20

Jun

2008

Noneck.net
Ubuntu Quick and Dirty Desktop Tweaks - Part 2 Print
Written by Rick Russell   
  Now that we have Compiz installed and enabled, let's get rid of the default Gnome Panel and add Avant Window Navigator for a little more eye candy and flexibility. First let's get AWN installed. SmartSEF Box To install with Synaptic Package Manager, Search and Install the following:

avant-window-navigator-bzr, awn-core-applets-bzr, awn-manager-bzr, libawn0-bzr python-awn-bzr

  To install command line, you would use the following:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-bzr, awn-core-applets-bzr, awn-manager-bzr, libawn0-bzr, python-awn-bzr

Now that we have Avant installed, we can clean up our workspace by removing Gnome Panel and adding Avant Window Navigator.

  Go to Preferences > Session. Click the Current Session tab in the middle and find the gnome-panel task, and then click remove at the bottom, this will remove gnome panel from the current list of runAdd Startupning tasks. Go back to the first tab 'Startup Programs' and click '+Add.'
  For Name we can use 'AWN,' or 'Avant Window Manager,' your preference. For Command all we need in this box is 'avant-window-navigator.' The Comment is optional. Click Ok and you should now see a new entry on top for AWN.

  You can at this point log out and log back in to test the settings, I always have a terminal open and save my session so in the event that I don't have a toolbar I can switch workspaces and run what I need to!

  Now if your tired of the orange colors like I was after a bit then we can change the theme to something a little more easy on the eyes. I first went to http://compiz-themes.org to get a Metacity Theme I like. Is it me or are all these sites getting dog ass slow, sorry everyone it's kind of ridiculous. I went and made a cup of tea by the time I could browse that page.
  Anyway, after downloading the Metacity Theme of your choice, let's install it! Right click on the background and select 'Change Desktop Background.' Select 'Theme' and 'Install.' After this you should browse for the compressed file recently downloaded. You should then get a prompt saying that the theme was installed successfully. Now browse to the bottom of all the themes and select the newly installed theme!

 **Tip: In Sessions, you can click the last tab labeled Session Options and then hit 'Remember Currently Running Applications' to save a snapshot of a current session of yours. For example if you wanted to boot up and have Pidgin, Evolution Mail, and RythmBox open up then you can open those programs and hit Remember Current to save our current session. Tags: ,,
Last Updated ( Friday, 20 June 2008 11:59 )