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Thread: Jazzing up 13.04

  1. #1
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    Jazzing up 13.04

    Got tired of windows, and google, and privacy and the norm. So a friend turned me onto Ubuntu. I had a little bit of trouble with the install but now that its working great I really like it. Now what? Any ways of hot-rodding this distro? I've seen some pretty cool 3d desktop effects here and there I thought I might like. I know there are some themes. I've installed Compiz and Unity Tweak tool. Should I start looking into alternative desktop environments? Or can Unity be great for jazzing up? I'm not even sure what I really want here cause I don't know where to shop. Are there widgets available? Any cool apps can be recommended for a noobie? Thanks for all the help. I'm looking forward to switching out a couple of my other machines this week.

  2. #2

    Re: 13.04 installed. I like it but now I'm bored.

    i'm a big fan of gnome-shell... I know that will possibly get me flamed by some, but I like the layout and everything more than I like unity... Like I said, I will probably get flamed for that...

  3. #3
    ant2 is offline Just Give Me the Beans!
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    Re: 13.04 installed. I like it but now I'm bored.

    I guess it depends if you like adding bling or if you are a fiddler. If you prefer the latter you may consider installing the LXDE desktop environment and logging into an Openbox session. Embrace the darkness and start configuring it to your own preferences. You will find a very minimal DE with only a rightclick menu to start with. I learned a lot from playing around with Openbox. But please read up and back up before taking the plunge. I you have a spare system consider giving that over to flights of whimsey sparing your main system any misfortune.

  4. #4
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    Re: 13.04 installed. I like it but now I'm bored.

    Hi Ddubbz,

    I use compiz with the cube effect because it let me jump from one desktop to another fast. In fact, i can work on different things without messing my ALT+TAB. Tbh i dont use unity bar because i prefer at the bottom. For that i use the 3D Cairo-Dock.

    Francisco

  5. #5
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    Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish

    Re: 13.04 installed. I like it but now I'm bored.

    If you are really truly bored, then jumping over to Linux is just the right ticket!

    You can do lots of customizing with what you've already got and the other contributors have given you some good ideas as to how you can personalize Unity. I'll leave it to you to Google and discover all of the cool things that you can do in just this DE alone.

    But if you really want excitement, then you should check out the other Linux distros built more for hacking and experimenting. As you get into them, they will perplex you, confound you, intimidate you, and beat you up, but you will not be bored.

    You can start with Arch. If you want a really good bruising, you can graduate to Gentoo. After you try (and fail) to compile your own kernel for the twentieth time, you will find that "excitement" can be way overrated.

    Linux. It's not called the hacker's OS for nothing.

  6. #6
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    Re: 13.04 installed. I like it but now I'm bored.

    First of all, welcome to Ubuntu. I hope you will have a good time.

    You could start playing around with different desktop environments. Like one of the people that posted before me in this thread, I prefer gnome-shell, which is part of GNOME3. Of course, there is loads of information on the different desktops in the Wiki.

    However, here are some keywords you might want to look for: compiz, conky (for examples, see here), screenlets, docky. Also you should check out this website. Those are all more or less powerful tools to customize the look and feel of Ubuntu (and most of them are available through the software center, so you do not need to download them from external sources). Be aware: it takes some time to getting used to everything. But most of the time, people like to play around and try stuff out, so there should not be any problem.

    You can, aswell, have a look at the different applications in the software center and see if you find anything you like. Of course, if you have questions, do not hesitate to ask.

    Kind regards,
    Phil
    "It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." -Albus Dumbledore
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  7. #7
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    Re: 13.04 installed. I like it but now I'm bored.

    +1 for Conky. You can spend as little or much time tweaking Conky as you want. After a while it becomes an art (if you get away from simply copying and pasting other peoples scripts), and can really personalize your desktop. I believe I have learned more about Linux using and customizing my Conky than from any other source.
    Who's Awesome? You're Awesome.

  8. #8
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    Re: 13.04 installed. I like it but now I'm bored.

    Depends on what you like. Build your own Tivo (Mythtv) network, XBMC with a remote will give you plenty of excitement trying to get it all to work.

  9. #9
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    Re: 13.04 installed. I like it but now I'm bored.

    I'll try not to "flame" Gnome-shell. It's a great DE in its own right. However, it's worth pointing out that it uses the Mutter window manager (the successor to Metacity, the default in Ubuntu prior to Unity) instead of Compiz, so all the Compiz effects are incompatible. Mutter has some of its own cool effects built in, but the configurability level may not be sufficient for the bored...

    If you're really bored, though, you might try finding a way to have Gnome 3 automatically use Compiz when you log in.
    Jane, stop this crazy thing!

  10. #10
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    Re: 13.04 installed. I like it but now I'm bored.

    If you have read the above posts you are not likely to get bored for the year through.

    Also, if you like music and want to create some fun stuff of your own you can add some or all programs from the Ubuntu Studio distro & have fun. You can also install Graphics as well as other packages from there & keep enjoying the world of FOSS !

    Here is the link about how to install Ubuntu Studio packages: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ub...0from%20Ubuntu

    I would like to add, Kubuntu has own sets of widgets that are great which you can try out. You can install 'kubuntu-desktop' from the Software-Center.
    bhatta

    May the Source be with you !
    Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh
    'Buntu-ishi krimpatul !

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