Netbeans with GTK Widgets
Netbeans users on Solaris and Linux, who hate, detest and despise the horrible looking default Java UI, ought to add this line to ~/.bash_profile
alias netbeans=’/opt/netbeans/bin/netbeans -laf com.sun.java.swing.plaf.gtk.GTKLookAndFeel’
Update: Netbeans 6.0 users should type “–laf” instead “-laf” (Two hyphens before ‘laf’ instead of one)
I am no GUI hater. I love good looking GUIs [and girls] But the inability to compile and run Anjuta without SIGSEGVs on Solaris and the horrendous piece of shit that is called the ‘Default Look and Feel of Netbeans’ meant a strong dose of vim-fu, that my fingers struggle to keep up with 
Finally after spending two years in Sun (Two years to this very day I think) and living amongst programmers who use Netbeans for their bread and butter, I figured out how the heck you could get rid of the stupid Metal Look and Feel and switch to the native GTK Widgets. The GTK LAF is eating my CPU like mad - But with Dtrace in hand, that shouldn’t be hard to figure out.
Back to the plugin I was trying to write …
on November 28, 2007 on 11:46 pm
thanks a lot for that dude. you’re my saviour! well, i use netbeans only for jsp though
on December 4, 2007 on 8:44 am
Hmm, I forced myself to (_honestly_) give a try to eclipse. It was painful, and I went through it. I grumbled. I cried. I swore. Finally, I just gave up and got back to Emacs
on December 4, 2007 on 10:25 pm
I am no Netbeans fan either. But when I have to wade through things I don’t completely grok - such as writing Netbeans plugins, it makes life a bit simpler.
I cannot believe how Netbeans continues to exists without Emacs/VIM integration - the editing experience is *horrible* from a Unix Programmer’s perspective !
on December 4, 2007 on 10:28 pm
On second thoughts, that might be an excellent idea for a Student Project. Revive the External Editor Module [1] for Netbeans.
[1] - http://externaleditor.netbeans.org/