Screenlets take up very little in the resources department, are very unobtrusive on the desktop, and are user-customizable. The amount of available screenlets is fairly numerous so you should be able to find plenty to serve you. In this article you will learn how to install the Screenlets application, add screenlets, and customize screenlets.

Features

• Install SuperKaramba themes.
• Install Google Gadgets.
• Load web apps.
• Compositing support.
• Supports compiz widget plugin for a “Dashboad” feel.
• Open source.

Installing

I will be illustrating how to install Screenlets on Ubuntu. For other distributions you can check the Screenlets Install FAQ for more information. The first thing you will need to do is add the PPA repository to your /etc/apt/sources.list file. To do this open up a terminal window and issue the command:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Now add the following to the end of this file:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ketilwaa/ubuntu RELEASE main

Where RELEASE is the release name you are working with (such as jaunty).

Now save that file and issue the following command:

sudo apt-get update

Since you already have the terminal window open you can install the application with the following command:

sudo apt-get install screenlets

This will install everything you need to work with Screenlets.

Adding screenlets to your desktop

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows what screenlets can look like on your desktop. Here you can see:

• Clear RSS
• Weather.com weather applet
• Gmail notification
• Applications menu
• Digital clock

In order to install any of these you first have to open up the Screenlets Manager tool. This tool can be opened two different ways. The first is to use the menu entry which is found in the Preferences sub-menu of the System menu in GNOME. The second method of opening the manager is from the System Tray icon (see Figure 2 – fourth icon from the left). To open it from the icon you must double-click the icon. If you do not see this icon in the System Tray you will need to enable it from the Screenlet Manager by checking the “Show daemon in try” option.

Figure 2

The Screenlet Manager is where you

Figure 3

take care of addling screenlets to your desktop, getting new screenlets, and more (see Figure 3). To add a screenlet to your desktop scroll through the list of available screenlets, select a screenlet and click the Launch/Add button. You can also just double-click the screen let you want to add.

In some cases the screenlet will open almost off the screen. If this happens just click and drag the screenlet where you want it.

Configuring your screenlets

If you right click the screenlet you will see a number of options. Each screenlet will have unique entries in the right-click menu. But most all screenlets will have a Preferences. This Preferences entry is where you can get to the the options for that screenlet. I won’t go into the various options because they will differ from screenlet to screenlet.

I will mention the layring of the screenlets. There are basically three options for layering. These options are found in the Window sub-menu and they are:

Keep above: This will ensure the screenlet is always in front of your windows.

Keep below: This will ensure the screenlet is always behind your windows.

Widget: This is the option you want to choose to make a screenlet part of the “Dashboard” effect.

Dashboard effect

Figure 4

If you’ve used OS X you know if you hit F9 your windows disappear and all of your widgets appear. You can have this same effect with the help of Screenlets and Compiz. To do this set all of your screenlets layering to Widget and then open up the Compiz Settings Manger. Within the CSM you need to enable the Widget Layer feature. Once you have enabled this feature you can hit F9 and all windows will fade and the screenlets will appear. When the widgets are not visible they will be completely invisible. You can also assign only certain screenlets so that only those assigned to the Widget layer will appear when F9 is hit (see Figure 4).

You can adjust the darkness of the background layer within the CSM. In order to get your desktop back just click on the desktop and your widget layer will disappear again.

Final thoughts

Screenlets is an outstanding application that brings new functionality to the Linux desktop. It’s very easy to install and use and the added functionality it brings is well worth the time spent.

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To really push the limits of transparency you will need to have Compiz working. For more information on Compiz check out my articles: “Enabling the Cube in Compiz” and “Configuring the appearance of the Compiz Cube“. You might also want to check out my article “Add Emerald for slick window decorations” to get the full effect of transparent titlebars and window decorations. As well you can check out my article “Avant Window Navigator: OS X-like dock on Linux desktop” if you’re wanting to mimic my personal desktop.

The big picture

Figure 1

I thought I would start out by showing you the desktop I am working with so you can decide if this is something you want to achieve. Figure 1 shows the end result of the configurations (Click on the image to see the full-size version).

The tools to will use

In order to get the transparency you see in the image the following configuration tools will be used:

Compiz Settings

Panel properties

The following themes will be used:

GNOME: Dust Sand

Avant Window Navigator: Glass 3D

Emerald: Gabriel

Wallpaper: Awesome Wallpapers Ubuntu Charcoal

I am going to assume you know how to install the various themes and wallpaper used, so I won’t go over those topics.

Configurations

Figure 2

The first thing to take care of happens to be the easiest – the GNOME panel. You will notice I removed the bottom panel on my desktop and replaced it with the Avant Window Navigator. So the only GNOME panel to deal with is the upper panel. To set the transparency on this right click an empty spot in the panel and select “Properties”. When the Properties window opens (see Figure 2) click on the “Background” tab and do the following:

• Check the Solid Color radio button.
• Slide the Style bar to the left until it is as transparent as you like.
• Click Close.

Your panel should now be transparent.

Compiz

Figure 3

Now that your panel is transparent you don’t want to ruin the over all look by having solid menus and/or drop downs. So let’s take care of these pieces.  The first thing to do is open up the Compiz Settings tool. You will find this in the Preferences sub-menu of the System menu.  When the settings window is open you will want to click on the Opacity Brightness and Saturation section (see Figure 3).

What you need to do is add new Window specific settings. When you click the New button a small window will open where you add the type of “window” you want to set transparency for. When the window opens you want to add the following line to get Menus, Drop down windows, and popups set for transparency:

(type=Menu) || (type=PopupMenu) || (type=DropDownMenu)

Once you have that entered, set the transparency level to 67 (to match what you see in this article) or to whatever level you desire.

And that’s it. You should now have full-on transparency on your desktop.

Final thoughts

Of course you can take this farther. You can even set application windows as transparent as you like. The only problem with that is you need to be able to clearly see your work.

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One of those ways is using the Compiz “3D” desktop. But using Compiz is not enough for me. I want my windows decorated far more than the average window manager can handle. That’s where Emerald comes in. Emerald is a window decorator that usually ships with Compiz but does not always include everything you need. And in some instances, Compiz doesn’t include Emerald. That’s an easiest enough problem to figure out and solve.

What is Emerald?

As stated earlier, Emerald is a theme-able window decorator. But Emerald takes window decorating one step further by also allowing for full-composite window decorations. By adding composite to the decoration Emerald can include such features as transparency and drop shadow. And Emerald does this without taking any more of a hit on your resources than a normal window manager. That is, assuming you have the hardware that supports compositing. The main issue is that your graphics chip must support 3D/Direct Rendering. If your hardware can support that, your hardware will work with Emerald. You will also need to have Compiz installed (this article will assume you have Compiz up and running).

Getting and installing

The good news is that Emerald will be in your repository. Here are the steps to install Emerald:

• Open up your Add/Remove Software utility.
• Do a search for “emerald” (no quotes)
• Mark Emerald for installation.
• Click Apply to install.

Now, the bad news is that Emerald will only install with one theme. You will have to find new themes on line. There are plenty of places to find Emerald themes. The best location I have found is the Compiz Community. Search through those themes and download the ones you like. Download those files to a single directory (let’s say ~/THEMES) We’ll talk about adding them in a moment.

Running Emerald

In order to start Emerald you have to run it such that it will replace your current window decorator. To do this open up the Run Command dialog (in GNOME you’ll hit <Alt>F2) and enter the command:

emerald –replace

You will immediately see your window decorations change. The default theme is a transparent red-ish theme.

Figure 1

Now you will want to open up the theme manager. You will find the Emerald Theme manager in the Preferences sub-menu of the System menu. When the theme manager opens (see Figure 1) you will see no themes listed. In Figure 1 you can see a theme (Overglass) which has been added. All themes you have added to Emerald will be listed here.

Adding themes

The themes you download will be in .emerald format. All you need to do to add a theme is click on the Import button, navigate to the theme you want to add and click OK. The theme will change to the new theme, you actually have to select that new theme for it to take affect. To switch to the newly added them just select the theme from the listing in the Themes tab of the manager.

Start Emerald at login

One issue you will find is that Emerald doesn’t automatically start at login. Without setting it up to automatically start, you will have to start it via command line every time you log into your account. Fortunately you can set this up easily. To do so you open up the Startup Applications Preferences. Locate this tool in the Preferences sub-menu of the System menu.

Figure 2

When it opens up you will see a simple window with two tabs and a few buttons. Click on the Add button to open up the Add Startup Program window (see Figure 2). You can see, in Figure 2, the details you need to add for this to work. Once you have added the information click the Add button and then click the Close button.

Now the next time you log in to your desktop Emerald will be your window decorator.

Final thoughts

Of all the window decorators out there you will find Emerald to be the best of the best. Not only does it offer numerous attractive themes, it won’t take as much of a hit on your performance as you might think it would. Give Emerald a try and you will see just how far the desktop can go.

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• Get some serious transparency in GNOME and Compiz (4)
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• Enabling the Cube in Compiz (3)
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• Configuring the appearance of the Compiz Cube (7)

In this article I am going to show you how to configure:

• Skydome: The background image shown when your cube zooms out.
• Cube caps: The images on the top and bottom of your cube.
• Deformation and Reflection: Is your cube a sphere or a cylinder? Do you have a reflection of your cube or not?

When you have these options configured, you will have a seriously cool desktop.

Skydome and Cube caps

Figure 1

To begin your configuration you need to open up the CompizConfig Settings Manager. If you are using GNOME you will see this in the Preferences sub menu of the System menu. Once this opens click on the Desktop Cube entry. In this configuration you want to click on the Appearance tab (see Figure 1).

The first thing you need to do is make sure the Enable Desktop Cube is checked. With that out of the way take a look at the Appearance tab. You will see both Cube Caps and Skydome here. Oddly enough, you will only configure the Skydome here.

To configure your Skydome first click the check box to enable the Skydome. Now click on the folder icon to the right of the Skydome text area. This is where you will locate the image for your Skydome. You can use either .jpg or .png files for this.

Once you have this complete click the Back button at the bottom left.

Now if you want to better see your Skydome click on the Rotate Cube configuration and then adjust the Zoom option. The Zoom option zooms out of the Cube so as you rotate the Cube it is smaller. I keep mine at .6525. Click the Back button when you are done.

Figure 2

Now to configure the Cube Caps. To do this click on the “Cube Reflection and Deformation” option. In this section expand the Appearance section of the Cube Caps section (see Figure 2). Here you will do the same thing you did with Skydome. Make sure you configure both the top and bottom Cube Caps.

Within this same section click on the Deformation tab. In this section click the Deformation drop down and select which type of Deformation you want. NOTE: The Sphere deformation does take a bit more resources than the Cylinder. If you have the power go for the Sphere, otherwise either None or the Cynlinder.

You can also enable Reflection which will reflect your cube either on the bottom or the top. To enable this click on the Reflection tab and then check the Enable box. After you have enabled it you can then customize it how ever you like.

Results

Figure 3

Figure 3 shows the results of these configurations. Obviously your results will vary depending upon what and how you configure these options.

Final thoughts

I am a big fan of Compiz. Although it doesn’t directly help you to be a better, more efficient worker, it will allow you to create an impressive working environment on your PC. Show off how powerful the Linux desktop can be by configuring the Compiz Cube.

UPDATE: Below are the images used in this tutorial:

Skydome image

Wallpaper image

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And with more modern distributions, like Ubuntu 9.04, Compiz is installed by default. So if your hardware can handle Compiz, you can easily enjoy these amazing effects. One of those effects is the Cube. The cube is a three dimensional way to view your virtual desktops in Linux. By default the Cube might be enabled, but you won’t find it’s full effects withot a bit of tweaking.

Figure 1

If you take a look at Figure 1 you can see just what the Compiz cube is all about. As you can see, in this example, I have an 8 sided “cube” with zoom enabled and 3D windows. I have found if you are trying to win someone over to the Linux desktop – this setup will do the trick.

So how do you go about getting this nifty feature up and running? It’s easier than you’d think.

Enable effects

The first thing you have to do is enable the Custom effects in the Appearances window. To open this go to the GNOME System menu and click on Preferences. From within this submenu click on the Appearances entry which will open a new window. In this new window you will see 5 tabs, of which one is Visual Effects. Click on this tab and then click on the Extra radio button. “Extra” will enable all visual effects. You do not need this for basic Compiz, but you will for the more advanced features (such as the cube).

Configuring compiz

What needs to be opened is the CompizConfig Settings manager. If installed you will find this labeled as CompizConfig Settings Manager in the same place as you found the Appearances configuration window (System | Preferences). If you do not find this, you will need to install it.

In order to install the CompizConfig tool open up a terminal and issue the command:

sudo apt-get install ccsm

This wil install the tool you need. Now you can go back to the System menu and find the CompizConfig Settings Manager in the Preferences submenu.

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the CompizConfig tool. Scroll down until you can see the Cube entry. Click on that to reveal the Desktop Cube settings. In this section you will see a check box in the left panel allowing you to enable the Desktop Cube. Make sure that box is checked. You can then go through the settings and configure it to your desire.

But you’re not ready to see your cube in action just yet. There are still some other options to take care. Click the Back button at the bottom left corner of the window and then click on the Rotate Cube button. First make sure Enable Rotate Cube is checked. Now that Rotate Cube is enabled you will find, near the bottom of the Rotate Cube section, the Zoom drag bar. Set that at around .75 and then click Back.

General Options

In the main window click on General Options. This next setting really counts toward making your Desktop Cube work. Click on the Desktop Size tab and change the following settings:

• Horizontal Virtual Size: 8
• Vertical Virtual Size: 2
• Number of Desktops: 4

After these are set you should be ready to go.

Testing

Click Ctrl-Alt-right arrow. Did your cube rotate to the right? If so it’s working. Now click Ctrl-Alt-Middle Mouse button. Did your cube zoom out? If so, you’re ready to rock.

Figure 3

If you are using a laptop you will have a bit of trouble zooming out. With the default keybindings you would have to click Ctrl-Alt-Button1-Button2 and then zoom in or out with the trackpad. Not an easy feat. To simplify this go back to the Rotate Cube section in CompizConfig. What you will want to do is edit the Initiate keybinding. I changed mine to Ctrl-Alt-Button1. To change this click on the button that shows the current keybinding for Initiate. When you click that the Keybinding window will appear (see Figure 3).

What you want to do is select the combination of buttons you want and the mouse button you want to add to this. When you have ade your choices click OK to finalize the configuration.

Zooming and rotating your Cube should now be much easier on your laptop.

Final Thoughts

The Compiz Cube effect is too good a feature to not make use of. And once you realize how easy it is to work with, you’ll start making minute changes so it perfectly suits your needs. You can add skycap images, reflections, and much more. You’ll soon wonder how you worked on a desktop before Compiz.

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There are many reasons why you should give this distribution a try. One of the reasons is that even when using the Live CD you can get the full benefit of what this distribution is all about. Even using a three year old machine I didn’t feel like I was using a Live CD. It’s that well put together.

How Did They Do It?

It’s been known for a while that Compiz and Enlightenment wouldn’t work together. The developers have been asked over and over to roll Compiz support into Enlightenment. It wasn’t until Elive developer Thanatermesis put in the necessary time to develop a special version of Ecomorph which consists of a special version of Compiz and a special version of E17 that are able to work together. As of now the developers claim this is nothing more than a “hack” and in pre-alpha stages. What I have seen, however, is pretty stable. That doesn’t mean you should be putting this version of Elive on your production machines. This version should be going on a machine that can be wiped clean whenever you choose. But you should definitely put it on something…it’s that cool.

What It Contains

Upon first glance of this distribution you would think you using E17 with maybe a few extra applets on the desktop. That is not the case. The minute you hit Ctrl-Alt with a left mouse click you will see that famous 3D cube brought to the desktop care of Compiz. A little more digging and you will find some rather interesting (and very alpha released) video applications as well as some spiffy configuration tools.

There was one effect with this desktop that really caught me by surprise. When you close a window the window folds into a paper airplane and flys away. Useful? Not really. Impressive? Very.

Graphic Requirements

Obviously this is one of the first questions you will have to ask. On the site they highly recommend an NVidia card. I ran the LiveCD on an NVidia 6800 GT and it was smooth as silk.

Have a Look

There is a great video on Youtube that shows off the Elive Compize release. Take a look here. In this video you will notice Elive Compiz running on an Eee PC. You can use the fantastic UNetBootin tool to install Elive Compiz onto a USB drive and get it working on an Eee PC.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for a Debian-based distribution that takes the PC desktop to heights you have never experienced, Elive Compize is the Live CD for you. Just remember, while this is in such early stages, to not run this on a production machine.

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