Mouse hover info: background dark

[Maurice Batey]

Both in Mageia-2 and -3Beta4, I am finding that some mouse hover text
backgrounds are dark grey, which makes the black text difficult to read.
The mini-windows that appear on mouse hover seems to vary with
individual icons. Some are larger and easy to read. Some are white text on
black backround.
But e..g. Dropbox and Internet connection status icons are using black
text on a dark grey background - difficult to read, especially on a netbook
screen.

Is there any user control function that can adjust the arrangement, or are
we stuck with whatever the icon's application chose?

[Aragorn]

On Thursday 18 April 2013 16:45, Maurice Batey conveyed the following to
alt.os.linux.mageia...

Post by Maurice Batey
Both in Mageia-2 and -3Beta4, I am finding that some mouse hover text
backgrounds are dark grey, which makes the black text difficult to read.
The mini-windows that appear on mouse hover seems to vary with
individual icons. Some are larger and easy to read. Some are white
text on black backround.
But e..g. Dropbox and Internet connection status icons are using
black text on a dark grey background - difficult to read, especially
on a netbook screen.
Is there any user control function that can adjust the arrangement, or
are we stuck with whatever the icon's application chose?

I take it that you're talking of the tooltips. If you're running KDE,
then you should be able to set the colors under the Application
Appearance section in the System Settings (alias "configure your
desktop").

Note: You /may/ have to log out and back in for the changes to affect
all applications. Sometimes when changing a KDE-related visual
aspect, only the newly opened applications bear the changes.

[Maurice Batey]

Post by Aragorn
I take it that you're talking of the tooltips.

Tooltips - that's the word I couldn't conjure up! Thank you.

The odd thing is that the tooltips format varies from icon to icon.
At least one has white text on a black background, but most are black on
white - so that would seem to rule out a global rule.
(Perhaps it's one of those exceptions that 'proves the rule'...)

Will take another look at System Setting s/Appearance.

[Maurice Batey]

Will take another look at System Settings/Appearance.

The mystery deepens...

In System Settings/Appication Appearance/Colours:

Tooltip background = 'black' (#181513)
Tooltip text = pale blue (#E7FDFF)

- yet all icon tooltips on the desktop and panel (bar one - HPLIP Status
Sevice) show tooltips with black on a beige background, and:

Within Konqueror: black on dark!!
Ditto FileZilla, Gimp
but:
Within Dolphin: pale blue on black
Ditto LibreOffice, K3B, Kwrite, Kalarm, Skype

It's not the inconsistency that's the problem, it's black on dark!

[Maurice Batey]

Post by Maurice Batey
Within Konqueror: black on dark!!

Correction - that is FIREFOX, not Konqueror

[Aragorn]

On Friday 19 April 2013 16:30, Maurice Batey conveyed the following to
alt.os.linux.mageia...

Post by Maurice Batey

Post by Maurice Batey
Within Konqueror: black on dark!!

Correction - that is FIREFOX, not Konqueror

Ah, but Firefox is a XUL application, not a KDE application. Now I
don't know about Mageia 2 or 3 beta, but in my Mageia 1 with KDE 4.6.5,
I have an option to apply the KDE color scheme to non-KDE (read: GTK)
applications.

That may or may not give you the desired result, though. I generally
find GTK to behave rather unpredictably on account of KDE styling, plus
that XUL-based applications may or may not respond to GNOME/GTK styling
settings via gconf2.

[Maurice Batey]

Post by Aragorn
Firefox is a XUL application, not a KDE application. Now I
don't know about Mageia 2 or 3 beta, but in my Mageia 1 with KDE 4.6.5,
I have an option to apply the KDE color scheme to non-KDE (read: GTK)
applications.

Yes, that option is there on Mageia-2, under Colours/Options, and it *is*
selected.

Post by Aragorn
That may or may not give you the desired result, though. I generally
find GTK to behave rather unpredictably on account of KDE styling, plus
that XUL-based applications may or may not respond to GNOME/GTK styling
settings via gconf2.

Another case (apart from Pan) of black-on-dark is the 'blue globe' Network
connection status icon in the Panel. Almost impossible to make out the info
being shown.
Is that also 'not KDE'?

If the XUL-based applications are not following KDE styling, what on earth
might be causing them to use such impractical arrangements?

Is it simply that there is no solution to this ridiculous sitation?!

By the way, I am having similar prbblems with Mageia-3-Beta4 on my netbook,
so it is not a local Mageia-2-only symptom.

[Aragorn]

On Friday 19 April 2013 17:15, Maurice Batey conveyed the following to
alt.os.linux.mageia...

Post by Maurice Batey

Post by Aragorn
Firefox is a XUL application, not a KDE application. Now I
don't know about Mageia 2 or 3 beta, but in my Mageia 1 with KDE
4.6.5, I have an option to apply the KDE color scheme to non-KDE
(read: GTK) applications.

Yes, that option is there on Mageia-2, under Colours/Options, and it *is*
selected.

Post by Aragorn
That may or may not give you the desired result, though. I generally
find GTK to behave rather unpredictably on account of KDE styling,
plus that XUL-based applications may or may not respond to GNOME/GTK
styling settings via gconf2.

Another case (apart from Pan) of black-on-dark is the 'blue globe'
Network connection status icon in the Panel. Almost impossible to make
out the info being shown.
Is that also 'not KDE'?

I don't really know. It's probably some front-end to Network Manager,
but I'm not using that as this is a desktop workstation connected to the
router via a CAT5e cable, not a roaming laptop/netbook on WiFi.

Post by Maurice Batey
If the XUL-based applications are not following KDE styling, what on
earth might be causing them to use such impractical arrangements?

Probably some compatibility issues between their GTK back-ends and Qt.

Post by Maurice Batey
Is it simply that there is no solution to this ridiculous sitation?!

Well, you could try installing (or uninstalling) certain themes or theme
combinations... :-/

Post by Maurice Batey
By the way, I am having similar prbblems with Mageia-3-Beta4 on my
netbook, so it is not a local Mageia-2-only symptom.

It's probably a GTK thing. :-/

[Maurice Batey]

On Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:34:07 +0200, Aragorn wrote:

(In reply to my:}

Post by Aragorn

Post by Maurice Batey
Another case (apart from Pan) of black-on-dark is the 'blue globe'
Network connection status icon in the Panel. Almost impossible to make
out the info being shown.
Is that also 'not KDE'?

I don't really know. It's probably some front-end to Network Manager,
but I'm not using that as this is a desktop workstation connected to the
router via a CAT5e cable, not a roaming laptop/netbook on WiFi.

Not using NetworkManager. Also, it appears when connected via eth0.
As well as the 'black on dark' tooltip problem on Mageia-2, the icon has
mysteriously disappeared from the Panel on my Mageia-3-Beta4!

On Mageia-2, the 'blue globe's settings include "Always start on startup'
(ticked), and 'Watched interfaces' include eth0, eth1, and wlan0 options.
Anyone know how to get it back into the Panel, please?

[unruh]

Post by Maurice Batey
(In reply to my:}

Post by Aragorn

Post by Maurice Batey
Another case (apart from Pan) of black-on-dark is the 'blue globe'
Network connection status icon in the Panel. Almost impossible to make
out the info being shown.
Is that also 'not KDE'?

It is KDE.

Post by Maurice Batey

Post by Aragorn
I don't really know. It's probably some front-end to Network Manager,
but I'm not using that as this is a desktop workstation connected to the
router via a CAT5e cable, not a roaming laptop/netbook on WiFi.

Not using NetworkManager. Also, it appears when connected via eth0.
As well as the 'black on dark' tooltip problem on Mageia-2, the icon has
mysteriously disappeared from the Panel on my Mageia-3-Beta4!
On Mageia-2, the 'blue globe's settings include "Always start on startup'
(ticked), and 'Watched interfaces' include eth0, eth1, and wlan0 options.
Anyone know how to get it back into the Panel, please?

[Maurice Batey]

Post by unruh
It is KDE.

Do you also know how to get the icon back in the Panel?!

(Mageia-2's MMC/Network Help says:

"An applet appears in the desktop's panel indicating that the connection
is up or down", but how to make it re-appear?!)

[Bit Twister]

Post by Maurice Batey
Do you also know how to get the icon back in the Panel?!

have you tried Right click over the clock, Add Widget, ne in the
search box?

[Maurice Batey]

Post by Bit Twister
have you tried Right click over the clock, Add Widget, ne in the
search box?

Oh, yes! True, the icon did then appear in the Panel, but minus any
connection status info.

Will give it another try; might have missed some config mantra.

[Maurice Batey]

Post by Maurice Batey
Oh, yes! True, the icon did then appear in the Panel, but minus any
connection status info.

That was with an earlier Beta - called "Network Monitor" in the Widget
list, as in Mageia-2.

With the Beta4 on the netbook, there is no Widget that matches the filter
"net".
Perhaps the Network Monitor has been replaced by net_applet, which does
not provide the missing at-a-glance tooltip snapshot of the connection
status?

And yet in the RC LiveCD that I tried at the weekend, it did come up with
the old 'blue globe on a stand' icon in the Panel.

If Beta4 is supposed to still have it, then something has wiped it from the
Widget collection on this installation.

[Bit Twister]

Post by Maurice Batey
If Beta4 is supposed to still have it, then something has wiped it from the
Widget collection on this installation.

Sorry I can not help with Beta4. Running RC. VirtualBox guest has it
during install.

I did manage to get the network center (globe) in my host's task bar by
using the launch menu, tools, system tools, launched it and it jumped
into the task bar. Right clicking it, settings and you can have it
launch on start up.

[Maurice Batey]

Launch menu, tools, system tools, launched it and it jumped
into the task bar. Right clicking it, settings and you can have it
launch on start up.

OK, found it, but 'launching' it (i.e. left mouse click) didn't seem to do
anything, so did 'Add to Panel'.

Looked at its 'settings' options, saw "Enable launch feedback" and "place
in system tray", so ticked both.
Re-booted, but hovering mouse pointer over the icon just shows
"NetApplet" - no connection info!

What did I do wrong?

[Bit Twister]

Post by Maurice Batey
OK, found it, but 'launching' it (i.e. left mouse click) didn't seem to do
anything, so did 'Add to Panel'.
Looked at its 'settings' options, saw "Enable launch feedback" and "place
in system tray", so ticked both.
Re-booted, but hovering mouse pointer over the icon just shows
"NetApplet" - no connection info!
What did I do wrong?

Can only guess you did not do a clean install of RC. My install steps:
Clean install of Mageia-3-RC-x86_64-DVD.iso. Default runlevel: 3
Package Group Selection screen has all package groups selected except
Other Graphical Desktops. non-free and tainted media are enabled.
Followed with:
remove-unused-packages
urpmi --downloader wget --auto --auto-update
reboot
urpme --auto-orphans

$ cat /etc/sysconfig/desktop
DISPLAYMANAGER=gdm
DESKTOP=KDE4

[Maurice Batey]

Post by Bit Twister
Can only guess you did not do a clean install of RC

Correct - it was a clean install of Beta4, but is fully updated.

(But I did re-use the Beta3 /home.)

Is there really no way to resurrect the 'connection status' info for the
'NetApplet' icon?

$ cat /etc/sysconfig/desktop
DISPLAYMANAGER=kdm <-----
DESKTOP=KDE4

[Bit Twister]

Post by Maurice Batey

Post by Bit Twister
Can only guess you did not do a clean install of RC

Correct - it was a clean install of Beta4, but is fully updated.
(But I did re-use the Beta3 /home.)

In that case using a new test account would be in order to rule out a
user setting.

Post by Maurice Batey
Is there really no way to resurrect the 'connection status' info for the
'NetApplet' icon?

I would like for you to create a new user, say junk, and log into junk.
If junk's task bar does not have the icon, log out of junk, get into
mcc->System->Manage users on system, double click junk, click Groups tab
and add junk to the adm group.

WARNING, check/verify Primary Group box still contains junk after
adding adm group.

Log back into junk, and go through the process to add the widget back
into the task bar and see what you can see.

Post by Maurice Batey
$ cat /etc/sysconfig/desktop
DISPLAYMANAGER=kdm <-----

Pretty much going to say that is not the root cause of your problem.

[Maurice Batey]

Post by Bit Twister
create a new user, say junk, and log into junk.
If junk's task bar does not have the icon,

But it does, and its 'tooltip' info correctly shows the connection status!

In the meantime, the same symbol in my panel still just shows
'NetApplet' as its tooltips info...

[unruh]

Post by Maurice Batey

Post by Bit Twister
create a new user, say junk, and log into junk.
If junk's task bar does not have the icon,

But it does, and its 'tooltip' info correctly shows the connection status!
In the meantime, the same symbol in my panel still just shows
'NetApplet' as its tooltips info...

Which says that there is something in your home directory setup which is
altering its behaviour. Not unexpected but terrible to debug.

[Bit Twister]

Post by Maurice Batey

Post by Bit Twister
create a new user, say junk, and log into junk.
If junk's task bar does not have the icon,

But it does, and its 'tooltip' info correctly shows the connection status!
In the meantime, the same symbol in my panel still just shows
'NetApplet' as its tooltips info...

Then all you have to do is compare what is different between
~junk/.kde4/share/config/* and your account's files. :)

Or log in as junk, click up a terminal,
su - root
cd /home/YOUR_ACCOUNT/.kde4/share/config/ and
mkdir broke/
mv *plasma* broke/
chown -R YOUR_ACCOUNT:YOUR_ACCOUNT broke/

exit
exit
Leave/log out of junk, and log into YOUR_ACCOUNT.

[Maurice Batey]

log in as junk, click up a terminal, su - root
cd /home/YOUR_ACCOUNT/.kde4/share/config/ and mkdir broke/
mv *plasma* broke/

OK - in other words move the *plasma* files out of config and
save them in /broke?

chown -R YOUR_ACCOUNT:YOUR_ACCOUNT broke/

Why do that?

So the aim is to get the *plasma* files re-generated?

(and can't do the hiding of the old *plasma* files within the 'your account'
session?)

[Bit Twister]

Post by Maurice Batey
OK - in other words move the *plasma* files out of config and
save them in /broke?

Yep.

Post by Maurice Batey

Post by Bit Twister
chown -R YOUR_ACCOUNT:YOUR_ACCOUNT broke/

Why do that?

Because I had you doing the steps as root and broke/ was created by root.
I also wanted to make sure broke/ and it's contents were owned by the
user and not root.

Post by Maurice Batey
So the aim is to get the *plasma* files re-generated?

Yes, and while not running kde as the screwed up user when
removing/backing them up.

Post by Maurice Batey
(and can't do the hiding of the old *plasma* files within the 'your account'
session?)

Some files are saved upon exiting KDE, thus recreating the old/bad
config files.

As an FYI, I want the same desktop icons for all my shortcuts
regardless or release or Distribution. That means I have saved them in
/local/icons and all desktop shortcuts have /local/icons/.. in their
~$USER/Desktop/whatever.desktop file.

Here is the gotcha, the icons have to match the icon "size" desktop
settings. Otherwise they are incorrectly shown or not shown at all.

[Maurice Batey]

Post by Bit Twister
cd /home/YOUR_ACCOUNT/.kde4/share/config/ and
mkdir broke/
mv *plasma* broke/ ..........

Hey, that worked!
Not only that, but the 'tooltip' connection info is readable.

BT, you're a genius!
Many thanks indeed.

(Even the Broadcom WiFi is still working!)

[David W. Hodgins]

Post by Maurice Batey

Post by unruh
It is KDE.

Do you also know how to get the icon back in the Panel?!

Open up a konsole and enter
$ net_applet &

Look for any error messages other then ...
[1] 21215
[***@x2s ~]$ Cannot open /dev/input/eventX: Permission denied
Cannot open /dev/input/eventX: Permission denied
Cannot open /dev/input/eventX: Permission denied
Cannot open /dev/input/eventX: Permission denied
Cannot open /dev/input/eventX: Permission denied

Regards, Dave Hodgins

[Maurice Batey]

Post by David W. Hodgins
net_applet &

----------------------------------------------------------
[1] 2803
Gtk-Message **: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module" at
/usr/lib/libDrakX/mygtk2.pm line 20.
net_applet already running
---------------------------------------------------------

There may be some ambiguity about 'net_applet'.

In the beta4 Panel there is a 'hammer on blue globe' icon that does take me
into the Network Centre (showing etho and WLAN state), but it does not give
a 'tooltip' glimpse of the situation that the other icon gave (Just shows
"Network Centre"). Is that the 'net_applet'?
Perhaps the useful old one has been replaced by the above?
(No sign of old one ("Network Monitor"in Mageia-2 Widgets) - does not
appear in beta4's Widget list.)

True,one can check the status of internet connection, by clicking on the
hammer-on-globe icon and then request info on eth0 or WLAN, but that's
nowhere near as useful as the at-one-glance tooltip info that used to be
presented.

Anyone else got the latter one in Beta4?!

[unruh]

Post by Maurice Batey

Post by David W. Hodgins
net_applet &

----------------------------------------------------------
[1] 2803
Gtk-Message **: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module" at
/usr/lib/libDrakX/mygtk2.pm line 20.
net_applet already running
---------------------------------------------------------
There may be some ambiguity about 'net_applet'.
In the beta4 Panel there is a 'hammer on blue globe' icon that does take me
into the Network Centre (showing etho and WLAN state), but it does not give
a 'tooltip' glimpse of the situation that the other icon gave (Just shows
"Network Centre"). Is that the 'net_applet'?

Sorry, no idea what a "tooltip glimpse of the situation" is or means.
net_applet tells you if you are connected to the wifi or not. It (at
least in Mag 2) shows the Mac type concentric radiating circle arcs if
you are connected, the globe if you are connected to teh access point
but no IP.

Not sure what else you wanted, but that was what I referred to and
thought you were referring to .

Post by Maurice Batey
Perhaps the useful old one has been replaced by the above?
(No sign of old one ("Network Monitor"in Mageia-2 Widgets) - does not
appear in beta4's Widget list.)
True,one can check the status of internet connection, by clicking on the
hammer-on-globe icon and then request info on eth0 or WLAN, but that's
nowhere near as useful as the at-one-glance tooltip info that used to be
presented.
Anyone else got the latter one in Beta4?!

[Maurice Batey]

Post by unruh
no idea what a "tooltip glimpse of the situation" is or means.

If you hover the mouse pointer over an icon in the Panel, a mini-window
will pop up with summary information about the app the icon represents.
I believe these gems of info are known as 'tool tips'.

Post by unruh
net_applet tells you if you are connected to the wifi or not.

That's exactly what I meant, and what has gone missing in my Beta4.

In the Widget list it appears to be called "Network Monitor", and is there
on Mageia-2 and earlier Mageia-3 levels, but not in my Beta4 install
(although it was in the RC LiveCD I tried at the weekend).

If you all have it in your Beta4 then something has wiped it from my Beta4
install, and I want it back!

[unruh]

Post by Maurice Batey

Post by unruh
It is KDE.

Do you also know how to get the icon back in the Panel?!
"An applet appears in the desktop's panel indicating that the connection
is up or down", but how to make it re-appear?!)

It is the net_applet I believe (/usr/bin/net_applet)
Try just running it.