Ubuntu 8.10 on an EeePC 701 - The Desktop

It took me a while to figure out the most sensible method for describing my desktop setup as there are so many different aspects that interest me and I want to talk about. I figure the best way is to start with the Compiz as it's responsible for most of how my desktop is laid out.

Basic Setup - Compiz
Changes I made to the default settings in the CompizConfig Settings Manager window:

# lines starting like this are my comments
General
- General Tab - "Hide Skip Taskbar Windows" = Checked
- Display Settings Tab - "Overlapping Output Handling" = Smart mode
# make one row of three virtual desktops
- Desktop Size Tab - "Horizontal Virtual Size" = 3

Expo
- Bindings Tab - "Expo key" = Tab
- Behavior Tab - "Expo Animation" = Zoom
- Appearance Tab - "Deformation" = Curve

Desktop Wall
- Viewport Switching - "Allow Wrap-Around" = Checked
# I switched from Arrow so that I could move_
# between desktops with one hand instead of both
- Bindings Tab - Move within wall - "(Keyboard) Move Left" = Left
- Bindings Tab - Move within wall - "(Keyboard) Move Right" = Right

Animations
- Open Animation - Animation Selection = "Vacuum"
- Close Animation - Animation Selection = "Vacuum"
- Minimize Animation - Animation Selection = "Magic Lamp"

Shift Switcher
- Key Bindings Tab - "(Screen) Initiate" = BottomRight

# this will strip the window frame off of applications_
# that I want to embed in the desktop
Window Decoration
- General Tab - "Decoration windows" = (any) & !(title=embed) & !(title=conky) & !(title=eiftop)
- General Tab - "Shadow windows" = (any) & !(title=embed) & !(title=conky) & !(title=eiftop)

# this will force my embedded terminals to show up_
# in specific desktops
Place Windows
- General Tab - "Force Placement Windows" = title=embed & title=eiftop
- Fixed Window Placement - "...fixed viewport" = title=eiftop  x2 y1
- Fixed Window Placement - "...fixed viewport" = title=embed   x3 y1

Window Rules
- Matches_
# keeps embedded apps out of the Alt+Tab window
- "Skip taskbar" = (title=embed) | (title=conky) | (title=eiftop)
- "Skip pager" = (title=embed) | (title=conky) | (title=eiftop)
# makes embedded apps stay below other windows
- "Below" = (title=embed) | (title=conky) | (title=eiftop)
# makes conky appear in all desktops
- "Sticky" = (title=conky)
- "Maximized" = (title=embed) | (title=eiftop)
- "Non movable windows" = (title=embed) | (title=conky) | (title=eiftop)
- "Non resizable windows" = (title=embed) | (title=conky) | (title=eiftop)
- "Non minimizable windows" = (title=embed) | (title=conky) | (title=eiftop)
- "Non closable windows" = (title=embed) | (title=conky) | (title=eiftop)
# prevents conky from being selectable
- "No focus" = (title=conky)

# makes it possible to move windows above the_
# top of the screen
Move Window
- General Tab - "Constrain Y" = Unchecked

With these settings plugged into Compiz, I'll move on to configuring the embedded applications.

Conky

sudo apt-get install conky && gedit ~/.conkyrc && conky

This will install conky, open the config file for editing, and run conky itself. Below is my .conkyrc config file.

# .conkyrc
own_window_title conky
update_interval 1.0
short_units on
double_buffer yes
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
border_width 0
use_xft yes
xftfont Monospace:size=8
maximum_width 170
default_color #03AFFF
alignment tr
uppercase no

TEXT
${color #00D0D0}${time}
${hr}
battery - ${battery_bar 5, 100 BAT0}
CPU     - ${cpubar 5, 100}
     - ${freq} MHz${alignr}${acpitempf}°F
${top cpu 1} - ${top name 1}
${top cpu 2} - ${top name 2}
${top cpu 3} - ${top name 3}
RAM     - ${membar 5, 100}
SSD     - ${fs_bar 5, 100 /}
     - $fs_free
${if_up wlan0}${hr}
wlan0   - ${addr wlan0}
essid   - ${wireless_essid wlan0}
dB      - ${wireless_link_bar 5, 100 wlan0}
Rx      - ${downspeed wlan0} Kb/s
${downspeedgraph wlan0 20,160 003AFF 00D0D0}
Tx      - ${upspeed wlan0} Kb/s
${upspeedgraph wlan0 20,160 003AFF 00D0D0}${endif}
${if_up eth0}${hr}
eth0    - ${addr eth0}
Rx      - ${downspeed eth0} Kb/s
${downspeedgraph eth0 20,160 003AFF 00D0D0}
Tx      - ${upspeed eth0} Kb/s
${upspeedgraph eth0 20,160 003AFF 00D0D0}${endif}
${hr}
router  - ${gw_ip}

Pasting this config into the text window that opens up will produce this:Embedded Terminal
Setting up the embedded terminal was pretty easy. Open up any terminal window and go to Edit > New > Name = "embed" > Create

# comment lines
General Tab - "Profile Name" = embed
          - "Show menubar..." = unchecked

Title and Command - "Initial Title" = embed
                - "...own titles" = Keep initial title

Colors - "Use colors from system theme" = Uncheck
     - "Built-in schemes" = Green on black

Background - "Transparent background" = slider to 'None'

Scrolling - "Scrollbar is" = Disabled

Then add the following entry to your Sessions to make it load on startup:

Name    = "Embedded Terminal"
Command = "gnome-terminal --window-with-profile embed"

Embedded iftop
Until recently, I didn't have a good understanding of the iftop application, but now I'm loving it! Iftop will show you exactly what connections are being made to your computer and I like to know what my lappy is doing on the network so I've always got it running. To set this up, follow the same steps you did for the embedded terminal, but with the following changes:

General Tab - "Profile Name" = eiftop
          - "Show menubar..." = unchecked

Title and Command - "Initial Title" = eiftop
                - "...own titles" = Keep initial title

Colors - "Use colors from system theme" = Uncheck
     - "Built-in schemes" = Green on black

Background - "Background image" = (same as your desktop background)
          - "Background image scrolls" = unchecked

Scrolling - "Scrollbar is" = Disabled

Then add this to your Sessions start-up list:

Name    = "Embedded iftop"
Command = "gnome-terminal --window-with-profile eiftop -e 'sudo iftop -i wlan0'"

Save all this and the next time you reboot you'll have a desktop that looks something like this:
(desktop 1 - workspace)

(desktop 2 - embedded iftop)

(desktop 3 - embedded terminal)