Few thoughts on new Debian Squeeze bad theme
design. How to change the new ugly GNOME default gdm (more blue
orbit) theme in Debian Linux
I really hate this
new Debian theme SpaceFun / More Blue Orbit -
(cosmic stars theme). I find it too childish and the
combination of the blue color and the stars is so
dis-tasteful.
If you're not using a Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 or Debian
Testing/Unstable you have probably not encountered this ugliness,
you see on below's picture.
I do understand the theme design guys wanted to have something
which ties to Christmas (at the time of creating it), but come on
Christmas has gone long time ago and it's about Easter and the bad
Christmas looking theme is still there ...
The possibility that this theme might stay as a default one for the
GRUB boot manager and for
Gnome Display Manager
during the whole Debian Squeeze 6.0 release cycle (about 2 years
time) is quite sad.
My dislike for the
more blue orbit theme has pushed me into
a desire to change this theme into something which is more likeable
for the eye.
The idea behind this post was to express my thoughts on the
bad
graphic design policy Debian has recently embraced, along with
the few lines concerning the gdm theme change setup.
This ugly new theme picture has even appeared on the official
website of Debian (
debian.org ).
We all know that Linux is not notable with a great Design, as most
good graphic designers are Windows users, but still the old
simplistic Debian ideas about themes made more sense to me.
Now after I've expressed my personal thoughts and feelings on
Debian's new graphic design policy I'll skip further and will
explain
how to change the gdm theme: in few seconds:
1. Open gnome-terminal and become root and launch
gdmsetup:
GDMSetup requires root privileges as it changes the theme of Gnome
Display Manager for the whole system:
hipo@debian:~$ su root
debian:~# gdmsetup
2. You will see the gnome display manager setup program to
appear on the screen You see it in the screenshot below:
3. As you see in the screenshot you need to go to the
menu:
Local and scroll down to see the complete list of system
installed themes.
Installing new themes is also a piece of cake, all you have to do
is download a selected GDM from
art.gnome.org or
gnome-look.org and use the
Add button you see on the
screenshot to include the theme from the list of themes you can
further use.
There are number of options in gdmsetup which can change the way
gdmsetup authenticates users in Gnome, it also allows useful things
like for example:
- Remote Login (located in Remote menu, for example remote gdm
logins through Xserver)
- Accessibility (see Accessibility menu) - options (for blind and
deaf people's login)
- Automatic user login (Logging in Gnome without a password)
- Enabling the root (administrator) user login
- Disable certain system user's ability to login via gdm
etc.
The default Welcome screen text
"Welcome" could also easily
be changed from the menus:
Local -> Custom
Just type in your custom text you want to appear on Gnome's user
login screen in the Custom field, and restart gdm:
debian:~# killall -HUP gdm
Next gdm login will prompt you with your new selected theme and
text.
I personally liked
LiNsta (LiNsta is Not Vista GDM theme with
Gnome Logo) the most and I recommend it to everybody who wants
to switch from the old
Debian MoreBlue Orbit ugly
theme.
Concerning the Debian themes bad design, I hope truly that this
will change soon.
I'm quite interested if other people share my opinion about the new
themes implemented in Debian.
Looking forward to hear for your opinions!