Transparent Terminals

[Ow Mun Heng]

Hi,
 
    Just wanted to saw that I finally can achieve transparent (or near)
using Metacity
and Eterm. 
 
The syntax is
 
Eterm -O -x -f white --scroolbar 0 --buttonbar 0  g 235x15+0+820
 
Note that you might have to change the parameters passed to "g" since I have
a 1400x1050 
res screen.
 
I don't really need UTF8 support. I just want to use that for piping logs
through grc.
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Becker [mailto:tbecker at sixdegreesconsulting.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 11:41 PM
To: fedora-list at redhat.com
Subject: Transparent Terminals


I set up what I call a background shell.  It's just a transparent

borderless terminal that covers most of my desktop background.  I've

done this with both Eterm and gnome-terminal and I think any term

program that supports transparent backgrounds will work.



Here's how I set my "background" shell up:



First you can not use Metacity as your WM b/c it does not support

borderless windows (I find Metaciy VERY lacking).  I use sawfish as my

WM.



I currently use gnome-terminal b/c it supports UTF-8 better that Eterm

so I'll describe that setup.



1) Fire up a gnome-terminal and create a new profile for the transparent

background. Edit --> profiles --> new profile. Here's my settings:



General: Give the profile a name (I used "bkgrnd") and set the font if

you   want. I used Courier 10 Pitch. 

Title and Command: Set the Initial title (I used bkgrnd) and set

Dynamically-set Title to Isn't displayed. 

Colors: Nothing to see here. Move along. 

Effects: Set transparent background. Shading at 0%

Scrolling: No change 

Compatibility: No Change



2) Save the profile and set "Profile used when launching a new terminal"

to Default. Don't use your background profile or you'll have a bunch of

transparent borderless terminals running around.



3) Launch a gnome-terminal using the bkgrnd profile and set the size. 



/usr/bin/gnome-terminal --geometry=128x41+105+0 --hide-menubar \

--window-with-profile=bkgrnd 



The geometry setting is Width x Hight x X-offset x Y-offset. This

setting works for my resolution and font size. YMMV. Try different

settings until you get your window just right. The

"window-with-profile=bkgrnd" should be the name of the profile you just

created.



4) I set my session to launch the terminal on startup. 



Gnome Menu --> Preferences --> More Preferences --> Sessions --> Startup

Programs tab. 



Add a startup program and enter your gnome-terminal command.



5) Shut off the borders and other window configuration. Here's some of

that advanced window manager functionality that Metacity lacks.   



Start your Gnome-terminal.   

Bring up the configuration manager for sawfish:

 

Gnome Menu --> Preferences --> Windows



Go to the Matched Windows tab and add a Matcher.   Select matcher by

Name (in the left drop down) and hit the grab button.   

Click on your gnome-terminal. You should now have a matcher by Name

called ^bkgrnd$ or whatever your window title is.   



Here's how I configured the "actions" tabs:



Placement tab: Depth = -1  This keeps the background shell in the

background not allowing it to come forward above other windows.

   

Focus tab: Raise on focus = no, nothing else checked

Appearance tab: Frame type = none. This gets rid of the border.

State tab: Ignored=yes, Sticky=yes (puts the terminal in all

workspaces), Window list skip=yes   

Other tab: Nothing checked 



That's it! 



I set this up back in my RH 7.2 days b/c I thought it looked cool but

now I can't live w/o it!

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listman.redhat.com/archives/fedora-list/attachments/20040319/be0bb7d9/attachment-0001.htm>