The purpose of the mintDesktop is to help you take advantage of the best features of your Gnome desktop. These modifications are not required and are completely optional. They give you further options, tips, and tricks on how to improve your desktop experience. We suggest you quickly go through them and see if they are something you may want to apply.

1. Remove support for languages you don't need

Linux Mint supports a lot of languages, most of which you probably don't use. These languages take up a lot of space on your hard drive and also slow down your upgrades.

If you want to remove them:

  1. Click on System--> Administration--> Language Support:
  2. Uncheck the languages you're not interested in and press OK.
screenshot of Language Support window

2. Customize mintDesktop Desktop Icon

By default, mintDesktop creates a set of folders in your home directory.

screenshot of new folder icons

If you don't need them you can simply delete them.

If you find them useful and would like to be able to access them a little easter; you can create a bookmark. For example, if you want to bookmark your "Music" folder, follow these simple steps:

  1. Open your Home folder
  2. Go into "Music"
  3. Click Bookmarks--> Add Bookmark
  4. Your "Music" folder now appears on the left pane and also in your "Places" menu.

Note: If you deleted folders and would like to get them back, you can re-initialize mintDesktop by deleting the .linuxmint/mintDesktop file from your home directory.

3. Use mintWifi to activate your Wireless card

If you have a wireless card that doesn't work out-of-the-box, you may be able to set it up in Linux Mint without an Internet connection. Linux Mint comes with mintWifi, which contains drivers for some of the Wireless cards. Check mintWifi and follow the guide for more information: mintWifi

4. Come meet everybody Group Icon

Linux Mint users like to talk. If you have a problem you need to get resolved, or you just want to chat, there are two great places:

Note: XChat automatically connects to the Linux Mint chat room. If you have a broadband internet connection, you can join real-time discussions.

5. Broadband users, configure XChat XChat Logo

Some users may want to remain connected to the chat room, but to not have the XChat window clutter your desktop. For this option, you need Xchat to minimize to the system tray and to only notify you when something happens. These alerts are posted in the notification area in your Gnome panel. If you would like this option, follow these steps:

  1. Open XChat from the menu, Applications--> Internet--> XChat-GNOME IRC Chat
  2. Click on Edit--> Preferences
  3. Choose "Scripts and Plugins" from the left pane
  4. Activate the plugins you want
screenshot of Preferences window

6. Set keyboard shortcuts for Amarok Amarok Icon

Amarok is great for listening to music and you probably noticed that it minimizes itself in the system tray. By setting up keyboard shortcuts, you give yourself the ability to control Amarok directly from the keyboard–even if it resides in the system tray. Here are the steps to change tracks and the sound volume by pressing the Windows© key and one of the arrow keys:

  1. From the menu, Applications--> Sound and Video--> Amarok
  2. Click on: Settings--> Configure Global Shortcuts
  3. Under Shortcuts, select: "Play/Pause"
  4. Then in the "Shortcut for Selected Action" pane (on the bottom), select: "custom"
  5. Press: the Windows Key and the Space Bar
  6. Similarly assign: Windows Key + Right Arrow Key for "Next Track"
  7. Windows Key + Left Arrow Key for "Previous track"
  8. Windows Key + Up Arrow Key for "Increase Volume"
  9. Windows Key + Down Arrow Key for "Decrease Volume"
Configure Shortcuts Window

Close Amarok (it should go in the system tray) and play with your keyboard to affect the sound volume and change tracks.

7. Setup your iPod in Amarok Amarok Icon

This should work out-of-the-box…but, for some reason Amarok expects it to be previously mounted. Unfortunately, iPods are not automatically mounted so follow these steps to setup your iPod:

  1. Plugin your iPod. This should open Amarok or place it in the system tray
  2. Left-click on the icon in the System Tray and Open Amarok and click: Settings--> Configure Amarok
  3. Choose the "Media Devices" tab pane
  4. Click "Add device"
  5. Choose "Apple iPod Media Device"
  6. Choose a name for your iPod
  7. Specify /media/ipod as the mount point
  8. Click ok
Add New Device Window

8. Change the default Theme

Bianca comes with 2 new Themes: Bianca (Blue) which is the default one, and Bianca (Green). The older Bianca and Barbara themes are also available:

  1. In the Control Center --> Desktop, click "Theme"
  2. Choose your favorite theme
  3. Press "Close"
Theme Preferences Window

9. Remove Daily Fortune from the Terminal Window Terminal Icon

Some may like to receive a daily "fortune-cookie" each time they load a terminal window, some may not. If you would like to remove this from your terminal, follow these steps:

  1. Uninstall the packages: sudo apt-get remove fortune
  2. This will remove the application from your system, but wait we're not finished…
  3. Next type in a terminal: sudo gedit /etc/bash.bashrc
  4. Remove (or comment out) the line that says: /usr/games/fortune
  5. Click on "Save"
  6. Close the window

10. Remove the Desktop Icons

By default, since Bea, there are now icons installed on your desktop (one for your Computer and one for your home folder). If you don't want these to appear on your desktop there are ways to remove them. If you would like to remove them from your desktop, follow these steps to remove them:

  1. In the Control Center --> Desktop click on mintDesktop
  2. Uncheck any icons that you don't want on your desktop
  3. Click: OK
mintDesktop Window