GDM Changes

I believe it was with Ubuntu 9.10 that the GDM login manager was rewritten and the previous configuration options removed. I know there was a lot of upset about that when it happened. The functionality seemed to be the same, but the configuration options that users had grown used to were now gone. It seems, however, that there are still some settings that can be changed. Perhaps not quite as many, but one of the important ones is still available. If slightly obscure.

Updating Configuration

There are two methods of updating this configuration. There is the command-line one-liner, which I like for it’s quick and easy use. There is also the graphical method. I’ll outline both below. You can follow whichever you feel most comfortable with.

Command Line : gconftool-2

To disable the login screen user list in Ubuntu 10.04, simply run the following command, entering your password when prompted:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type boolean /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_user_list true

The next time you log in you’ll be prompted to enter your username and password, instead of selecting your username from a list.

Graphical Method : gconf-editor

To disable the login screen user list in Ubuntu 10.04 graphically, run the following command and then navigate to the proper key=value pair setting.

sudo -u gdm gconf-editor

Navigate to /apps/gdm/simple-greeter.

Check the box that says “disable user list”, setting the value to true.

disable ubuntu login user list

Whichever method you choose, you’ll end up with the same result. Disabling the list of users at the login screen. I prefer my machine to require the username + password combination. No reason in telling everyone who the machine belongs to, and removing half of the security of the login mechanism.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on the security vs usability of a user list at login. Do you agree with me or disagree?

I’m curious to see further improvements to the new GDM system, but until that time I prefer to require username and password to login, not just a password.

Disable User List

In order to disable the user list you’ll need to open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type boolean /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_user_list true

Enable User List

If you’d like to re-enable the user list you can revert the above command using:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type boolean /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_user_list false

To get started with some ideas, here are the most common changes that I make:

• Move bottom panel to top
• Shrink both panels to 19 pixels
• Update system font to Droid Sans (ttf-droid package), 8pt font
• Updated workspace switcher to four workspaces
• Activate GNOME-based compositing
• Set gnome-terminal to white-on-black, Droid Sans Mono, 8pt font. Disable scrollbar and menubar
• Set custom wallpaper, screensaver and GDM login screen
• etc..

I’d like to make sure that my presentation can cover the most interesting and popular changes to the UI. If you would like to share the changes you make, please comment. Feel free to include links to screenshots, GNOME-look.org references, etc.

Thank you!

Desktop Background

There are so many really amazing desktop backgrounds to choose from it is hard to pick just one and publish it as my “favorite”. I guess what I will say is that I’ve grown accustomed to something darker (which fits with the theme, which we’ll see soon.) One of my recent selections is GNOME Smoke. Not too busy, and not too bright and shiny as to be distracting.

Theme

For my overall theme I have been using Shiki-Colors for months now. I’ve really grown accustomed to the look, and my desktop just “looks funny” to me if its on something else. I’ve blogged in the past about how to install Shiki-Colors. If you haven’t tried it, I’d recommend it.

Fonts

Another must-have in my book is the Droid Sans font. I update all my fonts system wide to use this (Droid Sans Mono within gnome-terminal). You might also check out my previous post about installing Droid Fonts. If you haven’t tried this font set check it out. Here are some quick instructions:

sudo aptitude install ttf-droid

System > Preferences > Appearance > Fonts

Select “Droid Sans” 10pt for everything. I also check “LCD” (I am on a laptop). You also may notice a difference if you click “Details” in the bottom right corner of the window and make sure that you’re resolution is set to “96″ dots per inch. I know that recent releases try to dynamically detect the best resolution, often times selecting something higher than 96. I’ve found that 96 still looks the best.

gnome-terminal

It might seem odd to include gnome-terminal is a list of graphical tweaks, but I always customize my terminal as well. Considering I spend the more part of my day within it, it should present me with the most comfortable surroundings.

First I right-click and select Profile > Profile Preferences. I then deselect “Show menubar by default in new terminals”. I then deselect “Use thy system fixed width font” and select Droid Sans Mono, 10pt. I then move to the “Colors” tab and deselect “Use colors from system theme”. I promptly change the color scheme to White on Black. For me, a black background is the only appropriate background for a console. After this I move to the “Scrolling” tab and select “Disable”. You might think this disables the ability to scroll. It does not. It disables the scrollbar within the window (pgup/pgdn still work as expected).

With that I Close the window and enjoy a white on black console with the additional space alloted from removing the scrollbar and menubar, plus a very clean readable font.

Conclusion

Looking back at this it sure doesn’t seem like I’m too particular when it comes to the look and feel of my Desktop, but I definitely have an opinion. I’ve grown to the point that I like/expect certain things a certain way, while not caring about others. It does sometimes feel like I’ve grown a bit more minimalist. Anything that allows me to focus more on my work and less on the “bling” and I’m good.

What are some of your favorite UI tweaks? Have a favorite wallpaper? GDM theme? font? Share the love!

Update Default GDM Theme

Updating the GDM theme is a fairly simple process. There is a utility called “gdmsetup” which allows you to customize a number of aspects of the login screen. You can usually find this application in your menu by navigating to:

System > Admin > Login Window

After entering your password you should be able to customize the login screen on the “Local” tab. The Style entry allows you to select Plain or Themed, or a variation with a Face Browser. What you want is Themed, and you can select a different graphic from the list below. You should find a few other default GNOME themes that you can select.

If you’d like to find more themes, go check out GNOME Look. You can easily install any of those GDM themes by selecting “Add” from the Login Window management tool.

For those of you that customize your theme, what are some of your favorite GDM graphics to use?

This one will require you to logout and log back in, but its worth the slight hiccup.

At the login prompt, where it asks for a username, enter: Require Quarter

The username and password prompt will then follow as normal, but you’ll get a quick surprise before you’re logged in.

Enjoy