Thursday, February 16, 2012

Easily Tweak the Unity Desktop in Ubuntu 11.10 and 11.04

The Unity desktop has never been easy to customize. You can customize some options using the Compiz Settings Manager, but there is no easy way to access all the settings for the Unity desktop.

We found a program, called MyUnity, that allows you to customize every part of your Unity desktop, including the Launcher, the Dash, the Panel, the Desktop, and the Fonts.

Before installing MyUnity, you must get the MyUnity repository. To do so, press Ctrl + Alt + T to open a Terminal window. Type the following command at the prompt and press Enter.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:myunity/ppa

01_getting_myunity_repository

A message displays telling you about the PPA (Personal Package Archive) you are about to add to your system. Press Enter to continue adding the PPA.

02_press_enter_to_continue

Once you've added the PPA, you need to update it. Type the following command at the prompt and press Enter. This command actually updates all repositories in your system.

sudo apt-get update

03_updating_repositories

Now, you're ready to install MyUnity. To do so, type the following command at the prompt and press Enter.

sudo apt-get install myunity

04_installing_myunity

The system analyzes what packages are needed to do the installation and tells you how many will be installed and how much disk space will be used. When asked it you want to continue, type a "Y" (without the quotes) and press Enter.

05_do_you_want_to_continue

You are returned to the prompt when the installation is finished. To close the Terminal window, type "exit" (without the quotes) and press Enter.

06_closing_terminal_window

To open MyUnity, click the Dash home icon at the top of the Unity launcher bar.

07_clicking_dash_home

Type "myunity" (without the quotes) in the search box. You do not need to press Enter. Results display as you type. Click the MyUnity icon that displays.

08_finding_myunity

There are six tabs on the MyUnity dialog box. The tabs are located on the bottom of the screenshot at the top of the dialog box. The launcher tab allows you to change settings, such as Size, Transparency, and Behavior, that affect the launcher bar on the left side of the screen.

09_myunity_launcher_tab

The dash tab allows you to turn on and off the Blur effect, and change the Dash Size for when you click the Dash home button on the launcher.

10_myunity_dash_tab

Use the panel tab to change the Transparency level on the panel.

11_myunity_panel_tab

Use the desktop tab to show and hide the Home, Networking, Devices, and Trash icons on the desktop.

12_myunity_desktop_tab

Use the font tab to change the font and font size for the different parts of the Unity desktop.

13_myunity_font_tab

To change a font for a particular part of the desktop, click the button for that part. The screen displays controls that allow you to select the font and size, and the style of the font, such as bold, italic, or underline. Make your desired changes and click Apply. To return to the choices on the font tab, click Close.

13a_changing_the_font

If you've made a lot of changes and then decide you want to return to the default settings, click Default Unity settings at the bottom of the MyUnity window.

14_going_back_to_default_settings

To close MyUnity, click the X button on the title bar of the window.

15_closing_myunity

Now, you can easily change the settings for your Unity desktop all in one place and make look and behave just the way you want.

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