A simple GUI for Unity-2D Settings (Ubuntu 11.04)
Posted: April 20, 2011 Filed under: Open Source Software 21 Comments »
This is a very simple GUI application that saves time browsing folders and adding values, or writing commands in the terminal to get the Unity-2D GConf Settings customized.
There’s not much to tweak under the current version of Unity-2D, however, there are certain times when you want to set the Launcher to be hidden or vice versa, or you just can’t get used to it’s “Dodge” mode used by default. And Compositing Manager makes it look better (Near regular Unity).
You can download the Installer (.deb File) here:
For 32-bit (11.04)
For 64-bit (11.04)
IMPORTANT (Native imperfections in Unity-2D):
1.-In some cases, the Dash wont show with transparency when you first enable Compositing. You can Just log out and log in, or open the Terminal and type: killall unity-2d-places ..Hit enter and then just click the Ubuntu Logo icon on the top panel.
2.-Whenever you disable Compositing, your windows, top panel and Launcher disappear. Just click Alt-Tab on your keyboard to bring your windows back, and move your cursor to the top and wait a couple of seconds to get the Panel and Launcher back.
3.- If you select ‘Always Show‘ while the Launcher is hidden and a window is maximized, it won’t show leaving an empty space. Just move your cursor to the Ubuntu Logo on the top panel to bring it back.
4.- The option for ‘Always Show’ the Launcher uses a strut that produces incorrect size on “Spread” when you click the Workspace Switcher (Unity-2D Bug 766103). There’s no actual workaround for this one.
Note: Compositing Manager doesn’t work on current Unity 2D’s “Daily Build”. So make sure you installed the “Stable Version” (Simply: sudo apt-get install unity-2d without having to add a repository). Remember, “Daily Builds” are mostly Non-Stable/Under-Development packages and are aimed so you can test new patches and send bug reports to developers.
nice! I like transparency option. Couldn’t make it work before. Everyone was saying that it works only in Unity 3d.
Wow this is amazing and should really be included as part of Unity 2D. You should try and get in touch with those guys and talk about it being included.
The compositing makes Unity 2D look sooo nice!
nice work; I agree with Dylan
auto hide is not working at all for me – but earlier it did work – for now finding out why is a distraction but I will look
Worked great! I got the launcher to always show which is why i downloaded it in the first place but the transparency doesn’t seen to work for me. ubuntu 11.04
This tool identifies the desktop environment in use, then disables what’s not compatible for the session. Example: If Unity (3D not 2D) is running, the “Shadows and Transparency” button goes grayed out since it’s not required using Compiz.
Users who find problems trying to set Unity-2D’s preferences just make sure “Unity-2D” is the session shown at the bottom of your login screen (Not “Ubuntu”). Otherwise, it will not be customizable. You can check out bug 747343 at launchpad.net for more details.
Hope this helps :)
Thanks for this tool! Had to switch to 2D because the 3D made it impossible to play any video on my machine.
Is there a way to hide the volumes from Unity 2D launcher? I hate that together they take one third of the space even on 1920×1080.
There is no easy way to do that unfortunately. The only way I know is by modifying it’s source code, but I wouldn’t recommend to mess around with that if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. Otherwise, the file is located at /usr/share/unity-2d/launcher:
1.- Open the Terminal and type sudo gedit /usr/share/unity-2d/launcher/Launcher.qml
2.- Create a backup of this file by simply using “Save As” and store it into your preferred directory. This will help if you like to bring those icons back in the future.
3.- Now having the window selected, press Control F on your keyboard to launch the little search tool and type Component. You will get to the line 104 that reads Component.onCompleted All you have to do is delete the line that says “items.appendModel(devices);” , save changes, close the window and in the Terminal type killall unity-2d-launcher.
Great tool! I am having a little problem, on my ubuntu 11.04 instalation (installed with “apt-get install unity-2d”).
I can not see the changes made on the settings reflected immediately on unity-2d. I need to logout/login to see my options activated. The same think happens when I use gconftool-2.
What might be the problem? Do I need to install anything else?
Log out, then make sure “Unity 2D” pops out in the list of “Sessions”. If is not there, then reinstall Unity-2D from the terminal. Otherwise, select Unity-2D, log in, then open gconf-editor (You can type gconf-editor in the terminal) then browse /desktop/unity-2d/launcher and try changing the values for “hide_mode” (Between 1 and 2 only). If this works good in gconf (Right away) then the problem is solved. :-)
Thanks for this great tool, really saves times ! I just installed unity 2d on Natty because Unity 3d is definitely a way too buggy as Ubuntu Classic session anyway, so the only option for me choose Ubuntu Classic(no effects), and of course in this mode impossible to use any docks, so direction to Unity-2d, and I must admit that it is more stable, lightweight and as great as Unity-3d, anyway I don’t have choice now.
This tool is a god send! I have been looking for a way to keep the launcher from auto-hiding. Thank you for putting the work into this and posting it. I am curious what area this is modifying, and maybe I can modify those things myself, but otherwise this should hold me over until more settings are set up by the ubuntu team for the launcher.
The settings for Unity-2D can be set using gconf-tool or gconf-editor at ‘/desktop/unity-2d/launcher’.
Thank you and Thanks everyone for posting feedback about this tool.
You should add a close button – it makes the program look nicer.
When I maximize the window, left side is behind the launcher, so I dont see part of it, dont you know where should be a problem? Thanks in advance
The tool seems broken – I can no longer use this to make my launcher stay visible (and match maximized windows). Also, I can no longer go into unity settings in gconf-editor/dconf-editor to get the same effect.
Using the daily builds here, which is probably why.
Thank you so much for this tool. It makes Unity a viable option for me.
@MIro & @Tynach
That sounds like you both use either Unidy-2D “Daily Build” or Oneiric instead of Natty. This tool works specifically with Unity-2D “Stable Version” on 11.04
@Andrew Myers
Thanks for your feedback :)
Thank you for this tool! Very much appreciated
Thanks a lot! A really helpful tool :) I have been searching how to turn off the auto hide and found a link to your page in here http://askubuntu.com/questions/29553/how-can-i-configure-unity
I had a problem with this tool to make the launcher auto-hide (it stayed visible and my windows didn’t adjust accordingly).
The problem was that the launcher options were disabled, with dodge windows checked. To fix the problem I went to gconf-editor –> /desktop/unity-2d/launcher. Here I found the hide_mode key was ‘missing’. Finally I decided to just add this key (right-click) with the (integer) value 2. This did the trick for me!
Thank you for putting me on the right track.
Don’t know if work is going on for improving this GUI and making it compatible with Oneiric. We’ve just updated the script and made it compatible with 11.10 as well. Changelog and download link:
http://www.tuxgarage.com/2011/10/gui-for-changing-unity-2d-settings.html