Linux. Control over window and font colors and font sizes

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Doe
  • Start date Start date
J

John Doe

Apparently my new flight simulator (X-Plane 10) run significantly
faster in Linux than in Windows. But I also need white text on a
black background (I have trouble reading on the surface of a
virtual lightbulb).

The simulator installed easily for me on
(ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso). But I need to configure the
graphical user interface (GUI). So then I tried
(kubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso). The IDE is configurable, but I'm
having a horrible time figuring out how to install the flight
simulator on that one.

Can I use (kubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso) with the "GNOME Tweak
Tool" or anything similar? I need extensive control over window
text size and window colors.

The K Desktop Environment (KDE) is okay, if I can install the
simulator. Also, I would like a long-lasting flavor of Linux.

Thanks.
 
Hmm.

IDE "integrated drive electronics"
About 314,000 results

IDE "integrated device electronics"
About 227,000 results
 
John said:
Hmm.

IDE "integrated drive electronics"
About 314,000 results

IDE "integrated device electronics"
About 227,000 results
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_development_environment

*******

Linux ? To play a game ?

Boy, are you a glutton for punishment.

Especially with the most recent Ubuntu stuff, home
of the miserable Unity interface.

Does your game work in both Gnome and KDE, or
is the control console only intended for
one of those ? That's only important if the
game expects to fit into the rest of the
desktop appearance. You can still run
vanilla XOrg programs, under any window
manager.

You can run elements of both. For example, Ubuntu
is Gnome. If I ask package manager to install
K3B burner program for burning CDs, it sucks
in 110MB worth of KDE libraries as part of
the installation. And still works.

*******

In the "glutton for punishment" department, you can
install the server version of Ubuntu, then install
GUI components on top of that. I would *test* how to
do that in a VM, rather than do that to the machine
directly. The purpose of doing it that way, is so
you can use the machine for other things (like, searching
for answers in your real OS, while fighting with the
install). You write down the steps as you go, then
repeat the misery in a real-mode server install later.

Server installs happen without a GUI, so you'll be
doing much of your work from the command line. You should
learn which keys allow you to switch command line
windows (like ctrl-alt-f2, ctrl-alt-f3, ... kinda thing).
This comes in handy, when your current command line is
stuck for some reason.

http://www.labtestproject.com/using...a_virtual_terminal_and_graphical_desktop.html

This is the server version of 11.10, installed first,
then XOrg and Gnome installed after that. While
the branding is Ubuntu, in many ways the results looks
more like Debian. This was relatively easy for me
to do, because I've been through this "manual GUI"
exercise before. I don't think I can recite from
memory, all the steps. I just play it by ear
(fumble around) when I get there.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9074/u1110svr.gif

From this page, I should be able to get an install
log, of the packages added. Hmmm. It looks like
any package installed, before Synaptic was installed,
isn't logged in File : History. So I can't tell what
I installed, and in what order. For example, when
I look in Synaptic now, it looks like Xorg isn't installed,
and you can't run a GUI without something like Xorg
underneath.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto

I expect you'll be using a Nvidia developed or
ATI developed Linux video card driver. Those would
have better OpenGL performance than the vanilla
Nouveau or equivalent. At least, when I use
the craptastic GLXGears to test, I get better results
with proper drivers. (You only install "proper" drivers
in the native install, not in your VM bootstrapping
exercise install.) NVidia divides their driver
versions into three. Older cards get support cut
off, so an older card uses an older driver. Only
the relatively modern cards, work in the highest-version-number
driver. My card is old enough, it probably uses
the oldest of the three Nvidia drivers. On some
distros, the OS is pretty good at picking the
right one for you. Or, if you do it yourself
(i.e. read instructions on Nvidia site,
use package manager manually), then it's up to
you to download the right package. Once you
do that, then things like updating the kernel
package, will no longer work (as tainted drivers
aren't "supported" and not updating the kernel
is their way of saying "piss off" :-) ) . So if you
felt the need to update the kernel version, you'd
probably do that before applying the tainted driver.

It's a lot like driving a tractor trailer, by
sticking your feet outside the cab and dragging
them on the street, and hoping the friction
will pull the truck left or right...

Paul
 
Paul said:
Linux ? To play a game ?
Click to expand...

Microsoft's Flight is a game. Laminar Research's X-Plane 10 is
a flight simulator. I'm suffering a bit from infatuation. Its
outstanding feature is real looking roads, that is something
Microsoft never bothered to include in its prior flight simulator.
I always wanted to fly around my city in a (simulated) helicopter
or light aircraft and be able to see the roads as they really are.
Because X-Plane is a flight simulator, it's difficult to get
started, but it's very configurable and grown-up looking.
Boy, are you a glutton for punishment.

Especially with the most recent Ubuntu stuff, home of the
miserable Unity interface.
Click to expand...

It looks okay to me. As long as I can figure out how to change
font sizes and window colors.
Does your game work in both Gnome and KDE, or is the control
console only intended for one of those ? That's only important
if the game expects to fit into the rest of the desktop
appearance. You can still run vanilla XOrg programs, under any
window manager.
Click to expand...

I don't really know. I guess Gnome, since I had so much trouble
attempting to install the simulator in KDE. It's the installer EXE
that has to work, first. The simulator will run once it's installed.
It's made for Windows, Mac, and Linux. And even ultraports, I guess.

http://www.x-plane.com/update/installers10/X-Plane10InstallerLinux.zip

Requires the program DVD. They have a demo available. Apparently,
to run well, it requires a modern computer with a good 1 GB video
card. Don't know how much an SDD will help. My 4 GB of installed
system memory is plenty. So is my quad core 2.83 GHz CPU.
You can run elements of both. For example, Ubuntu is Gnome. If I
ask package manager to install K3B burner program for burning
CDs, it sucks in 110MB worth of KDE libraries as part of the
installation. And still works.
Click to expand...

I'm planning to try the non-KDE flavor again
(ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso). And add some utilities like
Ubuntu Tweak and/or MyUnity and/or Gnome Tweak Tool.

I will start making categorized backups of these dual-boot things,
at least the initial installs. My hard drive provides plenty of
room for that.

Windows 8 is a complete turnoff to me.
Windows XP might be my last Microsoft operating system.
But of course that depends on application requirements, too.

--
 
I have DSL enabled in the Linux installation. Should I be concerned
enough to grab a firewall right away?

Thanks.
 
John said:
I have DSL enabled in the Linux installation. Should I be concerned
enough to grab a firewall right away?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Modem --- Router --- Linux computer
--- Computer #2
--- Computer #3
--- Computer $4

If you're doing that, the router has NAT (NATP), and translates LAN:port
to WAN packet. And NAT is intended to stop trivial "browsing" of the
computers, from the outside. NAT was invented, partially as a way to
extend IPV4 network addresses, so not as many would be needed. You
have one public address, out of the addresses available, and it's shared
by all the computers on your LAN side.

If you're doing this:

Modem -------------- Linux computer
(bridged (terminate PPPOE protocol,
mode) IP address is "public",
use a firewall)

then that's more dangerous. If I was contemplating doing the second
diagram, I'd do the Linux install using the first diagram, until
I was comfortable that the Linux box was "secure". Then, I'd change
networking config and do the second setup.

The first setup, to allow someone outside to reach your computer,
you set up Port Forwarding in the router setup page. With the
first setup, if you want all external browsing to be forwarded
to a particular computer (for a gaming server), then you use
the "DMZ" feature, to Port Forward everything to a particular
LAN side computer (very dangerous). With no Port Forwarding,
there is less chance for stuff to get in.

In the second setup, it's open season. Anyone scanning your public
address in the second case, is scanning the computer directly.
And the Firewall is there to stop them. The response the Firewall
makes is important, in the sense that "NACKing" a packet, tells
the perp you're there, and you could use some more scanning. Whereas,
a "stealth" setup, may throw away certain information. For example,
my router has IdentD packets forwarded to a non-existent computer
address. And that means, if someone sends to the IdentD port 113 on
my router, there is absolutely no response back to them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ident

Paul
 
Apparently my new flight simulator (X-Plane 10) run
significantly faster in Linux than in Windows.
Click to expand...

The difference in speed seems remarkable. Startup times are hugely
faster in Linux. I guess it's disk access, or CPU, or video.

That theory can be tested by anybody using the demo for free. I'm
using XP, maybe Windows 7 would be faster.
 
John said:
The difference in speed seems remarkable. Startup times are hugely
faster in Linux. I guess it's disk access, or CPU, or video.

That theory can be tested by anybody using the demo for free. I'm
using XP, maybe Windows 7 would be faster.
Click to expand...

It might be faster still, if you build a custom install using
Gentoo. You can tell the Gentoo system to compile the OS
for "Core2", and it uses whatever code optimizations exist for
Core2. That can be a bit faster than the "generic" kernel
a pre-packaged OS comes with. (Say, 5% faster)

*******
(Example of Gentoo make.conf file)

# These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically
# built this stage.
# Please consult /usr/share/portage/config/make.conf.example for a more
# detailed example.
#CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe" <--- original line was generic 686
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=core2 -pipe"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

# WARNING: Changing your CHOST is not something that should be done lightly.
# Please consult http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/change-chost.xml before changing.
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/gentoo-distfiles/"

SYNC="rsync://rsync4.ca.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

FEATURES="distcc" <--- use a second computer to help with compiles

MAKEOPTS="-j4" <--- simultaneous compiler runs...

# In this line, Paul turns off the hated PulseAudio option...
# Opting to build with ALSA sound instead. This build was
# done inside a VM virtual machine, and the VM didn't have
# good enough real time performance for the PulseAudio design.

USE="policykit device-mapper extras gdu nptl nptlonly -ipv6 -fortran \
unicode svg -hal dbus -kde qt4 -arts -eds -esd gnome gstreamer gtk \
firefox -pulseaudio sqlite cairo X \
a52 alsa dvb dvd ffmpeg ffplay flac lame mad mpeg off theora vorbis xv \
jpeg jpeg2k tiff png raw aalib svg \
dirac faac frei0r mp3 vdpau x264 xvid \
consolekit udev cdda samba sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 -vdpau"

VIDEO_CARDS="s3 vesa"
INPUT_DEVICES=evdev
*******

It takes hours to do though. But you've got good hardware
for the job, because the more cores your processor has
got, the faster the compile goes. To build the GUI component
of Gentoo, takes about 10 hours on my laptop... With your
processor, perhaps 2 or 3 hours.

The only way it could get more geeky, is with something
like "Linux From Scratch".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_From_Scratch

When Gentoo becomes a biatch, is when you don't update the packages
for six months, they've made major changes, you go to update and
everything is broken. And, they manage to break both forward and
backward package movement, so you're screwed. I had to redo my
VM machine above, because of that. At least I got to keep the
make.conf file, as a souvenir.

Paul
 
Paul said:
John Doe wrote:

It might be faster still, if you build a custom install using
Gentoo. You can tell the Gentoo system to compile the OS
for "Core2", and it uses whatever code optimizations exist for
Core2. That can be a bit faster than the "generic" kernel
a pre-packaged OS comes with. (Say, 5% faster)
Click to expand...

"64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop CD"

For my Intel Core2 Quad Q9550?

That sounds great if it works as well as the one I'm using

"PC (Intel x86) desktop CD".
*******
(Example of Gentoo make.conf file)

# These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically
# built this stage.
# Please consult /usr/share/portage/config/make.conf.example for a more
# detailed example.
#CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe" <--- original line was generic 686
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=core2 -pipe"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

# WARNING: Changing your CHOST is not something that should be done lightly.
# Please consult http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/change-chost.xml before changing.
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/gentoo-distfiles/"

SYNC="rsync://rsync4.ca.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

FEATURES="distcc" <--- use a second computer to help with compiles

MAKEOPTS="-j4" <--- simultaneous compiler runs...

# In this line, Paul turns off the hated PulseAudio option...
# Opting to build with ALSA sound instead. This build was
# done inside a VM virtual machine, and the VM didn't have
# good enough real time performance for the PulseAudio design.

USE="policykit device-mapper extras gdu nptl nptlonly -ipv6 -fortran \
unicode svg -hal dbus -kde qt4 -arts -eds -esd gnome gstreamer gtk \
firefox -pulseaudio sqlite cairo X \
a52 alsa dvb dvd ffmpeg ffplay flac lame mad mpeg off theora vorbis xv \
jpeg jpeg2k tiff png raw aalib svg \
dirac faac frei0r mp3 vdpau x264 xvid \
consolekit udev cdda samba sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 -vdpau"

VIDEO_CARDS="s3 vesa"
INPUT_DEVICES=evdev
*******

It takes hours to do though. But you've got good hardware
for the job, because the more cores your processor has
got, the faster the compile goes. To build the GUI component
of Gentoo, takes about 10 hours on my laptop... With your
processor, perhaps 2 or 3 hours.

The only way it could get more geeky, is with something
like "Linux From Scratch".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_From_Scratch

When Gentoo becomes a biatch, is when you don't update the packages
for six months, they've made major changes, you go to update and
everything is broken. And, they manage to break both forward and
backward package movement, so you're screwed. I had to redo my
VM machine above, because of that. At least I got to keep the
make.conf file, as a souvenir.
Click to expand...

The Gentoo problem you are talking about includes this Linux
version I mentioned above, right?

"64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop CD"

Is that problem prevented by keeping incremental backups of the
operating system partition? The installation stays clean, since
the only time you back it up is shortly after restoring it and
making important changes. Or are you talking about something else?

Or, is that problem solved by updating the operating system more
frequently, so that the updates are in smaller increments?

Thanks.
 
That was a letdown. Libre Office 3.5 took forever to open my notes
file. Then, I tried the X-Plane 10 installer, no go. I figure the
Linux installer is intended for 32-bit systems. The publisher
talking about X-Plane running okay on a 64-bit system probably
wasn't thinking that many people would actually try. Or maybe
those who try would be using 64-bit Windows that can run 32-bit
programs. I suppose there might be something that can be done
about that in ubuntu Linux. But I have a nice copy of the 32-bit
installation ready to go. And it runs very well, so I'll just
leave well enough alone.
 
John said:
The Gentoo problem you are talking about includes this Linux
version I mentioned above, right?

"64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop CD"

Is that problem prevented by keeping incremental backups of the
operating system partition? The installation stays clean, since
the only time you back it up is shortly after restoring it and
making important changes. Or are you talking about something else?

Or, is that problem solved by updating the operating system more
frequently, so that the updates are in smaller increments?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Gentoo is available in 32 bit or 64 bit versions.

When they say "X86", that's probably the 32 bit version.
If it says "AMD64" or "X86-64", those are 64 bit and the same thing.

If you use the "file" command in Linux, it'll say "PE32" for 32 bit
or "PE32+" for 64 bit code.

file /bin/ls

I don't think Linux uses two Program folders to keep track
or anything. You can run 32 bit Adobe Flash in a 64 bit Linux
OS. And at one time, I think Firefox was 32 bit as well, in
a 64 bit Linux. As the 64 bit version wasn't ready.

The package manager will likely only allow one or the other
to be installed at any one time (as the executable would
have the same name, and be stored in the same /bin type
place).

So it's not exactly like 64 bit Windows, where they give you
both 32 bit IE and 64 bit IE on the same install.

Paul
 
This isn't looking good.

There are a couple of utilities I haven't tried yet, but I have
seen complaints about ubuntu Linux moving away from User Interface
customization. That's really too bad. Software is infinitely
workable. If there were a car that the buyer could customize from
one day to the next with the press of a few buttons, it would sell
like hotcakes. The operating system is for running programs.
Otherwise, it should allow the user to make it look however he
wants it to look. Limiting an operating system user interface to
whatever the maker wants to be is ridiculous. That's why Windows 8
sucks. There is no option to make the appearance like the classic
Windows, so that you can adjust stuff. It looks like Microsoft's
Windows update garbage website. You use control plus the mouse
wheel to increase font sizes, and half of the damn fonts stay the
same freaking size. What a bunch of doo-doo.
 
John said:
This isn't looking good.

There are a couple of utilities I haven't tried yet, but I have
seen complaints about ubuntu Linux moving away from User Interface
customization. That's really too bad. Software is infinitely
workable. If there were a car that the buyer could customize from
one day to the next with the press of a few buttons, it would sell
like hotcakes. The operating system is for running programs.
Otherwise, it should allow the user to make it look however he
wants it to look. Limiting an operating system user interface to
whatever the maker wants to be is ridiculous. That's why Windows 8
sucks. There is no option to make the appearance like the classic
Windows, so that you can adjust stuff. It looks like Microsoft's
Windows update garbage website. You use control plus the mouse
wheel to increase font sizes, and half of the damn fonts stay the
same freaking size. What a bunch of doo-doo.
Click to expand...

The bottom line is, with Linux, with some effort, you can find source.
So if something is bothering you about a design, you can get to the
bottom of it. (I.e. Try downloading the source for Firefox sometime.
Something like 1.2 million lines of code, and almost impossible to
follow program flow.)

In the "good ole days", we used to take application software, pop the binary
into a hex editor, and search for XRDB resource entries. The application
may store defaults that it uses the first time the application is run.
And knowing the name of the resource, it would then be possible to
add the named resource (to a file like .Xdefaults), and try different
values with it, to see what happens. Plenty of application level problems
or setup issues, could be attacked that way.

This is similar in concept, to what you see in Firefox when you do
"about:config". Those settings, the hierarchical concept used for them,
is related to how Xdefaults worked in XWindows applications.

If you're expecting to find a tutorial site, to change everything
on your Linux screen, it's probably not going to work out that way.
You have to be a lot more creative, to make progress.

The X Consortium, at one time, made an application for "tuning" application
settings. Their "poster boy" was the XTerm terminal emulator program. And
the tuning application would "talk" to XTerm, and display the settings. But
that concept just didn't seem to catch on. And quite possibly, the
"poster boy" was the only application that ever got equipped to use
that feature. And then, you're left with the "search with a hex editor"
or "read the source" as solutions to the search for answers.

Paul
 
Paul said:
If you're expecting to find a tutorial site, to change everything
on your Linux screen, it's probably not going to work out that way.
You have to be a lot more creative, to make progress.
Click to expand...

http://askubuntu.com/questions/70599/how-to-change-tooltip-background-
color-in-unity

If I'm not mistaken, that should allow for editing some of the
included themes. And if they are at risk for being overwritten by
updates, maybe the edits can be backed up.
 
John said:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/70599/how-to-change-tooltip-background-
color-in-unity

If I'm not mistaken, that should allow for editing some of the
included themes. And if they are at risk for being overwritten by
updates, maybe the edits can be backed up.
Click to expand...

Or maybe you just redo it.

I recommend keeping a README file, with the procedures you use that
are successful. It's the only way to manage the level of
complexity (multiple solutions, config files that have moved
from A to B between releases, that sorta crap).

I've tried to find a few things like that in the past, and it
doesn't help that they're stored in dot folders.

One of my pet peeves, is the usage of color in directory
listings, causing a number of entry types to be printed out
in colors that make the text impossible to read. So while
you may change the background color of a window, there's still
a danger that later, you'll regret your new color choice.
And those colors, could be a shell function (prefs stored
somewhere else).

As for the Ubuntu themes in general, they could take a few lessons
from Solaris. In Solaris, the elements of a window, tend to have different
colors for contrast, the usage of drop shadows and so on. In Ubuntu,
you can have several windows on top of one another, think you're grabbing
the window by the trim at the top, when in fact you're accessing a menu
item instead.

The scroll bar they use, is another example. Just try and use it,
and take your eye off it for a moment.

*******

By the way, on a completely unrelated topic, but perhaps of interest to
you, I bought a USB flash key today. I was stuck in traffic, half way
downtown, and decided instead to bail and go shopping. I picked up a
Kingston USB key.

And what a piece of crap! 16MB/sec on reads. Oh, that's good. That would
be reading in relatively big chunks. No complaint with that (for a cheap stick).

Writing in big chunks, results in a clunky 4MB/sec (average) transfer rate.
It goes in fits and starts. Like the controller chip has a bug of some sort.

The real fun (killer!) is small writes. Performance drops to 250KB/sec.
That's five times the old floppy drive rate.

And I could find complaints from people in product reviews, that performance
as low as 4KB/sec can be achieved with the product I bought. I just didn't
do a test case to get it do to that.

Just goes to show, I shouldn't just grab the first thing I see on a
small shopping trip.

That USB key is so bad, during a resize2fs in Ubuntu, the operation
actually stopped completely. All progress stopped. No error message.
No indication in "iotop" of any I/O at all.

I tried to kill the "resize2fs" program and it became a zombie. So
the program was stuck in a kernel call.

Then, I ran "lsusb", just to see the details of my USB hardware.
And magically, that was enough to wake that piece of crap up again.
The zombie process was then able to terminate and disappear
from the process list. (And I could start the procedure over again.
Luckily, I kept a backup of the original thing I was working on.
But this time, I moved it to a hard drive, did the "hard part",
then it took *15 minutes* to write it back to the USB flash stick.)

And this is progress ? 250KB/sec or less ? I can't wait for the
next generation. Will it work at 1200 baud modem speed ? Who
needs capacity, when it runs so slow you can never fill it ?

The product in question is Kingston DTIG3/16GBZCR. With some
U3 like software ("urdrive.exe"), that I was able to delete
before Windows could see it :-) I checked for an "autorun.inf",
before the bastards could spring it on me. Since I couldn't
find comments about deleting it, I figured it was safe to
just reformat (outside Windows). One of the reasons for using
"lsusb", was to check to see if it had any composite devices,
like a "read-only CDROM emulation" filled with software
I wouldn't be allowed to delete. Using these things is just
like inviting malware onto the computer...

Not money well spent.

Paul
 
Lots of possibilities...

gnome color chooser

gnome tweak tool, ubuntu tweak, advanced settings, (maybe all the
same thing)

gconf editor

Editable installed themes are here
/usr/share/themes
 
And compizconfig-settings-manager.


I'm lost in the settings world again.

Must, remember, to back up stuff, first...
 
/usr/share/themes/{theme name}/gtk-3.0/gtk.css
/usr/share/themes/{theme name}/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
/usr/share/themes/{theme name}/gtk-2.0/gtkrc

That's part of it. But there are other settings locations. Currently,
I'm trying to find the color settings for Nautilus and the Software
Center.
 
Apparently Nautilus background color corrected on the restart.

The following line in the command prompt clears up the Software
Center color problem.

gksudo gedit /usr/share/software-center/ui/gtk3/css/softwarecenter.css

Replace the first two line color codes with a dark color.

@define-color light-aubergine #222222;
@define-color super-light-aubergine #222222;

It might require repeating when that program is updated.
/usr/share/themes/{theme name}/gtk-3.0/gtk.css
/usr/share/themes/{theme name}/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
/usr/share/themes/{theme name}/gtk-2.0/gtkrc
Click to expand...

Apparently not all themes have those three files. But one of the
default themes (like Ambience) can be modified if the user is not
interested in looks. I just want to adjust the theme so it's not
like reading on the surface of a lightbulb, and that only requires
changing the colors.

That appears to be the whole kit and caboodle for changing ubuntu
Linux Unity 12.04 colors.
 
Back
Top