Hacktivision

This article will show you how to install Emerald Theme Manager, and get new themes for Emerald in Ubuntu 8.04. Emerald is a window decorator. It lets you set extra window themes to Ubuntu beyond the default ones.

Follow up:

1) Install Emerald Theme Manager
Start Synaptic Package Manager by clicking
System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager
In Synaptic Package Manager, click the button labeled search. In the field that appears, type in “emerald”, and then click the search button in this dialog.

You should receive several results. Left-click the check box next to the package called emerald, and choose “Mark for installation”. You will be asked to mark an additional package called linemeraldengine0. Choose to also mark this package.

Now that both the emerald and libemeraldengine0 packages are marked, click the button labeled Apply and click Apply again in the new window that appears. Then, close Synaptic Package Manager.

2) Install Emerald Themes
In the latest version of Ubuntu, there is no button to fetch more themes. I have received several comments about this, which is why I wrote this post. To get you started with some themes, download the emerald-themes package at mirrors.kernel.org. (direct link)

Save the .deb file to your desktop. When it is finished downloading, double-click it. You will see a window like the one below. Click the button labeled Install Package. This will install some themes for emerald. These are the themes you would normally get by pressing the Fetch GPL’d Themes in the old howto.

That pretty much addresses one issue that people were having using the old howto for Ubuntu 8.04. See the next step to switch to Emerald as the window decorator (the other problem).

3) Installing Compiz Fusion Icon / Switching window decorators
Now that you can access Emerald Themer by clicking
System > Preferences > Emerald Theme Manager
and you can see themes listed, you need to change window decorators to use those themes.

Start by clicking
Applications > Add/Remove...
This brings up a window titled Add/Remove Applications. In this window, search for compiz. You will see a result called Compiz Fusion Icon. Select it by left-clicking the checkbox next to it. Then, click Apply Changes and Apply again in the window that pops up.

This will install Compiz Fusion Icon. Once the installation is complete, start Compiz Fusion Icon by clicking
Applications > System Tools > Compiz Fusion Icon

Now, to change the window decorator, right-click the Compiz Fusion Icon in the top-right corner of your screen (It’s the blue cube). Then choose Select Window Decorator > Emerald. Your window borders may disappear for a second, but they should come back.

4) Apply a Theme
To apply a theme, go back into Emerald Theme Manager by either right-clicking the Compiz Fusion Icon or by starting it from the Preferences menu. You should see you list of themes. To apply one of the themes, simply left-click it. It may take a second to apply.

That’s it, you can now use Emerald themes in Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. To get more themes, follow the instructions in my other post, How to enhance Ubuntu 7.10 eye-candy with Emerald Theme Manager.