One thing people hate when they move to ubuntu/gubuntu/kubuntu is the taskbar. You can only see the current window and you have to learn a whole new habit of using ALT+TAB or, PUT HOTCORNERS TO YOUR LINUX DISTRIBUTION(also called distro) or, resize one window to see the other behind and then click on that to focus it.

While I had become used to the ALT+TAB thing, taskbar still was a thing to miss. With it, you could always know which all windows are opened, if your current window is maximized.

And, while a google result didn’t help me last year, it did few weeks ago.

Help me introduce you to my newest friend, Tint2.

Tint2 - Windows like taskbar for linux

Check out that sweet thing at the bottom!

Here’s the code you need to feed your terminal to get the above output :

sudo aptitude install libcairo2-dev libpango1.0-dev libglib2.0-dev libimlib2-dev libxinerama-dev libx11-dev libxdamage-dev libxcomposite-dev libxrender-dev libxrandr-dev

There are other ways to install it too, if you’re the daring one or using some other linux distro. You can check those out, here : https://code.google.com/p/tint2/wiki/Install

Now comes an important part. Opening it automatically when you start your system.

  1. Press ALT+F2
  2. Write Startup Applications and Open it.
  3. Click on Add
  4. Add tint2 command to startup

Here’s the procedure through images :
Startup Applications Ubuntu
Adding tint2 to startup

Now, if you’ve installed it, you’ll notice that right click on the opened windows closes them. While some of you might prefer this, I don’t.
So, here’s a small hack :

  1. Open Terminal
  2. sudo nautilus
  3. Press CTRL+H (show hidden files and folders. Wooaah! :O )
  4. Translate to .config/tint2/
  5. Edit the tint2rc file using your favourite editor. Or just gedit
  6. Use CTRL+F to find ‘mouse_right’
  7. Replace the line with mouse_right = none
  8. Send me a gift

And, for the daring ones, here’s the whole documentation of tint2 configuration file : https://code.google.com/p/tint2/wiki/Configure
Check it out and make your taskbar look the way you want.

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