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AdLinux
Asked: 2017-01-18 01:13:41 +0800 CST

How can I make my Unity panels and window controls look like this?

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I'm a Linux noob, currently playing with Ubuntu on VirtualBox, using this site a lot to help me and am looking to take the next step and dual boot. Hopefully the Linux gods on this website can help me yet again!

I am struggling to set my desktop up to how I would like it to look. I like parts of Unity but also want parts to be 'Windowsey'. I've tried making my ideal desktop on Cinnamon but couldn't get the applets to work how I would like.

Here is a picture I made up of how I want it to look:

The intended appearance of the graphical interface (see text below for a detailed description).

So it uses the top and side bar of Unity (which I actually quite like), I also really like the Unity search feature. I would then want a 'Windowsey' taskbar at the bottom with its own menu, and also I want the window controls to be on the right side.

Hopefully you guys can help me (I'm assuming the answer is staring me in the face).

EDIT: I'm not against the idea of using a different desktop environment if that can get similar results.

16.04

2 Answers

  1. Months later I have come back to this with another answer. It is possible to install and run task bars from other desktop environments including; Xfce (which is what I currently use in conjunction with Gnome 3) Mate panel and Cinnamon.

    Simply install them 'sudo apt install {insert panel name here}' then set it as one of the starting applications.

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  2. Best Answer

    After a lot of messing around I have pretty much what I was after with Gnome 3.

    Here is what I have now

    I installed Gnome 3, knowing that its search feature was similar (enough) to the unity one for what I wanted. I then downloaded the Dash to Dock extension

    https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/307/dash-to-dock/

    Dock at the side with the all apps button at the top which does the searching. Then I downloaded a task bar extension (its not letting me share the link sorry), to give me a task bar at the bottom.

    All that is left to do is to tinker with it some more, make it look more how I want, and see if I can get a more windowsey start menu from the bottom taskbar.

    Thanks a lot for the comments :)

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