u/GroundZeroMycoLab

GZML Shell – A Familiar Home for Noctalia v4 Users

With Noctalia V5 moving toward a C++-based architecture, I know there are still plenty of users who enjoy the Quickshell based experience that V4 provided. That's one of the reasons I started building GZML Shell.

GZML Shell began as a personal project and experiment, but it has grown into a standalone shell based on the Noctalia V4 foundation while adding new features, bug fixes, and quality of life improvements along the way.

Some highlights include:

• Video playback support for the lock screen

• Improved profile handling and synchronization options

• Support for both bundled and user installed plugins

• Compatibility layers for existing Noctalia plugins

• Cleaner separation between shell files and user configuration

• Numerous backend fixes and usability improvements

One feature I specifically wanted to keep was an easy migration path. If you're coming from Noctalia V4, you can simply copy your existing settings, profiles, and configuration files into the appropriate GZML Shell config directory after install and continue using your setup with minimal hassle.

The goal isn't to replace Noctalia or compete with the V5 effort it's simply to provide an option for users who prefer the Quickshell workflow and want a smoother transition without rebuilding everything from scratch.

The project is fully open source, and all code is available for anyone to inspect, modify, or contribute to.

If you'd like to test it out, provide feedback, report bugs, or follow development, check out the GitHub repository:

https://github.com/zero-j89/gzml_shell

I'm especially interested in hearing which Noctalia plugins people use most often so I can prioritize long-term compatibility and native support moving forward.

Edit: I Went ahead and added a new migration utility so users can cleanly migrate their stuff from Noctalia to gzml-shell without breaking any configs! Check the readme for info!

I just pushed a pretty major overhaul to the logic behind my Visual Tools project and added quite a few new features. At this point the project is officially in beta!!! All of the major bugs I've been able to find have been worked out. I'd love some feedback from the community, so if you're interested, please check it out:

https://github.com/zero-j89/Hyprland-Visual-Gzml

For anyone unfamiliar with it, this is a lightweight, modular visual configuration tool for Hyprland. It should work on virtually any Hyprland setup and automatically integrates itself into your system tray for quick access.

One of the biggest additions is a new Control Center GUI for users who prefer managing settings from a traditional interface rather than tray menus. The GUI is still very much a prototype and visually basic for now, but it already includes working sliders, toggles, and controls for the available features. I'm still deciding whether it will become a permanent part of the project.

I also completely redesigned the blur logic. Instead of increasing blur passes from 1-4 (which can add unnecessary overhead), the tool now keeps the blur pass count fixed and adjusts blur strength on a scale from 1-10 in intervals of 2. This provides more control while remaining lightweight.

The project is largely self contained and writes its own animation and blur Lua configuration files within its own directory, helping keep your existing configuration clean. I've also included an installer to simplify setup as well as packed it with a ton of additional animation presets, including some that use real physics based dynamics for window movement and transitions. .

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to test it, provide feedback, report bugs, or point out things I've missed. Every bit of feedback helps make the project better!!! Mush love!!

I just pushed a pretty major overhaul to the logic behind my Visual Tools project and added quite a few new features. At this point the project is officially in beta!!! All of the major bugs I've been able to find have been worked out. I'd love some feedback from the community, so if you're interested, please check it out:

https://github.com/zero-j89/Hyprland-Visual-Gzml

For anyone unfamiliar with it, this is a lightweight, modular visual configuration tool for Hyprland. It should work on virtually any Hyprland setup and automatically integrates itself into your system tray for quick access.

One of the biggest additions is a new Control Center GUI for users who prefer managing settings from a traditional interface rather than tray menus. The GUI is still very much a prototype and visually basic for now, but it already includes working sliders, toggles, and controls for the available features. I'm still deciding whether it will become a permanent part of the project.

I also completely redesigned the blur logic. Instead of increasing blur passes from 1-4 (which can add unnecessary overhead), the tool now keeps the blur pass count fixed and adjusts blur strength on a scale from 1-10 in intervals of 2. This provides more control while remaining lightweight.

The project is largely self contained and writes its own animation and blur Lua configuration files within its own directory, helping keep your existing configuration clean. I've also included an installer to simplify setup as well as packed it with a ton of additional animation presets, including some that use real physics based dynamics for window movement and transitions. .

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to test it, provide feedback, report bugs, or point out things I've missed. Every bit of feedback helps make the project better!!! Mush love!!

About 6 months ago I switched to Arch Linux and Hyprland with basically zero programming experience.(Aside from a little basic almsot 20 years ago...) Since then I've been slowly teaching myself Python and other various languages while customizing my desktop way more than any sane person probably should.

With Hyprland moving toward Lua configs, I wanted an easier way to manage some visual settings without constantly editing files by hand, so I built GZML Visual Tools. It's a lightweight tray application that currently supports animation presets, wallpaper effects, blur controls, border controls, preset importing, and a few other quality-of-life features.

This is my first real Linux project, so I'm sure there's plenty that can be improved, but it's reached a point where I think it's useful enough to share. If anyone wants to try it, give feedback, or contribute ideas, I'd appreciate it.

It's still very much a work in progress (v0.1), but I figured I'd share it with the community in case others find it useful or have ideas for improvements. Feedback, bug reports, and feature suggestions are welcome.

https://github.com/zero-j89/Hyprland-Visual-Gzml

About 6 months ago I switched to Arch Linux and Hyprland with basically zero programming experience.(Aside from a little basic almsot 20 years ago...) Since then I've been slowly teaching myself Python and other various languages while customizing my desktop way more than any sane person probably should.

With Hyprland moving toward Lua configs, I wanted an easier way to manage some visual settings without constantly editing files by hand, so I built GZML Visual Tools. It's a lightweight tray application that currently supports animation presets, wallpaper effects, blur controls, border controls, preset importing, and a few other quality-of-life features.

This is my first real Linux project, so I'm sure there's plenty that can be improved, but it's reached a point where I think it's useful enough to share. If anyone wants to try it, give feedback, or contribute ideas, I'd appreciate it.

It's still very much a work in progress (v0.1), but I figured I'd share it with the community in case others find it useful or have ideas for improvements. Feedback, bug reports, and feature suggestions are welcome.

https://github.com/zero-j89/Hyprland-Visual-Gzml