Longhorn Linux Transformation Pack

Hi,

This is my first post here.

I'm not thrilled with the direction Microsoft is taking with Windows 8, and I'm afraid that sooner or later down the road they will eliminate the Windows desktop completely and try to trap their users in an Apple-like walled garden. Thus, I'm looking into Zorin OS as a system that will preserve as much of the look-and-feel of Windows as possible, while (hopefully) respecting my freedom to work in the kind of environment that I prefer (no "Metro" kindergarten blocks for me!).

I've installed the standard version of Zorin OS 5.2 64-bit as a third partition in a test box that already contains XP and Vista, and initial trials are encouraging. I've even found two different ways to run MS Office, via PlayOnLinux or through Wine.

Now I'm trying to customize the look, and I have two questions that I hope the experts here will answer:

1) When I change the taskbar background from "none" to "color," and then increase the transparency, the taskbar changes in appearance, but the notification area stays the same (in the default no-transparency silver). How does one change the notification area's appearance to match the changes made to the taskbar? Trying to click in there invariably gives me a menu for the nearest icon in the notification area, but not for the notification area itself.

2) This may be a great opportunity to try out one of (IMHO) the most beautiful OS looks ever made, Windows Longhorn. I found on the Web a "Longhorn Linux Transformation Pack" (http://lhlinux.cuonic.com/home) that promises to approximate the look of that abandoned Microsoft project. It was a learning experience all unto itself, trying to install this pack on Zorin OS 5.2. When, after much trial and more error, I finally pieced together all of the necessary preliminary steps (there doesn't seem to be a single "soup-to-nuts" tutorial anywhere), I finally got the desired look but my desktop icons for computer, trash, and user(?) disappeared and I couldn't figure out how to put them back. I tried dragging the user icon from the file manager to the desktop, but it failed with an error message saying that it couldn't be copied onto itself?! I ended up installing Zorin OS all over again so that I could make a fresh start.

So the bottom line for Question 2, I guess, is: Can this Longhorn Linux Transformation Pack be properly (and reliably) installed in Zorin OS 5.2 ? If it can't, then I'll try the next best thing, which would be a Vista look-alike theme.

In case it matters, the PC is an HP-Compaq dx-7500 tower.

Many thanks for any help/advice you can give.

Hi. As regards the desktop icons do the following.

1)If not already installed, install gconf editor either from the software center or via terminal

Code:

sudo apt-get install gconf-editor

If I remmber well, gconf editor is preinstalled in zorin 5.2 so you may want to try step2 first.

2)Open gconf editor (press alt+f2 and in the window that will open write gconf-editor and hit <enter>) and navigate to:
apps > nautilus > desktop

3) In the right side of the window tick the boxes:
computer-icon-visible
home-icon-visible
trash-icon-visible

Thanks very much for the info, I'm bookmarking this in case I lose my desktop icons again.

After posting and going to bed, I remembered that I had also lost some of the icons in the notification area, such as the clock and the power-off button. Would I follow a similar procedure to get those back?

Now let's hope somebody can weigh in on that Longhorn pack.

I tried the longhorn pack yesterday. Apart from some minor problem in the updates which I fixed right away, the installation went well. The pack provides for an auto installer so it basically installed itself.
I cannot say that I am impressed. Also, various glitches started to happen after the installation on the panel bar.
It is still not tested 100%. I changed back to my zorin 5.2 desktop.

For the time being I would stay away from it until at least a steady pack is released.
You could try searching in www.gnome-look.org for gtk2 Win7 themes and try them out.

swarfendor437 wrote:Hi jeam and welcome to the world of Zorin!

Hi swarfendor437,

Thanks for the warm welcome and for the tips! Will definitely try them so that I know what to do next time something like that happens.

I reinstalled Zorin all over again to make a fresh start, and given madvinegar's report with the Longhorn Pack, I don't think I'll be trying it again, at least till (if) it goes beta. Obviously I'm new to this Linux world and I've got plenty on my plate. I'll explore Windows 7 or Vista lookalike themes -- hopefully they'll work "out of the box" better without needing as much tinkering.

madvinegar wrote:I tried the longhorn pack yesterday. Apart from some minor problem in the updates which I fixed right away, the installation went well. The pack provides for an auto installer so it basically installed itself.
I cannot say that I am impressed. Also, various glitches started to happen after the installation on the panel bar.
It is still not tested 100%. I changed back to my zorin 5.2 desktop.

For the time being I would stay away from it until at least a steady pack is released.
You could try searching in http://www.gnome-look.org for gtk2 Win7 themes and try them out.

I think I'll do exactly that. Thanks a bunch for the wise advice, and especially for the "gtk2" part.

Something else that happened when I tried that pack was that the "start menu " changed to a flyout scheme, with the items rearranged. Not so bad if I'd been expecting it! Then when I changed that part back to the default-style menu, hovering the mouse over the items in the right panel (computer, control panel, etc.) made them flicker strangely. Maybe you saw that too when you tried it.

Indeed I came across of 2 or 3 glitches like that so I decided to stay long away from long horn.