How to get Mac Leopard look on Ubuntu?

Lets say you got impressed with Ubuntu, partly because it is Free and second you hated Windows and most importantly after using it for some days you really liked it.

If you haven’t tried it yet, then I will say you are missing a lot. Read these 25 reasons to give Ubuntu a try. Now that you are interested but are afraid not to mess with your existing OS, read this to get help.

Now if you are ready with Ubuntu and want a Mac look, keep reading..

You are impressed with Mac OS look as well as Vista theme of Windows. So in this particular post I brought to you tips to give your Ubuntu Desktop a look of Mac. (For Vista, you will have to wait. Because I don’t like it that much.)

Pre-requisite:
You have latest drivers installed for your video card. And find out if your video card can run Compiz. (If you don’t have a very old PC, then you shouldn’t worry about Compiz and all.)

To know more about Compiz, Beryl, Emerald etc, read here…

Step 1: Install Compiz – Advanced CCSM and Emerald

• Go to Applications > Add/Remove Applications
• Search for ‘CCSM’ and install it.
• Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager
• Search for ‘Emerald’ and install it.
• If you prefer using terminal then type the following in the terminal to do all above in one step -
  sudo apt-get install compiz compizconfig-setings-manager compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-fusion-plugins-extra emerald

Step 2: Install Avant Window Navigator (AWN)

• Go to Applications > Add/Remove Applications
• Search for ‘Avant’ and install ‘Avant Window Navigator’.
• Or enter the following in the terminal -
  sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator

CONGRATULATIONS.
Now you should be able to run a shiny Mac like dock from Applications > Accessories > Avant Windows Navigator. To add launchers to it, just drag and drop items from the main menu on the dock. You can later rearrange them also.

Sometimes this is what most people wanna do. But if you want an exact Mac like look, then keep reading forward.

Step 3: Mac for Linux theme (Mac4Lin) installation

• Download all the files and packages from http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac4lin
• Follow the instructions mentioned there to extract the files.
• Follow the instructions mentioned in the downloaded pdf file to install Mac theme on your Ubuntu Desktop. The pdf is pretty well explained, so you shouldn’t face any problem at all.
• After you are done, I suggest restarting the machine.
• As soon as you login, you will see the Mac Desktop on your Ubuntu machine.

Isn’t it cool? Don’t you love Ubuntu even more now. Tell me your views about it…