Wednesday, September 9, 2009

ATM-the theme manager for my eeepc

For my eeepc vanity needs i used to use theemer a wonderfully designed application with great gui.However,of late,i have not been using theemer as there is a bug in it on using gradient based images for the tabs in AsusLauncher the text on the tabs disappear which seems to be due to resizing of images in theeemer.I like changing my desktop look often and since i was unable to get theemer to work the way i wanted it to , I decided to make my own little script with gui using gtkdialog .

ATM which is short for Anshul's Theme Manager originally started developing as a command line tool to change themes and backgrounds.However while changing backgrounds i realised a simple gui would do a better justice to the tool by showing previews of the backgrounds selected(still working on preview part though).As i started developing it ,i started learning many things about bash scripting ,gtkdialog and how the icons and other components of gui work in the easy mode.New ideas started developing and i started implementing some of them into my new gui based script.Now ATM is the theme manager with features that include changing themes , backgrounds , and icon modes.
The bouncy icon mode is the one i like the most it increases the size of selected icons on the launcher by 12% compared to normal icons displaying a nice and cool bounce roll over effect when the icon is highlighted.

For changing the icon modes i settled for no backup of previous icons for restoration as space on eeepc is less.I would recommend any one using it to make a backup of /opt/xandros/share/AsusLauncher folder on memorycard or usb to easily restore in case something doesnt work out as expected.

summary
ATM- Anshul's Theme Manager-The beauty kit to beautify my eeepc
features

  • tabbed interface with a tab each for applying entire theme(icewm,tabs and background);applying background for selected tabs;appling only icewm theme;and changing icon mode
  • icon modes include bouncy , silver, sunset,blue and green
  • bouncy icon mode creates a larger icon for highlighted image as compared to normal icons
  • silver , sunset ,blue and green give the normal highlighted background as found in the original themes of eeepc
features to be implemented
  • easy installation of packaged themes(like theeemer)
  • themes containing a .mode file and highlighted icon background to direct their own icon background (changing the icon background is rather slow that is why it is yet unimplemented)
ps:this is something i designed for my own use and has been designed to work on some customized settings in the easy mode

image
here is a preview image of my eeepc with bouncy icon mode the webcam icon is larger than others as it is highlighted













video
here is a link to original video posted by me on you tube of my desktop using bouncy icon mode...in reality it is smoother than it appears in the video




download
(updated)
i noticed today that the beta version ATM-0.1-1.0 has a problem that the tab for applying icewm theme didnt use to work properly.Here is the download link to beta ATM-0.1-1.1.The beta ATM-0.1-1.1 version could not parse simpleui.rc for 900 so the updated script ATM-0.1-1.2 can be downloaded here.The beta ATM-0.1-1.2 has been verified to be working fine on eeepc 701 and eeepc 900 .So, here is the first stable release of the script ATM-0.1
click to download ATM-0.1
(a deb file shall be available soon)
a minor feature update of ATM is available as beta.For features added refer here
click to download beta ATM-0.2-0.3
(beta version 0.2-0.3 has been updated to include a feature in the installation script to have seperate wallpapers for favorites and internet tabs in the default tab setup)


installation

you can either use the installation script or do this manually

manual installation

  1. install gtkdialog using synaptic,apt-get or aptitude(the version that i am using is 2:0.7.9-1(stable) and is preferable as it is verified to work properly)
  2. install imagemagick (the version i am using is 7:6.2.4.5.dfsg1-0.14(update.eeepc.asus.com) and is again preferable)
  3. download the tar.gz and extract it( i will assume you have extracted it to /home/user)
  4. issue the following commands in a terminal:
    #sudo mkdir /opt/ATM/
    #cd /home/user/ATM/
    #sudo cp libthemechanger.sh themechangergui.sh /opt/ATM/
    #sudo ln -s /opt/ATM/themechangergui.sh /usr/bin/ATM
  5. to use the script you need to do the following:
  • copy simpleui.rc from /opt/xandros/share/AsusLauncher/ (for 701) or /var/lib/AsusLauncher/(for 901 and people who have updated 701 with Asus updates) to /home/user/.AsusLauncher/
  • make sure you have ~/.icewm/ containing the file theme and themes directory containing all the themes you would like to use
  • it is recommended you make a backup copy of /opt/xandros/share/AsusLauncher/ directory if you are planning to change the icon modes
    installation using the installer script

    1. follow the steps till step 3 of manual way
    2. open a terminal and type cd /home/user/ATM
    3. type bash ATMinstaller.sh
    4. the script will ask you wether to copy themes file from system directory to /home/user/.icewm/themes.Answer "y" if you want to use the themes file stored in the system directory /usr/share/icewm/themes/.Answer "n" if you already have themes in the /home/user/.icewm/themes and you dont intend to use the themes in /usr/share/icewm/themes/
    5. next the script will ask you wether you want to make a backup copy of the icons in /opt/xandros/share/AsusLauncher/..(it is recommended you make a backup on some external drive)answer "y" to make a backup and type in your preffered location.The script will make a backup with a folder named AsusLauncher_bkup in your specified location
    6. after creating the backup the script will complete the installation
    changelog

    0.2-0.4 beta
    updated the installer script to ask the user if they want to edit simpleui.rc to have seperate wallpapers for favorites and internte tab

    0.2-0.3 beta
    added a reload of launcher screen on changing of icon modes and creation of new icons

    0.2-0.2 beta
    fixed the entry field bug and made the libthemechanger code clearer and less ambiguos

    0.2-0.1 beta
    added new feature to create individual icons in easy mode.More details are here

    0.1

    first stable release


    0.1-1.2 beta

    fixed the simpleui parsing issue on 900 and made the parsing more generic in libthemechanger.sh

    0.1-1.1 beta
    fixed the icewm theme changing issue under icewm tab

    25 comments:

    1. This is rokytnji, Sunny. I am still paying attention and interested in your work. Nice Job Sunny.

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    2. thanks, i will be uploading the scripts soon with instructions on how to install them
      sunny

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    3. I am going to give it a rest today Sunny. I ended up deleting ATM Folder, .AsusLauncher, AsusLauncher_bkup.

      I will start over after you upload the new script and try again. Figured I would let you know here instead of at the forum. Been fun so far. PM me at the forum when you upload the new script. Happy Trails, Roky

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    4. I can declare that 0.1-1.2 beta works on ASUS EEE 900.
      I installed it and am running ATM, with a home made launcher, in Icewm Taskbar in Easy Mode. For anybody reading this the script works good. You can now change themes, icons, and Desktop Background (Wallpaper) via one application with a GUI. Nice work Sunny.

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    5. How Do I Launch ATM? It did not create a desktop icon and when I type ATM into the terminal nothing happens. I know it's installed though. I'm kinda new to Linux.

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    6. ATM in the terminal should have launched it...you sure you dont get an error messsage when you type ATM in the terminal.Also did you install gtkdialog, if not install it....
      post the output of following in terminal here:
      #file /opt/ATM/themechangergui.sh
      #file /opt/ATM/libthemechangergui.sh
      #type ATM

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    7. okay thank you. i figured it out, I didn't have gtk dialog installed. i installed it and now ATM works great.

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    8. i do have a question though. it seems my new background is too small and it doesn't fit the full screen. so what would be a good size for a background picture?

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    9. i am glad it got sorted out...the size of background depends on the eeepc model.perhaps if you tell me your model number i could be of some help.For my eeepc 701 anything between 800x480 to 800x600 looks good

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    10. also if you havent installed imagemagick you need to install it to use the features under the icons tab.The various versions of imagemagick differ in their behaviour .I am using the version mentioned in the manual installation instruction in the page above and i would recommend that.
      cheers

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    11. yes i have the 701sd as well.so i'll try out the image sizes you mentioned

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    12. Hi how do i install gtk dialog and ATM?

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    13. Im new to linux how do u install gtkdialog and atm couls you give me a exact walkthrough please
      thanks
      Wahb

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    14. ive got a problem i installed ATM but when i type it in terminal i get an error message saying "/usr/bin/ATM: line 213: gtkdialog:command not found" i've installed gtkdialog and imagegick (ba speling) but i get this error message i'm new to linux can u help?

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    15. its alright got it working great program keep it up

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    16. glad you got it working Arslan..
      WAHB you need to setup repositories..for that you will need to edit your /etc/apt/sources.list

      then you would need to do(in a terminal):

      #apt-get update
      #apt-get install gtkdialog imagemagick

      then you have to download ATM.tar.gz(name might be different depending on version) from above and extract it and run ATMinstaller.sh(again in a terminal)

      #tar -xvzf ATM.tar.gz
      #cd ATM
      #./ATMinstaller.sh

      if you are very new to linux , then i would suggest you take a look at wiki.eeeuser.com for learning how to install software and setup repositories...once you have got gtkdialog and imagemagick installed..installing ATM would be a piece of cake.
      if you have any problems feel free to post here

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    17. it keeps saying premission denied

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    18. what keeps saying permission denied-installer or ATM

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    19. when i type apt-get update or apt-get install or type /etc/apt/sources.list
      eny ideas?

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    20. Anonymous:if you are having trouble setting ATM up or have a feature request for ATM then comment.
      Wahb:ok do the following:
      #sudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list
      go to the following links
      http://wiki.eeeuser.com/addingxandrosrepos
      http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:adddebianfeeds
      and edit your sources.list accordingly
      After editing sources.list save it and then:
      #sudo apt-get update
      #sudo apt-get install gtkdialog imagemagick

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    21. okay thanks now finally ATM works
      could you possibly help me out be giving me a walkthrough on how to make my eeepc look like mac or vista because i tried doing everything on the eeuser wiki but when i type apt-get update it says
      permision denied and are you root and all that crap.
      so please could you help me out, would appreciate it alot since youve already been very helpful with ATM

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    22. Wahb: to be honest i havent tried that, it installs a different window manager (xfce) and gdm.You can achieve similar results without installing the extra softwares.
      what you need is some good themes and wallpapers and you are good to go with ATM

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    23. btw you need to do
      # sudo apt get update
      because you need root priviliges

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    24. Hey i use your program like every day dude it's beast can u check out my blog I just started it!

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    25. thanks...though i must admit the code needs to be polished and cleaned a bit...but i have got no time right now

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