Making Transparent Windows in KDE or Gnome

[tellurye]

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Hey, Guys.

Have Fedora Core Build 1, just installed it. Having problems with Blackbox and Fluxbox install - config seems to run fine, but receive errors on Make and of course make install. So I figured I'd download themes.

Well, that didn't work for me either, I select a theme that I downloaded, either a .tar file or the basic file after I've extracted it, both of which has the .themerc extension, and the Darn thing says "its not a .themerc file" ??

So, I've given up on this. The only reason why I wanted Fluxbox or BlackBox, or even downloading themes was cause I want my windows to be transparent, like when I have terminal windows open, you can see the other windows or the wallpaper behind them, but still see the text you are writing (see code fu theme at: http://themes.freshmeat.net/projects...c_id=938%2C956)


Anyway, can anyone tell me how I can achieve this effect for my windows? And please be basic with me. I'm a total noob, so telling me "Oh, compile this, configure that, write this Perl script, reboot while holding down this key, install and configure bash and edit this file" will leave me lost. I'm not as advanced as you guys. Please help this moron, I just want a cool looking desktop like you guys! If I can return the favor, I will. My expertise lies in Internet Security and Digital Forensics.

Thanks in advance.

Your New Noob Idiot,

Tellurye

[CopperTop]

First off, welcome to the forums, tellurye (or at least to posting on here).

From a much earlier post of mine, in a thread far far away:

I'm new to KDE (recently switched from gnome), and so far have only played with customizing Konsole windows. Open a Konsole and under settings, you can play with a multitude of options including setting the text to bright green (a requirement of being a sysadmin, I think :P), and making the window transparent.

This will get your terminal windows in KDE transparent.

[slant6]

Hey, that makes the window transparent, but does anyone know how to make it invisible, all except the text, so it looks like you are typing right on the desktop? I've figured out a way to do this with the enlightenment window manager and Eterm, but I wonder if it's possible in kde and fedora.

[whiteskin]

It requires a terminal that supports the options.... i have been trying recently with eterm <http://www.eterm.org/> but i cant seem to get the menu to go away. I have also seen it done with aterm.

[Dolda2000]

What I fail to understand is why all these "transparent" terminals just make the desktop background shine through. Aren't there any who actually use the RENDER extension for real transparency? Does anyone know that?

[sarumont]

I've got that working with gnome-terminal in kahakai. gnome-terminal does full transparency and menubar-less-ness and I just remove all the borders and titlebar via kahakai.

[Dolda2000]

Really? What version of gnome-terminal is that? When I try transparency in my gnome-terminal 2.0.1, it just makes the background shine through.

[sarumont]

Oops..misunderstood...I don't have transparency, just background showing through. :P

[tellurye]

Thanks Coppertop and all who helped me out. I did it, and it looks great. Just a couple questions, and not biggies, cause what I have no will do, but so I know in the future...

Making the text in the Konsole green, the only option I see is the Green on black, but then the window isn't transparent. In Control Center, I think the only text you can change is in the apps. Under the system settings, I see font size but no font color, any ideas?

Also, downloading themes. As in my first post, I downloaded and when I browse to it, it says its not a theme file. Also, I read it had to be in a tar file, so I did that, and it, as well, and said the same thing. I think that theme was for KDE 2.1, and Fedora has 3.x. Is that why it didn't work?

Anywho, just wondering....

Thanks again, guys. My desktop looks pretty cool!!

Tellurye

[Dillinger]

DirectFB is a project that supports real transparency as opposed to psuedo. FreeDesktop also seems to support somewhat real transparency. Technically you can do full transparency in xfree by setting opacity to 0 percent, but most people only want partial transparency.