How to install the longhorn transformation pack on Ubuntu

Longhorn was a concept by Microsoft that  never came into being. However, based on the designer concepts released back then, an Ubuntu transformation pack is available. It’s only a beta, however, it promises some very stunning visual changes.

As of the latest beta, it now includes a script to handle the installation itself, turning the tedious process into a simple one.

 

The pack comes with the following items inside it and requires them each to be installed:

– Aero-Style GTK Themes

– Windows fonts and icons

– Screenlets and the sidebar

– The Emerald Theme for GTK

– Transparency enabled GTK

– Gnomenu and Longhorn Menu theme

– Nautilus-elementary

Warning: There are known issues when installing one of those packages, please be careful while using them. For example  There are:

The RGBA GTK(Transparent) theme is incompatible with many common general use applications.

Lets start with the installation

We need to start with downloading the relevant software package to our system. Enter the following in your terminal.

$ wget http://lhlinux.org/downloads/lhde-build-4000.zip

After download is complete, we need to unzip it.

$ unzip lhde*

After the process is done, cd the directory where you extracxted the packages, and run install.sh

These can be done through the GUI or through the terminal.

$ cd lhde*
$ sh install.sh

Alternatively, you may click on install.sh instead. When prompted  to execute, choose ‘run in terminal’.

This release is in beta, so minimal amounts of caution while using it is advised. It’s advised to keep backups of important files should anything go wrong.

Image courtesy of lhlinux.org(Software author)

Thanks again to Convexity for this post

Useful Links: http://www.lhlinux.org/

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