Ubuntu Customization Guide part I

Hello Hello!

In this guide we’re gonna talk about customization, we’re gonna make Ubuntu look and feel the way we want, so lets start!
You can adapt this howto basically on any distribution running GNOME.

XGL/AIGLX and Compiz/Beryl

I’m not gonna get in too much detail with this, its way too much eye-candy for my taste and it severely reduces productivity.

There are many howtos on the internet (link1, link2, link3, link4) detailing installation and configuration of XGL/AIGLX with Compiz/Beryl.
Good luck with it.

Gnome-Art

Gnome Art is a tool for downloading and installing GNOME themes from http://art.gnome.org/ website. It provides a nice theme list with options to preview, download and install them.
The downside however is that I found gnome-art to be highly unstable and it will crash without warning.

sudo apt-get install gnome-art

This will install gnome-art and gnome-splashscreen-manager along with some dependencies (mostly ruby stuff).

sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-thingeramik gtk2-engines-mist gtk2-engines-clearlooks gtk2-engines-pixbuf gtk2-engines-metal gtk2-engines-geramik gtk-engines-geramik-data gtk2-engines-smooth gtk2-engines-qtpixmap gtk2-engines-magicchicken gtk2-engines-cleanice gtk2-engines-thinice gtk2-engines-crux gtk2-engines-industrial gtk2-engines-highcontrast gtk2-engines-spherecrystal gtk2-engines-wonderland gtk2-engines-lighthouseblue gtk-engines-thingeramik-data

This will install gtk engines you’ll need to run the themes properly.

GTK Themes
You can run gnome-art directly from the console or you can also find it in System > Preferences > Art Manager

Once in GNOME Art go to Art > Desktop Themes > Application
You can select themes Preview them and if you like them you can Install or Download them directly from gnome art.

Note after selecting a theme and clicking Install a new window will appear where the new theme should be in the list, if by any chance it isn’t you can select any theme, click Theme Details and from the Controls tab you can select your new theme.

My personal favorites are Gilouche, Litoral and Aquativo

Window Border Themes
Most application thems also include their own window border
In gnome-art: Art > Desktop Themes > Window border
Select your theme click Install, a new window will open, press Theme Details and go to the Window Border tab and select your window border theme

Icon themes
In gnome-art: Art > Desktop Themes > Icon
And just like before, after you open Theme Details go to the Icon tab and select your Icon theme

Backgrounds
In gnome-art: Art > Backgrounds > All

You can get a lot of desktop background from deviantART.
Installation: System > Preferences > Desktop Background > Add Wallpaper
and select the file..

Login Manager (gdm) Themes
gnome-art crashes when I try to download Login themes, anyway it might just be a problem on my box.
In gnome-art: Art > Other Themes > Login Manager

You can also get them directly from art.gnome.org
Installation: System > Administration > Login Window
Press Add and select the file you got from art.gnome.org.

Splash Screen
In gnome-art: Art > Other Themes > Splash Screen
Select the splash screen you want, press Install, a new window will open, select it again and press Activate.

gDesklets
gDesklets is an architecture for “desklets”, which are tiny applets sitting on your desktop in a symbiotic relationship of eye candy and usefulness.

You can populate your desktop with status meters, icon bars, weather sensors, news tickers… whatever you can imagine… Virtually anything is possible and may even be available some day.

sudo apt-get install gdesklets gdesklets-data

After the installation you can find in Application > Accessories > gDesklests
It comes with a quite a few desklets ready to run, you can get more desklets and controls on their website.

Well this is all for part one of the guide, stay tuned for part two sometime next week. Hope you enjoyed it!



Thank you for reading this post. You can now Read Comments (19) or Leave A Trackback.

Post Info

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 and is filed under Customization, HOWTO, Linux, Ubuntu.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the Comments Feed. You can Leave A Comment, or A Trackback.



Previous Post: New Domain! »
Next Post: Top 5 Linux Live CD/DVDs »

Read More

Related Reading:

Latest Posts:

19 Responses to “Ubuntu Customization Guide part I”



Leave a Reply

Note: Any comments are permitted only because the site owner is letting you post, and any comments will be removed for any reason at the absolute discretion of the site owner.