Ubuntu Sharing » Compiz

Ubuntu 12.04 Get Back Unity Launcher ‘dodge windows’ Feature

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:34:32 +0000

In previous Ubuntu Unity Launcher’s auto-hide behavior there’s a ‘dodge windows’ option. This feature’s dropped from Ubuntu 12.04 Unity.

damianatorrpm has created a couple patches that will revert the Canonical changes and re-add the behavior back to the source. The patch was applied to the latest release of Unity 5.12.0 also with the ability to be able to click a program’s icon on the Launcher and minimize/unminimize that window.

If you prefer the Launcher feature ‘dodge windows’ and ‘click launch icon to minimize/unminimize window’, you can install this custom build from ppa:ikarosdev/unity-revamped:

NOTE: If you used the alternative method originally, please remove ~/.compiz-1 and the ‘staging’ folder before using the PPA method.

Open up a teminal window and add the PPA repository:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ikarosdev/unity-revamped

Then do update system:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Now you’re done. In next login launch Compizconfig Settings Manager(sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager), ‘dodge windows’ option is back in Unity Plugin’s configuration page.

Simple Unity Configurator ‘MyUnity’ 2.0 released(available in Precise’s Universe repository)

admin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:39:53 +0000

MyUnity is a simple graphical tool to customize Ubuntu Unity’s launcher, dash, panel, desktop, and font. The 2.0 version has released with adjusting Dash size, precisely changing Launcher size, Panel & Launcher transparency with scroll-bar of percentage.
MyUnity 2.0 now is available in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise’s universe repository.

Screenshots of MyUnity 2.0 in Ubuntu Precise:

Install MyUnity:

Ubuntu 12.04 Precise, just search and install MyUnity in Ubuntu Software Center.
Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric and 11.04 Natty install MyUnity via PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:myunity/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install myunity

Others can download the sourcecode from MyUnity in Launchpad

Ubuntu Unity Enable Transparent Panel and Window’s Title Bar

admin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:24:27 +0000

This tutorial is about how to configure your Unity to get transparent top-panel and window title bar. I did following in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric with Unity desktop.

1.) Get the transparent top-panel.

Unity’s panel opacity is controlled by Ubuntu Unity Plugin under CCSM. So to do that first install CompizConfig-Settings-Manager by following command in a terminal window:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Then launch CCSM. Click to go into Unity Plugin’s configuration page, in Experimental tab change the value of Panel Opacity.

2.) Get transparent window title bar

First, run this command to install compiz-gnome and gconf-editor:

sudo apt-get install compiz-gnome gconf-editor

Press Alt+F2 key combination and run gconf-editor, then navigate to apps/gwd.
In right, change the value of “metacity_theme_active_opacity” and “metacity_theme_opacity” range from 0 to 1.

Ubuntu 11.04 Unity enable Different Wallpapers in each workspaces

admin — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 07:16:22 +0000

Different wallpapers is a cool feature in Ubuntu desktop that implemented by Compiz. While Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick release, for some reason different wallpapers in different workspaces doesn’t work like older Ubuntu edition. Now, this feature come back in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty, and following is how to enable it in Ubuntu Natty Unity desktop.

1.) Disable Desktop Icons. After this step, icons and right-click menu on desktop will go away. Instead, you can find them use Home Folder in Unity Launcher or install cario-dock Mac style launcher.

Press Alt+F2 key combination and type gconf-editor in “Run a command” box. In next window, navigate to “apps/nautilus/appearances” and un-check “show_dekstop” in right.

UPDATE: Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric install and then launch Gnome Tweak Tool (Search “Advanced Settings” in Ubuntu Software Center), and turn off “Have file manager handle the desktop” in Desktop tab.

2.) Install Compizconfig-settings-manager and compiz-fusion-plugins-extra, run the command in terminal:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-fusion-plugins-extra

It needs compiz-fusion-plugins-extra installed if you can’t find Wallpaper in CCSM.

3.) Launch CCSM (compizconfig-settings-manager), enable Wallpaper and click to get into its configuration page to add background images for Ubuntu workspaces.

Done! The Unity panel may mess up after these steps, it’ll back to normal at next login.

Manage Ubuntu 11.04 Unity Launcher Quicklist using unity-launcher-editor

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 04:35:12 +0000

Unity-Launcher-Editor is a GUI designed to manage Unity Launcher items and quicklists. So far, it supports add/remove Launcher items, customize quicklist group, and even change shortcut icons.

This project is hosted on Launchpad, and still in the early development phase.

To install unity-launcher-editor, first open up a terminal window and type in this two commands:

sudo apt-get install bzr
bzr branch lp:unity-launcher-editor

After that, run the command to start the GUI:

~/unity-launcher-editor/unitylaunchereditor/main.py

unity-launcher-editor on launchpad.net: https://launchpad.net/unity-launcher-editor

How to change Unity Sidebar Launcher auto-hide behaviour in Ubuntu 11.04

admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:45:38 +0000

Ubuntu Unity Plugin for compiz comes default in Ubuntu 11.04, it helps changing unity behaviours and makes a good experiencing. Here’s how to enable or disable auto-hiding unity sidebar launcher with the plugin.

First of all, install the Compizconfig settings manager from Ubuntu Software Center or just run following command:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Start it under System -> Preferences menu, find “Ubuntu Unity Plugin” and click into its configuration page and see the settings in picture.

Compiz Experimental Plugins updated with Atlantis and 3D-Cube Model

admin — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:54:43 +0000

This is a project on gnome-look.org, working for compiz 0.8.x on Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04, 10.10. This is a script that installs additional experimental plugins not provided in the official repositories. NOTE: compiz-fusion-plugins-unsupported is no longer in the official ubuntu repos as of 9.10 release. This script includes the plugins that were provided by this package. As of 10.04, compiz-fusion-plugins-extra is not installed by default so the script installs it as well.

The latest 2.2 version Added Atlantis and 3D-Cube Model.

Installation

Download the script from here. Open a terminal window do follow steps:
(1)

cd ~/Downloads

(2)

sudo apt-get install compiz-fusion-bcop compiz-dev \build-essential libtool \libglu1-mesa-dev libxss-dev \libcairo2-dev git-core

(3)

git clone git://anongit.compiz.org/users/soreau/scripts

(4)

cd scripts

(5)

./compiz-addons install all

(6)

nohup compiz --replace &

sit back and let them install it might take a while depending on your connection.

Open your ccsm and have fun !!!

To Remove all installed plugins

~/scripts/compiz-addons uninstall all

Thanks to Scott Moreau for the experimental Compiz plugins build script!

MORE plugins to come!

NOTE : This was picked up by webupd8 ! http://www.webupd8.org/2010/11/install-compiz-experimental-plugins-in.html

NOTE 2, I have included the script in the DL Link, along with a how to,If you should receive an error on retrieving the script from the above git repo.apparently the maintainers repo goes on and off line, and I would like every one to have the opportunity to test and have these plugins!

Enable Skydome Compiz Rotate Cube background in Ubuntu

admin — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:55:09 +0000

Skydome is a concept in Compiz that is the background while rotating or switching Ubuntu desktop. See the screenshots:

To

add a image as Skydome image, first install Compiz and enable desktop cube and then in Appearance tab choose the path to image you want to set as Skydome.

Couple of Skydome Images: (from forum.ubuntu.org.cn)

Double Click Title Bar to Maximize windows instead of Roll up/down

admin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:33:19 +0000

Double-click action on a window title bar originally maximize/restore the window in Ubuntu default settings, and it can be changed to Shade, Lower, Minimize, and so forth under System -> Preferences -> Windows.

But if enabled desktop visual effect with Compiz and using Emerald Theme Manager instead the default, previous setting won’t take effect.

So to set double click title bar to maximize window, head to System -> Preferences -> Emerald Theme Manager -> Emerald Settings tab and change value of “Titlebar Double-Click Action” in following window.

Aero Snap function in Ubuntu with Compiz Grid plugin

admin — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 06:49:51 +0000

I have a post about enable simple aero snap function in Ubuntu with CCSM, that’s using three commands to move selected window to left/right/middle and mapping to edge blindings. It’s easy by moving cursor to corner but the “snapping” also happens when you inadvertently click on the edge of the screen.

Here’s a Grid plugin for Compiz from webupd8, which moving selected window to corner by Ctrl+Alt+(1~7) key combination or moving-cursor-to-corner+ right-click.

Install Grid plugin

Open a terminal window under Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal, download the script and start installation.

wget http://webupd8.googlecode.com/files/grid-corners
chmod +x grid-corners
./grid-corners

The script will install compizconfig-settings-manager, compiz-fusion-plugins-extra, and xautomation and enable the plugin by default.