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The Avant Window Navigator brings a Mac OS look and feel to your desktop. With just a couple of steps, you can add a taste of Apple to your Linux user experience. We show you how to set up this breezy panel alternative. BY KRISTIAN KISSLING

vant Window Navigator (or ing panel. The latest version is not just graphics adapter supports 3D accelera- Awn for short) is more than just pretty, it also knows a couple of neat tion and if you enable desktop effects. 8a panel. This handy app brings tricks – if you install the right exten- After completing the preparation, en- the look and feel of Mac OS X to a Linux sions. The panel only works if your able desktop effects on both systems. On desktop (Figure 1). Although Avant is happier with Gnome, it also runs on and KDE. This attractive desktop com- panion offers numerous effects, such as rotating or expanding icons; it also =`^li\(1K_\8mXekN`e[fnEXm`^Xkfigifm`[\jXe`Zfe$YXj\[gXe\c]fiXDXZ$c`b\[\jbkfg scales and optionally replaces the exist- \og\i`\eZ\%

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Figure 3 (for Ubuntu 8.04). Ubuntu does can search for SVG files on the web, un- not automatically launch Awn each time pack your goodies in a local directory, you launch the desktop. To change this and click on the Directory drop-down list behavior, select System | Preferences | in the image selection dialog – at least in Sessions in the Gnome start menu, and openSUSE. On Ubuntu, press Browse to then press Add in the Start programs tab. specify an alternative icon source. In the dialog that follows, type the name The next step is to specify the panel’s of the program, avant-window-navigator, appearance. The first question is, “Do in the Command line. you want the bottom bar to be in view all the time or do you want to hide it DXeX^`e^8ne while you are not working with it?” In Avant Window Navigator is made up of the latter case, check Automatically hide two components. In addition to the . This tells the taskbar to disap- panel (also known as the Window Navi- pear when you maximize a window. If gator), a tool called the Awn Manager you check the Keep below maximized helps you customize the panel to reflect windows when not in use option, the your own needs. For instance, you can taskbar will hide behind maximized =`^li\)1FeLYleklXe[fg\eJLJ<#pfl choose effects or fix the icon alignment. windows, unless you move the mouse e\\[kf\eXYc\[\jbkfg\]]\Zkjkflj\8ne% When you first launch the Navigator, down to the bottom of the screen. you will not see very much – maybe a Generally speaking, there is an issue Ubuntu, this means selecting System | couple of icons from active applications. in both cases: Awn juts into the full- Preferences | Appearance, then changing Of course, you will need a full-fledged screen window if you accidentally move to the Visual Effects tab and selecting taskbar that lets you open your choice of the mouse too far down the screen. To Normal to enable a more restrained vari- programs. To do so, press Alt+F2 and prevent this, the Maximized windows ant of the effects. type awn-manager to open the configu- do not overlap the taskbar option does On openSUSE 11, you can enable ef- ration dialog. about half of what it promises. The fects in the start menu by selecting Ap- On the right, you will see a number of Ubuntu and openSUSE versions give you plications | Utilities | Desktop | Desktop vertical tabs with the categories on the floating icons (Figure 5). Effects. Next, check Enable desktop ef- left. To start, go to the General category, Either you should install a very recent fects and click Close (Figure 2), then pop change to Launchers and click Add (Fig- version of Awn (see the “Applets and up a console, become root, and add an ure 4). On openSUSE 11, first type a Themes” section) or you should do with- Option "Composite" "on" entry to Sec- Name and a Description for the program. out this option. Check out the wiki [1] or tion "Extensions" in the /etc/X11/xorg. The last line is for the command that the FAQ [2] or the project’s FAQ for more conf file, or change the existing entry you would use to call the software at the tricks and options for configuring the from "off" to "on". Now save the file command line, such as . panel. and type init 3 to terminate the X server. A button on the left lets you select an Again working as root, type init 5 to icon for the starter: If possible, you =lcc<]]\Zk relaunch the graphical desktop. should choose an SVG-formatted vector The Awn Manager also manages the graphic. The advantage is that legacy appearance of the bar. The Icon Effects EXm`^Xk`e^ icons are pixelated and out of focus drop-down conjures up various effects If the desktop effects work, you are al- when you scale most done. On Ubuntu, use to the panel, install the avant-window-navigator and whereas vector awn-manager packages. OpenSUSE graphics scale to users need to launch YaST and add the match their envi- Packman repository as an installation ronment. Open- source before installing the avant-win- SUSE and Ubuntu dow-navigator and awn-extras-applets include a number packages. If you will be running Awn on of SVG images in KDE or Xfce, you are in for a surprise: the /usr/ share/ The package manager will additionally icons directory install a whole bunch of Gnome depen- (check out the dencies – consider whether you have Tango subdirec- enough hard disk space for this before tory on open- you press the button. SUSE), but you To launch Awn, press Alt+F2 on will not find a Ubuntu 8.04 and openSUSE 11 and type matching motif for avant-window-navigator. Doing so every application. =`^li\*18mXekN`e[fnEXm`^Xkfi[`i\ZkcpX]k\icXleZ_`e^fe should take you to the panels shown in In this case, you LYlekl%

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for icon presentation. If you select clas- third brings a visually appealing start clothes and press Apply to try out the sic, your icons will jump up and down menu to life – just to name a few. theme. slowly. In contrast, 3D Spotlight Turn To use these Awn extensions, you rotates the icons in the light of a virtual need the add-on package avant-window- :feZclj`fej spotlight – this is almost too much of a navigator-extras. This extra package did Awn adds a touch of glamour to the good thing. The Label tab lets you not make the official software repository desktop. Although the software has choose a label that appears when you until Ubuntu 8.10. OpenSUSE includes some shortcomings, they are not too hover the mouse over an icon. Also, you the package, but the applets failed to drastic. Ubuntu users can load a more can change the shadow color, font size, work in our lab. sophisticated Awn variant with applets and so on. To use a current version with applets from an external repository, but open- The Taskbar design tab is more excit- and fewer bugs, Ubuntu users can add SUSE users need to invest more of their ing: Set the Look to 3D look, and restart the Extras repository as a package source time to build the current version. p the Navigator to change the bar’s ap- [3] and install the latest Awn developer pearance, color, and frame. Also, you version (trunk). First you need to re- Deleting the Configuration can choose whether Awn displays a move the previous version and delete Before you can install a new panel ver- Cutting line between launchers and win- the configuration (see “Deleting the Con- sion, you need to delete the existing dows. If you like, you can also change figuration” box). The Applets tab in Awn Awn configuration to avoid a mess. To the bar height and offset. This just Manager then lets you configure the do so, pop up a console, type rm -fdR leaves two final tabs: the Glass Engine helpers. ~/.config/awn, then remove the Gnome tab lets you set the AWN menu colors Users of openSUSE 11 will need to configuration settings with the - and transparency, and the Pattern Engine build from scratch for a more recent tool-2 --recursive-unset /apps/avant- tab lets you decorate the bar with a version. The Awn Extras website [4] has window-navigator command. The new picture. details of the build and dependencies. Awn version will start without legacy settings after you do so. Also, you will need to choose between 8ggc\kjXe[K_\d\j the more stable Release and the more Applets and themes make the software recent Development variants. INFO even more attractive. In addition to icons More Awn themes are available [5]. [1] Awn wiki: that let you launch programs, applets First, save the TGZ archives in a local http:// wiki. awn-project. org/ handle specific tasks, just like in the folder and then launch the Awn Man- [2] Awn FAQ: Gnome panel. For example, a button will ager. In the Themes tab, click Add, http:// wiki. awn-project. org/ FAQ take you to Last.fm, another pops up a browse to the TGZ archive, and click OK. [3] Ubuntu Awn Extras: transparent console on-screen, and a Awn tells you that you have successfully https://launchpad. net/ ~awn-testing/ installed the +archive theme and dis- [4] Building Awn Extras from the source plays it in the code: http://wiki. awn-project. org/ Themes tab (Fig- Awn_Extras:Installation# Building_ ure 6). Now you From_Source =`^li\,1K_\m\ij`fef]8ne[\c`m\i\[Ypk_\knf[`jki`Ylk`fej`efli can click on your [5] Awn themes: http:// wiki. awn-project. org/ Themes cXY_X[XYl^1K_\`ZfejÈ]cfXkÉXYfm\k_\gXe\c% choice of new

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