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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > GUI Customization > What retro OS theme would you like?

What retro OS theme would you like?
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MetalSnake
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Mar 4, 2004, 12:08 PM
 
How about a cool os7 UI or an Amiga workbench 3.5 themeset or Atari ST, many of us apple users came from these systems and would love to pay them homage.

I could provide screenshots for those 3 systems but I�m no graphic designer, so I can�t do the themes myself
     
codywalton
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Mar 4, 2004, 02:04 PM
 
  • System 7
  • Windows 95
  • DOS (all black with green text)
     
justinp
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Mar 4, 2004, 02:16 PM
 
Would you really use a Windows 95 theme? Honestly?

I can't see that as anything but a waste of someones time.

     
TheDisaster
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Mar 4, 2004, 02:18 PM
 
I have approximately 65% of a Windows 3.1 theme done, it's for 10.2 though... The humor of making it wore off quick.
|wishing is for suckers|
     
olorin15
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Mar 4, 2004, 02:31 PM
 
Originally posted by codywalton:
  • System 7
  • Windows 95
  • DOS (all black with green text)
I'm sorry, but putting a Win95 theme on a Mac is about as bad as voting for Bush ...
Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they
come at you rapidly
     
Mike S.
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Mar 4, 2004, 02:36 PM
 
I thought the never released NeXTSTEP 4 was rather nice, it's color could use some change though.

There was this neat, high contrast mock-up of Mac OS X I saw years ago that looked pretty cool. At least that's how I remember it, I'd have to see it today to see if I felt the same about it but I have no idea where to find it.
     
d4nth3m4n
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Mar 4, 2004, 02:37 PM
 
Originally posted by olorin15:
I'm sorry, but putting a Win95 theme on a Mac is about as bad as voting for Bush ...
ill vote for bush.....




























for lawn ornament

*rimshot*
     
codywalton
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Mar 4, 2004, 03:26 PM
 
You people need to stop with the unprovoked bashing and stay on topic. If this continues I will start reporting people to the mods. fair warning.

The question was what retro OS would you like ported to OS X. The one I want the most is System 7. I said Win95 because I did have to use it a lot in work and school (as did many others) so there may be some nostalgia there. If you don't like it, don't use it. It's very simple. Having a 95 theme is no worse than having an XP theme (which more of you use than you care to admit )

Mostly I want System 7. The others I just threw in to fill out the list a bit more.
     
wibs
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Mar 4, 2004, 03:41 PM
 
Originally posted by codywalton:
You people need to stop with the unprovoked bashing and stay on topic. If this continues I will start reporting people to the mods. fair warning.
but i thought bush LIKED unprovoked bashing? i mean, that's what he did, right?

...sorry, couldn't resist. you won't hear another word about it out of me.

as for all those retro OSes, I don't understand why people would want that on their computer for other than brief humor value, and brief humor value does not seem like a good use of time considering how long it takes to make a theme. Maybe shiocop could do it in a couple days, that guy's an animal, but I'm a big fan of themes exploring new territory and taking advantage of recent innovations rather than copying something that wasn't good enough to still exist today.

well, there's my .02.
DigitalRamen sucks.
     
justinp
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Mar 4, 2004, 03:42 PM
 
Um, I'm thinking it's quite a bit worse than an XP theme. XP may not be the best looking interface ever, but I think it trounces 95 thoroughly.

Or maybe I'm just the only person that thinks 95 wasn't the height of GUI design...

     
MacDog
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Mar 4, 2004, 03:43 PM
 
Windows XP Theme here.
NeXT Theme here.
Windows 98 Theme here.
Mac OS7 Theme here and here.
Rhapsody Theme here.
QNX (X86 platform OS) Theme here.
BeOS Theme (for OSX 10.1 only - old Swiz theme) here.

While not all of these themes will work with SS or in Panther, they ARE available. I would think that it would be easier to get a theme like BeOS up and running in SS/Panther since Swiz had it going in X 10.1 already... not that I would know how much work would be involved to update it).
     
codywalton
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Mar 4, 2004, 04:06 PM
 
Originally posted by MacDog:
Windows XP Theme here.
NeXT Theme here.
Windows 98 Theme here.
Mac OS7 Theme here and here.
Rhapsody Theme here.
QNX (X86 platform OS) Theme here.
BeOS Theme (for OSX 10.1 only - old Swiz theme) here.

While not all of these themes will work with SS or in Panther, they ARE available. I would think that it would be easier to get a theme like BeOS up and running in SS/Panther since Swiz had it going in X 10.1 already... not that I would know how much work would be involved to update it).
Cool... but the links you provided for the System 7 theme are actually Platinum (OS 8 and 9). here is what System 7 looks like:



Also the Win 98 theme is VERY incomplete with much of the Aqua elements still being used. I'd think of using it if it was complete. There is an old Kaleidoscope scheme of Win95... perhaps someone will port it.

I love Swiz's NeXT port... that rocks.
     
Luca Rescigno
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Mar 4, 2004, 04:17 PM
 
Gershwix and Classic Platinum are both really more like the OS 8/OS 9 themes, not like System 7.

System 7

OS 8/9

There's a little comparison for you. I would have liked to find a better one, but this is all I could come up with in a few minutes of Google image searching.

"That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" *wheeze*
     
codywalton
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Mar 4, 2004, 04:18 PM
 
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
Gershwix and Classic Platinum are both really more like the OS 8/OS 9 themes, not like System 7.

System 7

OS 8/9

There's a little comparison for you. I would have liked to find a better one, but this is all I could come up with in a few minutes of Google image searching.
Excellent comparison. That's precisely what I was trying to say. If someone could make a true System 7 theme I would be a happy camper.
     
Lew
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Mar 4, 2004, 04:48 PM
 
Originally posted by MacDog:
QNX (X86 platform OS) Theme here.
I really want to be able to use this theme with SS! It's one of my favourite themes out there - clean, simple yet elegant.

     
MorphOSX
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Mar 4, 2004, 04:49 PM
 
Sys7 would rock, I'd like a true port of the old OS 8 theme "HiTech" (yes, I know it's been done somewhat, but I think a more faithful port and/or one that is more faithful with some aqua elements would look cool)...

Dave
     
codywalton
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Mar 4, 2004, 05:33 PM
 
Here are a few from the old Kaleidoscope site.
http://kaleidoscope.net/schemes/osschemes.shtml






     
Luca Rescigno
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Mar 4, 2004, 05:42 PM
 
Was Kaleidoscope actually able to change the positions of the window widgets? I noticed that the Windows and NeXT schemes actually have close boxes in the upper right like they are supposed to... that's pretty cool! Wish we could do this with OS X.

"That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" *wheeze*
     
bOOzo
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Mar 4, 2004, 05:59 PM
 
Originally posted by Mimizuku no Lew:
I really want to be able to use this theme with SS! It's one of my favourite themes out there - clean, simple yet elegant.

I think I will update this theme for SS, but it's mostly James Meister's theme and I was kinda hoping that he would do, I haven't talked to him about it though.
     
u2zoo
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Mar 4, 2004, 06:23 PM
 
I am waiting for Swiz's BeOS update which, is in the works I believe. If only Shapeshifter allowed BeOS's true yellow tabs.

mmmm yellow tabs.
     
codywalton
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Mar 4, 2004, 06:44 PM
 
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
Was Kaleidoscope actually able to change the positions of the window widgets? I noticed that the Windows and NeXT schemes actually have close boxes in the upper right like they are supposed to... that's pretty cool! Wish we could do this with OS X.
Yep. Kaleidoscope (version 2) was able to do pretty much whatever you wanted to the window layout. This was good and bad, ad it gave you more freedom, but also allowed some people to make completely unusable themes.

take a look through the archive... you'll see what I mean
http://kaleidoscope.net/schemes/schemespotlight.shtml
     
Frisbee
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Mar 4, 2004, 07:33 PM
 
Originally posted by codywalton:
Yep. Kaleidoscope (version 2) was able to do pretty much whatever you wanted to the window layout. This was good and bad, ad it gave you more freedom, but also allowed some people to make completely unusable themes.

take a look through the archive... you'll see what I mean
http://kaleidoscope.net/schemes/schemespotlight.shtml
Search for "upside down copland"

I really can't say I wouldn't like a windows 98 theme- whenever I'm on an XP box I always switch it to the classic Windows 98 look. If someone were to try and make a really retro looking thing, it could be based off of windows v.1 (although it's pretty hideous..) or the 'edit' program in DOS... reboot into DOS and run it that way for the full effect of the little text-based cursor...
     
themarvelous3
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Mar 4, 2004, 07:36 PM
 
yeah...kaleidascope RULED

so did...



+Co-Pilot+!!!!!
     
themarvelous3
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Mar 4, 2004, 07:36 PM
 
...now those were sweet widgets
     
Lefo
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Mar 4, 2004, 07:39 PM
 
Okay, it's not really retro, but it kind of is...

HAL9000 but not like any K-Scheme ever made. Have a pulsing red eye instead of the spinning spokes for the wait icon. Nah. Just kidding. The guy who's thinking about doing LCARS for SS could probably port over a HAL easily if he wanted to.

I didn't like Win95 much, but Win98 was kind of cool. Just didn't like the K-Scheme after the extra non-usefull info border was put on the bottom of the window.

I like System 7 and Win98. Those are my votes for retro themes.

Lefo
     
Luca Rescigno
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Mar 4, 2004, 07:42 PM
 
Ouch. There are some pretty awful themes there... they look completely unusable! Anyway, it would still be nice to have that kind of versatility. Yeah, there would be plenty of awful themes like some of those, but there would also be some great things that the experienced themers could do.

"That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" *wheeze*
     
quandarry
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Mar 4, 2004, 11:16 PM
 

7/X

     
Holigen
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Mar 4, 2004, 11:23 PM
 
Hmm, where oh where is the maximize button. A few other things:

Why would a guy like quandarry have Little Snitch...?
Didnt the latest version of Microsoft Mouse actually reduce features?

Other than that, youre good to go.

.: 15" PowerBook G4 - 1.5 GHz - 512 MB RAM - ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128 MB VRAM - 80 GB HD @ 5400 rpm :.
     
olorin15
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Mar 4, 2004, 11:38 PM
 
oops
Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they
come at you rapidly
     
quandarry
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Mar 5, 2004, 12:11 AM
 
Originally posted by Holigen:
Hmm, where oh where is the maximize button. A few other things:

Why would a guy like quandarry have Little Snitch...?
Didnt the latest version of Microsoft Mouse actually reduce features?

Other than that, youre good to go.
i have it installed on my blueberry imac which still has 10.2.6.

when a widget is inactive it is not there.

the theme was never finished.

as for little snitch...i hate spyware phoning home.
     
wibs
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Mar 5, 2004, 12:16 AM
 
Originally posted by Holigen:
Hmm, where oh where is the maximize button.
System Prefs can't be maximized, so the inactive state of the maximize button is probably the same as the window titlebar/completely transparent.
DigitalRamen sucks.
     
ambush
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Mar 5, 2004, 12:51 AM
 
system 7 all the way!


impeach bush btw.
     
jimcpherson
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Mar 5, 2004, 04:40 PM
 
For off-topic, unprovoked Bush bashing see below...
     
Vpro7
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Mar 5, 2004, 06:02 PM
 
Originally posted by jimcpherson:
For off-topic, unprovoked Bush bashing see below...
I don't think anyone needs to bash the Bush, he seems to do himself more harm to himself than anyone else could, a real danger to himself. I say we just shove him in a bin, and kcik it off a cliff, then blow it up, just for good measure

Talking of themes, I'll give a yay to a Mac port of the litestep Noir theme, not really an OS, but good enough.
     
sushiism
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Mar 5, 2004, 06:43 PM
 
you cant beat os 8/9 best looking thing that isnt osx
     
huggeebear
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Mar 7, 2004, 08:12 PM
 
I would LOVE to see a port of BBX Platinum to OS X... this was /is my all time favourite OS 9 theme. I soooo much wish it would be ported...
     
MetalSnake  (op)
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Mar 16, 2004, 09:39 AM
 
I just saw that Resexcellence posted an OS 7 theme, well it still needs much work but it�s a start.

     
lookmark
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Mar 16, 2004, 08:00 PM
 
If we're really going retro, how about...?
     
codywalton
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Mar 16, 2004, 08:55 PM
 
Originally posted by MetalSnake:
I just saw that Resexcellence posted an OS 7 theme, well it still needs much work but it�s a start.

It's still too incomplete for my tastes.
     
codywalton
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Mar 16, 2004, 08:55 PM
 
Originally posted by lookmark:
If we're really going retro, how about...?
OH, YEAH!!!
     
MetalSnake  (op)
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Mar 17, 2004, 06:46 AM
 
Originally posted by codywalton:
It's still too incomplete for my tastes.
same here, but I hope that guy will finish the theme.
     
ARENA
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Mar 17, 2004, 10:48 AM
 
OS7 is nice, but what we really need is a Mac OS 6 theme!
     
   
 
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