The folders are almost straight out of XP, even blue.

About the only "original" thing on here is the blue KDE/Kubuntu kicker.

So, one can get what one wants if one is willing to expend a little effort.

There is also in the get new themes a clone of XP, colours and all.

woodsmoke

[GreyGeek]

I, too, dislike the "metro" look and even replaced Kubuntu with Mint 17.3 KDE for three months.

However, the way Ubuntu/Kubuntu does Btrfs was too good to leave behind. With snapper it makes backing up and rolling back as easy as falling off a log. I was also amazed at the 2-3X increase in speed of the desktop and apps. Steam's "Universe Sandbox^2" now runs with full particle count without lagging. With Minecraft I had trouble sustaining 15-20 fps on a 1024X780 window. Now I can run it full screen and get bursts of 50 fps and at least 20-25 fps. While some GPU's deliver 100-300 fps my Intel Integrated Graphics Controller can't do that. Xerus is probably delivering its maximum potential.

Then, while running what I said I'd never run I noticed that the "metro" look nearly vanished. Apps which put icons in system trays use 3D colored icons. Apps have the same borders and button styles they had in Plasma4 versions. I replaced the default wallpaper on both the login screen and my desktop with my favorite fields of grass photo and now the login screen seamlessly transitions from login to desktop without having a black phase or a blink. IOW, I don't notice the minor fragments of "flat & matte" that are hanging around.

The switch from QT 3 to 4 created a modular dev environment that allows for changes in reasonable times. During the early development of KDE 4 developers experimented with several styles. There was a lot of feedback from users, some of it hostile and intemperate, but eventually the majority prevailed and a georgeous KDE4 was the result. The same process is taking place right now with KDE5 using QT 5. Threats and ultimatums by users is counter productive and does more harm than good. Well documented bug reports and polite wish lists on appropriate sites are more valuable. The majority of developers are volunteering their time, effort and hardware to create KDE. It's not like they are going to lose any money if you take "your business" elsewhere.

[Qqmike]

This, from GreyGeek above:

Then, while running what I said I'd never run I noticed that the "metro" look nearly vanished. Apps which put icons in system trays use 3D colored icons. Apps have the same borders and button styles they had in Plasma4 versions. I replaced the default wallpaper on both the login screen and my desktop with my favorite fields of grass photo and now the login screen seamlessly transitions from login to desktop without having a black phase or a blink. IOW, I don't notice the minor fragments of "flat & matte" that are hanging around.

The switch from QT 3 to 4 created a modular dev environment that allows for changes in reasonable times. During the early development of KDE 4 developers experimented with several styles. There was a lot of feedback from users, some of it hostile and intemperate, but eventually the majority prevailed and a georgeous KDE4 was the result. The same process is taking place right now with KDE5 using QT 5. Threats and ultimatums by users is counter productive and does more harm than good. Well documented bug reports and polite wish lists on appropriate sites are more valuable. The majority of developers are volunteering their time, effort and hardware to create KDE. It's not like they are going to lose any money if you take "your business" elsewhere.

IMO, that pretty much summarizes this deal, and says it well.

I'm also not crazy about that "flat" look, but the above comments wash that out quite a bit. Ultimately, if the 16.04 OS works to do what I want to do, I really don't too much give a hoot, anyway. Meanwhile, of course, I'll stick with the very-nice-and-cool 14.04 for awhile, maybe quite awhile. In another 1-3 months, they will both be pretty good choices.

[woodsmoke]

lol well I almost NEVER stray far from one of the stock themes because some of the community developed ones can produce oddball behavious, but I am GLAD that I did the previous fiddling around for one reason:

Today I noticed that the sliders are about a half inch wide!!!!!

I don't know what in all that cherry picking produced THAT result but I'm KEEPING IT!! !!

woodloveswidesliderssmoke

[TWPonKubuntu]

Please see my immediatly previous post.

Just for grins and giggles:

sudo sudo apt-get install kde-full

and then I went to the "get new themes" and downloaded:
...
woodsmoke

I get the message "package kde-full cannot be found"...

Where did you find the "get new themes" option?

[woodsmoke]

Yeah i got that also, did you sudo? if you do you get a dialogue of options, i just do full.


System settings / workspace appearance / Desktop theme / button on bottom right - get new themes.

You can also get scads at KDE look but many are in a file that has to be extracted to a certain hidden folder, they usually have instructions.

http://kde-look.org/index.php?xconte...12x13x14x15x16

Here is an article showing some:

https://www.maketecheasier.com/great-kde-plasma-themes/

woodsmoke

[TWPonKubuntu]

Yes, even the double (spelling?) "sudo sudo...", No dialog display. This is done in Konsole.

I'll look at the themes, thanks.

[woodsmoke]

lol no just one sudo!

woodsmoke

[elijathegold]

System settings / workspace appearance / Desktop theme / button on bottom right - get new themes.

Also look under System Settings -> Application Style -> Widget Style and System Settings -> Application Style -> Window Decorations. I haven't found a way to get more widgets but QtCurve is very configurable.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Yes, I caught that one , but kde-full is still not recognized.

Perhaps you have a repository listed that I do not?

[woodsmoke]

Hmmmm ok, had not thought of that...

ekkktually I'm kinda sorry that I mentioned it..

OK please remember that I'm just a hardware kinda guy, but I do full bore KDE, If you can get past Gertie and look down in the dungeons, now levels 9 and below, I posted a LOT of "how tos" on stuff back when things were done "manually" but, nowadays KDE is so stable, it is all PLAY TIME!!! lol

And, if my system breaks no biggie, I keep no data on it.

Soooo ..I don't recommend that you do this on a production system you will notice that there are a LOT of "depends'....but....

proceed at your own risk! no NOT THE GAME!! lol..

https://packages.debian.org/wheezy/kde/kde-full

woodsmoke