Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

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Bruce McL

Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Post by Bruce McL »

Here's the quick version:
Move the taskbar to the top
In the taskbar, replace Window List with Window Picker, which you need to install first.
Install maximus, set it up to run at startup.

This will give you the feature of UNR which combines the taskbar with the title bar, saving a lot of vertical space. Here is the long version:

1. Move taskbar to top of screen
right-click on taskbar, about 2/3rds of the way to the right. If you are doing it right you will see "About Panels" at the bottom of the pop up menu. Select Properties and change the orientation to top. Close out.

2. Get Window Picker applet
Open mintinstall. Click on Find. Click on the APT tab. Type in window picker and click search. Double click on window picker applet. Wait. Click install. When it's finished, back all the way out of mintinstall.

3. Remove Window List from taskbar
Right click on the taskbar near the group of icons on the left hand side. Select the about menu item. You should see About Window List window come up. Close the window. Right click again on the same spot. Select remove from panel.

4. Add Window Picker to taskbar
Right click again in the same spot. This time select add to panel. Scroll down to Window Picker in the list. Select and add it. Don't worry about the color changing in the menu bar.

5. Install and run Maximus
Open mintinstall again. Click on find. Click on the APT tab. Type in maximus and click search. Double click on maximus. Wait. Click install. When finished, back all the way out.

Open a file browser window. Click on File System. Click on search and search for maximus. Double click on maximus-autostart.desktop. Go ahead and run it.

6. Reinstall mint artwork
I hope you don't have to do this but I did. Open Synaptic package manager. Search for mint-artwork. Mark mint-artwork-gnome for installation and apply changes.

7. Fix preferences.
Go into Appearance Preferences. Click on a random theme and then back to Shiki-Mint. That should fix the taskbar. You may want to change the interface to icons only or text only to save more vertical space.

Notes - Tested with Mint 7 running in virtualbox. There are probably easier ways of doing this. I think menu-picker-applet and maximus can both be installed with one terminal command. Anybody who wants to improve on these instructions is welcome to do so.

Update: I just tried this on my MSI Wind U100. It went smoothly, I did not have to reinstall the mint artwork.
mcash454

Re: Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Post by mcash454 »

This looks awesome! I have an Aspire One and finally divorced myself from its original OS when Karmic NBR came out. But I am constantly looking around at other options for this computer. I looked into puppy linux, and ultimately think I would like to get away from GNOME because even though it is really good, it certainly isn't "small" from a processing overhead standpoint.

But I may try this out and see how it goes. Thanks!
varonbondumb

Re: Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Post by varonbondumb »

Thank you so much for this tutorial. I've been using Ubuntu Netbook Edition on my Asus EEE PC 1001P since Ubuntu 10.04, and once Ubuntu 11.04 came out, I switched to Linux Mint. I've been desperately seeking something like UNE to maximize the real estate, and this is *exactly* what I wanted to do.

Since this tutorial is 2 years old, the differences I had were that instead of using "mintInstall", I had to use synaptic to install window-picker-applet and maximus, and after installing window-picker-applet, I had to reset (well, I just did a CTRL ALT BACKSPACE). Then I was able to enable window-picker-applet and maximus, and everything is completely awesome.

With this setup compared to UNE, I now have my desktop back, normal menu usage, maximized screen real estate and all the normal minty goodness minus the Unity mess.

Thanks again.
Last edited by varonbondumb on Sat Jul 02, 2011 2:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MaddawgTL

Re: Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Post by MaddawgTL »

I tried this but what is it suppose to do? Sorry if dumb but still trying to learn. :oops:
varonbondumb

Re: Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Post by varonbondumb »

If you're on a netbook you'll notice that you have very limited screen space, especially top to bottom. These programs/applets combined take the taskbar at the bottom (or wherever you have it) and the title bar at the top of all windows and put them together, making 2 bars into 1. It saves valuable screen space.

Ubuntu Netbook Edition did this for the reason of making more space for the screen. That was my main reason for using UNE, but I went with LM 10 since it was nice and fast. Now that I have the ability to combine the taskbar and titlebar, I have (what I feel) is the best of both worlds.

If you're not on a netbook then it's rather pointless unless you just really like the look of it.

And hey, it's not a stupid question. There is *nothing* stupid about trying to learn. The only thing stupid is being complacent with ignorance.

Btw, if you tried this, you will have to reset your instance of Gnome (CTRL ALT Backspace) to get the window-applet-picker thing to work (or so I did).
MaddawgTL

Re: Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Post by MaddawgTL »

I do have a netbook,an eeepc 1005hab ( I think,I bought it used and still trying to find out which version it is.) :?

I installed both and after a bit I noticed what they did,still trying to figure out if I like it or not. One other thing I did was use a second bar,one on top and one on bottom and put a pointer capture applet so that my fat thumbs would not do odd and interesting things to what I'm typing. So far I'm trying to learn and keep my head up but sometimes linux throws me for a loop.

Thank you for the tip.
varonbondumb

Re: Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Post by varonbondumb »

Don't know which one you have? Turn the netbook upside down and you should see a sticker in black with white letters saying "ASUS Eee PC numbers", and to the right of that, you might see a white sticker with black letters with the serial number, and above it, you should see the model number. Mine says "1001P-MU17-BU"

Be aware that you can add more applets onto the bar up at the top if you so feel. After you've gotten the maximus and window-applet-picker installed and running, it's kinda a pain to add other things (so I felt). I had to tinker with the placement of stuff to create an empty area so I could add other things. I'm not sure if this is what you're trying to do.

As I say, the *only* reason I have maximus and window-applet-picker installed is so it gives me a little more room to work with. I'm kinda wondering about tinkering and seeing if it's possible to move the bar to one of the sides, making more top to bottom space.
MaddawgTL

Re: Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Post by MaddawgTL »

The netbook had no stickers on it except the MS license. As for the top/bottom bar I have most of my info stuff on the top bar like time,main menu and stuff like that. The bottom bar I have window picker,work space changer and a mouse pointer capture. So far it works and if I knew how to take screenshots I would post what my horrible desktop looks like. :)
varonbondumb

Re: Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Post by varonbondumb »

Top right of the keyboard, you should have a "Print Screen" or "Prt Scrn" button. press it. It should pop up a 'screenshot' message where you can save it.

And yours didn't come with any stickers? No serial number or model number on the underside of the computer?

are you sure you want everything on two separate bars? I'm not sure what you're trying to do by having them like this, since the screen is so tiny. I'd figure you'd combine all of them into the 1 bar.
beantown
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Re: Installing an important part of Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Post by beantown »

Thanks for the tutorial. It really saved desktop space on my Gateway netbook. I'm running LMDE and it works great. :D

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