Mac OS X transformation pack for Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy/Linux Mint 16 includes haniahmed (One Gnome Shell theme) and mbossg (One Gtk theme + two icon sets). These theme and iconset give Ubuntu a very nice feel. IF you want to go back to old look and feel then also just change the theme and some settings done for this make over. Wan't to make your Ubuntu look like Mac OS X Yosemite? Here's the tweak, so you can transform it with Macbuntu 16.04 transformation pack. Linuxslaves has been.
Here are some tips and tricks to help Mac users adjust to Ubuntu and Linux. I was a die hard Mac user ever since OS X was released in 2001. The combination of a Unix core and real desktop apps was a perfect match for desktop and development. However times change, with Apple’s focus on iOS, a world of web based apps, and vast improvements in Linux; it is now easier than ever to fully embrace open source.
This guide is intended for other software engineers as myself, includes mostly pointers and tips and not necessarily step-by-step instructions.. See this Ubuntu Beginner’s Guide for a great introduction to Ubuntu and its major pieces.
To note, I now use the standard Ubuntu since 17.10 which uses the GNOME desktop environment as the default, I previously used Ubuntu GNOME which is a fine desktop. So a few items are GNOME specific.
Equivalent Command-line Utilities
The Mac has two great built in functions pbcopy and pbpaste which allows you to pipe content to and from the clipboard. So you can pipe the output of a command to pbcopy and it will place it in the clipboard, which you can paste elsewhere. Here’s the Linux equivalent, which I setup aliases to match:
The Mac command open will open a file using its default application, the linux equivalent is simply xdg-open, used the same way. The following will open the image filename.png in the default image viewer.
Package Management
Ubuntu uses apt for package management. If you used Homebrew for install and managing packages, switching from brew to apt is pretty straight-forward.
There are also two new methods for installing software, snap and flatpak. Snap was started a couple years ago by Ubuntu, and Flatpak was created as a more cross platform and open alternative to Snap. It seems to be still early days for both. The Ubuntu Software Center uses Snap which allows you to search and install newer versions than found in the core repository.
Screen Capture
Screenshot
Ubuntu comes with a built-in app called screenshot which you can see the keyboard shortcuts in
Settings > Devices > Keyboard
I’ve mapped my F6 key to select area to grab and save to desktop, by setting the following shortcut command, see
-h
for all options:Animated GIF
I use Peek to create animate gifs for screen recording, I map F7 to launch Peek. Installation is easiest by adding their apt repo, instructions below, see their Github page for more.
Video
If you want to do longer screen recordings, there is a built-in screen recorder, but it has limited options and controls. I use vokoscreen which isn’t too pretty but does a good job, it is included in standard Ubuntu repo, source is also available on Github.
Color Picker
If you want to lift a color from somewhere on screen, you can use the gpick utility. The package is available in the standard repository. Install:
$ apt-get install gpick
How to Install a Font in Ubuntu
If you download a font and want to install it, the simplest way is to place the files in a
~/.fonts
directory in your home. You can also use gnome-font-viewer to preview and install.Connect to your Android device
There is a new GNOME Extension, GSConnect, which provides a nice integration between your desktop and Android device. You can browse files, use your device as remote control, or even receive notifications.
First, install the KDE Connect app on your Android device, and then the GSConnect extension in Ubuntu. See this article for more or visit the GSConnect extension page.
Time Savers and Shortcuts
Albert Launcher is a great utility for launching apps, performing calculations, and quick productivity actions. It is the Linux equivalent of the Alfred tool on OS X.
TextExpander is another great Mac time saver, the Linux equivalent is AutoKey. AutoKey does a good job expanding text and is also easy to extend. For example you can use the shortcuts to trigger python scripts to do even more.
Install:
apt-get install autokey-gtk
Graphics and Media
The latest release of GIMP, v2.10, was a huge leap forward in usability and now a decent replacement for Photoshop, still not quite there, but good enough to avoid the Adobe monthly tax.
Likewise for a Lightroom replacement, there isn’t one single tool as good, but enough to avoid. For photo management and browsing, I use Geeqie which is quick and works well. For importing, I use Rapid Photo Downloader, which is a powerful tool for importing.
For photo editing, I’ll use a mix of different apps depending on the need. For RAW files, I’ll use RawTherapee, but I rarely shoot RAW. Often, I’ll just use Google Photos for simple edits, or if I need a bit more I’ll use the Polarr app. Polarr started on mobile but is now available on Linux too.
For vector drawing, Inkscape is a good alternate to Sketch, at least for the limited vector work I do.
Applications
There are plenty of cross-platform applications, either native or Electron apps, which work on both platforms. My top apps include Firefox, Simplenote, Visual Studio Code, Mailspring, and Spotify.
Development
Development on Ubuntu is more or less the same as OS X, except much easier to setup in most cases. You can see my init script I run after a fresh install, it sets up everything automatically. For example, here is the Node and Golang install section.
Cloud Integration
I use Google Suite for Mail, Calendar, and most Office things, there is full integration with Google in GNOME. By setting up Online Accounts, you can sync your calendar, contacts, files, and more. Google Drive can also simply be mounted as a folder you can access.
I don’t use Dropbox, but looks like it’s available. For sync between computers I use Syncthing which is pretty easy to setup and use; plus it is cross-platform and more secure since everything stays local.
Peripherals
Drivers and support is available for most printers, scanners, and other devices. This has been a non-issue and I find setting up a printer on Linux is easier than Windows or Mac.
I use a Fujitsu ScanSnap for scanning documents and followed the instructions here for setting up which was pretty straight-forward for my model.
Bonus
It’s not all about equivalence, Linux and GNOME include extra features and apps that aren’t available elsewhere. For one, dark mode themes have been around forever, doesn’t require a whole new release like Mojave.
Check out Tilix for an excellent tiling terminal app, I use this daily and it makes tiling different terminal windows a breeze.
Check out GNOME Shell Extensions for a set of customizations and applets to extend the Desktop, I use the OpenWeather app, Proxy Switcher, Places indicator, and the above mentioned Android connect.
Another important utility to install and check out is Tweak Tool, available in standard repo, install using
apt install gnome-tweak-tool
It provides a nice interface into customization all sorts of different parts of Ubuntu.Related Links
- OSX Application Equivalents (help.ubuntu.com)
- Ubuntu Desktop Guide (help.ubuntu.com)
- Command-line Basics and Tips – my CLI tutorial
- My Vim Cheat Sheet – my tips for using vim
The Mac OS interface can be replicated on Ubuntu, the terminal style, the icons and a whole lot more.So a little rundown of what this article covers:
- Getting the GNOME shell.
- Getting a Mac theme for GNOME shell.
- Getting a Mac OS desktop dock.
- Getting a Mac OS icon set.
- Choosing a Mac OS style system font.
Here is an ultimate picture of what you can be achieved as seen by Jason Spaceman on Flickr:
Now let‘s get started.
Getting the GNOME shell
One of the great advantages of using Ubuntu is the fact it there are enough desktop environments for everyone to choose from like Unity, Cinnamon etc. The desktop environments change the entire look of the software interface, gives it uniqueness and style.
The GNOME shell is one of the most popular desktop environments available out there. You can carryout basic functions such as launching applications, switching between windows and using a widget engine. All in all, the GNOME shell is pretty simple but very functional.
As simple as the GNOME shell may be, it supports theme customization and that‘s exactly what we are going to do as we would attempt turning this seemingly simple design into that of the Mac OS.
If you already have the GNOME shell and the GNOME Tweak Tool installed on your machine, you can skip the remaining part of this section.
The shell can be installed using the terminal command below:
During installation, a prompt may come up asking you to choose the display manager, simply choose the ‘lightdm‘ option.
The installation is complete now, however making customizations to the shell at this point could still be a pain in the neck.
For this reason, there is a tweak tool that allows for easy customization of the GNOME desktop environment, named the GNOME Tweak Tool.
You can install GNOME Tweak Tool using the terminal command below:
sudoapt-get update
sudoapt-get install gnome-tweak-tool
sudoapt-get install gnome-tweak-tool
You shouldn‘t expect an instant change in the environment just yet. To access the new desktop environment, you should log out of the current desktop session or better still do a reboot.
Before logging in, you should click on the icon of the current desktop environment which would be found somewhere close to the password box. GNOME Desktop is the one you want to select.
Getting a Mac OS theme for GNOME shell:
Now that the GNOME desktop environment has been installed, getting a suitable Mac OS theme is next on the agenda.
There are lots of themes out there however, the theme of our choice is the GNOME OS X II GTK theme. This may not be a perfect replica of the Mac OS X, however it is one of the best.
This theme requires ubuntu 16.10 and above. If you use a version below there is an alternative which is the macOS Sierra GTK theme, it exists on github so you would have to clone the project.
To install the theme, simply extract the theme folder into the ~/.themes folder. This folder exists in the home directory, if you can‘t find it you should select the option to show hidden files.
After extracting the theme into that folder, open the GNOME Tweak Tool then select the Appearance section. There you would find the theme, and select it.
Now you should get a feel of the Mac OS, however the icons do not yet look the Mac. Keep calm, that would be tackled soon.
Getting a Mac OS desktop dock
Desktop docks always bring a different sort of flavour to any desktop environment. A dock such as the default Ubuntu desktop dock has gained lots of popularity as much as the Mac OS desktop dock.
To replicate this, we would be using the Plank desktop dock. This is because it is lightweight and comes close to giving the needed Mac OS dock look.
It can be installed using the terminal command below:
sudoapt-get install plank
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/macbuntu
sudoapt-get update
sudoapt-get install macbuntu-os-plank-theme-lts-v7
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/macbuntu
sudoapt-get update
sudoapt-get install macbuntu-os-plank-theme-lts-v7
Let‘s give the icons a touch of the Mac OS.
Getting a Mac OS icon set
One of the most unique things about the Mac OS is its icon set. Its very simple but has a classic design and is one of the best icon sets you would ever find.
![Mac Mac](http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/uploads/2/1/1/5/21152474/unity-tweak-tool_orig.jpg?717)
Luckily for us, we can easily install this using the La Captaine pack.
After download, you should extract the icons folder into the ~/.icons folder. This folder should be present at the home folder, if you can‘t find it then it is hidden you should set the file manager to display hidden files.
After extracting the files there, then from the GNOME tweak tools you can select the icon pack from the appearance section.
Choosing a Mac style system font
Font styles are of great importance in designs. They could be the subtle difference between very beautiful and not quite for any interface.
As with all Apple products, fonts are taken very seriously and this has ensured that the already beautiful design becomes much more classy.
You can easily get the Apple font styles by running the following command on the terminal.
wget-O mac-fonts.zip
http://drive.noobslab.com/data/Mac/macfonts.zip
sudounzip mac-fonts.zip -d/usr/share/fonts; rm mac-fonts.zip
sudofc-cache -f-v
http://drive.noobslab.com/data/Mac/macfonts.zip
sudounzip mac-fonts.zip -d/usr/share/fonts; rm mac-fonts.zip
sudofc-cache -f-v
Now go to the GNOME tweak tool and select The Garuda Regular which is the standard font style of the Mac OS.
Conclusion
More can be done to make Ubuntu more Mac-like, such as changing the icons in LibreOffice, installing a Launchpad etc. Now you can show off your Mac OS interface to your friends.