MDM Themes

[dcihon]

Now that I have MDM running. It appears there are 2 themes included.
Are there more coming?
How do you get more themes?
How do you install them?
Thanks
Dan

[cmost]

Also wondering if MDM is compatible with the hundreds if not thousands of GMD themes available? I tried to install one of my own beautiful GDM themes from a couple years ago and the error reported is:

Not a valid .tar or .tar.gz archive, even though it WAS a valid tar.gz. Trying to recompress as .tar had no effect either and resulted in the same message.

[cmost]

* Bump *

[Oscar799]

Moved here by moderator

[dezo]

Yes, it works but you have to unpack it manually to /usr/share/mdm/themes/ and in the unpacked theme rename the file GdmGreeterTheme.desktop to MdmGreeterTheme.desktop and in this particular file change the section name GdmGreeterTheme to MdmGreeterTheme. Then it works fine. (I tried http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/ ... ent=139888)

[Trapper]

Yes, it works but you have to unpack it manually to /usr/share/mdm/themes/ and in the unpacked theme rename the file GdmGreeterTheme.desktop to MdmGreeterTheme.desktop and in this particular file change the section name GdmGreeterTheme to MdmGreeterTheme. Then it works fine. (I tried http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/ ... ent=139888)

Absolutely, positively DOES NOT work for me. I even used the GDM-flow you provided the link for. Changed GdmGreeterTheme.desktop to MdmGreeterTheme.desktop and changed [GdmGreeterTheme] to [MdmGreeterTheme]

/usr/sbin/mdmsetup does not acknowledge the /usr/share/mdm/themes/GDM-flow as a valid theme.

[rabideau]

I have had no problem creating new images/ modified themes for use in MDM. I simply cloned the existing file/directory I want to modify; replaced the image (background) I wished changed. Edited other ancillary images to suit my fancy, edited the code for desired color and text style. Renamed the directory and dropped it into /usr/share/mdm/themes as root. Be certain that the dir and file privs match those already in /usr/share/mdm/themes. And voila... it works (for me).

I assume the same/similar would work if you were modifying an old gdm theme.

btw. I also replaced the default background theme for linuxmint-debian. SImply found a png image (to match my prefered desktop image and mdm image) and dropped it into usr/share/backgrounds/linuxmint-debian. Then renamed the image to gelsan_debian.png (with appropriate privs). I know my image will likely be over-written sometime with an upgrade but I'll change my image also a several times either side of those changes.

I just wish the default image could be a jpg file... they are soooo much smaller. Anyone know how to accomplish that feat?

[anmys]

I also replaced the default background theme for linuxmint-debian. SImply found a png image (to match my prefered desktop image and mdm image) and dropped it into usr/share/backgrounds/linuxmint-debian. Then renamed the image to gelsan_debian.png (with appropriate privs). I know my image will likely be over-written sometime with an upgrade but I'll change my image also a several times either side of those changes.

Do not rename the file. It will be overwritten during the next upgrade. Simply edit the theme.xml file in the theme directory and change the appropriate entry like :

Code: Select all

<normal file="background.png"/>


to

Code: Select all

<normal file="your_own_file.png"/>


I just wish the default image could be a jpg file... they are soooo much smaller. Anyone know how to accomplish that feat?

It works. I did not find any problem in using a jpg file. Try this :

Code: Select all

<normal file="your_own_file.jpg"/>


Regards.

[Trapper]

Yes, it works but you have to unpack it manually to /usr/share/mdm/themes/ and in the unpacked theme rename the file GdmGreeterTheme.desktop to MdmGreeterTheme.desktop and in this particular file change the section name GdmGreeterTheme to MdmGreeterTheme. Then it works fine. (I tried http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/ ... ent=139888)

Absolutely, positively DOES NOT work for me. I even used the GDM-flow you provided the link for. Changed GdmGreeterTheme.desktop to MdmGreeterTheme.desktop and changed [GdmGreeterTheme] to [MdmGreeterTheme]

/usr/sbin/mdmsetup does not acknowledge the /usr/share/mdm/themes/GDM-flow as a valid theme.

I failed to get back to the post earlier but I have resolved my issues. It really helps to double check your permissions when you're doing customizing work.

[danman33]

I have tried all of this and with the GDM-flow theme, and made sure all the permissions matched the permissions of the default themes and mdmsetup still doesnt show the theme? where did i go wrong, btw i am using linux mint 13 RC

[Trapper]

I have tried all of this and with the GDM-flow theme, and made sure all the permissions matched the permissions of the default themes and mdmsetup still doesnt show the theme? where did i go wrong, btw i am using linux mint 13 RC

This is what I did to get GDM-flow working in LMDE.

1. Edit GdmGreeterTheme.desktop so it looks like this:

Code: Select all

[MdmGreeterTheme]
Encoding=UTF-8
Greeter=Coverflow2.xml
Name=Coverflow GDM version 2
Description=A New Kind Of GDM-theme For Ubuntu-fans!
Author=Paullinux
Copyright=GPL
Screenshot=screenshot.jpg

[Desktop Entry]
Name[en_US]=MdmGreeterTheme.desktop


2. Save GdmGreeterTheme.desktop as MdmGreeterTheme.desktop.

NOTE!!!!! NOTE!!!!! NOTE!!!!! (This is one of the things that kept tripping me up.)

DO NOT save the file as GdmGreeterTheme.desktop and then rename it to MdmGreeterTheme.desktop afterwards.
When I tried to simply rename GdmGreeterTheme.desktop to MdmGreeterTheme.desktop it kept ending up as MdmGreeterTheme.desktop.desktop. (?????) I physically had to save the file in pluma as MdmGreeterTheme.desktop to eliminate the extra .desktop in the file name. After creating MdmGreeterTheme.desktop I discarded the old GdmGreeterTheme.desktop


3. As root, copy your edited GDM-flow folder to /usr/share/mdm/themes/

4. Ensure that "everyone" has read permissions recursively on /usr/share/mdm/themes/GDM-Flow

[danman33]

Thank you so much, Trapper. Turns out I did have the file saved as .desktop.desktop and nautilus hides the second .desktop extension. I went through and renamed them all to have only one .desktop extension and now it works great.

[Trapper]

I note that when I uses the faces option for a theme that when I select a face it always highlights in mint's green. I have not found anything in the themes .xml to control the highlight color so the system default highlight color is apparently being used. I can change the selection highlight color on my desktop and in grub but I do not know how to do this in MDM. How can I change the default system highlight color or control the selection highlight color in my theme's configuration? Mint green simply does not mix well at all with my theme and faces.

[Trapper]

Thank you so much, Trapper. Turns out I did have the file saved as .desktop.desktop and nautilus hides the second .desktop extension. I went through and renamed them all to have only one .desktop extension and now it works great.

I had the feeling the .desktop.desktop was what was tripping you up danman. I've found that MDM customizing life gets much easier once one becomes aware of that little quirk and pays attention to file permissions.

[dezo]

I note that when I uses the faces option for a theme that when I select a face it always highlights in mint's green. I have not found anything in the themes .xml to control the highlight color so the system default highlight color is apparently being used. I can change the selection highlight color on my desktop and in grub but I do not know how to do this in MDM. How can I change the default system highlight color or control the selection highlight color in my theme's configuration? Mint green simply does not mix well at all with my theme and faces.

I think the color is taken form the GTK theme being used. If anyone knows how to change the GTK theme used by MDM, pls let us know. Thanks.

[Trapper]

I note that when I uses the faces option for a theme that when I select a face it always highlights in mint's green. I have not found anything in the themes .xml to control the highlight color so the system default highlight color is apparently being used. I can change the selection highlight color on my desktop and in grub but I do not know how to do this in MDM. How can I change the default system highlight color or control the selection highlight color in my theme's configuration? Mint green simply does not mix well at all with my theme and faces.

I think the color is taken form the GTK theme being used. If anyone knows how to change the GTK theme used by MDM, pls let us know. Thanks.

A way to customize the GTK theme would prove to be useful. For me, it would even be more useful if I could override the highlight color with an entry in my theme's .xml

[Trapper]

A way to customize the GTK theme would prove to be useful. For me, it would even be more useful if I could override the highlight color with an entry in my theme's .xml

Well, I have figured out a way to get the faces selected_items color more to my liking. I changed the default gtk theme in mdm's defaults.conf. However, the defaults.conf IS NOT the one at /usr/share/mdm/ or at /etc/mdm/. Here's the location and what I did:

The mdm defaults.conf I needed to edit was at /usr/share/ubuntu-system-adjustments/

... so ...

sudo pluma /usr/share/ubuntu-system-adjustments/mdm/defaults.conf

In the [gui] section I found:

GtkTheme=Mint-X

and changed it to:

GtkTheme=AlaDelta

because that specific theme has the selected_items highlight color I was wanting.

"REBOOT" (not logout/login) after saving your changes.


My selected login window theme remained remains the same as it was with the exception that when I select a login face now the highlight color when I select a face is now the AlaDelta highlight color rather than mint green. Naturally, you can select whatever theme you wish and have available.

This really seems like the wrong way to change the selected items color but I've yet to figure out how to make an entry for that in the theme.xml for my login window selected theme.

[joez]

A friend and I finally were able to create an accepatable Desktop after installing 'gnome-human-icon-theme' and 'gnome-colors-common' from synaptic.

We then selected 'Customize' and under the Controls tab selected 'Raleigh' then under the Window Border tab we selected 'Atlanta' and under the Icons tab we selected 'GNOME-Human'.

Of course you may prefer some other variations, but adding the packages mentioned initially seems to have been the solution for us.

[paulmac]

The mdm defaults.conf I needed to edit was at /usr/share/ubuntu-system-adjustments/

Thanks for the info. It seems changing /usr/share/ubuntu-system-adjustments/defaults.conf will only work if there isn't an overide in /etc/mdm/mdm.conf.

I found this in the header comments:

# This file should not be updated by hand. Since MDM 2.13.0.4, configuration
# choices in the MDM System Configuration file (/etc/mdm/mdm.conf) will
# override the default values specified in this file.

I added a theme line to /etc/mdm/mdm.conf and it persists after reboot.

you can restart mdm with sudo kill -HUP <mdm pid>
shotgun approach: sudo killall -HUP mdm

Both of these will also kill your X session and return you to mdm greeter.

edit:
You can put a 96x96 <username>.png into /usr/share/pixmaps/faces to have a custom face/icon in the greeter. Strangely <username>.jpg renamed to <username>.png will also work.

[joez]

Since my previous post I've now removed 'gnome-human-icon-theme' and installed 'mate-themes' from synaptic and was able to restore my Desktop to something I can work with. There are still a few minor annoyances to be resolved, but nothing I can't live with.