Turn Your Ubuntu Lucid to Mac OS X

We have previously done so with Ubuntu Hardy and Intrepid. Now, we are back again, this time with Ubuntu Lucid.

Being a long term release, Ubuntu Lucid comes with plenty of design changes that make all our previous Ubuntu to Mac OS X tutorial obsolete. Nevertheless, with a modified Mac4Lin theme and the maturity of the Global Menu, I am now able to make this tutorial a much simpler, quicker and easier one than all its previous iteration. If you are looking to transform your Ubuntu Lucid to Mac OS X, this is also the most complete one around. Continue after the break.

Installing Mac4Lin theme

Download the modified Mac4Lin theme (the original Mac4Lin theme is outdated).

Extract it to your Home folder.

Open the MacLin_Install_Mod folder and double click “Mac4Lin_Mod_installer.sh“. When prompted, select “Run in Terminal“.

It will then proceed to change your theme. When it prompts you if you want to install the components that require root access, type ‘y‘ (without the quote)

When it asks you for a choice to select the bootup screen, type ’0′ (without the quote).

When you see the message “Type any key to continue…“, you should have transformed 80% of your system interface to Mac OS X.

Configuring the Global Menu

Open a terminal and type the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:globalmenu-team
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gnome-globalmenu
killall gnome-panel

Once done, remove all stuffs from top left panel (Right click on the panel and select “Remove from Panel”).

Right click on the top panel and select Add to Panel. Select Main Menu, follow by the global menu panel applet.

Close the window. Now move the two items (right click and select Move) to the left hand corner and make sure they are side by side.

You should see something like the screenshot below:

Configuring the Dock

There are several dock applications that you can use, but personally I prefer to use Cairo Dock as it is easy to install and configure.

sudo apt-get install cairo-dock

Before you launch the Cairo dock application, remove the bottom panel (right click at the bottom panel and select Delete This Panel).

Cairo dock needs a compositing manager to work, so make sure that your system support Compiz before launching the app.

(Only if your system does not support Compiz: You can activate the in-built metacity compositing manager with the command:

gconftool-2 --type boolean --set /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager TRUE

)

Launch Cairo dock (Menu -> Accessories -> Cairo Dock). Make sure to set it to launch everytime you startup your computer.

Configuring the Login screen

To change the background of the login screen, simply follow the instruction at the change Ubuntu Lucid login screen tutorial or use Gdm2Setup.

Other optional tweaks

Expo

Expo effect is part of the feature in Compiz. You can easily enable the feature in Compiz Config Settings Manager (if you have not installed, click here to install).

Once you have activated the Expo feature, you can press Win + e button to bring up the expo window.

Dashboard

The Dashboard effect can be emulated using Screenlets and Compiz Widget layer.

Install Screenlets and the Compiz Widget layer plugin

sudo apt-get install screenlets compiz-fusion-plugins-extra

Open CompizConfig Settings Manager and activate the Widget layer feature.

Launch Screenlets (Menu -> Applications -> Accessories -> Screenlets) and start the widgets that you want to use. Right click on the widget and select Properties. Go to the Options tab and check the box “Treat as widget”

You can now press F9 to see your widgets in the dashboard.

Screenshots

Uninstallation

To uninstall the Mac4Lin theme, simply run the uninstaller in the Mac4Lin_Install_Mod folder.

Double click the Mac4Lin_Mod_Uninstaller.sh. When prompted, select “Run in Terminal”.

You will be asked to log out and login again for the uninstallation to be completed.

Image credit: louisvolant