You like Linux a lot, but you miss the old time CTRL-ALT-DEL feature ? Pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL in this famous OS called Windows brings a very handy task manager, opening a world of new possibilities : it informs you on ressources consumption of all running processes, it allows you to kill an unresponsive process, etc.
With minimal tweaking, you can get this neat tool in Linux too.
These instructions will work on any Linux distributions running the GNOME desktop environment (default in Debian and Ubuntu).
KDE users can simply press CTRL + ESC to bring the task manager, and skip this HOW-TO.
Make sure you have gnome-system-monitor installed (this will be our "task manager"). In Debian or Ubuntu :sudo apt-get install gnome-system-monitor
will install it.
Then, instructions will differ depending on the windows manager you use : Metacity or Compiz. If you don't know, just do both parts, it will work just as well. Note that all commands below are to be run without root privileges, so just do it as a normal user.
Simply typing those 2 lines in a terminal will do it :gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/run_command_9 "<control><alt>Delete"
gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/metacity/keybinding_commands/command_9 "gnome-system-monitor"
The commands are similar, and still 2 lines :gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/compiz/general/allscreens/options/run_command9_key "<control><alt>Delete"
gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/compiz/general/allscreens/options/command9 "gnome-system-monitor"
If you are feeling lazy, just run this small script I prepared. Of course, read it before you execute it (don't trust anyone). Then simply typing:sh task_manager_shortcut.sh
will do the trick.
That's it, just press CTRL-ALT-DEL and feel the magic !
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Debian HOW-TO : Task Manager XP Style
For Metacity
For Compiz
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5 comments:
How would you do it for Nautilus which I believe is my window manager. I'm using ubuntu edgy eft.
In fact nautilus is only a file manager. Ubuntu Edgy default window manager is Metacity (Gnome's default).
I understand it can be confusing. Look at the wikipedia's articles on both Nautilus and Metacity if you want more details.
So you can follow the instruction related to Metacity.
Cheers,
Hugues
Yes, Nautilus would be like Windows Explorer while Metacity would be like Windows Task Manager. You wouldn't use windows explorer to kill processes or whatever.
Yes, Nautilus would be like Windows Explorer while Metacity would be like Windows Task Manager. You wouldn't use windows explorer to kill processes or whatever.
not quite. explorer performs the roles that both metacity and nautilus do. it is both the file manager and the window environment (along with some dlls it calls from memory). in gnome (the desktop environment in ubuntu) metacity draws window borders and manages the window locations. nautilus draws the desktop and is a file manager program. gnome-system-monitor (which is the equivalent of windows task manager) is a completely seperate program that is installed with the gnome desktop.
porl
I use emerald... can you help me to make it work 4 that?
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