Ubuntu 22.04 Setup

A brief documentation on how I set up my Ubuntu install to satisfy my needs (in terms of design and workflow).

Table of contents

• Themes
  • Shell Theme
  • Cursor Theme
  • Icons Theme
• Software
  • Tweaks
  • Extension Manager
    • ArcMenu
    • Awesome Tiles
    • Blur my Shell
    • Dash to Dock for COSMIC
    • Just Perfection
    • Refresh Wifi Connections
    • User Themes
  • Gnome Pomodoro
  • PulseAudio Volume Control
  • dconf Editor
  • Firefox
• Login Screen Setup
  • Monitor Setup
  • Background Image
  • Mouse Cursor Theme & Speed

Themes

Shell Theme

Colloid-gtk-theme by vinceliuce (using the dark theme with nord tweaks)

Download/clone the repository and run the install script.

sudo ./install.sh -d /usr/share/themes -c dark --tweaks nord

Cursor Theme

oreo-cursors by varlesh (using the 'original white' version)

Download the build version (link in the repository readme) and copy the folder to /usr/share/icons/.

sudo cp -r /example/path/ /usr/share/icons/

Icons Theme

Colloid-icon-theme by vinceliuce

Download/clone the repository and run the install script.

sudo ./install.sh -d /usr/share/icons -s nord

The generated dark icon theme is a little buggy. To fix it run the install script a second time.

Software

Tweaks

Used to set themes, fonts and other little tweaks.

sudo add-apt-repository universe

sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool

Extension Manager

Used to install and manage gnome shell extensions.

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager

Extensions to install

Install through Extension Manager

ArcMenu (by andrew.zaech)

Application Menu

Awesome Tiles (by velitasali)

Enables window tiling. Alternative to Put Windows by Nesta since it doesn't support Wayland. Missing some settings, for example to set the tile sizes by yourself.

Blur my Shell (by aunetx)

Adds blur to different parts of the shell.

Dash to Dock for COSMIC (by halfmexican2)

Nice customizable dock.

Just Perfection (by JustPerfection)

Tweak tool to customize look and behaviour of the gnome shell.

Refresh Wifi Connections (by kgshank)

Adds a refresh button to the wifi connector.

User Themes (by fmuellner)

Enables Tweaks to customize shell themes.

Gnome Pomodoro

Neat little pomodoro timer that integrates well with gnome shell.

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-pomodoro

PulseAudio Volume Control

Advanced audio settings with gui.

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

dconf Editor

Allows to directly edit the entire configuration database. Usefull for settings, keyboard shortcuts etc.

sudo apt-get install dconf-editor

Firefox

The firefox version that can be installed using snap is a little buggy if it comes to mouse theme. So we have to install it by repository (for now).

sudo snap remove firefox

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa

echo '
Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam
Pin-Priority: 1001
' | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla-firefox

echo 'Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins:: "LP-PPA-mozillateam:${distro_codename}";' | sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/51unattended-upgrades-firefox

sudo apt install firefox

Login Screen Setup

Monitor Setup

Copies the monitor setup of the active session to be used by gdm. (So you first have to configure the monitors the correct way through GUI in your session)

sudo cp ~/.config/monitors.xml /var/lib/gdm3/.config

Background Image

We can set the background image of the login screen with a little help of a script written by Pratap Panabaka.

wget -qO - https://github.com/PRATAP-KUMAR/ubuntu-gdm-set-background/archive/main.tar.gz | tar zx --strip-components=1 ubuntu-gdm-set-background-main/ubuntu-gdm-set-background

sudo ./ubuntu-gdm-set-background --image /usr/share/backgrounds/example.jpg

Also supports setting custom color or gradients as background. Visit the GitHub repository or see the output of

sudo ./ubuntu-gdm-set-background --help

to gather more information on that.

Mouse Cursor Theme & Speed

Edit the gdm3 greeter config to adjust the mouse cursor theme and speed. The theme has to be located at /usr/share/icons/.

sudo -H nano /etc/gdm3/greeter.dconf-defaults

...
[org/gnome/desktop/interface]
# gtk-theme='Adwaita'
cursor-theme='oreo_white_cursors'
#  - Change mouse speed
[org/gnome/desktop/peripherals/mouse]
speed=-0.45
...