To who might have control of Networking tray icon in Puppy

[april]

ETP . It looks good and I would like to use it but again the problem with compiling the WiFi Realtech driver stops me . They have not fixed it in the kernel yet ,despite my moaning, perhaps soon after my recent moan.

Micko. I notice also on Barry's "network_tray" program the icon shows as connected as soon as you start to configure the device by scanning for a network and stays that way all the time regardless unless it does not connect in which case it shows the red cross. I didn't check yours when I had it installed but I presume it does the same thing . It seems clear that your "complete rewrite" rather was a rehash of pretty much the same stuff in the same order as Barry's code wasn't it . Apart from showing the IP in tool tips and a change of icon . I noticed that the reported data usages seemed more accurate too. The fact though that at least it does not show it is connected when its not ,unless the modem is switched off later, is a definite plus.

I wondered if it could be possible to get this tray program doing what it should properly regardless of CPU usage and offering a working version if people want it . I would be very happy to assist in this in any way I can . I can write bash scripts but my knowledge of that and Puppy's scripts is limited.

Hey 200 posts and not banned for being too frank -thats a milestone for me

[01micko]

Firstly Micko your tray program does not realise when it has been disconnected by the router. Barry's doesn't either which gives the rather strange result that the icons say connected and the modem is switched off.

A bit like modern cars . Everything is connected to the computer so if it floods you can't hold your foot on the gas pedal to clear it anymore . It isn't connected to the gas.

I find that your finding is very strange. The design is that as soon as your connection drops the IP address the disconnected icon should appear. This has been tested several times.

Micko. I notice also on Barry's "network_tray" program the icon shows as connected as soon as you start to configure the device by scanning for a network and stays that way all the time regardless unless it does not connect in which case it shows the red cross. I didn't check yours when I had it installed but I presume it does the same thing . It seems clear that your "complete rewrite" rather was a rehash of pretty much the same stuff in the same order as Barry's code wasn't it . Apart from showing the IP in tool tips and a change of icon . I noticed that the reported data usages seemed more accurate too. The fact though that at least it does not show it is connected when its not ,unless the modem is switched off later, is a definite plus.

netmon_wce doesn't do this. As stated, a connected icon only shows when there is a valid IP address.

It is a complete rewrite. I asked you to read through the thread but you said it's a a bit too technical. That's ok, I don't expect everyone to be an expert!

I wondered if it could be possible to get this tray program doing what it should properly regardless of CPU usage and offering a working version if people want it . I would be very happy to assist in this in any way I can . I can write bash scripts but my knowledge of that and Puppy's scripts is limited.

I believe it is doing what it should. CPU usage for a tray icon should be minimal and that was that was one of the main objectives of my rewrite.

I am happy to hear your complaints and bug reports but it's probably better off to move this discussion to the netmon_wce thread. I can explain to you exactly what the code is doing if you wish and you can tell me if that part is working for you or not. We have to approach this in a methodical, constructive way to find out why it isn't working properly for you.

I look forward to your comments here.

[solo]

You can make your own set of icons for the network-tray if you want to.

The location of the icons that make up all the different network states is /usr/local/lib/X11/mini-icons/network_tray-xpm/

I made a custom set for myself in Inkscape, exporting it to xpm format.

But making it look good is a bigger challenge then expected. It is a very small image after all.

[april]

Huh huh , any chance of a look at your icons?

[solo]

Sure.

I've made these for a specific tray color, and as you can see, some of them came out quite garbled, but since I never use a mobile/wifi/ethernet combo connection myself, I never get those in my tray anyway.

What is nice about these is that you get a clear animated view of the in and out traffic.

I've arranged them here as they would appear alphabetically in the /usr/local/lib/X11/mini-icons/network_tray-xpm/ folder

[april]

Thanks 46 icons =lotsa work
perhaps select each file and put on dropbox or someone like that might be better. I was going to try them but to cut and paste and save little bits with the right file names ,I have no idea =lotsa work

Don't expect you to do it either . Thanks anyway

[solo]

Working with these icons has its difficulties.

The xpm format allows for transparancy, which is good news, because in principle, this would mean that you could design an iconset which can be used in both a bright colored tray or a dark colored tray.

In practical terms however, this is a big challenge.

There is no partial transparancy in xpm for instance. A pixel is either totally transparant, or it is not.
So where I use these little input/output arrows which have a gradient that fades to transparancy, that is something I can only pull off because I used a predetermined color as my backround, instead of a transparant backround.

This means my connection tray iconset is very limited in its application in so much that it would only look good if the tray color is the same as the icon backround.

As an excersize, I made an attempt today to convert them in such a manner that it would acceptable in most dark colored trays, but I'm sorry to admit that the result looks quite miserable.

[solo]

Another aspect of xpm format transparancy, is that anti-aliasing is pretty much out of the question if you use a transparant backround.

In practical terms, this means your design is constrained to a very pixellated look, avoiding curved forms as much as possible.

But on the plus side, if you can pull it off, you get away with designing an iconset which looks good on any backround.

And since this seems like a nice challenge, I am going to dabble with it and keep you posted in this thread.

[april]

Goodo Ill watch out

[solo]

Okay, well, here it is then.

It worked, but then it didn't also, in a sense that yes, you can make an iconset which is visible in both a bright and a dark backround, but no, it will not look equally appealing, at least not from where I am sitting.

So I still ended up making two iconsets. One which looks better with a bright backround, and one which looks better with a dark one.
Mind you, they are still functionable the other way around.

There's a zipfile attached which containes a folder called Connectiontray_icons. In this folder there are two folders, one called Brightbackround and one called Darkbackround. You can copy the contents of one of these folders (which ever tickles your fancy) to the following location:

/usr/local/lib/X11/mini-icons/network_tray-xpm/

You might want to make a backup of your old icons first.

[solo]

Here's a preview of them btw

[april]

Thanks very much . Running them now.
Such fun !

[solo]

Glad to have been of service!

[solo]

Okay, the icons I made, just to be clear, are not suitable for the netmon_wce network monitor as designed by 01Micko, but rather for the old network_tray.

This is because the netmon_wce package uses svg icons instead of xpm, and only differentiates between wifi and non-wifi, but has the added icons which indicate wifi strenghth.

[solo]

Here's a 'new and improved' version of the network tray icons I made.

I decided to make the outline of the in/out arrows transparant, which makes a cleaner image, and brings it one step closer to the original intent, which was to design an iconset which would look good on both a dark and bright backround.

There would be a downside in so much that if you decided to make the color of your taskbar close to magenta or neon green, the arrows would dissapear into the backround. But let's be fair, if your style decisions concerning your desktop gravitate towards those types of color schemes, you have bigger problems than that.