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Trying to do some Tiger UI tweaks as a project

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retta283

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Jun 8, 2018
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Please note this is purely for fun and is a hobbyist pursuit. Don't ask why I'm trying to do this because this is the answer you're going to get.

I want to tweak Tiger's UI to look more like Jaguar on my iBook G4 (Don't have any Jaguar machines anymore and will not be buying one in the near future) and am wondering about a few things.

First, I need some of the icons. Most notably I need the older QuickTime 5/6 icon, and the iChat icon. Any others would be nice too.

Second, is there a way to get rid of the Spotlight icon in the Menu bar? I also want to if possible restore the pinstripes to the Menu bar.

Third, are there any ways to tweak the Finder appearance to look more like the Jaguar era one? If it's possible to use the Jaguar finder even, I could attempt that.

Finally, is it possible to change the background picture on the login screen? It is always the Tiger Aqua default regardless of user wallpapers.

Anything else that can help with this project would be appreciated.

1580130687680.png
Here's a picture for reference.
 
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This sounds like a great little project. Don't worry about the "Why?" question - as long as it means a good deal of fun to you, by all means go for it. :)

1. As for the icons, you could extract some of them from the 10.2.8 Combo update.

2. I use UNO [http://www.gui.interacto.net/download.php] to get rid of brushed metal in Tiger's Finder windows. The software might be in German (I've never tested it with the language set to anything else) but you get previews so should be able to work out what the options do. I can also provide my settings as reference.

3. The login screen's background is at /System/Library/CoreServices/DefaultDesktop.jpg and can be replaced.

4. The logo in "About This Mac" is in /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/Resources/MacOSX.tif (or possibly AboutBox.tif) and can be replaced.
 
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Use Onyx (Tiger version) to get rid of Spotlight.

Since you are sticking with Tiger, that also gives you Shapeshifter (why bother trying to cobble a theme together?).


Downloads #6 and #7 have multiple Shapeshifter themes. Maybe there's something in there that'll work.

I'd also try looking through deviantart.com or just do a Google search for Jaguar icons you can use with Candybar. Again, why cobble anything together if you can get a set and apply it in one click.

PS. Be sure to get the latest version of Shapeshifter if you wish to use it. There were bugs in the last version of Panther that cause a blue screen right before the login window.
 
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So far I have been able to disable Spotlight by using Terminal commands and removing the bundle for the Menu Bar icon.

I was able to replace the background for the Login screen and pull the old About.tiff and that all works fine. I downloaded latest Combo update and the apps that were in it did not have their Resources folders, so no icons. I was able to pull in QuickTime icon from an old DMG for Jaguar.

I searched for the icons before starting this thread and I didn't find any for download. I also downloaded the two Jaguar CDs and I can't seem to find the applications or Finder inside the file structure. I think I will need to pull the .icns files from a real install, which is currently impossible as I cannot install it on any of my machines.

I currently need the following:
iChat icon
System Preferences icon
Finder icon
Everything other than this is intact or was pulled from install apps. I don't know what the policy about uploading system files is, but they're just pictures basically so it shouldn't be a problem.
 
This thread may be insightful to you...

forums.macrumors.com

Manual Tiger Theming

I've revisited The Panther Thread recently, and when I saw Whiteout as one of the listed "Top Apps", I wanted to see if it worked on Tiger, even if it was initially put together for Panther. (I didn't bother with Metalifizer.) I later discovered the installer wouldn't comply with Tiger, but...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com

The most useful part I got out of that whole experience is knowing that Panther's Extras.rsrc translates over pretty well to Tiger with minimal consequence, essentially turning Tiger's UI to that of Panther's (minus Spotlight) in the process.

Of course, I hardly use Tiger anymore, so I didn't end up making much use out of my discovery, unfortunately...
 
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I was able to pull the Extras.rsrc out of a Jaguar update and tried it out, and it was pretty messed up. The menubar was perfect, exactly what I wanted (when Spotlight is missing it looks perfect) but so much of it was unstable and glitchy. I'll have to see if I can pull the Panther Extras from an update.

I do have a machine capable of running Panther (early 2005 15" PB) but I have not been able to find the discs or images to install from. Some day I will find one...

Thanks for the icons, the Finder icon is actually available in .icns form too, which seems to be the one the Dock uses. It's in the Finder app in CoreServices. I was not able to get it working in the Dock because I couldn't trick it, I might need the .icns for it.
 
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Just looked into the 10.3.8 combo update, and it doesn't have the Extras.rsrc, the resources folder for toolbox is empty.
 
retta283 said:
Thanks for this. I don't have any DVD large enough to burn it as of right now. I might be able to mess with a USB install, but every time I've tried it on my PB it just gives me a forbidden symbol and doesn't let me install. Not sure what I've been doing wrong.
Click to expand...
FireWire for teh win.
 
Does anyone have the Shapeshifter guiKit for Jaguar UI on Tiger?
I downloaded the Shapeshifter themes from the Garden, but annoyingly you can't work out which one is a pure Jag theme without manually looking through about 50 custom UIs.
 
retta283 said:
Thanks for this. I don't have any DVD large enough to burn it as of right now. I might be able to mess with a USB install, but every time I've tried it on my PB it just gives me a forbidden symbol and doesn't let me install. Not sure what I've been doing wrong.
Click to expand...
Can you use Pacifist to pull out the resource files?

Or, could someone on this forum who is running Panther send them to you?

It just seems silly to not work with the original files.

Edit: Oops, I just realized this thread was old...
 
I made a discovery while working on the Tiger Sierra theme. If you install Shapeshifter and apply a theme, then copy the Extras.rsrc and Finder.rsrc files, remove Shapeshifter, and replace your default Extras and Finder rsrc files (or even move them to another machine), the theme works without having Shapeshifter installed. Not a huge discovery, and pretty obvious in retrospec, but pretty cool nevertheless...
 
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Shapeshifter seems to skrew up my system once installed. It happens when I try to choose a themes, computer becomes unresponsive at opening .dmg files and also connecting/mounting to the network disks. After erasing it from applications and cleaning Library, everything is back to normal.
 
ak-78 said:
Shapeshifter seems to skrew up my system once installed. It happens when I try to choose a themes, computer becomes unresponsive at opening .dmg files and also connecting/mounting to the network disks. After erasing it from applications and cleaning Library, everything is back to normal.
Click to expand...
Oops. Never mind.
 
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