Pep up Lubuntu to make it look Awesome and Cool
Customize the looks of your low resource desktop, and make it look awesome…
Lubuntu is one of the most sought after Linux distro for low-resource or old hardware. It is pretty good, in the way, that it can get you the latest, updated software at very low resources(a decent desktop, at as low as 512 MB RAM(tested) and reportedly has even been used on a 64 MB hardware). You can run almost any Ubuntu package on it, without any hassle(I personally used it for 1+ year on a 1 GHz 512 MB RAM machine).
The main down point of Lubuntu, however, is its super-simple UI and feel. If you really like no-frills, then you should probably stay with that, however, if you love tweaking around, and want a better UX, then read on.
Lubuntu is highly customizable, being based on Openbox, and you can play around with a lot of settings, to make it your own. All the settings that I tweaked around with are in-built functionality, requiring no installation at all, with the exception of the icon-pack, which you can choose not to install. Keep in mind, you do not have to follow every step, this is just to show the various ways you can tweak Lubuntu. Feel free to make Lubuntu yours by customizing the way you want.
This looks like a long article, but take 15–20 minutes of your time to get a good knowledge of tweaking the appearance of Lubuntu, and you will be able to make it even better.
Steps
Setting up the Desktop Background
One of the most important factors of your desktop is its background. The background would decide upon the look of both the panels and even the windows. So, choose carefully.
For good resource optimization and performance on your machine(particularly, if you are low on resources), choose a desktop background which has the exact same dimensions as the Monitor resolution. This way, the system does not have to waste CPU cycles scaling the image to adjust to your monitor. To find the monitor resolution, go to Menu > Preferences > Monitor Settings. There you can see your current monitor configuration.
To find an image of a given resolution, search for an image in Google Images, and then under search tools, select ¨Size¨, then select ¨Exactly-¨ and then type the resolution(Keep copyright laws in mind, you must use a picture licensed for noncommercial use). Alternatively, you can choose any image(maybe one you acquired on your own) and use a simple graphics editor(my favorite is Kolourpaint) to stretch/skew it to your monitor resolution.
You should move the image to(you will need to be root) if you want it to be available to all the users
/usr/share/lubuntu/wallpapers/however, you can keep it inside the /home/<username>(if you keep it in there, then it will be available for that user only)
Now, to select the image as your desktop background, go to
Menu > Preferences > Desktop Preferencesand choose the image. You may tweak around with the other settings over there.
Setting up the login background
[Source]
Do you find the default login background uninteresting? Now, you can change the background of the login screen, here´s how:-
Get a background image to use as the login background(You can choose it to be the same as desktop background). An image of the exact same dimension as the monitor is preferable, though, anything will work.
You should move the image to(you will need to be root), if you want it to be available to all the users
/usr/share/lubuntu/wallpapers/ however, you can keep it inside the /home/<username>(if you keep it in there, then it will be available for that user only)
Open the following file —
/etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf with your favorite text editor(as root) and look for the ¨background¨ entry. replace the value of the ¨background¨ entry, with the absolute path of your image file, which will be something like
/usr/share/lubuntu/wallpapers/< your image filename>A good practice while editing system conf files is to comment out the line being edited(by adding a # to its beginning), and put the edited line below it. This way, you always know what the default value was, in case you end up with unexpected results!!
You can also tweak around with the other settings in the file,like setting up a clock and altering the font and theme. Instructions are present in the file itself(See the beginning of the file).
Creating and setting up the panels
Now, we will create the 2 panels(one for all the applications and widgets on the left, and the other for using as a dock, at the bottom).
Right click any empty space in the bottom panel.
Click on ¨Create New Panel¨ and set the settings as shown in the image
Now, go to the appearance tab, and make changes to the settings, as required. I chose to modify the colour, and chose the opacity to be around 73(makes it a bit transparent). Play around with the settings for some time, to get the perfect colour combination. Keep in mind, that this depends upon your background, so you should tweak around it with later also, if required.
Now, head to the panel applets tab, where you add the various applets(or widgets, if you prefer to call them that) to the panel. Add the applets needed, by clicking on ¨Add¨. You can edit the settings of a particular applet by highlighting it(by clicking it) and then pressing ¨Edit¨. You can also change the position of the applet by using the ¨Up¨ and ¨Down¨ buttons.
At this point, you should edit the settings of the task bar… Right Click in any empty space in the left panel > Panel Settings > Panel Applets tab > highlight ¨task bar(Window List)¨ > press ¨Edit¨ > Set the settings as shown below. Alternatively, you can un-tick the ¨flat buttons¨ option, to have a box around your icons. Your Choice!!
Now, close all the windows. We will set up the bottom panel now, As a dock…
Right click any empty space in the bottom panel, and select ¨panel settings¨. Set the settings as shown below(you are free to tweak the settings, as required). The width should be altered as per the number of applications(as will be shown). The icon size should be generally left equal to the height.
In the appearance tab, select the ¨solid color(opaque)¨ and choose a colour with its opacity set around 90. I chose a bluish color(#2B3BD9) with opacity 95. Keep in mind, that this depends upon your background, so you should tweak around with it later also, if required.
Now, go to the ¨Panel Applets¨ tab, where you will add 2 ¨Spacers¨ and set them to stretch, with an ¨Application Launch Bar¨ between them. ¨Edit¨ the ¨Application Launch Bar¨ to add the applications you want in the dock.
Select the ¨Application Launch Bar¨ and click ¨Edit¨
Now, head to the ¨Advanced¨ tab, and tick the ¨Minimize panel when not in use¨, and set the ¨Size when Minimized¨ to the minimum possible value.
Now is a good point to go over to the ¨Geometry¨ tab, and set the width, which depends upon the no. of applications in your dock(Do this every time you add an application to the dock). You can even set it to 100%, if you would like it to cover the entire width when selected. It´s a matter of personal preference.
Setting up the icon theme
To get a beautiful experience, you should change the icon theme, in case you do not like the default icon pack. Here´s a list of great icon packs, from which I selected Numix. You can install it by executing the following commands in the terminal.
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:numix/ppasudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install numix-icon-theme-circle
Now, you must select an icon for the menu button(the one in the top left corner). You can choose any picture, but a picture with same height and width(a square, basically) is preferable. Also, if the picture is circular, the part around it must be transparent. In Google, you can search for such an image by using the search tools, and selecting ¨transparent¨ under the ¨colour¨ tab. After selecting a picture, open it with an image editor and then stretch/skew it to the same width as the width of your left panel, and the same height as the width of your panel. This helps to save your computer´s resources, as was explained for desktop background.
Download the image. Now, right click the menu button, and select ¨Menu¨ settings. Click ¨Browse¨ and then select the image.
Applying the theme and other customizations
Go to
Menu > Preferences > Customize Look and Feel.Don´t forget to press ¨Apply¨ after changing the settings as shown below!!
In the following steps, in various tabs, you can install themes and materials. Google them up, or get them here(gnome-look), here(xfce-look), and here(box-look). Look for Openbox, GTK 2 or GTK 3 themes(categories present on the left).
In the widgets tab, you can select the default widget style. select each of them to preview. I personally prefer ¨Adwaita¨(for light theme).
The default ones included in Lubuntu include only light themes(Bright and White), though many(including me) prefer a dark theme(With greyish and blackish background, and white text). Some even suggest, that it is good for your eyes(strains less!!). You will need to install them. Look for an appropriate theme from the links mentioned above. I downloaded this one. Now, extract the ZIP file. You will have a folder named ¨elementary Dark¨. Copy and paste the folder in
/usr/share/themesfor system wide installation and in
/home/<username>/.themesfor user specific installation.
Go back to the Widget tab in ¨Customize Look and Feel¨ and select elementary Dark.
Now, go to the ¨Colour¨ tab. If the widget selected allows, you can customize the colour scheme here.
Head over to the ¨Icon Theme¨ tab. Select each item to preview it. Select the one you like. I used the ¨Numix Circle¨ icon-theme.
In the ¨Mouse Cursor¨ tab, you can select the cursor styles. I used the ¨DMZ(White)¨ style.
Go to the ¨Window Border¨ tab. Here, you select the window borders. There are a lot of options available, and you can also install others. I chose the ¨Onyx¨ theme.
You can visit the other tabs, and tweak to your heart´s content.
You might even want to customize the Openbox settings by going to
Menu > Preferences > Openbox Configuration ManagerPower Button — Is it GONE??
While setting up the panels, you might accidentally(or maybe purposely) remove the shutdown button. To get it back —
Open your favorite text editor as root, and paste the following lines into it.
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Power
Comment=Shutdown or Reboot
Icon=system-shutdown-panel
Exec=/usr/bin/lxsession-logout
Categories=GTK;System;Settings;
Type=Application
You can change the name, comment, icon, etc.
Save this file in
/usr/share/applications as any name, with a .desktop extension.
The entry will now be available as an application under
Menu > System ToolsGo to your application launch bar(the dock at the bottom) and ¨Edit¨ its settings to add the Power button as was explained before.
And woah!! You will have something like this(OR MAYBE EVEN BETTER)…
