Is Chicago95 not authentic enough for you? Do you want to use Microsoft Plus! themes to personalize your Chicago95 experience? Well look no further!
Download any Windows 95, 98, ME or XP theme file (from places like themeworld.com or archive.org) and use this tool to switch to your new theme!
- Icons (ICL, DLL and ICO files)
- Cursors (CUR and ANI files)
- Theme colors
- Fonts
- Sounds
- Wallpapers (installed to
/home/$USER/Pictures
)
Two ways to install themes: GUI and CLI:
- inkscape
- python3-svgwrite
- python3-fonttools
- python3-numpy
- fonts-noto
- aplay
Notes:
-
Sounds are installed assuming you have XFCE sounds enabled per the Chicago95 Install instructions.
-
To use Chicago95 Plus! on Xubuntu you need to install the following:
python3-svgwrite
python3-fonttools
inkscape
:sudo apt install python3-svgwrite python3-fonttools inkscape aplay
-
By default Chicago95 Plus! creates the theme in your working folder and copies the files to their required location then automatically changes the current theme to the new theme, just like Windows!
Click here to view screenshots
Designed to look very familiar you can pick and choose exactly which theme options you'd like to install. It also supports all theme previews. To use simply execute from the Plus folder ./PlusGUI.py
and you'll be presented with this:
Click the file chooser and select a Microsoft Windows .theme
(this example uses the Complete friends theme available here: https://archive.org/details/winfiles_cmfriend_202005)
Clicking on the Screen Saver will give you a demo of the themes screensaver (assuming you have wine
installed).
Clicking on Pointers, Sounds, etc... gives you a new window allowing you to preview the themes cursors, sounds and icons.
Cursor Preview:
Sound Preview:
Icon Preview:
Once you've picked a theme you like press Apply to automatically install the theme or OK to automatically install the theme and exit.
When you click Apply or OK, Chicago95 Plus will momentarily freeze while it installs the theme, occasionally Inkscape will open (to remove icon transperencies), you may have to wait a few minutes for the theme to install. Run in debug mode to see whats going on behind the scenes.
You can enable verbose output by enabling debug mode by passing the argument --debug
to the script.
You can also pass a .theme
file to the script to generate the preview instead of having to select the file manually.
Multiple other command line options exist:
usage: PlusGUI.py [options] [MS Theme File]
Chicago95 Plus!
positional arguments:
theme_file Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME .theme file (default:
False)
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d, --debug Print lots of debugging statements (default: 30)
-v, --verbose Be verbose (default: None)
-c COLORS, --colors COLORS
How many colors before skipping Inkscape fix/merge for
SVGs. Set to 1 to speed up conversion. WARNING: This
may result in transparent icons! (default: 32)
-o OVERLAP, --overlap OVERLAP
Pixel overlap for SVG icons (default: 1)
-s SQUARESIZE, --squaresize SQUARESIZE
Square size for SVG icons (default: 20)
--cursorfolder CURSORFOLDER
Chicago95 cursor folder to convert to new theme
(default: /home/phil/.icons/Chicago95_Cursor_Black)
--themefolder THEMEFOLDER
Chicago95 theme folder to convert to new theme
(default: /home/phil/.themes/Chicago95)
--iconsfolder ICONSFOLDER
Chicago95 icons folder to convert to new theme
(default: /home/phil/.icons/Chicago95)
--installdir INSTALLDIR
Folder to create new theme in, default is current
working directory (default: /home/phil/Chicago95/Plus)
--logfile LOGFILE Filename for debug logging (default:
chicago95_plus.log)
Part of the Chicago95 theme project
Works like any command line tool. Requires a microsoft .theme
file. By default it will install the theme.
If you want to get more out Chicago95 Plus! it supports multiple options:
--installdir DIRECTORY
generates the new theme files and outputs them to DIRECTORY--noinstall
generates the theme files but does not move them or run the commands to enable the theme--info
Gives verbose information about the theme file, does not do any conversion--verbose
/--debug
gives more/way more information about what is happening--colors
/--squaresize
/--overlap
controls the way Icon files are converted to svg
Detailed Help output:
usage: ChicagoPlus.py [options] MS_Theme_File
Chicago95 Plus! is a python script that can parse Windows 95/98/ME/XP theme
files and create new Chicago95 themes. Chicago95 Plus! supports Icons,
Cursors, Fonts, Wallpapers, Sounds and Theme colors! Use this against themes
you can find on ThemeWorld or any site that have Microsoft Plus! Themes! This
script can be called from any folder, execute it and provide it the path to a
theme file (e.g. ChicagoPlus.py /home/bgates/Wicked/Wicked.theme) and your new
theme will be created!
positional arguments:
theme_file Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME .theme file
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d, --debug Print lots of debugging statements (default: 30)
-v, --verbose Be verbose (default: None)
--noinstall Do not place folders nor change theme (default: False)
--info Prints the json conversion of the theme file (default:
False)
-c COLORS, --colors COLORS
How many colors before skipping Inkscape fix/merge for
SVGs. Set to 1 to speed up conversion. WARNING: This
may result in transparent icons! (default: 32)
-o OVERLAP, --overlap OVERLAP
Pixel overlap for SVG icons (default: 1)
-s SQUARESIZE, --squaresize SQUARESIZE
Square size for SVG icons (default: 20)
--cursorfolder CURSORFOLDER
Chicago95 cursor folder to convert to new theme
(default: /home/phil/.icons/Chicago95_Cursor_Black)
--themefolder THEMEFOLDER
Chicago95 theme folder to convert to new theme
(default: /home/phil/.themes/Chicago95)
--iconsfolder ICONSFOLDER
Chicago95 icons folder to convert to new theme
(default: /home/phil/.icons/Chicago95)
--installdir INSTALLDIR
Folder to create new theme in, default is current
working directory (default: /home/phil/PlusGTK)
--logfile LOGFILE Filename for debug logging (default:
chicago95_plus.log)
Specific Installs:
--nocursors Do not generate/install/enable the cursors (default:
True)
--noicons Do not generate/install/enable the icons (default:
True)
--nowallpaper Do not generate/install/enable the wallpaper (default:
True)
--nosounds Do not generate/install/enable the sounds (default:
True)
--nocolors Do not generate/install/enable the colors (default:
True)
--nofonts Do not generate/install/enable the fonts (default:
True)
--noscreensaver Do not generate/install the screensaver (default:
True)
Part of the Chicago95 theme project