Make your Ubuntu Dapper look like OSX

I am Linux User for past 1.5 year.At first i used redhat and then Ubuntu Dapper.When i saw Mac Os it was awesome.So then i searched in net "How to make ubuntu look like Mac".I got a artcile from www.taimila.com writtem by Lauri Taimila.The article was good and i followed the steps correctly what he has given in the article.Mean While I reffered other good articles from the site http://www.howtoforge.com/mac4lin_make_linux_look_like_a_mac by Anirudh.In both article i have noticed for effects they are going for compiz,Beryl and Dockers.But in Ubuntu Dapper i tried a lot to install Dock but the Dapper is not supporting,and installing compiz ,beryl also a little bit risk
and i didnt try it.But i have installed gdesklets alternative for Docker.

Finally my machine look like this now



Fist of all check the gnome version for dapper will be 2.14.3

1 Applying GTK Metacity Theme

For making ubuntu as mac there are more themes such as clearlooks,T-ish,Leopard etc,but i prefer Mac4Lin ver.0.4 GTK Metacity Theme and these themes are available in www.gnome-look.org

For downloading Mac4Lin ver.0.4 GTK Metacity Theme
click here

For downloading T-ish theme(full pack)
click here

GNOME 2.18

Goto System > Preferences > Theme > Customize > Control. Click Install. Browse and choose the Mac4Lin GTK Metacity Theme .tar.gz file (wherever it is extracted). Select to Apply.

Also make sure that the Window border is set to the Mac4Lin theme. Click on the Window border and select the Mac4Lin GTK theme.

For both GNOME 2.18 & 2.20

To set Leopard like GNOME panel background right click on an empty area on the top panel and select Properties. Now goto the Background tab and click on the Background image radio button. Navigate to /home/<user name>/.themes/<Mac4Lin GTK theme folder>/gtk-2.0/Panel and select the image you like, to be set as background for the GNOME panel.

Now we have to shift (close,maximize,minimize,menu) to the left of the title bar.Go to Terminal and type 'gconf-editor' and press Enter.

Now navigate to: apps>metacity>general. On the right double click 'button_layout'. Delete that & type: 'close,minimize,maxmize:menu' (without quotes). Press OK and then quit. The buttons will now be on the left side of titlebar.

To restore the original layout, just replace the string by 'menu:minimize,maximize,close'.

2 Applying GTK Icon Theme

Now we have to install the icon theme.I prefer Mac4Lin GTK Icon Theme and it is available in www.gnome-look.org

For dowloading Mac4Lin GTK Icon Theme click here

For downloading other OSX -icons theme
click here

GNOME 2.18

Goto System > Preferences > Theme > Customize > Icons. Click Install. Choose the Mac4Lin GTK Icon Theme .tar.gz file (wherever its extracted). Select to Apply.

3.Customizing the panel

Now move your menu to the top and try to add the possible applets from this panel.



This theme also contains lot of extra icons. Find them at /home/<$username>/.icons//EXTRAS. These are some of the icons in the pack:

4.Applying Cursors

Before installing the cursors first install the package gcursor through synaptic package manager or apt-get install gcursor in the terminal.

Now go to System->Preferences->Cursor Selection

Now to drag and drop the cursor package you want to install.Here i am using Mac4Lin Cursors Theme
and for doawloading it gnome-look and get the cursor theme you needed

GDM/Login Window Theme

Goto System > Administration > Login Window > Local Tab. Enter the Admin password when asked. Now add the included GDM themes by clicking Add and seleting the bundled themes.

After adding, a preview of the theme will be shown (Leopard). To apply, click on the radio button next to preview.

Get the GDM theme from www.gnome-look.org

Screenshot of the gdm theme

6.GTK Splash

For more details installing splash screen visit this url Splashscreen

7.Fonts

Then try to change your system font size,i have changed my system font size like this

8.Skins

Now you try get the itunes skins for your players(xmms,vlc).so that it will look more stylish in your Desktop
For installing Skins for vlc

Hit Alt+F2 to bring up the run dialog, and type in this:

vlc -I skins2

This will bring up the player in the right mode to let you install new skins. Right click on the title bar area and choose Select Skin \ Open Skin, and choose the skin file that you have downloaded.

9.Customizing Gaim

Now we have to change the default gaim themes.Get the themes from www.gnome-look.org

Extract the tar.gz file and copy all the files and and put the file in the path /usr/share/pixmaps/gaim

10.Customizing Firefox Addons

Install the firefox addons custom_buttons.xpi,fission-0.8.8.xpi,hide_menubar.xpi,stop_reload_button.xpi
and Firefox safaritheme-vfox2.jar

11.Gdesklets

Install gdesklets and get the menu bar and configure it so that it will look like docker

11.Wallpapers

Finally get the wallpapers from net or get it from Mac Wallpapers

Now you have customized your dapper to look like OSX

This article is free to use and you can use my slides if you want produce it in yours blogs or any where else."Excerpts taken from Mac4Lin Documentation with the
original author's permission".