transparency - the real thing

[Net Llama!]

On 08/04/03 22:52, Roger Oberholtzer wrote:

> On Tue, 2003-08-05 at 06:25, Net Llama! wrote:
> 
>>A coworker just got a sexy new Mac Powerbook, and had me drooling over how 
>>gorgeous the entire OSX UI is.  But what really blew me away was the fact 
>>that OSX can do _real_ window transparency, like this:
>>
>>http://osx.hyperjeff.net/Showcase/screen_shots/03.28.CocoaNTerminal.jpg
>>
>>That means that every window can be transparent to whatever is behind it. 
>>Not just the (now) cheap hacks that we see with linux terms, where you get 
>>the background image, and nothing else.
>>
>>Or maybe someone can prove me wrong.  Is there linux functionality that 
>>will give me true transparency?
> 
> 
> On KDE 3.1, this is sort of possible. All menus can be transparent. It
> is actually useful sometimes when pull-down menus cover the work you
> need the menu for. So, you do not need to get rid of and bring back the
> menu if you need to consult on-screen info to make a decision in the
> menu.

hrmmm.  in OSX, you can make any window 0-100% transparent, in real time. 
damn, and all this time i've been mocking my wife's love of Macs.

> 
> The only other transparent app I know of is eterm.

and aterm.  I think konsole can do it too, but since i don't have KDE 
anywhere, i can't test it.

> 
> As OSX is using XFree86 (right?), some Linux desktop could also provide
> this. I am not sure if transparency is an X thing now. I seem to recall
> reading that.

OSX can use XFree86, however that's not what it natively uses (and, i don't 
believe its what is used in that screenshot).

> 
> IMO, I like the transparent menus. But not all windows. I quickly got
> bored with transparent eterm. 

transparent eterm isn't the same thing.  that's just the old background 
hack (which aterm does too).

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
L. Friedman                       	       netllama at linux-sxs.org
Linux Step-by-step & TyGeMo: 		    http://netllama.ipfox.com

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