Chris H Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 2009 As title says, looks a little plain to me. What can I do / install to make it a bit more exciting? Ta. [moved from Software by spinynorman] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniewicz Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 You could install KDE, that would pretty things up But seriously, how about installing compiz? That will give you a little eye candy. mcc Hardware -> Configure 3D Desktop effects Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSurfer60 Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 You could start at http://www.GNOME-Look.org There is plenty of eye candy there as well. And be creative, let your talents run free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris H Posted October 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Thanks all. I should add that my graphics chipset ( Radeon M9700 ) doesn't get on well with Compiz - frequent lockups and all that. Been having a look at gnome-look.org but a lot of what I try and do seems flakey in it's implementation. gDesklets for example, 20% of what I try and implement just doesn't work. Will have a look at the icon sets, themes and wallpapers there. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 I'm using screenlets, and you can install this from the Mandriva repos. Much better than gdesklets now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris H Posted October 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Thanks Ian, will give it a go later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 I'm using screenlets, and you can install this from the Mandriva repos.I second that suggestion, as well as gnome-look.org. You could also have a look at art.gnome.org, but gnome-look has more stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial Intelligence Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 A gnome enhanement thread? B) Compiz - http://www.compiz-fusion.org/ Screenlets - http://www.screenlets.org/index.php/Home For a "mac bar" there's plenty for Gnome; Kiba Dock - http://www.kiba-dock.org/ best and most advanced dock out there. (required: compiz) then there's Cairo Dock - http://www.cairo-dock.org/index.php or AWN - https://launchpad.net/awn For terminal I can recommend Tilda - http://tilda.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page Alternative Menu bar USP - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=222546 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSurfer60 Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Not much in the way of choice then :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 AI is the customisation man Now I know why I like Gnome, loads to play around with a customise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris H Posted October 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 A gnome enhanement thread? B) Compiz - http://www.compiz-fusion.org/ Can't do compiz :( Screenlets - http://www.screenlets.org/index.php/Home Trying them now, very nice. For a "mac bar" there's plenty for Gnome;Kiba Dock - http://www.kiba-dock.org/ best and most advanced dock out there. (required: compiz) then there's Cairo Dock - http://www.cairo-dock.org/index.php or AWN - https://launchpad.net/awn AWN also needs compiz. Will have a look at the Cairo Dock. For terminal I can recommend Tilda - http://tilda.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page Have used Yakuake in the past, did try Tilda once but seemed a bit rough round the edges. Will try again. Alternative Menu barUSP - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=222546 Thanks, will check out. Thanks for the detailed reply AI, appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnz Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 to really liven it up install kde4 (kubuntu, opensuse, arch) beats the pants off the rest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial Intelligence Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 My pleasure ^_^ You can make a cool Desktop without compiz; Here's one I made without running Compiz (well it was before compiz and beryl time); click to enlarge (1600x1200) No, compiz. The fake shadow on the lower bars are from gDesklets. Then I filled up upper bar with some usefull good looking desk applets. You can try with this one (a mac panel image which give some depth on your Desktop; With some GTK2 themes (depends which engine the theme is build around). You can drop an image into the panel, so the panel uses the image as panel layout. I know that themes build on aurora (GTK2 engine) can do that very well, though it says it's the slowest engine, but best looking IMHO. Otherwise I like to use themes that build on pixbuff. If the aurora engine isn't available in the repo, you can get it here; http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Aur...e?content=56438 Aurora Engine; click to enlarge (1680x1050) You want your root permission applications to have the same theme as you run as a normal user and want it to change when you change themes, icons, fonts on your user account? su ln -s /home/USERNAME/.themes /root/.themes ln -s /home/USERNAME/.icons /root/.icons ln -s /home/USERNAME/.fonts /root/.fonts Only work for custom made themes in your $home, not for themes installed globally. This may not be a major eyecandy; Making Audacious (music player) looking good; http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=658282 click to enlarge (1680x1050) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial Intelligence Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 (edited) to really liven it up install kde4 (kubuntu, opensuse, arch) beats the pants off the rest I havn't seen any Desktop screenshot that have beaten a Gnome Desktop yet, in early days, yes. But that isn't true anymore with all thet stuff you can get to Gnome and GTK2 these days. Edited October 23, 2008 by Artificial Intelligence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 The best you can get, regarding looks, on Gnome (and XFCE as well) is the Murrine themes. They make both look less ugly than they actually are (or almost pretty at times), but the truth is always the same: gtk2 is both slow and ugly, period. Regarding icons, things are better- the Tango icon family ain't that bad, and they are also another couple of rather pretty themes. BTW I am currently using xfce4 exclusively, but most of the times I wish it was QT4 based... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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