KWin Grayscale Effect

Configurable grayscale effect for KWin window manager and KDE desktop environment.

Installation

Either install manual by coping files or use kpackagetool6. It may work with kpackagetool5 but it is untested.

Automated

1. Download or Git Pull
2. Extract the zip archive, if downloaded.

unzip kwin-grayscale-effect-plasma6.zip

3. Enter the repository directory, for example: cd kwin-grayscale-effect-plasma6
4. Install the plugin

kpackagetool6 --type KWin/Effect --install kwin6_effect_grayscale

Manual

1. Download or Git Pull
2. Extract the zip archive, if downloaded.

unzip kwin-grayscale-effect-plasma6.zip

3. Enter the repository directory, for example: cd kwin-grayscale-effect-plasma6
4. Copy "kwin6_effect_grayscale" folder to "/usr/share/kwin/effects/", using e.g.

sudo cp -r kwin6_effect_grayscale /usr/share/kwin/effects/

Testing

To test it for the first time, open System Settings > Desktop Behavior. In there, open Desktop Effects. You should see Grayscale in the Appearance section. Toggle it a couple of times, and you'll see the grayscale effect at work.

• Optionally you can run the following command:

qdbus org.kde.KWin /Effects org.kde.kwin.Effects.loadEffect kwin4_effect_grayscale

• Another option is manually editing the config. Add kwin6_effect_grayscaleEnabled=true to [Plugins] section in "~/.config/kwinrc" (as a normal user). In case the [Plugins] section is missing from the kwinrc file, just add it.

kate  ~/.config/kwinrc

Known Quirks

• Settings doesn't apply:
  • In System Settings, uncheck "Grayscale" and re-check then apply.
  • Make sure the persmissions in are set to drwxr-xr-x for the kwin6_effect_grayscale folder and its content. If not, run (as root)

    chmod 755 /usr/share/kwin/effects/kwin6_effect_grayscale/
    find /usr/share/kwin/effects/kwin6_effect_grayscale/ -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;