Description: Sunbeam and moonshine are among the most powerful and customizable KDE kicker panel applet and application pair intended to be used (together or in isolation) as an alternative to the present kicker menu.The software currently provides a range of features like file and application search and browsing facilities, process monitoring, drive mounting/unmounting, access to favourite apps and folders, window-browsing and desktop access, and the usual session-management functions ie. locking/logging-out/saving-session . All this with a nifty browser-type ability to go back and forth in browsing history and a highly-configurable interface make sunbeam/moonshine a super desktop application. [NEWS] Added: Process viewer. Transparencies and an animation(suggestions about what would look better and other tips welcome). Better configuration interface. [BRIEF HOWTO] for a detailed description read the HOWTO here: http://sunbeamoonshine.sourceforge.net/sunbeam.php "Actions" controls whats shown everywhere. "Preferences" controls how its looked for "Browse" controls where its looked for "Search" shows the results "the Command combo" controls what is searched. "Toolbar" for configuration and others
** Bright (and not so bright) Ideas(esp for Mark II), RPM/Deb/Gentoo packages and Icons/Backgrounds and Bug-Reports really really Invited!!! Can anyone living in or near bombay/india lend me CDs with linux distribution containing the latest version of kde? **
I am currently in the process of drawing up a feature-list for MARK II which, due to other things that have come up, should take quite some time. This (MARK II that is),at the least should feature lots of eye-candy, better speeds and a smaller (memory) footprint. Other equally important features i have planned to implement are a better configuration interface, better, more modular design, easy extensibility and integration with other software/libraries(including kat and/or beagle support). Apropos, anyone have any bright ideas, tell me!!
[Credits] Thanks Moty Rahamim for the deb Christoph Mockenhaupt for the e-builds Thanks for the idea Thom. and thanks for the help ildr and the superkaramba team.
[to compile]...read INSTALL file in the source.Last changelog:
0.1-alpha-r154...Bringing things ABreast Superutility Release Added: 1.Process monitor(you have to refresh it manually).You can KILL/TERMINATE/SIGNAL naughty processes from here now!!! 2.Pseudo-Transparency (not too clean but what the hell...atleast theyre there)-Remember each subwidget can be given a different colour-blend..so thats cool .. lots of improvement coming up. 3.Animation/Reanimation . Just a little one but atleast its there Corrected: 1.Mount problems with sym-links etc. 2.Configuration....Cleaner and partially internationalised. 3.Search applets from services menu is faster-atleast nominally so(click to dig deeper). Planned: 1.Better animations and transparencies (ideas anyone?). 2.Copy and paste support. 3.Support for reading text. Am i trying to cram all of KDE into this? NO. 4.Cleaner Moonshine with Cool Alarm-Clock/Stopwatch support. 5.Sunbeam's Own Icons (hopefully...is someone generous enough?).
Great! As a slackware user, I think it could use some native linux touch. Oh, and a gentoo-user style bug: why isn't the moonshine drinkable if I compile it with --wno-long-short -vomit-frame-pointer -i-can-read ?
Native linux touch?...could u elaborate?
And Drinkable?...i assume by that you mean it should support little aswell as big endian?
please please explain
mm sorry ... didnt read ur comment properly the last time around... ill check with the compilation problem.... but well, the linux touch thing is still a bit, u know, unclear.
What I like about the kmenu is that I press Ctrl+F1 and it opens such that I can handle everything with the keyboard.
Is it possible to add global key support and probably two configurations:
(a) open it as a menu from kicker (eg. topleft under the button)
(b) open it centered through global key combination as a wide window.
thanks
Hmm... another one for a window(managed) mode?
well ok... will do that :). Global key support, hmm... ill look into that one too... but one can connect global shortcuts to apps, starting or stopping through kconfig right?... try connecting sunbeam to it. by default only one instance starts and subsequent calls just pop-up the one already started. the centered under the mouse thing should(hopefully.. if i can send the mouse-click coordinates to the app..but do u need that when you can preconfigure the app to open anywhere on the screen?) also happen with the next minor release but do u really want to ... this release is coming since i found some small bugs i should be able to correct quite easily.
Mind showing a full screenshot, and not just the application? I don't exactly understand what it does, and I think maybe that could help a bit.
Thanks.
There is one on the website. Its from an old version of sunbeam (which did not have a toolbar) but i am sure you will get the idea... anyway... ill put that screenshot up here in sometime. Heres the link to all the screenshots till then.
http://sunbeamoonshine.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php
thanks mate... will definitely look into that.
but then again...some words...
1.kat integration not till MARK II
2.please elaborate the single click..
3.watch out for MARK II
but of course i have some comments:
- i'd rather see everything single-click
- why not make it a (kwin-managable) window instaead of a menu?
- let search only work on homedirectory, now it comes up with lots of /usr/share/doc stuff, a bit useless.
- maybe integrate search with kat/beagle?
- app search/start: if i type the name, and it shows autocomplete (with grey) hitting enter should start the app (and close the menu). same with doc's - if the right one is selected (let it be blue in the show-result part) and i hit enter, let it be started. of course, arrow up/down should select in results?!?
of course you still have work to do, but it already is an impressive app... !!!
Not Really Felipe! But if you have seen Apple's spotlight, this thing does some similar things. Anyway... i suggest you use it and see for yourself if you like it. ;-)
dude, get onto #irc.freenode.net superkaramba NOW!!!
this functionality is GREAT and if you want it included in kde 3.5.1 talk to p0z3r QUICK.
in combination with my kde "system menu" patches, this makes superkaramba a _complete_ replacement for kicker.
Great!
well it basically replaces a common desktop menu and search application is what it does. and adds a few nifty things like show/hide-desktop,browse windows,keep favourites,lock/logout.
if you installed moonshine: right click on you panel and add the applet
if you installed sunbeam: start sunbeam, that's all :)
both worked 'out-of-the-box' with my system, but it has some strange side-effects when starting :P
here's a screenshot of it.
http://www.e-f-o.nl/images/sunbeam.png
I'm running slackware 10.2 with kde 3.5
And what might those side-effects be?
If you refer to the fact that the app starts and ops up on every damn session-start, thats not entirely unintentional though may be undesirable. The idea is that the start menu is the first thing the user may use and thus must be open at session start...ill turn it off till i get the config file done if there is a quorum on this. If you are referring to the fact that yakuake window appears below sunbeam, there isnt much that can be done since this is a popup...and u know, popups are popups. The wierd positioning will be taken care of as soon as the config is done.
If its anything else ... tell me.
well yes it is quite cluttered but couldnt help it much mate... tried to cram most of the things one could need into one app...with a configuration, that should be a bit cleaner.
if nobody has told you yet (and maybe this problem is unintentional altogether) the sunbeam.desktop needs to be placed in /usr/share/apps/kicker/applets/ in order for it to be selectable from the "add applet to panel" menu. It didn't do this when I build a deb file or when I ran make install. BTW, I'll gladly make debs and rpms for everyone as soon as these programs start installing correctly. Nice program so far! You clearly have sqeezed a lot of functionality out already, so how about some useless eye candy? In the future you should add a configure menu and round the corners on it, add transparency options, animated hide/show, and allow for the side menus (favorites, etc.) to be resizable. I'm really interested in this project, looks awesome. I still haven't been able to get it to run from the "add applet to panel" menu. Anyone?
running:
kde 3.5
kubuntu breezy
I had the feeling this would happen!!
Ary running the application(sunbeam) from the shell.
Did you try to run autoconf + automake again?
Do tell me your kde version too.
Anyone else having this problem?
.. lots of improvement coming up.
Ratings & Comments
29 Comments
Great! As a slackware user, I think it could use some native linux touch. Oh, and a gentoo-user style bug: why isn't the moonshine drinkable if I compile it with --wno-long-short -vomit-frame-pointer -i-can-read ?
Native linux touch?...could u elaborate? And Drinkable?...i assume by that you mean it should support little aswell as big endian? please please explain
mm sorry ... didnt read ur comment properly the last time around... ill check with the compilation problem.... but well, the linux touch thing is still a bit, u know, unclear.
What I like about the kmenu is that I press Ctrl+F1 and it opens such that I can handle everything with the keyboard. Is it possible to add global key support and probably two configurations: (a) open it as a menu from kicker (eg. topleft under the button) (b) open it centered through global key combination as a wide window. thanks
Hmm... another one for a window(managed) mode? well ok... will do that :). Global key support, hmm... ill look into that one too... but one can connect global shortcuts to apps, starting or stopping through kconfig right?... try connecting sunbeam to it. by default only one instance starts and subsequent calls just pop-up the one already started. the centered under the mouse thing should(hopefully.. if i can send the mouse-click coordinates to the app..but do u need that when you can preconfigure the app to open anywhere on the screen?) also happen with the next minor release but do u really want to ... this release is coming since i found some small bugs i should be able to correct quite easily.
Mind showing a full screenshot, and not just the application? I don't exactly understand what it does, and I think maybe that could help a bit. Thanks.
There is one on the website. Its from an old version of sunbeam (which did not have a toolbar) but i am sure you will get the idea... anyway... ill put that screenshot up here in sometime. Heres the link to all the screenshots till then. http://sunbeamoonshine.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php
thanks mate... will definitely look into that. but then again...some words... 1.kat integration not till MARK II 2.please elaborate the single click.. 3.watch out for MARK II
but of course i have some comments: - i'd rather see everything single-click - why not make it a (kwin-managable) window instaead of a menu? - let search only work on homedirectory, now it comes up with lots of /usr/share/doc stuff, a bit useless. - maybe integrate search with kat/beagle? - app search/start: if i type the name, and it shows autocomplete (with grey) hitting enter should start the app (and close the menu). same with doc's - if the right one is selected (let it be blue in the show-result part) and i hit enter, let it be started. of course, arrow up/down should select in results?!? of course you still have work to do, but it already is an impressive app... !!!
very interesting, how does this relate to kdesktop's "mac style" menubar? does it duplicate that functionality?
Not Really Felipe! But if you have seen Apple's spotlight, this thing does some similar things. Anyway... i suggest you use it and see for yourself if you like it. ;-)
dude, get onto #irc.freenode.net superkaramba NOW!!! this functionality is GREAT and if you want it included in kde 3.5.1 talk to p0z3r QUICK. in combination with my kde "system menu" patches, this makes superkaramba a _complete_ replacement for kicker.
Thanks Luke! Will be talking to the man as soon as possible :-).
Works now. But I'm a bit confused, what does sunbeam do?
Great! well it basically replaces a common desktop menu and search application is what it does. and adds a few nifty things like show/hide-desktop,browse windows,keep favourites,lock/logout.
hi i just installed the improvement, no problems. but i have no clue how to start it. im running KDE 3.4 on a debian testing machine...
if you installed moonshine: right click on you panel and add the applet if you installed sunbeam: start sunbeam, that's all :) both worked 'out-of-the-box' with my system, but it has some strange side-effects when starting :P here's a screenshot of it. http://www.e-f-o.nl/images/sunbeam.png I'm running slackware 10.2 with kde 3.5
And what might those side-effects be? If you refer to the fact that the app starts and ops up on every damn session-start, thats not entirely unintentional though may be undesirable. The idea is that the start menu is the first thing the user may use and thus must be open at session start...ill turn it off till i get the config file done if there is a quorum on this. If you are referring to the fact that yakuake window appears below sunbeam, there isnt much that can be done since this is a popup...and u know, popups are popups. The wierd positioning will be taken care of as soon as the config is done. If its anything else ... tell me.
Its hard to understand -- but it does look very nice :)
well yes it is quite cluttered but couldnt help it much mate... tried to cram most of the things one could need into one app...with a configuration, that should be a bit cleaner.
Sunbeam and Moonshine is a very nice...download now!
if nobody has told you yet (and maybe this problem is unintentional altogether) the sunbeam.desktop needs to be placed in /usr/share/apps/kicker/applets/ in order for it to be selectable from the "add applet to panel" menu. It didn't do this when I build a deb file or when I ran make install. BTW, I'll gladly make debs and rpms for everyone as soon as these programs start installing correctly. Nice program so far! You clearly have sqeezed a lot of functionality out already, so how about some useless eye candy? In the future you should add a configure menu and round the corners on it, add transparency options, animated hide/show, and allow for the side menus (favorites, etc.) to be resizable. I'm really interested in this project, looks awesome. I still haven't been able to get it to run from the "add applet to panel" menu. Anyone? running: kde 3.5 kubuntu breezy
hmm... ill check it out soon. a lot of i-candy and app-search coming soon too. keep watching
configure make make install worked like a charm, but I don't see any way to launch them. No menu entry or applet entry.
I had the feeling this would happen!! Ary running the application(sunbeam) from the shell. Did you try to run autoconf + automake again? Do tell me your kde version too. Anyone else having this problem?