Ubuntu 7.10-_from Ugly to Beautiful

Before:

http://www.ubuntu.com/files/u3/desktop-tn.png


After:

http://adrynalyne.colemanguy.com/test.asf

 

Changes:

Kore GTK theme
Kore-Glass Emerald theme
Wallpaper from interfacelift.com
Avant Window Navigator Curves and Avant Window Navigator
Cairo Clock
Screenlets
Black Mac icons

 

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you

I hate the Orange-brown desktop themes.

 

You bet. All of the theme stuff was found at gnome-look.org.

You will also need to install emerald and CCSM, as 7.10 doesnt include em.

 

Nice desktop there Adrynalyne.

Of the changes you made - which ones do which bits? I'd like to do something similar (probably not identical, there are a few bits I'm not sure about) but being really quite new to Linux I'm not all that sure what does what.

Also - is there anything you did that might be Ubuntu-only or should all of it work in other distros?

 

It will work with all distros.

Let me break it down.

Kore GTK theme -This made my windows black with the grey text.

Kore-Glass Emerald theme --This made the trasnparent "glass" title bars with black.

Wallpaper from interfacelift.com --That one says it all.

Avant Window Navigator Curves and Avant Window Navigator-- That gives me the curvy looking OS X like bar at the bottom. I use it to show what apps/windows I have open. It requires Compiz-fusion, or Beryl to work.

Cairo Clock-- The red clock in the top right. Once again, needs Compiz-fusion or Beryl.

Screenlets-- Calendar, sticky note, etc. Basically, widgets.

Black Mac icons-- That one says it all, too.

All special effects are possible through Compiz-Fusion.

Any distro can look like this, so nothing I noted here would be impossible to do in any other distro.

Feel free to ask if that doesnt cover your questions.

 

It certainly covers them for the time being.

It also raises more though...

So the curved OSX type bar at the bottom is basically the same as the taskbar at the bottom of XP/SUSE right? Do you also have an equivalent of the "Start" button? (I never know what to call that thing outside of XP)

Compiz-fusion for special efects... I take it that I'd need to use that and not Beryl right?

Glad you mentioned the screenlets too - I was wondering about the sticky note thing - looks pretty handy to me.


And now - the fun begins.
I think I'll have a play with this and see what I end up with before my new hard drive arrives and this one (probably) gets stripped and turned into some rather nerdy artwork. Haha.

I'm pretty much into "nothing to lose" territory here.


Nice to know it will work on anything - had a feeling it might.
I'll be sure to post again if I come across any more things that stump me.

Cheers.

 

Avant Window Navigator (The OS X bar) is downloaded, and installed.

http://awn.wetpaint.com/?t=anon

It doesn't come with Gnome. Its not "needed", its mostly eyecandy. I like it, but it tends to crash.

Beryl can do everything I showed eye candy wise for the most part.

Gnome doesn't have a real equivalent to the "start" button. In a case like that, I'd stick with KDE, if thats what you are looking for.

KDE can be made to look just as nice (nicer even) as what I have going on here.

As for screenlets working under KDE...the last time I checked, it was shoddy. I think I saw you were using OpenSUSE, which uses KDE by default.

 

Update.

I have several sticky notes now set to a widget layer via Compiz-Fusion.

I hit F9, and viola! My notes come up.


Screenshots to follow.

 

Default
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/1115/screenshotyv9.th.png

After hitting F9
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5600/screenshot2zw0.th.png

 

Yes I am using OpenSUSE, I actually have KDE and Gnome on my system - I've used both but it's been so long since I used Gnome now that I'm not totally sure what's what. I used it for a few days back in February and settled on KDE for no particular reason.

Forgive my ignorance, but without a"start" button how do you launch the GUIs for the various programs you use?
Is that what the bar I seem to remember seeing at the top of your desktop is for? Looked somewhat like the equivalent bar in OSX.

 

Oh, yes. The Gnome panel. Its akin to a start menu, but is organized differently.

Its more intuitive, imo.

 

I like that you posted a video of wobbly windows, rotating desktops, folding window "shade" and then describe something as "mostly eye-candy" - haha.

Think I might have to have another foray into Gnome again soon, especially if I can get it looking like this (and know how/with what)...
Once that's done I'll see what I can do with KDE too. Getting it looking nicer than you have there sounds very appealing to me. Can't wait to get started on my new drive.

 

Have fun. Hit me up if any questions arise.

 

I got questions by the bucket load here.

If I have compiz, I don't need beryl? I can't seem to get my damn nvidia drivers to work at all, could I get compiz to take the place of beyrl and not have to worry about it?

 

Correct.

Compiz does everything Beryl does, and more. Although you might see the same video difficulties.

 

:crap !!!!

damn old laptop and me upgrading it

I had beryl running perfectly before and screwed it up

Can't get compiz to run either. I think this laptop just isn't going to do what I want. not a problem at all really

 

I kind of like the Ubuntu screen, but I don't have the new OS up yet so I haven't had the time to get tired of it. I'm actually planning a Kubuntu partition once Windows is working again. I might talk about that later, but anyway, I like the changes you made to the interface. I'm curious if you've tried Kubuntu, as I'm wondering how good it may be on my Vista box. I appreciated the thread post you did comparing the Mac with Linux, very informative, but I'm willing to use an Ubuntu distribution at my own risk and I'm still learning. See you around.

Chipper

 

Hey Chipper,

yes, I've used Kubuntu. I wasn't a fan of it because it isn't as polished as Ubuntu, and several features feel like they were 'hacked' to fit in.

Every package is tailored for ubuntu first, before kubuntu. I realize the biggest differences are Gnome vs. KDE, but they do differ in what they offer. TBH, I think it would be better to install ubuntu, then add KDE to it.

I'm still irked that Open Office will not work for me in ubuntu, it crashes constantly.

 

Thanks Adrynalyne. I have both, so I'm going to test the distributions before installing any of them. Conceptually, I like Linux in general, but what I'm after is a distribution more in tune with the needs of a beginner in command-line work. I'm willing and able to learn command-line functions, but I chose Ubuntu because of its use of windows similarly in keeping with the Microsoft and Mac OS's. I can't afford a Mac, but the penguin is easily accessible to me. I'm glad you told us about Linux being geared toward power users, I'll be sure to keep researching it, including any distributions that may suit me better than Ubuntu.
BTW, I'm sorry to hear about OpenOffice in Ubuntu. That's not a good sign. rolleyes It sounds like Ubuntu is going to require some work to get the bugs out. I'll keep my eyes out for any support information about OpenOffice in Ubuntu distributions.

 

The important thing to keep in mind is that ubuntu is based off of Debian Sid, which is the bleeding edge unstable tree for Debian. Its even more bleeding edge than the testing tree, which is Debian Lenny.

In the Linux world, you usually have a choice. Be on the cuting edge, or go for stability. To a degree you can have both, but there will be some things that don't always go the way you want.

I'm unsure what causes Open Office to puke in Ubuntu, but its probably related to Compiz-fusion, which is just recently out of alpha stage.

At any rate, it doesnt affect everyone, so it could be configuration specific, too.

I'm very much a Linux noob myself.

 

It's probably configuration specific. I used Open Office on a laptop running Ubuntu during my senior year in college, and had no problems with crashes at all. Which was a good thing, since I wrote three major term papers, that year... :cry

 

Yes, but that wasn't 7.10

There are other reports of the same across the net, I just havent found a common denominator.

 

Granted.

 

Adrynalyne, have you tried FreeBSD yet?

 

A long time ago. Very fast, but development is slower on it, and certain things arent available to both, being that FreeBSD is true Unix.

 

Beryl was replaced by Compiz for ubuntu 7.10

CCSM is now called Advanced Desktop Settings Manager- at least that is what Synaptic added for me.

 

Here is an Ubuntu Customization Guide.

I used some of the icons from this Guide, and some of Adrynalyne's suggestions.

I already used Aquatint-Black Theme for Firefox.

I am not so sure I like the pure total blackout theme.

 

Reminder if you install Emerald, you also have to install Emerald-Themes in ubuntu.

Or you have to install Subversion and follow the prompts at the Emerald Manager to add Themes.

I had an ongoing annoyance where the taskbars would disappear. Open the appearance manager (Right click on Desktop and change Desktop background will get you there) and then instead of Custom, or Extra, select None. Close the appearance Manager and reopen and select your prior settings. Make sure Emerald is running and you should be able to have Emerald Themes.