Chromixium Configuration
Table of Contents
Chromixium is a light, nice, minimalist system based on Ubuntu, thus a perfect choice for me. However I still need to make a few customizations on it. This is a bit challenging for the time being because chromixium is a bit new, not many people are using it out there, and searching for a particular problem often returns no answer. However it seems that Chromixium is mainly based on Lubuntu, so this makes the search for solutions easier.
Here I will document some of the customizations that I usually need to do when I install a chromixium system.
1 Enable autologin
This is about loging in to a specific users' account on boot, without stopping and asking for a password.
To enable this, create the configuration file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf (do this as root) with a content like this:
[SeatDefaults] autologin-user=<YOUR USER> autologin-user-timeout=0 user-session=Lubuntu greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter
Reference:
2 Disable automatic screen lock
When the system is idle for some time, the screen is automatically locked. When you enable autologin, it does not make much sense to lock the screen automatically.
To disable it, open Control Panel, then Screensave Settings, then switch OFF Enable light-locker.
3 Shortcut keys
Usually it should be possible to configure them from the Control Panel, but for Chromixium it does not work (at least for the amd64 version that I have installed).
Fortunately it is easy to fix this (however itwas not so easy to find the right solution). I simply installed the packages xbindkeys and xbindkeys-config and then started `xbindkeys-config`:
aptitude install xbindkeys xbindkeys-config xbindkeys-config
To run automatically on login, add xbindkeys to .xprofile.
4 Add another keyboard layout
In the 32bit chromixium this worked from the Control Pannel, but in the 64bit version that I have installed (which is unstable yet) it didn't work.
I solved this problem by adding the applet Keyboard Layout Handler on the Panel. Then, in the settings of this applet it is possible to add other Keyboard Layouts.
5 Increase the number of desktops
The default configuration has only one desktop, and I am used with
four desktops. This can be easily fixed from Control Panel / Window
Manager Settings / Desktops
6 Put dock on the left
I prefer the dock on the left side of the screen. So, from the
Control Panel I open Dock Settings and set Screen edge = Left.
I also set Aligment = Centered and Hide mode = Intelli-hide
(which means that it will be hidden when some window overlaps with
it, otherwise it will be shown).
7 Customize the panel
You can right click on the right-bottom panel and open the Panel
Settings. There I make Width: 100% (on the tab Geometry). I
also check Minimize panel when not in use (on the tab
Advanced). Then I add more applets, change their order etc. and
try to make it look like a classic panel.