[kde-linux] how to stop the flash of blue when kde starts? [solved :)]

[`Zidane Tribal]

On 1/1/08, James Richard Tyrer <tyrerj at acm.org> wrote:
> `Zidane Tribal wrote:
> > hey all,
> >
> > i have a curious problem.   basicly, my kdm background is set to black
> > and to auto-login, and my kde desktop background is set to black, so i
> > should go from "black to black".  however, it would appear that when
> > kde starts, it has a blue background and displays it until it starts
> > loading my personalised settings, leading to a "black to blue to
> > black".
> >
> > i cant imagine this would be too hard to solve, but i cant seem to
> > find anything about where this colour setting is stored and nothing in
> > the gui seems to change it.
> >
> > is it possible to change this default kde background colour?
> >
> > i should point out, i certainly dont mind getting my hands dirty
> > delving around in configuration files if required.
> >
> > just incase it is helpfull, i am using kubuntu 7.10 on a toshiba
> > equium a200-1v0 and everything is working perfectly except for this
> > little blue flash when kde is loading.
>
> IIUC, you have set your desktop background to black, and you think that
> you have set the KDM background to black.
>
> It isn't that simple: sorry about that. :-)
>
> There is an X command option which I think is "-br" which substitutes a
> startup black root window background for the standard 1 pixel pitch gray
> checkerboard.  With KDM, this is set in: $KDEDIR/share/config/kdm/kdmrc:
>
> 	ServerCmd=
>
> Then there is the background color for KDM which is set in the Control
> Center:
>
> 	System Administration -> Login Manager :: Background
>
> Then the: "$KDEDIR/bin/startkde" script might be setting the background:
>
> 	xsetroot -solid <color>
>
> and you probably want to simply remove that, but don't remove:
>
> 	xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr
>
> And then finally there is the Desktop background in the Control Center:
>
> 	Appearance & Themes -> Background
>
> And then there are utilities such as xloadimage that can also set the
> root background color.
>
> --
> JRT
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>

Thankyou for your very quick and informative answer, it was exactly
what i was looking for :)  it turns out it was the startkde script
that had the colour set, one quick edit and no more blue flash.

i'm not sure if it is usefull to others or not, but just in case, here
is the problem and solution.

using ubuntu 7.10, the file /usr/bin/startkde contains the following section

-- copied from /usr/bin/startkde --

# Set the background to plain grey.
# The standard X background is nasty, causing moire effects and exploding
# people's heads. We use colours from the standard KDE palette for those with
# palettised displays.

if test -z "$XDM_MANAGED" || echo "$XDM_MANAGED" | grep ",auto" >
/dev/null; then
  xsetroot -solid "#618DCC"
fi

-- end of copy --

i edited the file as root using the command "sudo nano
/usr/bin/startkde" to set the colour to #000000 (hex black) so i get
the black background i wanted without having to see x's default "head
exploding" grey dotted background.

--  updated /usr/bin/startkde --

# Set the background to plain grey.
# The standard X background is nasty, causing moire effects and exploding
# people's heads. We use colours from the standard KDE palette for those with
# palettised displays.

#change inserted here by me
#changed solid colour from 618dcc to 000000

if test -z "$XDM_MANAGED" || echo "$XDM_MANAGED" | grep ",auto" >
/dev/null; then
  xsetroot -solid "#000000"
fi

-- end of copy --

and now i have a very shiny black background from startup to desktop.

thankyou for your quick and informative help, what seemed a difficult
problem has suddenly become easy :)

Zidane



-- 
You dont need a reason to help people.  `Zidane Tribal.