Themes and Missing Sound Controls

Day 64

For me, Ubuntu is kind of like that first love you never forget. It was my first experience with Linux. Sure, I was inexperienced and not very picky (I chose Ubuntu because it was the fist distro to appear when I googled). I was awkward and kind of clumsy trying to navigate around command lines, tarballs, and repositories - the computer equivalent of hopelessly fumbling to unlatch that first bra. But the time we spent together really opened my eyes to the possibilities of Linux. Sadly, we eventually parted ways.

Looking back, there were things that I disliked about Ubuntu, but I was too clouded by puppy love to acknowledge. Aesthetically speaking, the default brown and orange color schemes are ugly. I like the green gOS theme much better. It doesn't look like the couch my parents got as a wedding present, and the icons are sleek too. GOS is like upgrading on that first love to find something that makes you feel good and makes for some nice arm candy.

The only problem with the default gOS theme is that the volume control faders are mysteriously absent. Volume can be adjusted by clicking on the + and - buttons, but it's clear something is missing. Apparently the faders are invisible in the gOS theme. Here's how to fix that.

1. Go to system preferences --> preferences --> appearances and choose a different theme. Doesn't matter which - it can even be ugly Ubuntu orange.
2. Open Synaptic and search for gos-theme. Mark it for removal and apply changes.
3. In Synaptic go to settings --> repositories --> third-party and add a new source - "deb http://software.thinkgos.com gadgets main"
4. Reload Synaptic, then search for gos-theme and reinstall. I was also prompted to update my system with a few additional files.
5. Go back into the appearance menu and select the default gOS theme. Your laptop will look just like it did before, only now your sound drop down will be equipped with a little green control orb.

A lot of work for a little green button.