We have recently devoted several articles to the Ubuntu customization. We recently wrote an article on how to change Ubuntu system sounds, so you can check it out. However, this time we want to return to the graphic field.
Now that Linux Mint 18 is available, we want to show you how we can customize your Cinnamon desktop, Changing their themes and editing through a series of changes that may interest you, such as resizing icons, changing fonts …
One of the things that most appeals to users when it comes to customizing the desktop, is changing the cursor themes, icons, and windows. If you already have some experience in GNU / Linux and like to customize the desktop, you probably already know how to do this task. However, just in case, we want to teach you in this article.
Table of Contents
Changing the theme of windows
To change the theme of windows, we need to go to System Configuration and then to themes. As you can see, there are a number of pretty nice themes already installed on Cinnamon, but surely our intention is to install the themes that we have downloaded from the internet, for example from Cinnamon-Spices.
Once we have downloaded the topic we like best (in tar.gz, tar.bz …) format, we must proceed to decompress it. Then we need to move the unzipped folder to directory /usr/share/.themes. As you will see directory .themes it is hidden so if we perform this task graphically, we will have to press Ctrl + H to be able to view it.
Once we have moved the folder to mentioned directory, the theme will be ready to apply. des System Settings -> Themes we can now choose the theme we just installed, in the tab,a Options, As we see in the following image:
Changing the theme of icons and cursor
The procedure for changing the theme of the icons and the cursor is practically the same as the one mentioned in the previous section, only now we will have to move the theme folder in the directory / Usr / share / icons.
Again, since System Settings -> Themes we can also change the theme of both the icons and the cursor. A good place to download themes can be Gnome-Look:
Adding an Application Dock
Another aspect that most attracts users, is the possibility of add a Dock to the desktop of applications. Personally, the one I like the most and the one I’ve used the most (beyond the GNOME Dock) is Cairo-Dock. To install it is as easy as running the following in the Terminal:
its add-apt-repository ppa: cairo-dock-team / ppa
its add-apt-repository ppa: cairo-dock-team / ppa
sudo apt-get install caire-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins
And that’s it! After rebooting the system you should already see the Dock on your desktop.
Resizing and organizing icons
One thing we might be interested in changing is the size of the icons. To do this, just right-click on the icon and clicking Resize Icon we can give it the size we want.
In addition, we can too arrange the icons, Keeping them aligned or organized by name, from the options we see in the right click on an empty spot on the desktop.
Changing the font of desktop icons
It can also be that, depending on your taste, you don’t like the font that comes pro default on the desktop icons, or you just feel like changing it. This procedure will only change the font of the desktop icons, not the entire system.
To do this, we recommend that you install the dconf-tools package with:
sudo apt-get install dconf-tools
And then we just run dconf-tools in the terminal to open this application. Then we have to go to Editor -> Org -> Nemo -> Desktop -> Font, And then we choose the font we want and its size.
Install Widgets
Another aspect to note when customizing our desktop, is the ability to add small applications that provide us with information of some kind, or other useful functionality. These applications are called Desklets or Widgets, and in Cinnamon we can also add.
We just have to go to the a Cinnamon settings and then in Get more on the net to look for the ones we like best.
- / Usr / share / cinnamon / desklets / if we want the changes to take place throughout the system.
- /home/user/.local/share/cinnamon/desklets/ if we want the changes to affect only the current user.
As we have seen, there are many ways to customize our desktop, in this case Cinnamon. And surely we are leaving many more possibilities. What do you say, did you like the article? How do you customize your desktop? Until the next 🙂
Fuente: <a href="http://hatteras-blog.blogspot.com.es/2014/04/editar-el-escritorio-de-cinnamon.html">Blog de apuntes de Hatteras</a>
