CentOS, one of the Linux distributions, is compiled from the source code released by Red Hat Enterprise Linux according to the open source regulations.
In other words, CentOS is a Linux system. It is a POSIX based multi-user, multi tasking, multi threading and multi CPU operating system.
As a server, RHEL is indeed more secure and stable than windows; However, RHEL has always been a weak side compared with windows in terms of interaction and ease of use of graphical interface.
For a long time in the past, the graphical operation interface of Linux was completely abandoned by its operators and directly used command-line tools to deal with daily affairs.
However, through the unremitting efforts of many practitioners, the desktop environment of Linux has been surprisingly improved; There are not only beautiful interfaces and convenient interaction, but also many applications for Linux are being launched; Entertainment and office on Linux are no longer people’s extravagant expectations. Now, you can easily operate CentOS system, just like windows.
Centos8 provides us with a variety of desktop environments, which can set the Linux graphical operation interface to different looks.
For example, using gnome3 desktop environment, we can set the MAC interactive desktop, as shown in the figure below.
For another example, using xfce or gnome3 desktop environment, we can also set the interaction mode of different themes, as shown in the following picture.
Practitioners ten years ago probably could not imagine that the graphical interactive interface of Linux would develop into what it is today. From the above pictures, you can see that the operation should not be difficult, and there are various applications, such as documents, development, audio playback, video playback, e-mail and so on.
You may ask, what is the method of building this interactive interface. Let’s take a look at CentOS 8 0 system, build a similar interactive interface, what are the specific steps.
1， Preconditions for building interactive interface
If we want to build an interactive graphical interface, the premise is that when installing centos8 system, we must choose to install the desktop environment module. For better results, GNOME desktop environment will be our best choice.
2， Install dnf
DNF is the latest generation of RPM package manager. Since Fedora version 22, DNF has replaced Yum and officially become the package manager of Fedora version.
2.1, confirm the yum source
By default, CentOS has a Yum source; At / etc / yum.com repos. There are some default directories under D /.
If you think the official Yum speed of CentOS is slow, you can use the yum source path of domestic Alibaba cloudhttp://mirrors.aliyun.com/repo/Centos-8.rep。
We use the VIM command to edit the configuration file, CentOS base repo; The specific command line is as follows:
sudo vim/etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo
In the file, use “#” to log off the official Yum source:
#mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=BaseOS&infra=$infra
Add Alibaba cloud’s Yum source path:
Save the file and exit; In order to ensure that the yum source can be used correctly, we have to reload the yum source.
yum clean all
yum makecache
If we don’t receive the error prompt, it means that the configuration of Yum source has been successful; You can proceed to the next step.
2.2, install and enable EPEL release dependencies
Use the yum command to install the EPEL release package; Otherwise, you cannot perform the following installation steps.
yum install epel-release
Through the above command, we can see which modules are installed into the system during the installation process.
2.3, install DNF package
Use the following command line to install the DNF package through the yum command dependent on EPEL release.
yum install dnf
If there is no accident, the system will notify us that the DNF package has been installed successfully.
2.4, common commands for dnf
Commands to check and upgrade available packages:dnf update
Delete cache command:dnf clean all
List available software source commands:dnf repolist
You can use the above command to list the available software sources on centos8. The results are as follows:
As a package management module, DNF is more used to search, install, upgrade and remove software packages, such as:
Commands to search for packages:dnf search $package
Upgrade package command:dnf update $package
Commands for installing packages:dnf install $package
Commands to remove packages:dnf remove $package
2.5, other uses of DNF command
If we want to query more parameter applications, we can typednf helpsee.
If we encounter something we don’t understand, we runman dnf Instructions, will get help.
3， Install Gnome tweaks tool
We usesudo dnf install gnome-tweaksCommand to install Gnome tweaks tool:.
After the installation is successful, if you want to set the optimization module at will, you need to log off the session of the current graphical interface, and then log in again.
After that, we can open Gnome tweaks, that is, the optimization module in the application, and set the system interface according to our preferences.
4， Set desktop
The graphical interactive interface of the optimization module is shown in the figure below:
We need to set the appearance of the desktop, boot programs, and extensions.
4.1 Desktop appearance settings
The website of the subject resource ishttps://www.pling.com/s/Gnome； You can download your favorite Gnome graphical interface beautification themes, cursors and icons here.
Put the icon and cursor under the / usr / share / icons folder; Put the theme into the / usr / share / themes directory; Therefore, the downloaded theme and icon can be selected and configured, as shown in the figure above.
In the above example, we choose the theme of prof-gnome-dark-3.5, the cursor of win10os and the icon of we10x.
Of course, we can also set our favorite desktop background pictures, as shown in the background picture you saw at the beginning of the article.
4.2 Quick Launch bar settings
If you want CentOS system, like MAC system, to have a quick launch bar, you need to install itdash-to-dockplug-in unit.
We only need one command to install successfully.
sudo dnf install gnome-shell-extension-dash-to-dock
Log out of the currently logged in session. We log in to the graphical interface again and start the setting of the Quick Launch bar.
In the above interface, we click the gear behind “dash to dock” to start setting.
For example, you can choose the location and size of the Quick Launch bar.
We can place it at the bottom of the screen and set it to bottom, but it will be displayed in the center no matter which side it is placed on. Of course, you can also set the size of the Quick Launch bar and icon.
The following setting interface shows you what items need to be adjusted.
Through the appearance setting page, of course, you can also set the appearance of the Quick Launch bar.
We can integrate several customizations of the built-in theme and the dock bar into the default Gnome theme.
We can also make personalized settings by setting whether to shrink dash, customize dash color, customize dash meaning transparency, etc; The setting interface is shown in the figure below.
be careful:When setting the transparency, we should choose the opacity of 0%. When customizing the transparency of dash, you need to select the mixed mode, that is, fixed, so that the fusion degree of the interface will be better.
4.3Introduction of some extensions
In addition to dash to dock, you can also install other extensions.
For example, the desktop icons plug-in can provide some desktop icon setting interfaces for the classic.
Another example is dynamic
Penel transparency plug-in, which makes our top penel transparent and no longer a gray and lifeless color block.
Even, there are some other extensions to make your CentOS interface more changeable.
4.4Set startup item
With Gnome tweaks, you can set the startup program items, just like the startup in windows. For example, we can set two self startup items like the following example image.
Here, our desktop environment is set up, and the graphical interface of the whole system is the same as that shown before. Of course, we can also easily set the system interaction interface to the menu mode like windows; Or continue to install various applications, such as WPS.
But anyway, at least now our interactive interface of centos8 has been liked by everyone. We look forward to more interactive plug-ins.