Light Theme on Garuda + KDE - How to switch

[rsg]

Hi Folks,

I have an Asus X16 Flow with Garuda installed. By default, it comes with dark themes. The dark themes (dark background with white text) are not suitable for my use and some of the websites I work with turn out very ugly.

However, I have not been able to change the theme to the standard light ones (white background with black text).

Here are the things I have tried:

1. Went to System Settings > Appearance > Global Themes
2. Changed to some light theme, e.g., Breeze
3. Downloaded some light themes like Win10OS-Light, Spectrum Light and applied.

Result:

1. Some applications changed to light theme with white background, like System Settings.
2. Some applications like Dolphin, FireDragon, Chromium, etc., remained in dark theme.

Then I went to the settings of the browsers, FireDragon and Chromium, and forced light theme.

However, still the theme remained dark.

Here is the screenshot that shows the sections in Global Theme, the light theme applied in System Settings, dark theme applied in Dolphin and Firedragon.

Can someone help how can I get light theme on Garuda with KDE? I don’t want to move to another WM at the moment.

[abenamu]

Did you check Plasma style?

[Bro]

Output of garuda-inxi, please. Just to be pedantic.

[rsg]

Yes, I tried changing Plasma Style but to no avail.

[rsg]

Sorry about it. I felt it was more of a theme issue and system details might not be useful.

╭─shantanu@Greyhead in ~
╰─λ garuda-inxi

System:
Kernel: 6.7.7-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=8c21cc27-c660-4c39-9c5e-1dc59b00ad5c rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet quiet rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
resume=UUID=6b675d04-b6c5-4b3f-838d-4b4f19888841 loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.10 tk: Qt v: 5.15.12 info: frameworks
v: 5.115.0 wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Convertible System: ASUSTeK product: ROG Flow X16 GV601RM_GV601RM
v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: GV601RM v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: GV601RM.310
date: 07/06/2022
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 83.0 Wh (100.0%) condition: 83.0/90.0 Wh (92.2%)
power: 41.3 W volts: 16.0 min: 16.0 model: ASUSTeK ASUS Battery type: Li-ion
serial: N/A status: discharging
Device-1: hid-0018:04F3:2FC2.0003-battery model: ELAN9008:00 04F3:2FC2
serial: N/A charge: N/A status: N/A
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Zen 3+ gen: 4 level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm)
family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 0x44 (68) stepping: 1 microcode: 0xA404102
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 512 KiB desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 4 MiB desc: 8x512 KiB
L3: 16 MiB desc: 1x16 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 841 high: 3358 min/max: 400/4785 scaling:
driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: powersave cores: 1: 400 2: 400 3: 400
4: 400 5: 400 6: 400 7: 3358 8: 400 9: 1435 10: 400 11: 400 12: 400
13: 1483 14: 400 15: 1397 16: 1397 bogomips: 102214
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GA106M [GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile / Max-Q] vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: nvidia v: 550.54.14 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 545.xx+
status: current (as of 2024-02; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Ampere code: GAxxx
process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-2023 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
lanes: 8 link-max: lanes: 16 ports: active: none
empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,eDP-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2520
class-ID: 0300
Device-2: AMD Rembrandt [Radeon 680M] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu
v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22
pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: eDP-2 empty: DP-2,
DP-3, DP-4, DP-5, DP-6, HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 09:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:1681
class-ID: 0300 temp: 49.0 C
Device-3: Quanta USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 5-1:2 chip-ID: 0408:30c3
class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.4
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu,nvidia
unloaded: modesetting,nouveau alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa dri: radeonsi
gpu: nvidia,amdgpu display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: eDP-2 res: 1707x1067 size: N/A modes: N/A
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0
drv: nvidia device: 2 drv: radeonsi device: 3 drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia
surfaceless: drv: nvidia wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
inactive: device-1
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.0.2-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon Graphics (radeonsi
rembrandt LLVM 16.0.6 DRM 3.57 6.7.7-zen1-1-zen) device-ID: 1002:1681
memory: 500 MiB unified: no display-ID: :1.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.276 layers: 4 device: 0 type: integrated-gpu name: AMD
Radeon Graphics (RADV REMBRANDT) driver: mesa radv v: 24.0.2-arch1.1
device-ID: 1002:1681 surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland device: 1
type: discrete-gpu name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU driver: nvidia
v: 550.54.14 device-ID: 10de:2520 surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland device: 2
type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM 16.0.6 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe
v: 24.0.2-arch1.1 (LLVM 16.0.6) device-ID: 10005:0000
surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA GA106 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 8
link-max: lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228e class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Rembrandt Radeon High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 09:00.1
chip-ID: 1002:1640 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: AMD ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: snd_pci_acp6x v: kernel alternate: snd_pci_acp3x, snd_rn_pci_acp3x,
snd_pci_acp5x, snd_acp_pci, snd_rpl_pci_acp6x, snd_pci_ps,
snd_sof_amd_renoir, snd_sof_amd_rembrandt, snd_sof_amd_vangogh,
snd_sof_amd_acp63 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 09:00.5
chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
Device-4: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 09:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.7.7-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.3 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Foxconn driver: mt7921e v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
lanes: 1 bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:0616 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp6s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Foxconn / Hon Hai Wireless_Device driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-4:3 chip-ID: 0489:e0e2
class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
lmp-v: 11 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 6c0000
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 420.04 GiB (44.0%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Micron model: 3400 MTFDKBA1T0TFH
size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: P7MA001 temp: 32.9 C
scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 200 GiB size: 200 GiB (100.00%) used: 16.89 GiB (8.4%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p9 maj-min: 259:9
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 512.7 MiB size: 511.7 MiB (99.80%)
used: 584 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p7 maj-min: 259:7
ID-3: /home raw-size: 514.03 GiB size: 514.03 GiB (100.00%)
used: 403.15 GiB (78.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p10 maj-min: 259:10
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 200 GiB size: 200 GiB (100.00%)
used: 16.89 GiB (8.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p9 maj-min: 259:9
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 200 GiB size: 200 GiB (100.00%)
used: 16.89 GiB (8.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p9 maj-min: 259:9
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 16 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p8 maj-min: 259:8
ID-2: swap-2 type: zram size: 14.88 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 16 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 61.9 C mobo: 40.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 51.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 0
Info:
Memory: total: 16 GiB note: est. available: 14.89 GiB used: 4.69 GiB (31.5%)
Processes: 419 Power: uptime: 1m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: s2idle
wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot, suspend, test_resume
image: 5.89 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil, power-profiles-daemon,
upowerd Init: systemd v: 255 default: graphical tool: systemctl
Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1523 libs: 428 tools: octopi,pamac,paru
Compilers: clang: 16.0.6 gcc: 13.2.1 Shell: garuda-inxi default: Bash
v: 5.2.26 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.33
Garuda (2.6.23-1):
System install date:     2023-10-09
Last full system update: 2024-03-03
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
Windows dual boot:       Probably (Run as root to verify)
Failed units:type or paste code here

[elite]

Two things,

1. change the Application style you can pick breeze or kvantum non dark if you do the latter you have to find a light kvantum theme either one preinstalled or one from pling or github.

2. change the colors sometimes click on some random one apply it then click an apply the one you want.

Changing these should get you something light. currently I’m using one to but nothing from today, to white but it works. Note my style take a bit of extra work but it gives you a idea

[ImGarudaLearner]

Interesting that after garuda-update my global theme is considered light, because all websites suddenly are using light theme. I’m not sure how to make everything dark again =(

I selected Breeze Dark but it still seems that my system is being recognized as using a light theme