Linux.Desktop.Hacks [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Hack 24. Convert CursorXP Themes for Use with Linux

Convert custom cursor themes meant for Windows
for use with Linux.

Want even fancier cursor
themes than those currently
available for Linux? A company called Stardock has created a product
called CursorXP for Windows XP. It allows Windows users to choose
from hundreds of fancy animated cursor themes. This hack is a script
that will convert these cursor themes for use with X11 under Linux.

A huge repository of publicly available cursor themes are designed
for use with CursorXP. You can find these themes at http://www.wincustomize.com. The specific URL
for the cursor themes is http://www2.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=25.

You can download one or more of these themes and then use a Perl
script to convert them for use with X11, the engine that powers your
desktop. Eric Windisch created the original Perl script, which
Nicholas Petreley and James Barron have since modified. This hack
uses the version of the script called
np-sd2xc.pl, which you can download from the
O'Reilly catalog page for this book: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdeskhks.

You need to have version 6 or better of ImageMagick installed for the script to
work properly. You also need these Perl modules installed:

Image::Magick

Getopt::Long

Config::IniFiles

Once you are sure you have all the prerequisite packages installed,
download a cursor theme to convert. For example, download the file
Gear.zip. Unzip this file to a work directory so
that you can perform the conversion. These commands (substitute the
name of the zip file you're using for
Gear.zip if you are using a different theme) use
the newly created directory geartemp as a work
directory:

$ mkdir ~/geartemp
$ cd ~/geartemp
$ unzip Gear.zip

This expands your zip file into another file, which in this case is
called Gear.CurXPTheme. Even though this file
has the extension .CurXPTheme,
it's really just another zip file that you can
expand with the following command:

$ unzip Gear.CurXPTheme

Now you're almost ready to run
np-sd2xc.pl. The -name
command switch defines the name of the cursor theme when
you install it. This theme was originally called
Gear, but you can use another name if you want.
For the sake of frivolity, give this theme a new name, CoolGear, by
using this command:

$ np-sd2xc.pl -name CoolGear

The conversion program can add drop shadows to all the cursors when
it converts the CursorXP cursor themes. It's a
matter of taste, but I think drop shadows give the cursor a very nice
3D appearance. If you want the cursors to have drop shadows, add the
-shadow command switch and use this command
instead:

$ np-sd2xc.pl -shadow -name CoolGear

Now you can install the theme (this example installs it in your home
directory). The following commands both install the theme and set it
as the default theme (the -R switch tells the
cp copy command to recurse through directories so
that you'll copy everything below the
CoolGear and default directories to the
destination ~/.icons):

$ cp -R CoolGear ~/.icons
$ cp -R default ~/.icons

The second command overwrites whatever
index.theme file you have in your
~/.icons/default directory.

Start up your favorite desktop or window manager (or exit and restart
the desktop or window manager you're using), and you
should see the cursor theme, formerly designed for Windows, running
on your Linux X server-based desktop!

Not every CursorXP theme converts well. It's possible for a misbehaving cursor theme to prevent you from starting up your window manager or desktop. If you have this problem, switch to a virtual console by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F1. Log in with your normal username. Edit your ~/.icons/default/index.theme file, and change the Inherits parameter to a theme that works.