28 replies to this topic

[taras]

Thought it would be good to have a thread of how everyone's making the most of their 800x480!

--> My taskbar launch button tip moved to http://wiki.eeeuser....kerlaunchbutton :)

Edited by taras, 03 November 2007 - 02:51 PM.

[lisyaoran]

Nice! Thanks. I was wondering if there was a way to reduce the size of that start icon. I guess you need to replace the pic of the icon itself to do that.

[taras]

More obvious tips for screen space - I know a lot of you are probably already miles more proficient at KDE than me but it might be useful to someone ;) :

* Right click the taskbar and select Configure Panel..., then click the 'Hiding' tab and set to "Hide automatically - 3 sec", you'll have to hit <Enter> to accept as the window's quite big.

* Right click on the clock and change the font to something like FreeSans to make it thinner.

* Click the little arrow next to the system tray notification area (where the power indicator is) to customise which icons are hidden.

* Right click the icons next to the Launch button and choose to get rid of them.

* I guess you can remove the Desktop Pager and Lock Screen applets if you don't use them...

* In Control Center -> Display -> Theme, change the font sizes to size 10, and Border Size to "Tiny" under Window Decoration.

* Download the Whitehart theme for Firefox (Tools -> Add-Ons -> Themes -> Get more themes, search for Whitehart - you'll need to go back to the Themes window and switch to Whitehart after it's installed)

* When in Firefox, hit F11 to go full-screen.

Edited by taras, 03 November 2007 - 12:28 AM.

[DonkeyBeliever]

Thanks for the images/guide, I've wikified you page (I hope you don't mind) and I added a few things to your instructions! here http://wiki.eeeuser....kerlaunchbutton

[_memphis]

That f11 thing with firefox sure makes browsing alot easier, thanks :) here's my contribution:

I have the taskbar line up against the left hand of the screen, you cant really read any of the text for the open programs, but just using the icons is fine for most things. This make more sense because the screen is wide screen and you can spare some horizontal space but vertical space is lacking

I use the virtual desktops to keep everything organized, a very useful feature is to force certain window types to particular desktops. I.e. have one desktop for internet another for music and another for emails etc.

Right click on any windows title bar > advanced > special window settings > Check desktop button > force > choose desktop to force

I agree with the points above about the launch button been stupidly over sized for a screen like this, however instead of replacing it with a smaller one, I choose to get rid of it completely and replace it with simply having a left click on desktop bring up the application menu (similar to how xfce, blackbox or fluxbox or anything would)
The option for this is found:
Kcontrol > general settings > desktop > change mouse buttons to what you want

you can also remove the picture that appears of the side of the menu bar, which will save a little bit more room, cant quite remember where that setting is at the moment.

I also replaced the 'quick launch' icons on the panel for desktop icons and lowered the resolution of the desktop icons to 16
Kcontrol > display > theme > advanced > size

I found the mouse cursor to be stupidly massive so I downloaded xcursor-theme
sudo apt-get install xcursor-themes
kcontrol > peripheral devices > mouse > cursor theme

I also downloaded super-karamba so I could display some of the stats in the background rather than clogging up the 'system tray'. So ive put a clock on the desktop rather than having it in the taskbar

Changing the theme, the widget set and removing some useless toolbars in most programs help as well. Could also change the window border to 0, but this causes annoyances when resizing, but if you dont resize much or dont mind using the title bar then go for it.

edit : typo changed thanks to taras

Edited by _memphis, 03 November 2007 - 04:20 PM.

[eFfeM]

if you want to get rid of the location bar in firefox after pressing F11, install the fullerscreen addon.
See http://www.linux.com/articles/61225

[taras]

it's xcursor-themes not xcursor-theme (as I finally worked out after playing with the repos for a while looking for it!)

Good tip though.

Edited by taras, 03 November 2007 - 02:46 PM.

[ajzinni]

I am a complete linux / KDE noob, however as a graphic designer I would be able to develop a whole low resolution theme.

The problem is that I need to know if there is any other items that can be replaced by creating new PNG's???

[taras]

I did another, smaller one. (Can't find how to upload images to the wiki)

http://pidg.in/~tara...iny_greysquare/

[DonkeyBeliever]

Quote

I did another, smaller one. (Can't find how to upload images to the wiki)

http://pidg.in/~tara...iny_greysquare/

When you go to edit the wiki if you click the image button you should be given the option to upload images, its how I did your first image set. Perhaps eeeuser.com should open up a page for themes and what not for the Eee that way we don't clutter up the wiki :D

[danucleus]

I tried to follow the instruction in the wiki to change the launch button to the modified one, and I got to step 5, but it won't let me do it. it says "cp: cannot stat `/home/user/Destop/button*.png': No such file or directory" I have the 2 .png images on my desktop, and they're named just as they should as stated in the wiki... I then tried to copy and paste them manually into the folder, but i don't have ownership of the folder. Has anyone else run into this problem? What can I do to get it working?

[c0d3monk33]

Regarding improving Firefox's use of screen real-estate there's also the 'Littlefox' theme that shrinks the Firefox menu bars considerably.

See https://addons.mozil...refox/addon/307

[Starman]

Quote

sudo apt-get install xcursor-themes
kcontrol > peripheral devices > mouse > cursor theme

I also downloaded super-karamba so I could display some of the stats in the background rather than clogging up the 'system tray'. So ive put a clock on the desktop rather than having it in the taskbar

Tried this but am getting "E: Couldn't find package xcursor-themes"

Also how do I download "super-karamba" to do as you suggested?

Great tips so far really has improved my Eee :)

[bunanson]

I installed it and failed to notice ANY difference. And then I read one comment, littleFox made Ffox slow.

bun

[DonkeyBeliever]

Quote

I tried to follow the instruction in the wiki to change the launch button to the modified one, and I got to step 5, but it won't let me do it. it says "cp: cannot stat `/home/user/Destop/button*.png': No such file or directory" I have the 2 .png images on my desktop, and they're named just as they should as stated in the wiki... I then tried to copy and paste them manually into the folder, but i don't have ownership of the folder. Has anyone else run into this problem? What can I do to get it working?

danucleus, did you start a privileged shell? its the first step there "sudo bash" I typed up the wiki based on taras's instructions and I assumed that the user would keep that original bash shell open, if you didn't don't worry you can simply type the command below:

sudo cp /home/user/Desktop/button*.png /usr/share/apps/kicker/pixmaps

[rollover]

Quote

Quote

sudo apt-get install xcursor-themes
kcontrol > peripheral devices > mouse > cursor theme

I also downloaded super-karamba so I could display some of the stats in the background rather than clogging up the 'system tray'. So ive put a clock on the desktop rather than having it in the taskbar

Tried this but am getting "E: Couldn't find package xcursor-themes"

Also how do I download "super-karamba" to do as you suggested?

Great tips so far really has improved my Eee :)

You need to add xandros repositories http://wiki.eeeuser....ingxandrosrepos

[neoking77]

does anyone know how to reduce the FIREFOX font? (i.e. the address URL text) it's HUMONGOUS

[QuadCore]

I went though all of the steps in the wiki a few times and it always tells me there is "No such file or directory". I also tried to find the files by searching with no luck.

[evi1joe]

Yep. I went through the steps, downloaded the two buttons to my desktop (even added the xandros repositories--if by adding them it means, adding those websites "deb http..." and doing the pinging preference thing).

Everything goes okay until i typ "cp /home/user/desktop/button*.png /usr/share/apps/kicker/pixmaps"
THEN IT SAYS:
"cp: cannot stat ' /home/user/desktop/button*.png': No such file or directory

ANY IDEAS on what i (and others) need to do to make this work?

[Niel1952]

Quote

Everything goes okay until i typ "cp /home/user/desktop/button*.png /usr/share/apps/kicker/pixmaps"
THEN IT SAYS:
"cp: cannot stat ' /home/user/desktop/button*.png': No such file or directory

ANY IDEAS on what i (and others) need to do to make this work?

Yes, Desktop has a capital D as in

cp /home/user/Desktop/button*.png /usr/share/apps/kicker/pixmaps