We’ve established how easy it is to make Ubuntu look like a Mac but theming Linux Mint, the popular Ubuntu-based offshoot, is a little trickier.
SkinPacks are user-created themes that can transform your Windows PC to everything from an Angry Birds-inspired operating system to something that looks like Mac OS X or Ubuntu. With these standalone apps, you can alter just about every aspect of your computer in just a few clicks. Hello friends, the new Linux Mint version 20 just came out. In this article, I will show you how to customize it to look like the Mac OS. So let’s go first I will download the theme for the Mint desktop. I’ll download the dark theme and the light theme. The links will stay in this post.
But no more.
It’s now possible to make Linux Mint look like a Mac too, and it’s all thanks to a customised version of the uncannily accurate macOS Mojave GTK theme we highlighted a few weeks ago.
So if you long to add some Cupertino styling to the Cinnamon desktop, read on!
Mac Theme for Linux Mint 19
Mac themes for Linux Mint are not new.
But good ones? Well, they have been a bit hard to come by due, in part, to the Cinnamon desktop being based around an older version of GTK, the underlying toolkit that’s used to “draw” the GUI of many apps.
Major compatibility issues and refactoring changes between GTK versions has meant that many popular modern GTK themes were not directly compatible with Linux Mint — and that included crop of clonetastic Mac themes too.
Updated GTK in Linux Mint 19
The recent release of Linux Mint 19 changes the game; ‘Tara’ ships with a newer version of GTK that supports many of the advanced theming capabilities that themes often use.
And ready to take full advantage of the new theming capabilities available to Linux Mint 19 is prolific Linux theme maker PaulXfce.
Paul creates and maintains a bunch of well designed and well made themes for various GTK+ based desktop environments, including GNOME Shell, Budgie and, more relevant to those of you reading this post, Cinnamon.
Having recently raved about his creepily accurate macOS Mojave theme I was thrilled to learn that Paul has made a custom version of his macOS mojave theme available for the Cinnamon desktop.
Not that the task was entirely smooth sailing, as Paul points out:
“This has proven to be a much more difficult thing to do, because of the way Linux Mint uses Muffin as a window-manager, which has some drawbacks (like: Server-Side-Decoration, so no transparency in Nemo, ) and the ‘multitude’ of toolbars that take half the real-estate of the window… Reducing the size of them was my first priority.”
Undeterred, Paul has re-engineered his Mac os theme for Linux Mint, building a new Metacity theme that blends with the rest of the UI while still allowing apps using Client Side Decoration (CSD) to look the part too.
The downside is that, for now, Paul’s excellent Mac os theme only affects the look and feel of applications and app window borders. A Cinnamon desktop theme is not (currently) available (and the Cinnamon Spices website turns up nothing Apple-related).
Still; the theme is a sterling attempt and well worth trying out — even if only as a novelty. You can download the theme directly from GNOME-Look:
To install, extract the archive file to the hidden ‘.themes’ folder in your Home folder (if you don’t have one, create one).
Finally, to apply the theme, Open System Settings > Appearance > Themes and select the theme in both the window-borders and controls section.
More Ways to Make Linux Mint Look like a Mac
If you’re minded to make the Mint desktop more like Mac OS X there are some additional things you can do to curate a Cupertino-style aesthetic on the Cinnamon desktop.
You can move Mint desktop panels easily. Just right-click on an empty section of the panel, choose the ‘Properties’ menu option and, from the settings you see, move the panel from the bottom of the screen to the top.
This makes way for what is surely the most iconic element of the Mac desktop: the dock.
A chunky task bar, the dock puts large app icons and folder shortcuts within reach at the bottom of the screen. There are plenty of Linux docks available but we think that Plank is by far and away the best. You can install Plank on Linux Mint be searching for it in the Software Manager app.
You can add more applications to your Plank dock by dragging a shortcut out of the Mint Menu and dropping it on to the dock. You can even add folders to Plank too!
Other suggestions:
Mac Os Theme Pack
- Change the desktop wallpaper to a Mac background
- Replace the bottom panel with a dock app like Plank
- Install a Mac icon theme for Linux
- Move the bottom panel to the top of the screen
- Install/enable Nemo Preview, analogous to Quick Look
- Install Synapse, Kupfer, Alfred or similar for a Spotlight equivalent
So get started and share your screenshots in the comments.
If you’re looking for a Mac theme for Linux, look no further.
GNOME-OSX II is (as you might have already guessed) a Mac GTK theme for Linux desktops — and it’s a pretty pretty adaptation.
‘This theme is a ‘gnome-desktop-interpretation of Mac OS X”
Yup, this is not an out-and-out copy of the standard UI in macOS. The theme describes itself as “a gnome-desktop-interpretation of Mac OS X”, with the theme designer saying they’ve “tried to implement the feel of OS X on the gnome-applications.”
This means the theme it’s not trying to be a pixel-perfect clone of the macOS theme — and there are plenty of GTK themes that try to do that out there — but instead adapts the core design of Cupertino’s desktop OS in a way that makes sense (and looks best) on the GNOME desktop.
The GNOME-OSX II theme works with most modern GNOME-based desktops, including GNOME Shell, GNOME Flashback, and Budgie. But the theme does not work with the Unity desktop.
Aside from evoking the form and function of macOS there are some novel touches too, such as the use of a blurred sidebar in the Nautilus file manager, and consistent theming across GTK2 and GTK3 apps.
A compataible GNOME Shell theme is also available to download for those wanting even more mac-inspired bling for their desktops.
Mac Os Themes
Why do this?
Debate about the merits (or otherwise) of theming a Linux desktop to look like another operating system arises every time a theme like this is presented.
The terse answer is, if you can’t understand the appeal, sense or logic in doing it: don’t.
Whether you have Apple envy or simply admire and appreciate the design aesthetic of a macOS, there’s no shame if you decide to make Ubuntu look like Mac. The whole point of using Linux is (after all) that you can do things like this — you certainly can’t make Mac OS X look like Ubuntu!
Linux Mac Os Theme
Download GNOME-OSX Mac theme for Linux
The GNOME OS X II theme requires GNOME 3.20 or later. To use it on Ubuntu you need to be running Ubuntu 16.10 or above.
Windows 10 Theme Mac Os
Once the download is complete you need to extract the tarball to your ~/.themes directory.
Finally, to switch theme on you need to use the GNOME Tweak Tool, which is available to install from Ubuntu Software.
Linux Mint Mac Os Theme
For a more faithful mac-ification try the La Capitaine Mac icon theme for Linux, also available as a free download from GNOME-Look.