AfterStep 1.8 FAQ

Charlie Schmidt (ishamael@themes.org)

1. General Information

• 1.1 About this Document.
• 1.2 What is AfterStep?
• 1.3 What is AfterStep's history?
• 1.4 Fine, what if I'm not running AfterStep 1.8? Is there a FAQ for me?
• 1.5 What is X? What are these "window managers" ?
• 1.6 What are AfterStep's main features?
• 1.7 Is AfterStep 1.8 GNOME and/or KDE compliant?
• 1.8 Can I run it in Microsoft Windows(tm)?
• 1.9 Who develops AfterStep?
• 1.10 AfterStep is awesome! How can I help?
• 1.11 Who writes this FAQ?

2. Resources

• 2.1 Where can I find AfterStep resources, or help?
• 2.2 What are the AfterStep mailing lists, and where are their archives?

3. Getting and Installing AfterStep 1.8

• 3.1 Where can I get AfterStep 1.8?
• 3.2 What do I need to compile and install AfterStep?
• 3.3 Can I install AfterStep without being root?
• 3.4 How do I upgrade AfterStep?
• 3.5 What's up with all these compile errors?
• 3.6 What's up with this error about sgmltools?
• 3.7 What if I don't want to compile AfterStep, can I get a binary package, like rpm?
• 3.8 How do I install AfterStep on SGI or SCO?
• 3.9 How do I install AfterStep on MacOS X?
• 3.10 How do I install AfterStep on a system with CDE?

4. Problems After Installing

• 4.1 I keep getting this "Cannot open display" error when I run AfterStep, what gives?
• 4.2 Why isn't my alt key working in emacs anymore?
• 4.3 I use RedHat Linux, and my startmenu changes keep disappearing, why?
• 4.4 How do I report a bug or suggest a new feature?

5. AfterStep Configuration

• 5.1 Where are the AfterStep configuration files?
• 5.2 Explain what all these configuration files do.
• 5.3 What is this .steprc everyone keeps talking about?
• 5.4 How do I add things to my startmenu?
• 5.5 How do I remove some of these titlebar buttons?
• 5.6 How do I change what happens when I click on a certain titlebar button?
• 5.7 How do I remove the titlebar from a window?
• 5.8 I don't want window focus to follow the mouse, how do I change it so it acts like Microsoft Windows(tm)?
• 5.9 What are these MyStyles I keep hearing about?
• 5.10 How do I get applications to iconify to a different place?
• 5.11 Suddenly, some windows stay on top of everything else, why?
• 5.12 Is there a graphical configuration program for AfterStep?

6. GNOME

• 6.1 What is GNOME, and why should I use it?
• 6.2 Why do window managers have to be GNOME compliant?
• 6.3 How do I get AfterStep to be GNOME compliant?

7. Graphics issues

• 7.1 Why do Swallowed apps and icons keep disappearing from the Wharf?
• 7.2 Why are the Netscape buttons deformed? Why does Netscape get its own colormap?
• 7.3 How do I create an icon with a transparent pixel?
• 7.4 Why are PNGs and JPEGs darker when they get loaded into AfterStep?
• 7.5 Why doesn't some program work in 16bpp?
• 7.6 How do I change the background in AfterStep?
• 7.7 How can I make the background centered, instead of tiled?
• 7.8 Why do some applications not have icons?
• 7.9 What is this transparent terminal I keep seeing?
• 7.10 How come some pixmaps look messed up when I set them as the aterm background?

8. AfterStep Modules

• 8.1 What are AfterStep modules?
• 8.2 How can I get multiple Wharfs or Pagers?
• 8.3 Why can't I find the man page for Wharf?
• 8.4 What is the difference between Wharf and Zharf?
• 8.5 How do I change the Pager's size?
• 8.6 Is it possible for an application to wait for the background to get loaded?
• 8.7 How can I get rid of the desk name in my Pager?
• 8.8 How do I start an application on a specific desk or page?

9. Themes

• 9.1 What is a "theme"?
• 9.2 Where can I find AfterStep themes?
• 9.3 How do I install an AfterStep theme?
• 9.4 How do I make an AfterStep theme?
• 9.5 Where can I get help on themes?

10. Miscellany

• 10.1 What is this "shade" thing?
• 10.2 How do I use Microsoft Windows(tm) TrueType fonts in AfterStep?