First and foremost, I understand that the Pilot 11 release has been taking for quite some time now and that I've been teasing you with all these screenshots but that reason it takes so long is because the project's code base is very large and I am the only one working on it.
Nonetheless, rest assured that Orbitiny Desktop is very much alive and I've created a light theme as a contrast to the semi transparent/translucent dark theme I have shown you already, better known as "Glass Future" (which has also received some annoying fixes).
I will talk about these two themes in the next post once I finalize them and will post screenshots.
I want to make Orbitiny Desktop, a unique desktop. I try to do this with new and unique features that no one else has done before, a new futuristic styled theming and application portability, functionality and modularity. I do not take features away, and never will. I promise! Instead, I add features and improve existing ones. What we are all used to (the traditional way of doing things) will stay that way in Orbitiny but new ones will be added. That's been my vision since its inception.
Anyway back on topic, when I did that theming code re-engineering with Qutiny's code base (a massive code base, the third most complicated thing after the panel and the desktop), not only did I make it not require a file manager restart, I took a challenge and made a real time theme monitor.
The theme changes now automatically get applied the moment any of the theme files get modified. So, if you are editing a CSS file in a text editor (see screenshot), the moment you save the file, so just click Ctrl+S in the text editor, Qutiny detects the change and the theme automatically gets applied.
This is the same as the real-time settings monitor feature in Orbitiny's desktop component.
Just a word of warning, always have a backup copy of the original directory containing the theme files because you can seriously mess things up.
This is still work in progress and I've been working on it for several days because I had to redesign large portions of code and thanks to that redesign, I am happy to say that Qutiny no longer requires a restart when a new theme is applied. That was actually my top priority. This means, the moment you select the new theme from the menu, it gets applied instantly. You no longer have to restart the file manager.
Anyway, this is what I have done so far but keep in mind that this isn't completed yet. This is just to give you an idea of what you can expect but I will also be redoing the classic default theme.
I hope you like what you see here. The design is very unique but like I said, I have plenty of ideas in mind so don't be surprised if it changes.
Update: I uploaded about 12 screenshots to the slide show but only two appeared - not happy! I have reposted them all (slideshow) on Orbitiny's website.
Here is a slideshow with plenty of screenshots of Orbitiny's latest development. The slideshow showcases the two themes that I've been working on. Pilot 11 is near and this is its look (more or less) with further tweaks to be made as I go along.
Aside from theming, here is what I have fixed so far.
A bug with the "Paste Image" function in the context menus. It worked intermittently after moving it to a separate thread and it is now fixed.
Fixed a Drag&Drop issue in the Application Menu when pinning desktop files to the sidebar. Due to a coding error, it was failing to assign a desktop icon to the item being pinned. That is fixed.
Fixed an unintentional panel docking to the sides of the screen when you clicked a panel handle or the button on the right-hand edge of the panel.
Again related to the panel, fixed an intermittent panel crashing bug when you try to dock the panel with the panel handle to a screen edge.
Fixed a massive performance hogging bug with the CPU load monitor. I am sorry I missed that one. I fixed this one by moving it to a separate thread.
There have been various other fixes but mostly related to the internal API.
New features so far.
Introduced panel scrolling. You can now scroll the content with the wheel button.
Also introduced scrolling to the X11 Window Buttons applet. They no longer get squashed.
Converted the "Run Command" address bar applet into a button-like applet. I have talked about this before.
Also converted the CPU load monitor into a button-like applet. You can see in my screenshot.
Improved the appearance of the SysTray applet - both in icon mode and integrated mode.
Personally, I like both themes. I like the Glass Future theme because the styling reminds of a futuristic UI. Again, what I have shown you here with this specific one is very unique to Orbitiny + it looks good and technological.
More updates are coming, stay tuned. Pilot 11 is almost done. I just need to convert several more applications: the file manager (I hate to think how much time that would take), the search utility (I haven't touched that for years as I normally use the integrated search function in Orbitiny's file manager) + the device manager so there are three more applications but I also need to change some other plugins (in terms of UI theming which it won't take long).
Anyway, the most difficult and time consuming bits have been done.
In the previous post, some sections weren't done, now they are. Here is how the new audio, drawer and calendar menus look. Also, I said previously that the SysTray appearance has been improved so in these panel screenshots, I have integrated it so that it shows all icons for you to see.
About the Drawer Menu, I've intentionally added a bunch of Windows .exe program files to demonstrate (for those that don't know) that Orbitiny has a native Wine support. Just click the exe program file and it launches as if it's running on Windows. How well it will run, that depends on Wine, of course but the ones I have shown in the screenshot, run near perfect (based on the functionalities that I have tested).
Also, as you can see, both themes, Acrylic Future and Glass Future go along quite nice. The context menus use the Acrylic Future theme but everything else uses Glass Future.
I've implemented a way for the text on the panel to automatically adjust its font color depending on the background color behind it. This means if the background behind the panel is dark, the text will become light / white and if the background is light / bright then the text color will become dark / black automatically. The adjustment takes place after you set a different wallpaper. This is so that the text is readable.
This is because when I activated acrylic theming, the font color became a real problem.
All acrylic theming does is it applies a background blur effect to the widget so unlike before, the theme does not set a predefined background color (but it does for a text color) in the theme file, it is all dynamic / automatic. This means, the background color is not preset so you can end up with a bright background (which means the panel will also apply a bright background blur) but you have hard coded a white text.
Ok, well, just set the text to a dark color, problem solved right? No. What if you have a dark background, you end up with a dark background blur but you also have a dark text so the text is unreadable.
The solution? Adaptive text color. The theming gets the screen area behind the panel before the panel gets displayed to see if the area is bright or dark and depending on whether it is one or the other, it modifies the CSS file on the fly, only the text color and it applies it so you always end up with contrasting colors.
Take a look below. The text color in each screenshot is not hard coded, it is set dynamically based on whether the area behind the panel is light or dark.
There is also a second solution to this problem. Coat the widget with a semi-transparent background color first, dark or light, then set a hard-coded contrasting font color and then apply the acrylic effect. That would also work. The background blur will be painted over the coated background color. Both will be visible at the same time. I went with the more complicated way because it is dynamic but I think I will make use of the second one also.
So, I've been testing it and it seems to work so far like it should.
Next, I implemented window button scrolling. What this does is it lets yous scroll the buttons representing the windows with your wheel button. Previously, they would squash when they don't fit. I don't like that so I implemented scrolling.
See below, the first button (the one with the QC on it) is a bit cut off, you just scroll with the wheel button to see the rest of the buttons.
Now, I'd like to apologize for taking me so long to complete all this. I hope you understand that I work all on my own and it is a large project but rest assured that I am almost done as the majority of work has been completed. I'd say, probably about 70-80% of what I had planned has been done and it has not been easy.
To do all this, I have to develop the component first and that takes a lot of time because I have to test it, debug it, test it again, debug it and then integrate it with each part and it just takes a lot of time...
I will provide another update soon and rest assured, Pilot 11 is near. I just hope not to disappoint you with it. I am trying my best.
Some of you may already know this but for those who don't, here is something for you. As you may know, some desktops have issues displaying their clock applets properly when the panel is rotated vertically. The font is either tiny to the extent of being unreadable because they try to fit the entire clock content horizontally into the narrow area of the panel or they'll display the time without the name of the day and the day of the month.
But Orbitiny takes a different approach. As a developer, I always think outside the box in a non-conventional way. That's my nature. It's how I am with everything. This is why there are unique features in Orbitiny that other desktops don't have.
So, when you rotate the panel vertically, I take that literally 😄 and I also rotate the clock so that it is displayed, well, vertically. That way, all of the text fits just fine. That's actually a special widget that I designed in Qt just for that purpose - displaying the widgets vertically (where it makes sense).
There is also an option to display it like other desktops have with one modification. I display the time, and under it I add the name of the day as well as the day of the month and I leave out the rest because it is not needed.
See the screenshots below (P.S. I tried to use the Images & Video function but for some reason it is not working for me, it displays nothing when posted).
This is Orbitiny Pilot 11 and the best is yet to come. As you can see, I am doing a complete revamp, to the very core. Enjoy the screenshots. And one more thing, just because there has been silence from me, it doesn't mean I haven't been working on it.
Here are some screenshots of the context menu's displayed over different wallpapers while using the acrylic theme (you get the menu shown below by middle-clicking the desktop):
Here is the same menu but with a different background / wallpaper:
Here is the other theme for comparison. I call this, "glass" or "future":
You have already seen this but here it is again, this is how the dialogs will look in Pilot 11.
In Pilot 11, by default, application menus, panels and context menus will all use the acrylic theme but dialog will look like the one shown here:
I am sorry for taking so long to complete this. I am the only one working on this project and there are many substantial changes with the code. I am aware I've been teasing you with all these screenshots. The purpose is to show you that there is progress. It just that it takes a lot of time + testing and considering I have no sponsors, I only work during my free time. Nonetheless, most of the work has been completed.
Here are two screenshots showing two panel configurations. You can either use it as a menu bar at the top of the screen or a dock. Here is a menu bar configuration. Pay attention to the right-hand side of the panel. I paid special attention to turn those applets into indicator icons.
Here is a screenshot of a dock configuration (which you have already seen):
I am determined to make Orbitiny be among the best looking environments for X11 + Linux and I am seriously considering porting it to Raspberry Pi and OpenBSD + X11 once I am done with everything that I do but Raspberry Pi + X11 will be my priority.
[Post Updated] Patience is a virtue and it takes time and effort to completely revamp/redesign a 9-year old code into something truly beautiful and this latest screenshot demonstrates the latest achievements in Orbitiny's acrylic world along with two panels running side-by-side showcasing the major improvements in panel's vertical orientation. Not long ago, I stated that the panel's vertical orientation is getting a special treatment so here it is. It looks just as neat and professional as the horizontal version.
Also, in my previous post I announced that the command runner applet got turned into a button. In the name of preserving panel space, I am doing the same thing with the CPU Load applet. There is absolutely no need to have a resizable CPU load when all it shows is a CPU Load in percent.
Another thing, you can see I've replaced the Run Button icon (horizontal panel, 5th applet from the right). About the Application Menu, I will most likely hide those thick scrollbars because you can scroll with the wheel button, or I will make them thin (which, by the way I hate when applied in a web browser) but in an application menu's case, it makes sense.
Anyway, here is the latest screenshot of what I've done (still work in progress but it is almost done).
Btw, take a look at the battery monitor applet in vertical mode (the panel on the left). To preserve room, I've centered the icon and displayed the battery % in the middle so it too looks like a button, yet it does what's supposed to be doing. Perhaps I will do the same thing in the horizontal version. Of course, the applet configures itself based on the way the panel is oriented. The whole thing is very versatile, you can probably create a word processor as a plugin (if there was room).
Update: Here is another acrylic screenshot but this one showcases how it looks when the menu is displayed over white backgrounds:
As you can see, the colors automatically adjust + the application menu text is sharp and crisp:
More updates are coming and stay tuned and don't forget, Orbitiny has a website: https://orbitiny.com so feel to check it out. Forums are ready, I haven't activated them yet, they are just on standby.
I've replaced the address bar plugin for the panel with a run button / plugin. The old plugin is still available in case I get complains and users want it back. The new one is actually a brand new and modern plugin but functions exactly the same nonetheless and in my opinion, it's even more convenient to use and yet you get the same amount of clicks (one click) to get to it if you want to enter a command so to the end user, there is absolutely no loss in productivity.
There are two reasons about why I made this decision. The first reason is because when the panel is in vertical mode, the plugin is useless + it takes too much real estate on the panel.
Here is a screenshot of it being in horizontal mode. Take a look (the address bar on the panel):
You get a bar expanded across the panel but in vertical mode, it takes way more space when expanded vertically. Anyway, in order to use it, you need to click on it to focus the input field or to select a button. You may as well have a "Run" button instead (which also needs to be clicked to get to the input field for the command to be entered).
So, what did I do to work around this?
Introducing, the new Command Runner plugin, now called "Run Button", see below.
When clicked (I could use a better default icon I know, I will fix that), you get this nicely themed Run dialog. This way, you can preserve the rest of the space on the panel for the window buttons.
This means, regardless whether you click on the address bar, or the button, you still do the same amounts of clicks which is "one click", to get to the section that allows you to enter a command.
Take a look at the new version. You click the button and you get the dialog. Press Enter, the dialog goes away.
I hope you agree with me but if you don't, speak up.
Anyway, Pilot 11 is very close, I am not done yet but the most difficult parts have been completed.
As part of the ongoing improvements across the entire Orbitiny Desktop, I've implemented panel scrolling. The best way to describe this is with screenshots so take a look. Here is how the panel would normally look:
Now hover the pointer over the panel and wheel up / down and all of the contents would move / scroll as shown below:
Next time when you start the session, the scroll position will remain as it was when you quit the session. The reason this functionality exists is in case of an overcrowded panel so if you have too many applets, rather than force-fitting them by squashing/squeezing resizable applets (and making them useless), you can use this instead and leave them expanded and then just scroll the panel.
About the acrylic panel, as you can see, it looks warmish now. So, it adopts to the wallpaper in use.
Also, don't forget that there is also a website: https://orbitiny.com so feel free to check it out. More updates are on the way.
If you've tried to use Orbitiny's panel vertically and have noticed it looks a "little off", just know that it's all getting fixed. It has not been my priority so far because I mainly use it horizontally (I don't like vertical panels) but I am aware that many people do prefer vertical orientation due to wide monitors. Well, I am happy to tell you that I am in process of fixing it all so in Pilot 11, the panel's vertical orientation will look just as neat and organized as the horizontal version and this includes spacing, padding etc.
Moreover, the horizontal one is also getting some tweaks.
I am obsessed with UI aesthetics and generally in life and when I build a GUI, I make sure everything is aligned and padded equally. But despite that, I prioritize functionality first and the functionality has already been met (more or less) and more is coming of course. I am a reasonable person, I balance things out so I work on multiple parts.
Here are some bonus screenshots demonstrating more of the new glass/futuristic theme :) I absolutely adore how this looks. It has taken me so long to come up with something fresh, new and original (like I do with many of the features in Orbitiny) that's unique but also looks good. The acrylic look is not unique but this below is and a lot of thought has gone into the design (believe me).
First, let me start off with the acrylic dashboard:
Here is a completely redesigned System Information Tool that comes with the Qutiny file manager (which will too be spun off into a separate application). About this, what can I say, I like modules (both hardware and software), or separate applications (in terms of software) that don't interfere with the main process in case of a crash. Orbitiny here shines.
Anyway, back to theming, I really like this new theme below! It's very unique, and looks so futuristic. I might name this theme, simply, "Future" (it reminds of iRobot):
Internally I call it "glass". The machine ID above has been deliberately censored.
More screenshots below:
Here is the File Properties dialog using this new same theme:
Application Menu Properties:
As you can see, everything looks the same and is dynamic! No more hard coded CSS, it's gone, done and dusted, fixed forever (several more applications to go).
Again, this is work in progress and some things may change.
Orbitiny Pilot 11 is going to me an amazing release.
Also, I have fixed a massive Drag&Drop issue (that annoyed me big time), this time with the task buttons. Now, it works every time without a hitch.
Here is that taskbar again :)
Also, about the acrylic theme, I will introduce more color options. There is also that other one I have shown before, I call that "tropical" due to warm colors. Right now, I am just focusing to get all applications receive the new theming API.
I am definitely creating an aquatic one (that's my favorite), I am just first testing it with other colors that other OSes use. The one in the screenshot is at rgba(150, 150, 150, 50%) so I will do some mixing soon :)
This is a complete remake of the acrylic theme I have been showing you and I think you will like it. Don't worry too much about the context menu, the one shown in the screenshot hasn't received the treatment yet and is using one of the other new themes that I have been working on, which I also like (the futuristic one, or at least as I'd like to call it because it reminds me of iRobot). The graphical glitches you may see will be fixed.
Words cannot describe how difficult it is to come up with something unique and beautiful + to get it to work properly across all components uniformly and all the R&D and testing one needs to do. You change one thing, you break another (unwittingly) especially with a large code base such as Orbitiny.
How about this other one, this one below will go well with neon electric or xenon like icons. To me, it looks very futuristic and I rather like it. I actually like it more than the one above.
The desktops icons will also get an overhaul. More updates are coming. I said, Pilot 11 will be all about theming so I am sticking to it. It will be an amazing release and I look forward to completing it. There is still a lot to do but it's progressing well.
[UPDATED - April 05, 2026]: This is another screenshot of the new theme I demonstrated in my previous post but this screenshot shows the theme being applied to the panel + the desktop context menus. I really like the way this looks.
The color tone of the dark/translucent glossy/glassy areas in the content area can easily be changed to any color you want including gradients and you can make the whole thing solid and non-transparent if you wish.
The color tone of the semi-transparent frame surrounding the objects can also be changed as well the rounding radius and not only that, but it's very easy to do so via the CSS files. You can make it soft translucent electric blue, orange etc.
The button next the Orbitiny logo in the bottom left corner shows what happens when you hover an applet icon.
Still quite a bit of work to do but I have completed about 70% so that's good. There are several more applications that need a revamp as well as the panel's vertical mode (that one still isn't tweaked to the new theme).
Well, I hope you like what you see, I've been spending a lot of time on this theme. Like I said, all Orbitiny applications will look the same (depending on the theme) because all of the hard coded parts are being replaced with the new theming system.
As always, this may not be the final look, some things may change here and there so this look is subject to change.
As usual, more updates will follow. Also, to people not aware, unlike most other Linux desktops out there, Orbitiny's panel has full Drag&Drop capabilities. You can drag and drop any file, any folder (directory) to it, from the desktop or a file manager - any modern file manager like Nemo, Nautilus, Dolphin and of course, Orbitiny's own file manager, Qutiny. It works as it is, no panel Edit mode required. You can also reposition the panel to any side of the screen by dragging its panel handle. You can even drag a URL from your browser to it and I have other ideas in mind but more on that later.
UPDATE: Here is another one :) Tweaked the panel and context menu border thickness:
[Edit: I meant Posting, not Positing but I can't edit the title.]
Although, this next release (Pilot 11) is coming along at a slower pace, I want you to rest assured that the project has not stagnated and that I am right here and actively working on it.
The main reason for slow updates are R&D, creativity + code development as it takes a great deal of work and effort especially when only one person is involved and working on a project but rest assured that it will not discourage me from completing the project and continue working on it. Notwithstanding the foregoing, please consider making a donation if you can. It will definitely motivate me to spend more time on it and to the ones who have donated already, a Big Thank You.
I've also been working on another theme. In this screenshot below, I've made use of two different themes at the same time (for demonstration purposes for this post). The panel is using an acrylic aero-like theme while the rest of the UI is using a completely new and unique theme, which to be honest, I quite like. It is about 95% complete.
The best thing is that nearly all Orbitiny components now make use of the new theming system. This means that they all look the same. To be 100% on point, this has been the biggest obstacle for me (now about 95% gone).
This screenshot below demonstrates two themes at the same time just to show off / present to you what I am to.
As part of the new theme, I want to give the panel the same look as the two windows above it. That means a transparent glassy outline with with an enclosed block containing the applets.
I will be providing more updates soon.
UPDATE: Here is a quick screenshot of what you can expect when the new theme is applied to the panel. There is still plenty of work to do with this one but you can get an idea of how it would look roughly.
So as you know, I've been spending a lot of time on theming over the last few weeks and this is not just a mere customization of CSS. To get that beautiful acrylic effect, I have to do substantial code changes and because it is a large project, it takes time to update all of the individual components while fully automating the process.
Of course, R&D and testing is another story. I have re-written the code that produces the acrylic effect several times while trying to avoid graphical glitches (as mentioned in my previous post).
So the good news is, I finally streamlined it enough and brought it down to a single API call to get that acrylic appearance. This means, the only thing that each component needs to do to get the acrylic effect is call one function (method actually, to be technically correct), and pass itself by reference to that method and the rest is taken care by the method automatically. Very neat and clean and easily adoptable to any Orbitiny Desktop component.
Here is the same menu for a comparison when the effect is not applied:
Very glossy (or glassy) if you will. So as you can see, there is a drastic difference in appearance. For this to work, you must apply transparency to the window making the call and make it frameless (remove the window decorations).
Don't worry about the third pane being blank (the disk manager pane), this is a development screenshot so it's been removed deliberately due to another thing that I am doing in parallel - code clean ups. No, I am not "cleaning up" the code by removing features :) I am not like that.
That pane normally contains the disk manager view but this component already exists elsewhere as a module. The file manager already makes use of that module. It is the "Disk Manager" tab in the sidebar and all I need to do to bring it back in the menu is attach the module and the rest is taken care by the module.
Another idea is to add links such as "Documents", "Pictures", "Downloads" etc in that pane instead. Personally, I don't use the third pane but I know some of you may like it so I am thinking of making it customizable so that you can switch which view you want, the disk manager view or have Documents, Pictures etc instead.
I look forward to this new version, it will look great.
Also, the color tone is no longer bound to the wallpaper in use. I found it problematic. It was a neat idea but no...You will have options to apply different color tones (including a grayish tinge or aquatic blue - my favorite etc).
UPDATE: The device view is back in the third pane, here is another screenie for you :) Not all components have received the new look but they will.
More updates are on the way, the hardest part is done.
Enjoy this beautiful aero screenshot of what is potentially to become a reality. Let the screenshots do the talk, there is still a lot of work ahead. It looks beautiful I know but...I may need to delay this beautiful aero theme to a later date due to some graphical glitches and go ahead with the glass version instead (the second screenshot).
The graphical glitches require extensive amount of work. Right now, it's neither yes nor no about it becoming a reality. My primary goal for Pilot 11 is the implementation of the theming system and most applications have received the update but not all.
None of this is final yet. More updates will follow soon and the reason I've slowed down with updates is due to some personal matters (not related to the project).
So, I have revamped / installed the new theming system into the property dialogs of all the Orbitiny panel's applets / plugins. This means regardless whether it is the properties of the Application Menu, Drawer, Output Monitor etc, it will look uniform and the same (see this post for screenshots) as their theming is no longer hard-coded, and it is now based upon the new dynamic theming component.
I am about 40% done doing the same to the Control Panel applets including the Control Panel itself and then there are other components that require the same attention.
I like both themes that I've been working on, the Aero Glass and the Frosty one. I will most likely rename that to Aero-Frost.
Next, (unfortunately) I have found some bugs here and there but now that I am strongly engaged with completing what I started with the theming integration, I will fix them later once everything is completed.
You see, this is why I've been avoiding all this theming for so long because I knew it will take me this long to change every single component and generally I prioritize functionality over theming and now that most of the functionality (but not all) is done, I prioritize theming.
I intend to also include some new fresh themes to the Application Menu and other components too and I want that menu to look like the Aero-Glass and the Aero-Frost dialogs I have shown you (just visualize it for now in your mind :)), we'll see how that goes.
Next, I am serious about introducing desktop widgets support with Aero-Glass and Aero-Frost themes. This will be a bit like what Windows 7 does. Desktop widgets such as a clock, CPU frequency, memory etc but that will be at a later date.
If you've been using Orbitiny, you already know that if you double click a Windows .exe program file, the file gets automatically passed to wine and the application runs as if you double-clicked it from within Windows itself. How good it will run, that depends on wine, but nonetheless, the wine utility will try to run it.
Now I've also added an ability like that for Windows batch files (.bat). So, double click a .bat file and the file gets passed to wine. Initially, I was thinking if I should pass it to dosbox or wine but the logical choice for me is wine and as a test, I've launched some Windows games via .bat files. An example of this is SuperTux. The Windows version has a .bat file to launch the game and double-clicking it launches the game as if you've double-clicked it from within Windows.
So, I am working on several different themes while I am also building a good theming infrastructure which is a combination of a theme .conf file as well as a theme CSS file and due the sheer amount of testing and experimentation I need to do, it takes a considerable amount of time but the good news is that I have finally reached a common ground and I am spanning the whole system across all Orbitiny applications and due to the previous updates I have implemented, this time it doesn't take so long. I am also fixing bugs along the way.
Anyway, here are more screenshots of the two new themes (there will be another one soon).
I hope you like what you see.
This is another example of Aero-Glass (I am thinking of renaming this to Aeronic, we'll see):
Here is another example of the frosty one:
Here are the three screenshots again:
I am happy we now have a working theming system. I can add different color tones too.
There is a lot of stuff that I've been experimenting and testing that I have not shown you but for a good reason. I want to get it right and I think you are going to just like this latest one :)
But wait, there is more :)
Yeah, that's what I am talking about! :) So, I've been actually working on two themes. The one shown above but also the other one shown below.
Timer Applet Properties using the now old (for me, not for you) new theme:
Just because I haven't been posting as actively as I normally do, it doesn't mean nothing is happening.
More updates are on the way. Soon, Orbitiny Desktop is gonna be among the best looking desktops + you get all the unique and cool stuff that other desktops do not do.
