Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Is there any way to change netbook-launcher size?

Asked by Joshua

For starters I'm using the netbook-remix packages on a standard desktop system, I just love the layout of net-book launcher and the ability to have real features available but still only use a single bar at the top of the screen. Beats the heck out of using WM2 to be able to have a large amount of screen real-estate available.

I would, however, like to be able to resize netbook-launcher itself. It's really not a big issue and I can understand it not being a priority or even being a feature due to the software's intended use. But I would like to have a small amount of desktop space on either side of the launcher for a place to put an analog clock and some other eye candy widgets. I'm not opposed to going a long way around to make a small change (including hard coding the size into the source and recompiling), but I just don't know where to start.

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Revision history for this message
Joshua (shaw-josh) said : 		#1

Well, never mind, I found a round about way in the source code.

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Paul Wright (pwright2) said : 		#2

You are obviously much more conversant in progamming than I. If possible, I need a little help. Using an eeePC 904a. While trying to customize the window-picker I foolishly unchecked both preferences and administration and I find that I have no way to add them back in. Solutions? Also, how can I get a command line window?>

-----Paul-----

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Joshua (shaw-josh) said : 		#3

You can press Alt-F2 to bring up the run dialog. Then type gnome-terminal for a terminal, or alacarte for the menu editor.

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Paul Wright (pwright2) said : 		#4

Bless you, oh kind sir. Exactly what I needed.

Is there documentation somewhere that would have told me this? I hate to think that I will always dependent on the kindness of strangers to solve such issues.

-----Paul-----

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Joshua (shaw-josh) said : 		#5

Google is your friend. I've also found it sometimes helps to add 'forum' to the search terms, then you'll get more results from people who have asked similar questions. Then again, there is a certain learning curve that must be passed. You'll get there, just keep messing things up and you'll be able to do anything :)

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Paul Wright (pwright2) said : 		#6

I did a good bit of googling ... of window-picker-applet and Ubuntu Netbook Remix and even UNR. One of those eventually led me to you. And I gather that alacarte is a Gnome thing rather than specifically a UNR thing. Not sure I would have guessed that it was the answer, even if I had known of its existence.

BTW, are you going to reveal your solution to the resizing issue? If it was even moderately easy I'm sure others would be interested. If it requires recompiling the code, the interest will probably be more limited.

-----Paul-----

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Joshua (shaw-josh) said : 		#7

I'm not good at writing full how-tos but use apt-get source and apt-get build-dep for the netbook-launcher package and then in main.c around line 200 change rect.width and rect.height to just width and height. Then compile and install the new package. Just be sure to call netbook-launcher with a the width and height arguments or it'll default to 1024 by 600.

I use

netbook-launcher -d 1240 -h 900

and this gives me 200 pixels to the right of the launcher for gdesklets. You'll have to play around with your wallpaper at this point though, netbook-launcher stretches, centers, and scales the wallpapers to its own size. Try setting wallpaper to tile and just use wallpapers that are the same size as your resolution.

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Paul Wright (pwright2) said : 		#8

Although beyond my present level of expertise, I have to say that your explanation is clearer and appears more comprehensive than much of what I find in Linux documentation. Thank you.

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clemmy (luca-clem) said : 		#9

Netbook-launcher looks very nice

If there was an easier way to change it's size it would be very useful on standard desktop systems.
I will give a try to Joshua solution when I have some spare time..but it seems quite complicated for me..

In my opinion it would be great if it was possible to change the size in a simpler way!