Mac4Lin

Project Documentation

Revision 2.0
Decemeber 18, 2007
Developer and Guide Copyright: Anirudh.R.Acharya (infra_red_dude)
Website: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac4lin

Mac4Lin Documentation 1
 Table of contents

Project Overview 3
1. GTK-Metacity theme 4
2. GTK Icon theme 6
3. Emerald theme (For Beryl/Compiz-Fusion) 9
4. GTK Cursor theme 10
5. GDM Login theme 12
6. GTK Splash theme 13
7. USplash (Bootsplash) theme 14
8. Fonts 15
9. GRUB splash theme 17
10. Docks
10.1 Avant Window Navigator 18
10.2 SimDock 19
11. Pidgin iChat theme and AWN Plugin 20
12. Exaile AWN Plugin 21
13. System Sounds 22
14. iTunes Media Player theme 22
15. Mozilla Firefox theme 23
16. Wallpapers 24
17. Screenshots 25
18. Developer Information and Credits 28

Mac4Lin Documentation 2
Do you want to give your GTK desktop a dash of Mac OS X? Do you want to change the
default look of your desktop to something like this? Then read on.....

Is that Mac OS X Leopard??? Naah... Its just GNU/Linux + GNOME + Mac4Lin!

The goal of this project is to bring the look and feel of Mac OS X on GNU/Linux and Unix-
System like GTK based systems. This document will present the procedure to install Mac4Lin
pack & tweak certain things to get that almost perfect Mac OS X like desktop.

NOTE: Backup all files before deleting/replacing the original ones. Nobody is responsible for
any loss of data that may occur when installing and/or during the usage of Mac4Lin. This
guide holds good for all versions of Mac4Lin. For version specific information please see the
README file of each component (if any). Also see the changelog file for changes in specific
releases. Unless specified, the installation procedures apply to all versions of GNOME. The
GNOME version can be checked by clicking on System > About GNOME. Similar procedures
can be applied to XFCE, however all Mac4Lin components may not work. Instructions for
XFCE installation are not provided in this documentation.

Download all the Mac4Lin release tar.gz files from the download page of the website
and extract them to a temporary folder for installation.

Mac4Lin Documentation 3
1. Applying GTK-Metacity Theme

GNOME 2.20

Goto System > Preferences >

Appearance. Click Install.
Browse and choose the
Mac4Lin GTK Metacity
Theme .tar.gz file (wherever it
is extracted).

After the installation

is confirmed click on
'Apply new theme'.

After the theme is

installed and you do
not get the option of
Applying the Theme
then please restart
Appearance
Preference and click
on Customize button
to make sure that
both Controls and
Window Border are
set to Mac4Lin GTK
theme.

Mac4Lin Documentation 4
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.

Mac4Lin Documentation 5
The following is only for those who do not use Emerald Themer, used in conjunction with
Compiz/Fusion/Beryl (if you do not about Emerald/Compiz etc. refer to Page 9, Section 3):

To shift the traffic lights (close, min, max buttons) to the left of the title bar goto a terminal
window/press Alt+F2 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

GNOME 2.20

Goto System > Preferences > Appearance. Click Install. Browse and choose the Mac4Lin
Icon Theme .tar.gz file (wherever it is extracted).

Mac4Lin Documentation 6
After the
installation is
confirmed click on
'Apply new theme'.

If you need to
make any
changes/re-apply,
click on Customize
button and goto
Icon page. Now
select the Mac4Lin
Icon theme to
apply.

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.

Mac4Lin Documentation 7
For both GNOME 2.18 & 2.20

For the Search/Network/Wi-Fi icon to work correctly, you need to add relevant applets. Right
click on an empty area on the GNOME panel and click "Add to panel" now scroll down and
select "Search for files" applet. Now again follow the first part, this time select the "Network
Monitor" Applet. Look at the main screenshots for their placement on the panel.

This theme also contains lot of extra icons. Find them at ~/.icons/<Mac4Lin Icon
folder>/EXTRAS. Just open an nautilus window and goto View > Enable Show hidden files
option. You will now see the .icons folder. If you need to locate this folder in any 'Browse Files'
dialog then just right click on the right side of the dialog box where all the files and folders are
listed and enable Show hidden files option. Some of the icons in the pack are shown here:

Mac4Lin Documentation 8
3. Emerald Theme For Beryl & Compiz

You will need to install Beryl/Compiz and Emerald theme manager first. Beryl/Compiz/Fusion
are Composite managers which enable 3D effects. Emerald is a theme manager.Please refer
to the various guides on the web for installing Beryl/Compiz/Fusion and Emerald Themer.

To install Mac4Lin
Emerald theme: Goto
System > Preferences
> Emerald Theme
Manager. Click on
'Import...' button. Now
browse to the folder
where this pack was
extracted and select
the .emerald file from
the Emerald folder.
Click 'Open'. Now scroll
and select the Mac4Lin
Emerald theme to
apply.

Mac4Lin Documentation 9
4. Applying Cursors

GNOME 2.20

Goto System > Preferences >

Appearance. Click Install. Browse
and choose the Mac4Lin Cursor
Theme .tar.gz file (wherever it is
extracted).

After the
installation is
confirmed click on
'Apply new
theme'.

If the cursor
theme needs to
be reapplied
anytime then Click
on Customize and
goto the Pointers
tab. Select the
Mac4Lin cursor
theme.

Mac4Lin Documentation 10
GNOME 2.18

To install, Goto System > Preferences > Theme > Customize > Icons. Click Install. Choose
Mac4Lin Cursors Theme .tar.gz file where ever its extracted. Observe that the Mac4Lin OS X
Cursors package is now added under Icons. It is normal for the cursor themes to shown under
the Icon tab. Do NOT select it. Close it now. Screenshot is as shown:

To apply, Goto System > Preferences > Mouse > Pointers Tab, Select Mac4Lin OSX Cursors
then click Apply. Restart X (Log off and Log back in) for the changes to take place.

Mac4Lin Documentation 11
5. GDM Login Window Theme

Goto System > Administration > Login Window > Local Tab. Enter the Admin password when
asked. Now Add the included Mac4Lin GDM theme by clicking Add and seleting the bundled
themes.

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

Sample screenshot of the GDM theme:

Mac4Lin Documentation 12
6.GTK Splash

Applying splash screen is easiest with GtweakUI. Install the package relevant to your distro.
Homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gtweakui

For any problems/complaints/help/suggestions please head to the gtweakui website.

For Debian and Debian-based distros (like Ubuntu etc.) with GtweakUI in the repos, in a
terminal window type: sudo apt-get install gtweakui

Other distros may have it in the repos. If not then trace and download. The source tarballs are
always available for compiling if binary package is not available. After installation, copy all
splash images files from /GTK Splash to /usr/share/pixmaps/splash/ as root.

Now Goto System > Preferences > gtweakui-session. Click on the image. Select the file you
want to set as splash from the folder mentioned above to apply.

Sample screenshot of GTK Splash screen:

Mac4Lin Documentation 13
7. USplash Screen (Boot splash)

The easiest way of installing bootspash screen is to install the package: Startup Manager
(SUM). Some distros may have it in the repos. If not the download from below mentioned link.
Prebuilt packages for Debian and source tarballs are available. Startup Manager Homepage:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/startup-manager/

For any problems/complaints/help/suggestions please head to StartUp Manager website at:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/startup-manager or http://web.telia.com/~u88005282/sum/index.html
According to some users this has messed their splash screen. Use this software at your own risk!

After SUM installation, copy the .so file from USplash folder to /usr/lib/usplash as root.

IMPORTANT: Before changing the bootsplash screen backup the GRUB menu list!!! Goto a
terminal window and type: sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub.menu.lst.copy (or whatever
is the GRUB menu list file in your distro). This is important as Startup Manager package may
mess the GRUB menu list file.

To set the screen, goto System > Administration > Startup-Manager Enter Admin password. In
the 'Boot options' page, Check the 'Show bootsplash' option. Now goto 'Appearance' page.

Click on Usplash theme dropdown menu and select the bundled theme. If the themes don't
show up then click on 'Manage usplash themes', browse to where the .so files have been
placed, select them and add them.

Mac4Lin Documentation 14
Sample screenshot of Bootsplash screen:

8. Fonts

To install fonts, as root, open nautilus window and type "fonts:///" in the location bar. Now copy
all the .ttf files there which are included in the archives (.tar.gz files etc.) in Fonts folder. Open
a terminal window and type: "fc-cache -f -v". Restart and you can now use OSX fonts.

Mac4Lin Documentation 15
For other fonts and tweaking, follow this guide. This is optional. Apply this tweak if you are not
happy with the font rendering in your system. This guide has been taken from
Ubuntuforums.org

**********************************************************************************************************
Install the Microsoft fonts. You have 2 ways of doing so:

Either download the fonts into your home directory and install them on your system: "sudo tar
xvjpf msfonts.tbz -C /usr/share/fonts/truetype/"

Or, enable non-free, universe and multiverse repositories and install the Microsoft fonts: "sudo
apt-get install msttcorefonts"

You now have the Microsoft fonts installed. Let's configure your system now. Download the
xml files and extract the file into /etc/fonts/ as root: sudo tar xvjpf fontconfig.tbz -C /etc/fonts/

Log out from Ubuntu and relog in. Here's how your desktop will look, like the screenshot.

Take a backup of /etc/fonts folder and whatever you modify here first, in case you may want to
revert.

**********************************************************************************************************

Screenshot after applying the tweak:

Mac4Lin Documentation 16
My font settings are shown in
the screenshot:

9. GRUB Splash

You will again need StartUp Manager for this.

TAKE A BACKUP OF GRUB MENU AS DIRECTED
IN Section 7, Page 14 BEFORE PROCEEDING.
For any problems/help/suggestions/complaints
please see the above mentioned page for the
website. According to some users this has messed
their splash screen. Use this software at your own
risk!

As root, create a folder /boot/grub/splash.

Copy .xpm.gz files to /boot/grub/splash. Goto
System > Administration > Startup Manager. Goto
the Appearance tab. Now click on 'Manage
bootloader themes...' Click Add. Locate the .xpm.gz
you want to set as the GRUB boot screen. Once
added, go back the Appearance tab and select the
image from the GRUB Background Image button.

Mac4Lin Documentation 17
Sample screenshot of GRUB splash screen:

10. Docks

10.1 Avant-Window-Navigator

NOTE: Beryl/Compiz (Composite manager) is required for AWN. If you do not use any
composite manager then you can try the SimDock package, mentioned later.

For Ubuntu 7.10:

Open terminal window and execute the below given lines. Type these without the quotes.

1) Edit your apt sources list: "sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list" and add these two lines to the
bottom of the file. Take a backup of the sources.list file before making any changes.

## Avant Window Navigator

deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 gutsy avant-window-navigator
deb-src http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 gutsy avant-window-navigator

Here, gutsy is the Ubuntu version. Replace it with your version (for e.g. if you are using
Ubuntu 7.04 then replace 'gutsy' with 'feisty' and so on).

2) Type this in the terminal one after the other:

“wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/reacocard.asc
sudo apt-key add reacocard.asc
rm reacocard.asc

Mac4Lin Documentation 18
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade"

3) Now to install AWN:

Note: AWN is still not completely stable. It may or may not work for you.

Install from Synaptic or type this in terminal:

“sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-bzr awn-core-applets-bzr”

Launch AWN from Applications > Accessories > Avant Window Navigator.

You can install the bundled Mac4Lin AWN Theme or create your own. The theme will only
work with a newer build. Goto System > Preferences > Awn manager. The AWN Manager
works only when AWN is running. Goto the themes tab, click on the Add button. Select this
theme. Now click on the theme in the Themes tab and Apply. You can simply drag and drop
items to create launchers.

For other distributions: you will need to look in the relevant package manager or compile from
sources. Various guides are available on the internet.

AWN Homepage: http://code.google.com/p/avant-window-navigator/

For any problems/complaints/help/suggestions please head to AWN forums at:

http://www.planetblur.org/hosted/awnforum/index.php?shard=forum

Screenshot of AWN:

10.2 SimDock

This is a lightweight dock which does not require any Composite manager (Beryl/Compiz).
You can find binary packages on the web or compile your own with the sources. Homepage:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/simdock/

This has not been tested, hence it may have issues which are not mentioned here. Use at
your own risk. For any problems/complaints/help/suggestions please head to SimDock forums
at: http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=198436

Screenshot of Simdock:

Mac4Lin Documentation 19
11. Pidgin

11.1 Pidgin Plugin for Avant-Window-Navigator

Place the pidgin_awn.so in ~/.purple/plugins. Create a launcher for Pidgin in AWN, launch it,
right click on the Pidgin tray icon and select Plugins. Enable AWN plug in.

Default Pidgin icon on the AWN Dock:

Status Idle/Invisible:

Status Available:

Status Connecting:

Status Offline:

Unread message (number of unread

messages are shown):

11.2 Pidgin iChat Theme

Extract the theme archive to a temporary folder. Now, as root, move the "pidgin" folder
to /usr/share/pixmaps. Overwrite the existing one after taking a backup of the original folder.
This will install the iChat Theme for Pidgin.

Mac4Lin Documentation 20
Remember to reinstall
this theme whenever
you perform a Pidgin
upgrade as it will
revert back to the
default theme.

This is a screenshot of
Pidgin with iChat
Theme:

12. Exaile Avant-Window-Navigator Plugin

You will need to have Exaile Media player installed to use this. Follow guides available on the
web to install this or search in your distribution's package manager.

To install this Plugin, copy both the awn.py and awn.pyc files to ~/.exaile/plugins (if the folder
does not exist then create one). Launch Exaile, goto the Plugins dialog, enable AWN Plugin.
The status will now be shown on the Exaile launcher on AWN (You need to create an Exaile
launcher on AWN first).

NOTE: Some users have not been able to use this Plugin. Hence it may or may not work for
you.

Idle Exaile icon on AWN:

Exaile icon in representing remaining time in animated mode:

Exaile icon in representing remaining time in numerical mode:

Mac4Lin Documentation 21
13. Mac OS X System Sounds

Extract Mac4Lin OSX Sounds archive to

a temporary folder. Copy the sounds
folder to /usr/share/sounds, as root, for
easily applying sounds to GTK events.

Goto System > Preferences > Sound >

Sounds Tab

Now assign sounds to events as you

wish. An example screen is shown here:

14. iTunes media player skin

Extract the archive and move the

Mac4Lin iTunes skin folder to the
location indicated for each media
player below. If the folder does not
exist then create one.

1) XMMS
~/.xmms/Skins folder

2) Beep Media Player

~/.bmp/skins folder

3) Audacious
~/.audacious/Skins folder

After extraction goto the Preferences > Skin and select the Mac4Lin iTunes skin to apply.

Note: ~/ indicates the folder /home/<user name>

Mac4Lin Documentation 22
15. Mozilla Firefox

15.1 Firefox Extensions

Open Add-ons Window, Click Tools > Add-ons, drag & drop the .xpi files (in the
Firefox/Extensions folder) into Extensions window. Wait for few seconds. Then click on
"Install" button. Click on "Use Add on/Enalbe" for the extensions you want to use. Restart
Firefox.

15.2 Safari Firefox Theme

Open Add-ons window. Drag & drop the .jar file into Themes window. Wait for few seconds.
Then click on "Install" button. Click on "Apply/Use Theme". Restart Firefox.

Mac4Lin Documentation 23
After applying the extensions and add ons Firefox will now look like this:

16. Wallpapers

These can be extracted and copied anywhere (default is /usr/share/backgrounds). Right click
on the desktop and select 'Change Desktop Background'. In the window click on 'Add
wallpaper'. Now browse and select the files where the wallpapers were extracted and copied.
They will now be added to the list. Select the one you wish to apply.

*********

Installation is now complete. Congratulations! You now have the Mac OS X user interface on
your GTK desktop.

Some software which will aid in enhancing the look:

1) Screenlets and/or gDesklets and/or aDesklets

2) Cairo Clock

Mac4Lin Documentation 24
17. Some screenshots.....

Nautilus File
Manager:

Desktop
with Terminal
and Exaile
(not included
in Mac4Lin):

Mac4Lin Documentation 25
Compiz
Fusion
with Expo
Plugin:

Compiz
Fusion
with Cube
Plugin:

Mac4Lin Documentation 26
Compiz
Fusion
with Shift
plugin:

Compiz
Fusion
with Unfold
plugin:

Mac4Lin Documentation 27
Clean Desktop:

Thanks to SkiesofAzel for imetal, Victor Hugo Casals for Firefox Safari skin, Calande for the
font guide, Laviano for urging me to release MacMenu version of GTK theme, GraFF for
folders, Mitko for nm-applet, stido for weather replacement, José Miguel for volume icon
suggestion, Maurizio for the GDM concept, jTc42 for Aurora and 'Professor' for suggesting
changes in the documentation. I also thank all those who tested the pack and everyone who
are directly or indirectly involved in this project. For any suggestions / comments /
complaints / bug tracking please head to the project website and/or drop me a mail.

No part or whole of this guide should be reproduced without permission. The Apple logo is
NOT bundled with the package. It is only for demonstration purpose.

Regards,

Anirudh.R.Acharya (a.k.a infra_red_dude)

Developer, Mac4Lin

E-Mail: infra_red_dude.users@sourceforge.net
Project Website: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac4lin

Mac4Lin Documentation 28