"Pimp my laptop" with Ubuntu Linux 9.04

Following up my previous video on setting up the Toshiba Portege M700's Sound, Digitizer and Touch-screen; I created a follow up video diving deeper into the setup of the minimalistic desktop interface I was showing off in my first video.

In this video/tutorial I walk you through:

- Customizing the Terminal

- Install/Setup of Avant Window Navigator (AWN Dock)

- Install/Setup of Stalonetray (System Tray)

- Install/Setup of Gnome-do (Quick launcher)

- Install/Setup of Screenlets (Desktop Widgets)

- Install/Setup of Compiz Fusion (Interface control)

- Install/Setup of Theme, Icons & Wallpaper (Interface)

 

 

Read on for the text version of this tutorial.

Enable Extra Desktop Visual Effects

1) Browse to System -> Preferences -> Appearance

2) Click the Visual Effects tab and choose "Extra"

Create Terminal Keyboard Shortcut

1) Browse to System -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts

2) Scroll down to "Run a Terminal" click the word "Disabled" next to it and choose your shortcut key.
I tend to choose the Pause/Break key for full sized keyboards, but on this Toshiba Portege M700 Laptop i chose Ctrl-Del.

Trim down the Terminal

1) Launch Terminal with your new shortcut key

2) Browse to Edit -> Profiles

3) Edit the Default profile Uncheck "Show menubar by default in new terminals" Click the "Colors" tab at the top, uncheck "Use colors from system home" and choose "White on black"

Install Avant Window Navigator (Dock)

1) Launch terminal with your shortcut key

2) Install Avant Window Navigator, Manager and Extras

# sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator avant-window-navigator-data awn-applets-c-core awn-applets-c-extras awn-applets-python-core awn-applets-python-extras awn-manager libawn-dev libawn-extras-dev libawn-extras0 libawn0 python-awn python-awn-extras python-awnlib python-gnome2-extras

3) Launch Avant Window Navigator

Browse to Applications -> Accessories -> Avant Window Navigator

4) Configure the dock

Click on the AWN Manager Check "Automatically start AWN on login", "Auto hide bard when not in use" and "Keep below maximized windows when not in use" Click on the Applets icon.

Install all the applets you want on your dock. I usually go with the following:

- Awn Main Menu

- Awn Terminal Applet

- Battery Applet

- File Browser Launcher

- Last.fm Player Applet

- Pandora Radio

- Quit-Log Out Applet

- Trash Applet

- Weather Applet

You can drag other applications to the dock, such as Firefox.

5) Delete your gnome-panels

Launch Terminal with your shortcut and type

# sudo apt-get remove gnome-panel

7) Install Stalone tray (System tray)

# sudo apt-get install stalonetray

8) Create a .stalonetrayrc config file

# gedit .stalonetrayrc

Paste this sample config in:

(NOTE: I have changed the "geometry" field to reflect my screen size of 1280x800)

# This is sample ~/.stalonetrayrc, resembling default configuration.
# Remember: command line parameters take precedence.
#
# Directives introduced in @VERSION_STR@ are marked with "NEW in @VERSION_STR@"
#
####################################################################
#
# stalonetray understands following directives
#
####################################################################

# background # color can be specified as an HTML hex triplet or
# as a name from rgb.txt, note that '#' must be quoted
# background "#777777"

# decorations # set trays window decorations; possible values for
# decspec are: all, title, border, none
decorations none

# display # as usual

# dbg_level # controls the amount of debug info (for this setting to
# have effect, stalonetray sources must have been
# configured and compiled with --enable-debug)
# dbg_level 0

# fuzzy_edges [] # enable fuzzy edges and set fuzziness level. level
# can be from 0 (disabled) to 3; this setting works
# with tinting and/or transparent and/or pixmap
# backgrounds (NEW in 0.7)
fuzzy_edges 0

# geometry # tray's geometry in standard X notation

geometry 120x24-0-800

# gravity # icon placement gravity, one of NW, NE, SW, SE

# gravity NW

# grow_gravity # one of N, S, E, W, NW, NE, SW, SE; tray will grow
# in the direction opposite to one specified by
# grow_gravity; if horizontal or vertical
# direction is not specified, tray will not grow in
# that direction
grow_gravity NW

# icon_size # specifies dimensions of typical icon slot

icon_size 24

# ignore_icon_resize [] # ignore icon attempts to resize their windows
# (NEW in 0.7)
ignore_icon_resize false

# max_width # specifies maximal tray's width (0 = no limit)

max_width 0

# max_height # specifies maximal tray's height (0 = no limit)

max_height 0

# no_shrink [] # disables shrink-back mode (NEW in 0.7)

no_shrink false

# parent_bg [] # whether to use pseudo-transparency
# (looks better when reparented into smth like FvwmButtons)
parent_bg false

# pixmap_bg
# use pixmap from specified xpm file for (tiled) background
# pixmap_bg /home/user/.stalonetraybg.xpm

# respect_icon_hints [] # try to respect icon hints (NEW in 0.7)

respect_icon_hints false

# skip_taskbar [] # hide tray`s window from the taskbar

skip_taskbar true

# sticky [] # make a tray`s window sticky across the
# desktops/pages
sticky true

# tint_color # set tinting color (NEW in 0.7)
# tint color white

# tint_level # set tinting level; level ranges from 0 (disabled)
# to 255 (NEW in 0.7)
# tint_level 0

# transparent [] # whether to use root-transparency (background
# image must be set with Esetroot or compatible utility)
transparent true

# vertical [] # whether to use vertical layout (horisontal layout
# is used by default)
vertical false

# window_layer # set the EWMH-compatible window layer; one of:
# bootom, normal, top
window_layer normal

# window_type # set the EWMH-compatible window type; one of:
# dock, normal, toolbar, utility
window_type dock

# withdrawn [] # start withdrawn (NEW in 0.7, prior to that
# withdrawn mode was default!)
withdrawn false

# xsync [] # whether to operate on X server synchronously (SLOOOOW)
xsync false

9) Add stalonetray to startup

Browse to System -> Preferences -> Startup Applications Click "Add".

Name: stalonetray

Command: stalonetray
Comment: System Tray

10) Restart Reboot, if you're staring at a blank desktop, missing the dock or the system tray then
use your terminal shortcut to reinstall gnome-panel

# sudo apt-get install gnome-panel

Install Gnome-do

1) Launch terminal

2) Install Gnome-do

# sudo apt-get install gnome-do

3) Launch Gnome-do

Browse to Accessories -> Gnome-do

4) Configure Gnome-do

Click the small arrow at the top Right.

Click the "General" tab at the top Check "Start GNOME Do at login", "Hide window on first launch (quiet mode)" and optionally "Show notification icon"

Press Super+Space bar (Super is the windows key on most keyboards) and type an application to launch, such as Firefox

Install Screenlets

1) Launch Terminal with your shortcut key

2) Install Screenlets

# sudo apt-get install screenlets

3) Launch Screenlets and Configure

Browse to Accessories -> Screenlets Install screenlets that you want.

I usually install the following:

Digital Clock

Output RingSensors

Check "Auto start on login" for each screenlet you add

After adding the screenlet(s), set the window(s) to "Widget"

Install compiz fusion

1) Launch Terminal

2) Install compiz fusion

# sudo apt-get install compiz-fusion-plugins-extra compiz-fusion-plugins-main libcompizconfig0 compizconfig-settings-manager fusion-icon compiz compiz-core compiz-gnome compiz-plugins compizconfig-backend-gconf libdecoration0

3) Launch Fusion-icon and configure

Browse to System Tools -> Fusion Icon

Right click on the Fusion Icon in your System tray and choose "Settings Manager"

Enable the "Widget layer" plugin

Toggle your widgets with the F9 Key

Install Theme, Icons and Wallpaper

1) Launch Terminal

2) Download Slickness Black GTK2 Theme, Black to White Icons and "Affecting your machine" wallpaper

# wget http://www.timashley.me/files/slicknessblack.tar.gz

# wget http://www.timashley.me/files/blackwhite2.tar.gz

# wget http://www.timashley.me/files/affectingyourmachine.jpg

3) Install ubuntulooks

# sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-ubuntulooks

4) Install Theme, Icons and Wallpaper

Browse to Preferences -> Apperance

Click Install and choose the blackwhite2 icon file then "Apply new theme"

Click Install again and choose the slicknessblack file, then browse to it to select the theme Click the "Background" tab at the top, Click Add and choose the affectingyourmachine.jpg wallpaper