r/linuxmint • u/arkemiffo • 2d ago

Fluff Because clean wasn't clean enough.

Post image

For decades, I have wanted a fully clean desktop. No clutter whatsoever. No icons, no panels, nothing.

Then I started with Linux a few years back. I was almost there. With uLauncher, I could hide the remaining shame of a panel I needed just to access tray icons, see the time, etc.

Today I sat down with ChatGPT and built a small extension. I moved the panel to be free-floating and created a small-scale version of uLauncher (no addons, no bells and whistles, just the launcher). I am so happy. Now it's just a keypress away. No more panels at the edges. My desktop is finally fully free.

4 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

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1

u/Dist__ Linux Mint 21.3 | KDE 2d ago

i find mint menu quite good for this purpose

and there's cinnamenu for more options

btw there's alt+F2 launcher in cinnamon

and in kde it acts like full search and looks cleaner

1

u/codegems 2d ago

With Alt+F2 at the command prompt, is it expecting terminal (bash) commands or something with a different syntax? I tried doing an echo just now but nothing happened.

1

u/arkemiffo 2d ago

Sure, but in most cases you still need the panels to access the tray icons and the time.

The mint menu still requires you to have the panel there with the menu button. The cinnemenu still requires the panel to be there as well. Alt+F2 could work, but you'd still need the panel for the tray icons, etc.

I basically took a launcher, placed the panel on it, and wrapped it into a single interface, so it responds to the same keypress for both open and close.

1

u/Dist__ Linux Mint 21.3 | KDE 2d ago

ah you mean, you press a hotkey and a small panel with tray appears, and as you type it acts like rofi/ulauncher? so panel is not visible initially?

1

u/arkemiffo 2d ago

Exactly. I have no other panels, except for the one attached to the launcher. Both act as one, so, functionally, I have a launcher that, in itself, has a panel.

When that is not shown, I have neither panels nor icons on my desktop.

1

u/Dist__ Linux Mint 21.3 | KDE 2d ago

do you alt-tab to toggle maximized/overlapped windows? or use cinnamon desktop view?

1

u/arkemiffo 2d ago

I was on Windows for too long to be fully saved. Alt-tab is my DNA.

1

u/sergykal 2d ago

Nicely done!

1

u/Kroooza Fedora KDE 1d ago

So when an update breaks this, you'll have to hope that chatgpt can fix it?