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(Solved) Azenis theme - still possible?

Aravisian

Wed Jan 16, 2019 6:13:32 am

Part of having a new operating system includes, I think, enjoying it. This is frivolous... But I decided to try asking for help, anyway.
I installed Azenis icons and cursor. They are working fine (Except for ONE icon that never appears, the filing cabinet for nautilus.)
But the Metacity Theme folder... Too old. Metacity was the previous and Gnome moved to Mutter. I have tried everything, Including Gnome Fallback (Didn't work).
I was told that the files can be modified to work: I am nowhere near knowledgeable enough to even try. Which is why I tried anyway- for well over a week. Created back ups and then tried researching and modifying and testing them out. Nope. Not surprised, there.
I was also "told" by reading Jameshardy88 page that Azenis was a theme included in the Zorin Ultimate edition. I certainly do not mind donating to Zorin, but I'm a po'boy, as well (That's how I ended up switching to linux in the first place) - I really would prefer that I KNOW whether it would be there, first. Besides, I avoided Ultimate at the start partly because it contains what I consider Bloat- a lot of extra things I will never use.
Is it possible to create, modify / use the Azenis metacity/Mutter/Clutter theme? Any help would have little hearts floating over my head.

zorinantwerp

Wed Jan 16, 2019 8:31:32 am

Hi,

It is not included in our current 'Ultimate' version.

Not amazing as the last update of Azenis is of 2010. It is no longer supported by product-maker JAMESHARDY88
Suggest you hold on till the beta release of new Zorin OS which comes any day now.
I will test then. ok?


also J.J.Ying (original dev) is having a break
Code:
http://www.jjying.cn/


;)
+++

Aravisian

Wed Jan 16, 2019 8:31:25 pm

zorinantwerp wrote:Hi,

It is not included in our current 'Ultimate' version.

Not amazing as the last update of Azenis is of 2010. It is no longer supported by product-maker JAMESHARDY88
Suggest you hold on till the beta release of new Zorin OS which comes any day now.
I will test then. ok?


also J.J.Ying (original dev) is having a break
Code:
http://www.jjying.cn/


;)
+++

Yes, I had noticed that JamesHardy88 and J.J.Ying had last made comments on it 6 years or more ago. I have the theme, just cannot apply it.
I can be quite patient, at times :D In this case, it became one of those 'challenges' that -- I am one of those that I like to finish what I start. I think I dislike using something my knowledge is poor on.
For now, I am using Vertex theme and it's different enough.. better than green and a red X...
A fella I know mailed a ratchet to me that was made in 1939 that was broken. I replaced the parts and fixed it up, good as new. Some of the parts I used are new old stock, made about 70 years ago. A couple of the others are only about 5 years old. Timeless, when it works, it works.
Another guy stopped by with an electrical problem on his 2015 model car - Starter solenoid. I pulled out my Automotive Electrical Engineering book and we looked it up, found the cause; all was well until he saw that the first edition book I was using was printed in 1918. Some things haven't changed in 100 years.
Computers? Give it a week...

Swarfendor437

Thu Jan 17, 2019 1:02:14 pm

You could try more recent derivatives? :

https://www.opendesktop.org/search/proj ... e/1/t/gtk3

Aravisian

Fri Jan 18, 2019 3:28:32 am

Swarfendor437 wrote:You could try more recent derivatives? :

https://www.opendesktop.org/search/proj ... e/1/t/gtk3

Do you know... I have no idea how you did that? And most likely, you typed in one search.
I tried searching for alternatives on deviantart, gnome look, gnome project and of course, ducked and and googled it. I found nothing that really was similar in style. A lot of MAC OS look-alikes and semiclad anime stuff. Not really my style. Threw in the towel.
Look at you; just whipped one out like it's nothing... I like that Lhun Magol one and I think I will try that out while I am typing this reply. Vertex is a dark gray theme that is similar in design.
What sets Azenis apart is the odd alien looking minimize, maximize and close buttons. Futuristic, alien and retro all at the same time. That really is the part I am drawn toward the most, by far.
Yes... I tried something naive and dumb and tried to 'replace' the scalables for those three buttons in a different working theme then directing to them. It partly worked but the part that didn't work didn't work in a very bad way.
I read in another thread your suggestion of using installing Alien to convert .gz to .deb which was very helpful information. I used that to install the Lhun Magol theme; it said installed but I can find it nowhere and it doesn't show up on Tweak Tool.
Maybe the problem is Me.

Edit To Add: I got the Lhun Magol theme working (All I had to do was logout then in) but it is not working right. In all screenshots, the close, min and max buttons are orbs. On my screen, it is the familiar (and hated) line box and X icons. When I examined the Lhun Magol folder, the orbs are present. I have no idea why they are not displaying properly. About the only effect it gave was changing the onscreen print to blue.

Swarfendor437

Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:52:27 pm

If I'm honest I found it, then trying to get it in my VB install couldn't EE member but eventually got back to it to post you the link. You could do some time travel an download Zorin 6 and run that in Virtual Box:

http://www.veoh.com/m/watch.php?v=v2832 ... &quality=1

Aravisian

Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:15:16 am

Swarfendor437 wrote: You could do some time travel an download Zorin 6 and run that in Virtual Box:

http://www.veoh.com/m/watch.php?v=v2832 ... &quality=1

This was a great suggestion, but sadly, it did not work out.
I installed Oracle Virtualbox and its dependencies. I got a copy of Zorin OS6 and installed that in Virtualbob\x. Along with the usual frustrating, "this doesn't work right, yet" and "that doesn't work right, yet" I finally got it up and running over the course of a few hours.
Every action I took on the Virtualbox took 60 seconds to 5 minutes to respond. I have a conky series on the other screen where I can monitor CPU usage and activity and it did not raise appreciably, yet the response times on Virtualbox were insanely long. It wasted a lot of time as it took me a while to figure out that it was VERY SLOW to respond to a selection and initially, I kept restarting it thinking it had frozen up. I decided that any idea of running Virtualbox routinely was utterly out of the question. At that point it became an exercise of seeing only if it could be done.
I then tried to install Azenis theme. I used the standard methods; ~/.themes, ~/icons, ~/cursors, which worked for the icons and cursor on my 12.4 edition of Zorin. Neither worked. Tried ~/usr/share and that, too, had no response. Logging out and back in each time. I then tried installing the Azenis.deb file using the Unity Tweak tool option of Browse and install theme file and got a pop up that said, "File invalid format."
After a day of struggling with and having to learn as I go, my tolerances of patience had reached their limit.
I jumped through the numerous hoops of uninstalling Virtualbox which was a hair puller in itself. "Software" (Software Center) is pretty hard to deal with. You can 'uninstall' a program only to find it still showing on the 'installed' list repeatedly later. And although Oracle's Virtualbox initially showed up in the installed list in Software, it was utterly nowhere to be found when I went to uninstall it.
It may be that the only available copy, TuxSax's download of Azenis theme has an error. Or it may be that the .deb file was the wrong format for me to use on Zorin 6. I just do not know.

Swarfendor437

Sat Jan 19, 2019 11:11:08 am

When I was using Zorin 9 the Lhun Magol theme ran perfectly. I should have said that I install the latest VB from Oracle, and don't forget the full extension pack also! Yes Software Centres of any distro based on Ubuntu are lacking the flexibility of Synaptic Package Manager which is the first thing you should add after updating the install at first point of installation as outlined in my manual. ;) :D

Aravisian

Sat Jan 19, 2019 5:09:42 pm

Swarfendor437 wrote:When I was using Zorin 9 the Lhun Magol theme ran perfectly. I should have said that I install the latest VB from Oracle, and don't forget the full extension pack also! Yes Software Centres of any distro based on Ubuntu are lacking the flexibility of Synaptic Package Manager which is the first thing you should add after updating the install at first point of installation as outlined in my manual. ;) :D

Yes, I had installed Synaptic but have no idea how to use it.
I'm a whiz with Windows registry after using it for so many years. But Linux is something new.
The thing is, newcomers don't know the code. We don't know the 'lingo". Can't expect people moving over from Windows to automatically know how to operate the nuances of something so unfamiliar. It does not come with an instruction manual and searching the internet for help is frankly, quite frustrating. There is very little information available.
Although I have talked a bit in this thread, for the most part, that actual troubles I have had with the Zorin O.S. and resolving of issues has been done through searching and trying out different things. I preferred to not inundate your board with things I probably could find answers to or solve on my own with a bit of patience. But this one topic is one I could do nothing with. One thing I see a lot of on Ubuntu forums is people asking some very basic questions such as how to uninstall something. I mean, we are coming from a place where you can right click the program from Programs List and there is the uninstaller- just like that. On linux, uninstalling is pretty hit and miss unless you use the terminal and you have to KNOW the right words to enter into terminal in the right way in order to get any kind of response. Asking those that simply know from using it for a long time often ends in a testy response. Searching the internet yields detailed answers sometimes and vague answers others and many answers assume you know already a lot more than you actually do. And because there is OpenSUSE, Debian, Fedora... it's not standardized across the board (Probably good for anti-virus...) what works on one when you finally find an answer won't necessarily work on the other and you end up spinning your wheels for a while following a good answer that has bad results.
So... I downloaded the latest Virtualbox, I believe. It was VB 6.0 Did I get the full extension pack? I have no idea, now after the fact. I would imagine so, but it isn't point and click and I ended up using the terminal for twenty minutes that it used to be Point and Click to do on the Other O.S.
I tried synaptic initially but typing in "Virtualbox" gave absolutely nothing because I was (apparently!) supposed to type in "vmbox" which there is no way whatsoever I would have known or figured that out in any Universe.

zorinantwerp

Sun Jan 20, 2019 8:29:31 pm

Hi

Over the years not a single mainstream OS met my full expectations. By God I must have used them all starting from DR-Dos over MS-Dos over OS2 warp and the stuff which came later. All of them required a learning curve and frustrations were my share.

Now linux has put fun in it again as I could hop from one distro to another in finding my place. I believe that 'windowblinds' behavior is not the best strategy in catching up with pros and cons of linux. There are, my guessimate 250 linux distros, some of which may have the potential to deliver want you want.

+++

Aravisian

Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:32:56 am

zorinantwerp wrote:Hi

Over the years not a single mainstream OS met my full expectations. By Goth I must have used them all starting from DR-Dos over MS-Dos over OS2 warp and the stuff which came later. All of them required a learning curve and frustrations were my share.

Now linux has put fun in it again as I could hop from one distro to another in finding my place. I believe that 'windowblinds' behavior is not the best strategy in catching up with pros and cons of linux. There are, my guessimate 250 linux distros, some of which may have the potential to deliver want you want.

+++

Within hours of having made that post, my love for Linux had overshadowed my complaints. I had moved on to other projects that were overwhelmingly much easier and much more successful than I ever had on the previous mainstream O.S.
While that post above captures my frustration and it is true that negative feedback is helpful feedback, you are right that one complaint from one project hardly constitutes a failure of an entire O.S.
Zorin is my starting point on Linux as I migrate to something new and unfamiliar. After I made that post, the next day, I think, I had again tried out seeing what would happen when I type "virtualbox" into synaptic. and this time I got a list of packages. When I first searched, I checked and doublechecked that I made no typo's. Why I got two different (Well, three, actually) responses from Synaptic is still a mystery to me. But, again, I was uncertain what to do with the information. Do I check all? Do I select only what I want or need? How do I know what I want or need? Listed was Virtualbox 5.0 and 6.0 as well as 5.2... Should I select only 6.0? Therein lies the confusion in using it. To someone knowledgeable and familiar, that list probably just looks like harmless information. But to someone unfamiliar with what any of that is, it's a monster with fangs that wants to render the work you put into the setting the O.S. up obsolete and the O.S. unusable, somehow.
So, looking at a series of unknown portions of packages as a non-linux familiar programmer - what is my next step? Search with the Duck? With Google? That will yield very little in the way of helpful information, instruction or even a subtle hint as to what to do with that mysterious information displayed on the screen.
I don't think what I am saying here is invalid nor is it overly-critical. It is quite valid.

Swarfendor437

Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:45:24 am

The repositories don't usually have the latest Oracle Virtual Box so I download the. deb package and extension pack directly from oracle and install using Debian package manager which I have covered in the unofficial manual. You have to use Tools in VB and point to the downloaded extension pack to install.

Aravisian

Mon Jan 21, 2019 7:18:46 am

Swarfendor437 wrote:The repositories don't usually have the latest Oracle Virtual Box so I download the. deb package and extension pack directly from oracle and install using Debian package manager which I have covered in the unofficial manual. You have to use Tools in VB and point to the downloaded extension pack to install.

Edited previous comment as I may have misunderstood the intent.
I searched the Unofficial manual for Debian Package Manager as well as Virtualbox. I found no references within it that cover installation of Virtualbox. I found a reference on page 87 that covers installing .deb files using terminal, referring to it as Debian packages. It teaches how to extract the files. I have noticed with some things, extraction is not enough to install.
I have been playing with Synaptic and learned a few things but am still very wary of how to handle the numerous components listed for a package considering that I have had to twice re-install the Zorin Operating System. It would be better for me using synaptic if I had a much better understanding of what it is showing in its lists.
[Swarfendor437, I took a screenshot of my initial post before editing if you want to see what it said for posterity.]

Aravisian

Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:14:20 am

Screenshot from 2019-01-21 04-11-14-1.png
As an aside, I have managed to get the Azenis skin to work properly in Audacious. Image attached; A very small victory...

Swarfendor437

Tue Jan 22, 2019 12:12:05 am

Aravisian wrote:
Swarfendor437 wrote:The repositories don't usually have the latest Oracle Virtual Box so I download the. deb package and extension pack directly from oracle and install using Debian package manager which I have covered in the unofficial manual. You have to use Tools in VB and point to the downloaded extension pack to install.

Edited previous comment as I may have misunderstood the intent.
I searched the Unofficial manual for Debian Package Manager as well as Virtualbox. I found no references within it that cover installation of Virtualbox. I found a reference on page 87 that covers installing .deb files using terminal, referring to it as Debian packages. It teaches how to extract the files. I have noticed with some things, extraction is not enough to install.
I have been playing with Synaptic and learned a few things but am still very wary of how to handle the numerous components listed for a package considering that I have had to twice re-install the Zorin Operating System. It would be better for me using synaptic if I had a much better understanding of what it is showing in its lists.
[Swarfendor437, I took a screenshot of my initial post before editing if you want to see what it said for posterity.]


Hi, my bad in not being more lucid - it was late and on my smartphone! LOL! I meant I had covered the different ways of installing packages. Debian Package Manager has a very nice GUI that allows it to check whether all dependencies are met. I have not covered Virtual Box in the manual as that is a Software Application that not everyone is going to want to look at - they might just want a system like Zorin that generally works "out-of-the-box". For me it is certainly one of the best distributions when it comes to accessibility, especially the fact that the Menu in Zorin interacts properly with the Gnome Screen-reader Orca. ;)

Aravisian

Tue Jan 22, 2019 1:28:59 am

Well, I managed to pull it off. I disabled all my conkys for visibility... as well as not having to edit out certain personal I.D. Screenshots attached of Azenis now running in full.
I could climb the walls...
Screenshot from 2019-01-21 19-24-12.png

And
Screenshot from 2019-01-21 19-25-57.png

Swarfendor437 wrote:Hi, my bad in not being more lucid - it was late and on my smartphone! LOL! I meant I had covered the different ways of installing packages. Debian Package Manager has a very nice GUI that allows it to check whether all dependencies are met. I have not covered Virtual Box in the manual as that is a Software Application that not everyone is going to want to look at - they might just want a system like Zorin that generally works "out-of-the-box". For me it is certainly one of the best distributions when it comes to accessibility, especially the fact that the Menu in Zorin interacts properly with the Gnome Screen-reader Orca. ;)

If I had a penny everytime I miscommunicated...
Well, I am thoroughly enjoying the distribution in spite of occasional flares of frustration. I lack the experience you guys have with multiple distros, but I am plenty willing to learn. I'm determined enough... i spent a week learning, studying and toying with multiple configurations just to get a ridiculous theme to work.
Next up: A REAL problem. Bring it on, universal adversity...
eh... one more with conky enabled but items placed to hide I.P. etc.:
Screenshot from 2019-01-21 19-37-13.png

Swarfendor437

Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:12:07 pm

Nice!!!! :D :D :D

Aravisian

Tue Jan 22, 2019 11:47:57 pm

Clearly, I have lost my mind... Azenis theme is on my cell phone, now... <chuckle>

I posted too hastily when I made the above post. It is working, but not in full.
What I did:
Originally, I tried to port over the .png images and alter the scripts to a known working theme of today. Surprisingly, I got it to "kind of" work but with some issues. The buttons and top bar were present. Some of the borders were a little off. I went in in a B.D. hurry and altered about three or four things at once then saved all and tried again and the whole thing came crashing down in burning flames taking the computer with it. Back to the drawing board.
As I sat mulling over it, I remembered seeing an Emerald that someone ported Azenis to.
Went and grabbed it: https://store.kde.org/p/1003872
This requires Compiz and both are out of date, not supported and a bit hard to find as complete packages. Getting Emerald theme manager may have been easy for an experienced person but it was a tough task for me. I set up both along with Compiz fusion icon, which is necessary to start the Windows Decorator that Emerald would export the Azenis theme on.
Failed, the Compiz Fusion Icon would not work, no matter what I tried.
Then installed Displex as an alternative to Compiz Fusion Icon. Displex lacks the Windows Decorator tab. After banging my head on the desk, started exploring the buttons on Displex. I hit "Restart Compiz" at one point and when it did, My Zorin Topbar panel vanished (Issue number 3). I then tried typing "Emerald --replace" in terminal and Instant Azenis theme. Cheers n beers all around.
Then I posted above after which I began finding my flaws:
1.) If I close the terminal running "Emerald --replace", then Azenis stops working. I have to leave that terminal up to keep Azenis running.
---EDIT: Resolved this with ctrl+Z, Terminal command $ bg; Terminal command $ disown -h %1
2.) Azenis as a windows decorator affects programs, apps I launch, terminal and waterfox, but does not affect Gnome. Opening a File cabinet is still in Vertex Theme windows. I don't mind this one, actually. It helps to have a different theme on different operating windows. This can be useful.
Screenshot from 2019-01-22 06-08-38.png

3.) Topbar Zorin Panel is gone when running the Compiz session which means that apps that dock there are no longer accessible, like Displex. I must restart back into "normal mode" and run what I would need to see on the topbar without Azenis running. If I hadn't installed Cairo Dock on Swarfendor's suggestion a week ago, this one would have had me lost and upset. But CairoDock stayed operational leaving most things still usable. Anything that loads directly to the Zorin panel does not appear or is not accessible, however.
4.) Synaptic Package manager will not open or launch at all when running the above session. Bummer; I am finally getting used to it.
--EDIT: Found a workaround by changing Exec=synaptic-pkexec to Exec=gksudo synaptic in application. Not a bug solution as I don't know the cause...
Logout Button on the CairoDock broke and does nothing when clicked. Not a big deal since I hit "Super+L" to logout. I am willing to bet there are others like this that I have not spotted, yet. Funny: Quadrapassel opens with Vertex Theme and Solitaire opens with Azenis Theme.
So, saying it was running in "full" was a failure on my part. Got ahead of myself. It's running in "part" and was a nice challenge but given that Compiz and Emerald are years out of date, I suspect what I have done here will not last very long before it is too obsolete to work; I may have caught the tail end of it's time.

Aravisian

Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:35:51 pm

May as well update (Why not?)
What I called top bar is the Zorin "start applications" dock which I moved to the top after installing Cairo. At the time, I saw no need to have TWO docks and wondered how I might make the top dock disappear.
Well, Problem solved! I guess...
After the fact, I learned that some things don't dock on Cairo and only dock on the top dock. But so far, I have only found two items that do that. Displex and encfs stash. I use Displex to deal with compiz so it loads prior to starting Compiz and once that is done, I don't need to access it anymore. I can type ccsm in terminal afterward. I use encfs very rarely as it contains my Top Secret Area 51 alien records so I can just restart and access it normally if needs be.Considering it resolved since it resolved one problem and the remaining issues are manageable.
Apparently, compiz had quite a few issues, many keyboard shortcuts are gone. That annoys me, especially having lost ctrl-alt-k. But Cairo Dock has a KILL option, too.
Swarfendor had recommended using Thunar in his Unofficial Manual. Yesterday, installed that. Now, file folders also are in Azenis theme.
But I noticed that some of the folders show as Default Icons while the majority are Azenis Icons. These folders are Downloads, Videos, etc. The ones that have a non-generic look.
--I wondered if I moved the Azenis Icon folder to root /usr/share/icons would that fix that? I tried it experimentally and made a mess of things - made the /usr/share/icons folder disabled in the directory SOMEHOW... took me a bit to fix that. Have no idea how cp command made that happen... Any ideas?

Thunar Pictures file folder cannot set wallpaper (it is xfce) but the Home Shortcut is still on Cairo so I just use it to access Pictures then set wallpaper. Both have launchers in different locations on the dock.
Thunar kind of resolved a problem I had with Cairo Dock showing the Nautilus icon as a File Cabinet (Default) instead of the Azenis icon and no effort to change it worked. Drove me nuts. Made Thunar a launcher and no longer have that issue. Have the new one outlined above, though.
On Azenis windows, the Titlebar was a glaring white with blue border. I did some experimenting on the settings.ini which was much like configuring a conky. Changed the titlebar font to D3Euronism with #808080 text and the border #000000 on active windows and #FFFFFF with border #000000 on inactive windows and it really tamed it beautifully. I don't really need the window I am using to tell me what it is- I am Using It... but having the inactive windows titlebar highlighted helps me glance over to see what it is without having to read the contents. That was an accident that it worked out that way (I changed the border on inactive but forgot to change the text) but it worked out serendipitously.

As a side note, in another thread, Swarfendor recommended Makulu Flash to a user having issues with Compiz. I went about trying that idea out for a good ten minutes until my slow and rather underpowered brain figured out that the MakuluFlash download was an Operating System, not a program. I'll stick with Zorin... I have suffered enough configuring a whole new setup.

Aravisian

Fri Jun 21, 2019 6:16:52 pm

A quick and useless update:
Azenis Modified... One thing myself and others didn't like was the minimize, maximize and close button arrangement being so close together. I mentioned before that I thought about increasing the length of that titlebar object. On the smaller screen Toughbook with a touchscreen, it is even trickier to hit the button you intend to hit.
So, I redoubled my efforts to finish that side project and here is a screenshot of the Longer Titlebutton arrangement.
I wonder now, did I make it too long?
It's a lot less easy to miss the button you are aiming for, now.
I took a screenshot on the Toughbook, then sent that image to my main rig (Still running original Azenis) and opened a view of that screenshot in order to show both arrangements in one image for comparison.

Screenshot_2019-06-21_13-23-29.png




EDIT:
As I looked at the above image, I noticed some irregularity. See, I didn't make measurements and count pixels or anything... I just... guessed... at the distances when making the titlebar buttons. The Maximize button looked longer than the minimize. I went ahead and counted and yes... I was off by one pixel.
Corrected by counting pixels:
Screenshot_2019-06-22_00-47-17.png

Aravisian

Sat Jun 22, 2019 9:26:16 pm

Just 'cuz...

https://www.pling.com/p/1311035/
EDIT: Added Red Original and Red Modified, here: https://www.pling.com/p/1311137/
If anyone wants to try it out.

If you have any criticism or complaints, now is the perfect time to keep it to yourself...





8-)