How To: Mint Style Gnome Menu in Ubuntu

[KdotJ]

For those of you who ave ever tried Linux Mint, a distro which is run off the back of Ubuntu, you will have noticed that it has it's own special and somewhat unique gnome menu to select your applications to run, folders to browse etc...

Here is a screen shot of what I mean:



NOTE: This is not the same menu as the "gnome-main-menu" which can be installed via the official Ubuntu repos. Although it is very similar, the Mint one is much more customisable and innovative.

If you wish to have this menu on your Ubuntu machine... here is the instructions...

INSTRUCTIONS

Fire up your terminal...

Optional Step
0. Create a temporary folder
If you're like me, and don't like having your /home folder full of odd bits and pieces and like having things organised, then create a temporary folder download the files to, and cd to it.

mkdir temp && cd temp

1. Download the Debian files
These files are from the Mint repos. Copy the commands line by line allowing each one to finish first:

wget http://packages.linuxmint.com/pool/main/m/mint-translations/mint-translations_2010.02.02_all.deb
wget http://packages.linuxmint.com/pool/main/m/mint-common/mint-common_1.0.5_all.deb
wget http://packages.linuxmint.com/pool/main/m/mintmenu/mintmenu_4.9.9_all.deb

2. Unpack and Install
Copy these command one by one, allowing each one to finish first:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

sudo apt-get install -f

3. Add to gnome panel
OK, so now you have it installed. If you wish (which I recommend), remove the normal menu from the gnome panel (the "Applications Places System" menu).

- Right click on the gnome panel and select "Add to panel..."
- Choose the "mintMenu" and click on add.

You will notice when you add it the it has the mint menu and some text, I'm guessing you will want to change all this.

4. Ubuntuize it
If you right-click on the menu button and select "Preferences" you will see the menu with a whole bunch of stuff. On the first tab which is shown, named "Main Button" you can change how the button looks in the gnome pane. For me, I deleted the button text as I just wanted to have a logo, but of course the choice is yours.

As for the icon, if you want an ubuntu logo, here are the paths to copy in (NOTE: paths are based of Ubuntu 10.04)

If you're using a light theme:

/usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-light/apps/24/start-here.svg

If you're using a dark theme:

/usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-dark/apps/24/start-here.svg

5. Play around!
Have a good look around the preferences and what you can do. There is quite a lot you can play with.
You can choose what items you have in the "Favourites" section but right clicking on a menu item (from "All Applications") and choose "Show in my favourites". You can remove items from your favourites by right clicking on them and selected "Remove from favourites".


6. Known Issue...
After you ave added it to the panel, you will notice that if you select "All Applications", that there is nothing there, or that there are no sub-menus. No problem, all should be fine and working after a the next reboot.


So there you have it, the Mint Menu in Ubuntu. And remember, Mint is made off Ubuntu so everything is pretty much interchangeable, so don't worry that you're using a menu made for a different
distro.

ENJOY!

[fooey]

nice write up. thanks!

[beameup]

Thanks for the instructions. Isn't this similar to the menu in OpenSuse Gnome?

[rogerdean]

There's an unbranded version of mintmenu available in the remastersys repo here http://www.geekconnection.org/remast...sitory/karmic/. It doesn't require the mint repo or dependencies

In software sources...
deb http://www.geekconnection.org/remastersys/repository karmic/

then

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mintmenu

[METZGERR]

Any way to adjust the colors of the menu?
The bg color, border and topics can be changed, however the text keeps beeing black.

[nilarimogard]

Here is a PPA for this: https://launchpad.net/~webupd8team/+archive/mintmenu

And while we're at Mint, here's a PPA for MintBackup too: https://launchpad.net/~webupd8team/+archive/mintbackup

[fillintheblanks]

I don't like it.

[beameup]

Ok, it's somewhat similar.

[SoFl W]

Thanks for the instructions. Isn't this similar to the menu in OpenSuse Gnome?

I thought that was KDE? I am not sure.
I know that is why I stopped using OpenSuse, I disliked the menu.

[noob555]

Awesome! Thanks!