Ubuntu 11.

10 Desktop Customization Guide

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December 23rd, 2011, 00:11 GMT By Marius Nestor

Ubuntu 11.10 Desktop Customization Guide

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At the request of our readers we have decided to revive our usual desktop customization
tutorial for the Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system, because of Unity (again).

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We know that many of you don't like how Unity looks and acts, therefore this step-by-step tutorial was
created for the Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system to teach you how to change the looks of
your Linux desktop into an eye-candy, more practical, simple and modern workstation.

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Ehh... we knew you were expecting this for a long time now, haven't you? Well, it's here now, so you better enjoy it, modify it
and adapt it to your liking.

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In other words, we will help you pimp your Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) desktop and change its looks:

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Step 1 - Moving Unity to Bottom Side

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to this

Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system (Desktop Edition);

GNOME Tweak Tool (click to install);
Zukitwo and Zukini GTK3 Themes;
Faenza Icon Theme;
An amazing wallpaper!

Hit the C TRL+ALT+T key combination on your keyboard, and paste the following command in the terminal window that just
opened (one by one, hitting Enter after each one):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:paullo612/unityshell-rotated
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unityshell-rotated libnux-1.0-0 compizconfig-settings-manager

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When the installation is over, close the terminal window and open C ompizC onfig Setttings Manager from Unity. Scroll to the
'Desktop' section and deactivate the 'Ubuntu Unity Plugin' and immediately activate the 'Ubuntu Unity Plugin Rotated'.
WARNING: Be aware that once you deactivate the 'Ubuntu Unity Plugin' your desktop will flicker a couple of times and Unity
will disappear.

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When you'll activate 'Ubuntu Unity Plugin Rotated' you will see that Unity is now on the bottom of the screen! Enter the 'Ubuntu
Unity Plugin Rotated' plugin, go to the 'Experimental' tab and configure everything like in the image below (or however you
want).

Once you finish with the Unity configuration, close C ompizC onfig Settings Manager and restart your session for the changes to
take effect! Proceed to the next step when you get back.

Step 2 - Install the Zukitwo and Zukini GT K3 T hemes icon theme

Download the Zukitwo and Zukini themes from here and here.
To install these two GTK3 themes follow our How to Install GNOME Themes in Ubuntu 11.10 tutorial.
Basically, you'll have to create a .themes folder on your home directory and extract the archives in there. Proceed to the next
step!

Step 3 - Install the Faenza icon theme

Hit the C TRL+ALT+T key combination on your keyboard, and paste the following command in the terminal window that just
opened (one by one, hitting Enter after each one):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tiheum/equinox
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install faenza-icon-theme

Wait for the installation to finish and close the terminal window. Proceed to the next step!

Step 4 - Final touches

Let's activate the new themes and icons. Open GNOME Tweak Tool, click the 'Themes' section on the left and set everything
like in the image below...

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C lose GNOME Tweak Tool when you're done setting the Icon theme to Faenza-Ambiance, GTK+ theme to Zukitwo-Resonance
and Window theme to Zukini.
Now, right click on your desktop and select C hange Desktop Background. Then select 'Pictures Folder' from the drop-down list,
and add a nice wallpaper by clicking on the + button situated on the bottom left side.
Voil, your Ubuntu 11.10 desktop has been pimped and it should look like this...

...or like this!

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We've done our job. From here on, let your imagination run wild and don't forget to drop a link with your own screenshots.
Merry C hristmas everyone!
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FILED UNDER:

UBUNTU 11.10

DESKTO P CUSTO MIZA TIO N

O NEIRIC O CELO T

UNITY CUSTO MIZA TIO N

PIMP YO UR DESKTO P

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READER COMMENTS:
Com m ent #1 by: arvim on 23 Dec 2011, 06:21 UTC

reply to this com m ent

script this!

Com m ent #2 by: Blu on 23 Dec 2011, 06:42 UTC

reply to this com m ent

Hello, nice tut for ubuntu, i really like this more that default, and, can you please send a link with the 3st wallpaper, the
one with a girl and a flower on hear ear, please without softpedia watermark, i love it much, thanks :D
Com m ent #2.1 by: true on 23 Apr 2012, 03:38 GMT

how do i get wallpaper i got everything else except for the wallpaper

Com m ent #3 by: Marius Nestor on 23 Dec 2011, 07:25 UTC

reply to this com m ent

The wallpapers:
1. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/52/geishaanime1920x1200.jpg/
2. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/560/animegirl1201920x1440.jpg/
3. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/542/animegirlwidescreenwide.jpg/
4. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/521/neongenesisevangelionan.jpg/

Com m ent #4 by: mikaho on 23 Dec 2011, 08:27 UTC

reply to this com m ent

nice , but how to move it to the right side , got an cairo dock there at the bottom

Com m ent #5 by: nf3 on 23 Dec 2011, 10:16 UTC

reply to this com m ent

waw perfect os

Com m ent #6 by: Ravi on 23 Dec 2011, 11:01 UTC

reply to this com m ent

Awesome Guide. Thanks a lot. Merry C hristmas to you!!!!!! I am proud to be a user of UBUNTU!!!!!

reply to this com m ent

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Com m ent #7 by: SpenserWilde on 23 Dec 2011, 11:05 UTC

reply to this com m ent

Thank you very much for this awesome tutorial. Basically, my Unity desktop got F*&Ked. Thank GOD I have Gnome Shell
installed because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to write this disturbing comment!
Thank you very very much! >

Com m ent #8 by: expat on 23 Dec 2011, 14:08 UTC

reply to this com m ent

...and if it doesn't rotate?

Com m ent #8.1 by: Marius Nestor on 24 Dec 2011, 20:03 GMT

Loading/login screens are not desktop customization :) However, as I said in the tutorial... let your imagination
run wild, try other themes, try new fonts, new icons, etc... In conclusion, let no one stopping you from modifying
your system to look and act as you like, whatever makes you happy :)
Merry C hristmas!

Com m ent #9 by: githui on 23 Dec 2011, 15:48 UTC

reply to this com m ent

I like the Ubuntu Linux thenk

Com m ent #10 by: Lie_NuXor on 24 Dec 2011, 17:23 UTC

reply to this com m ent

this is a great article, but it only goes half way..e. what about choosing a custom mouse theme? What about choosing a
custom Loading/Login-Logout/Lock screens? What about custom theming the grub?

Com m ent #11 by: A len on 26 Dec 2011, 20:46 UTC

reply to this com m ent

the only thing i never saw in ur site is about internet speed in linux (ubuntu)
internet speed is terrible here in ubuntu! i've searched alot but the only thing i've got is "disabling ipv6"
i wanted ask you to write something about it. something to solve it...
im running ubuntu 10.4 and my speed is under 10kb! (mostly around 5000bytes)
it got 2 days to download multimedia codecs and drivers!
pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee help...
Com m ent #11.1 by: Tobben on 30 Dec 2011, 10:33 GMT

Still the same speed problem? How are you connected to the internet, what speed do your internet supplier
promise you? Any way- happy new year to all!

Com m ent #12 by: Duleee on 27 Dec 2011, 16:22 UTC

reply to this com m ent

i did all what was in tutorial..but my unity is still on the left side of the screen...what shall i do????
Com m ent #12.1 by: Marius Nestor on 28 Dec 2011, 07:07 GMT

Make sure, again, that everything is set up just like in this screenshot http://i1-news.softpediastatic.com/images/extra/LINUX/large/ubuntu1110customization-large_002.jpg
In other words, make sure you deactivate the "Ubuntu Unity Plugin" and activate the "Ubuntu Unity Plugin
Rotated"
Com m ent #12.2 by: bigred on 02 Jan 2012, 04:03 GMT

When I disabled Ubuntu Unity Plugin there was no "Ubuntu Unity Plugin Rotated" icon to select. So what do I need
to do?
Com m ent #12.3 by: Marius Nestor on 02 Jan 2012, 07:32 GMT

Make sure again that you've installed the Ubuntu Unity Plugin Rotated. Open Synaptic and search for the package!
If it's not installed, install it.
Com m ent #12.4 by: Rookie407 on 07 Jan 2012, 18:18 GMT

and what if i've followed all the steps and even went through a second time to make sure and it still doesnt move
to the bottom... even better question to ask is what do i do when i try to switch to the ubuntu unity plugin rotated
and i get an error "some of the bingings for the ubuntu unity plugin rotated conflict with other plugins do you want
to resolve them" if i click ignore nothing happens if i click resolve i get another popup saying "The new value for
the edge binding for the action Reveal Mode in plugin Ubuntu Unity Plugin Rotated conflicts with the action Flip
Down of the Desktop Wall plugin.
Do you wish to disable Flip Down in the Desktop Wall plugin?" my only options are set reveal mode dont set
reveal mode and disable flip down and none of them do anything...
Com m ent #12.5 by: anonymous on 10 Mar 2012, 11:17 GMT

I'm having the same problem...it's not going to the bottom of the screen, and I'm getting the same resolve
conflicts issue. Followed the tutorial to a "T". It's a great tutorial for figuring out how to get all the programs and
themes but they don't want to cooperate for some reason

Com m ent #13 by: aefear on 30 Dec 2011, 00:28 UTC

reply to this com m ent

Nestor, esti fan Evangelion fratie?=)) habar n-aveam

Com m ent #13.1 by: Nikolos on 13 Jan 2012, 02:13 GMT

Same here - error on binding conflict and no rotation for me :(

Com m ent #14 by: MA X on 03 Jan 2012, 09:02 UTC

reply to this com m ent

Thank you veryyyy much.

Com m ent #15 by: evris on 16 Jan 2012, 11:56 UTC

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-11-10-Desktop-Customization-Guide-242549.shtml

reply to this com m ent

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Unfortunately, you can not move the launcher to the bottom if you are running Ubuntu in a VMware virtual machine. In my
other machine though, which runs Ubuntu on bare metal it worked like a charm. Thank you very much.
Com m ent #15.1 by: A ngga on 19 Feb 2012, 05:59 GMT

could you more elaborate, i'm newbie, what VMware? what bare metal? I got same problem launcher can't move
to bottom. thanks

Com m ent #16 by: Fate on 19 Jan 2012, 10:25 UTC

reply to this com m ent

Any way to change the unity menu?

Com m ent #17 by: Fate on 29 Jan 2012, 17:41 UTC

reply to this com m ent

What are the req for ubuntu 11.10?

Com m ent #18 by: HiepNH on 06 Feb 2012, 07:30 UTC

reply to this com m ent

how to display templature in menu top dock?

http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/extra/LINUX/small/ubuntu1110customization-small_000b.png
Com m ent #18.1 by: Marius Nestor on 06 Feb 2012, 08:19 GMT

Install the indicator-weather package with Ubuntu Software C enter or Synaptic.

Com m ent #19 by: Spirit on 25 Feb 2012, 20:56 UTC

reply to this com m ent

Great tutorial. Thank you! Unity looks better this way.

Com m ent #20 by: Chickle on 26 Mar 2012, 17:32 UTC

reply to this com m ent

Did all of that and get the red triangle next to the shell themes box in tweak tool. C annot install any of the themes. Any
Ideas?
Com m ent #20.1 by: Marius Nestor on 28 Mar 2012, 08:57 GMT

This guide is NOT for installing GNOME Shell themes!!! Of course there's a red triangle. You need to change the
theme from the GTK+ theme section. Look at the picture in the article please!

Com m ent #21 by: Feefo on 27 Mar 2012, 17:41 UTC

reply to this com m ent

This does not work the way the article describes... First, you just cannot just: "Basically, you'll have to create a .themes
folder on your home directory and extract the archives in there. Proceed to the next step!"
You have put the contents of the archives in the .themes folder, just extracting the zips there does not work.
Second, even after the themes are available in Tweak, I have found no way to change the desktop wallpaper as the article
describes. The pictures they show here do not show up...
There needs to be a more complete explanation of this process.

Com m ent #22 by: gopal on 18 Apr 2012, 10:34 UTC

reply to this com m ent

I installed ubuntu 11.10 with a C D.but when I want to do customization sudo add-apt-repository ppa:paullo612/unityshellrotated following is arising :Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/add-apt-repository", line 77, in
ppa_info = get_ppa_info_from_lp(user, ppa_name)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/softwareproperties/ppa.py", line 65, in get_ppa_info_from_lp
lp_page = urlopen(req).read()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 126, in urlopen
return _opener.open(url, data, timeout)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 394, in open
response = self._open(req, data)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 412, in _open
'_open', req)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 372, in _call_chain
result = func(*args)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 1209, in https_open
return self.do_open(httplib.HTTPSC onnection, req)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 1171, in do_open
raise URLError(err)
urllib2.URLError: .and in "C ompizC onfig Setttings Manager" "Ubuntu Unity Plugin" is present but "Ubuntu Unity Plugin
Rotated" is not present.pls tell informe me about necessary steps to get rid ot this issue.

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