filters.tar.Z - This includes the xbm2ikon and ikon2xbm scripts that
were there before, but now they've been generalized to
work for sizes other than 48x48. With the restrictions
on the ikon format, I have doubts about how general they
really are, but at least they work for 64x64 too instead
of just 48x48. Two other scripts are there that I find
useful while creating faces icons: xbmcut48 and
xbmsize48. The first simply cuts out the top left 48x48
square of a given bitmap. The second will scale down a
bitmap to 48x48 if it's larger than that, otherwise it
fills out a bitmap with whitespace to fill 48x48. So, a
common method I use to create a logo icon is to scan it
in and display it on my screen. Then use xgrabsc to cut
out a minimal bounding box around the logo. Then run
xbmsize48 on the result and then touch it up with the
bitmap editor.
scripts.tar.Z - This includes the lpqall and mailq faces customization
scripts that were there before (though recently
patched). In addition, there's "addr", which can be
used to show the faces for a file of mail addresses,
"from", which I'll describe more below, and "rotary", a
set of scripts to display the faces for users on a
rotary of dialin ports.
The "from" script is my experimental alternative to "faces -a" and is
what I use to display my mailbox contents. Since it's a "-e" script, it
doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the built-in mail monitor.
Some ways it differs in behavior are that it displays the age of the
mail message instead of the time of arrival, and it doesn't group up
messages from the same sender into one icon (just my preferences). Most
importantly, it allows the configuration of particular address <--> icon
mappings. I use this for mailing lists, mostly. For example, I can
configure things so that I get the faces mailing list icon if
"faces-request" is in the From_ line. Or I can see a special icon if
the mail was sent to me via a special mail alias, or whatever. See the
"from.allrc-eg" file for examples -- it's in perl. I think the ability
to customize like this will be important -- if only to keep up with
things like "xbiff++", which I've previewed, that can do it via X
resources (and can also show icons and even do sounds for mail
messages). I'll probably be hacking the "from" script soon to do the
"show hostname with user icon" thing in the latest faces patch.
This all reminds me: It'd be nice if there were a way to specify the
icon and information displayed when a "faces -e" window is in icon form.
As it is now, it always gives the NOMAIL icon.
from the brain of Steve Kinzler /o)\ kinzler@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
an organ with a mind of its own \(o/ {ames,rutgers}!iuvax!kinzler