Yeah, XFCE and Linux run wonderfully on older hardware like the Bondi iMac. Although not as lean as XFCE/Gentoo, I installed Ubuntu Feisty on a Snow iMac 600 MHz and it runs super smooth. Definitely faster than any OS X installed on it, that's for sure.

Interestingly, the ATI chip in the iMac can run with the open source ATI drivers (which are in use by default) and has 3D acceleration working. Just try to enable the desktop effects in Ubuntu 7.04. It should work. It worked great on my 600MHz G3 iBook. Of course, the CPU is kinda slow so the effects aren't spectacular, but they work as well or better than on a a faster PC with an nVidia card and the nVidia supplied drivers.

Zydeco, those are some exceptional themes you have for XFCE. Have you considered trying to make some for Metacity? I would love to have the Rhapsody DR1 deco on my Linux boxes running GNOME.

Yes, I have considered it and eventually will do, probably next week if I have time.
There is already a great classic theme for metacity, http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Classic?content=46208, however I'll probably port mine too, as this one doesn't have the 1 pixel shadow (very important for a mac user ), and doesn't have all the buttons either.

There, I made the metacity version of Grail (the one like Rhapsody).
It's much more complete than the xfce version (since metacity is more complex/flexible/hard):
It has different window styles for normal windows, dialogs, utility palettes and tear-off menus, so it looks more like the real thing.
I also changed the minimize button, on this one it's like the Gershwix theme for Mac OS X.
I didn't do the 1 pixel shadow after all, since you can use other software to get real shadows.
The "dents" in the lower corners only show if the window is resizable

Downloaded and being used at the moment. Thanks, Zydeco!

EDIT:

A couple of things.

I noticed that the border is a little more darker than the one in the picture. I don't know if it's just my screen or what, but is there any way to lighten it up just a tad? If it takes away from the original, I'll live with the color.

I also noticed that clicking on any of the buttons results in ~ 1 second delay from when you click on it to when it shows being depressed. Any way to change that so that it shows the moment it's clicked?

Thanks again!

Those really are awesome. You should know that I'm currently installing Xubuntu on my original blueberry clamshell iBook just to run these themes.



Peace,
Drew

Update:
(and sorry for bumping this old thread)

I fixed the delay on the metacity theme, it now clicks like butter
It turned out to be the tiling I used to draw the stripes, I made them draw usign simple lines, and that fixed it. Except on active utility windows, where drawing the dots reqires tiling. I hope you don't use too many utility windows.

The theme is at the same place in GNOME-Look

Excellent, Zydeco! Gonna download it now.

What was the cause of the delay?

EDIT: Nevermind, I just saw your reply on GNOME-Look.