Ubuntu – How to make a desktop icon to launch a program

command lineexecutableicons

Have an interesting issue. I am VERY new to Ubuntu and Linux systems. I have only been running linux on my laptop for a couple of months. Here is what I am trying to do – I recently installed google earth and am trying to make a desktop icon for it. With other programs I have installed I have been able to copy the executable file from /usr/share/applications and then paste in the desktop folder. However google earth does not show in that folder and has a different way of loading. I tried copying the file like I did before but it pulls up as a text file. What I would like to do is create a very small executable file that I can put on the desktop to launch google earth. I found the command line for it is :

/opt/google/earth/free/google-earth %f

Is there a way to write this into a executable file easily? Be aware I am very new and still learning. So be desciptive as possible, please. I am starting to understand the code, but still struggle at times.

One last question, how do I change an icon image? I am not seeing the setting to change it.

Thanks

Best Answer

You have to create in your desktop directory (usually ~/Desktop) a .desktop file, let say google_earth.desktop with the following content inside:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Google Earth       
Comment=Open Google Earth
Exec=/opt/google/earth/free/google-earth %f
Icon=google-earth
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Utility;Application;

Don't forget to make it executable. You can do this from terminal using the following command:

chmod +x ~/Desktop/google_earth.desktop

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Ubuntu – Creating desktop icon for Arduino 1.6.7 in 14.04

Ubuntu has something called a .desktop file, which acts as a shortcut to whichever app you want. You can specify an icon you want, the name of the shortcut, the description that appears when you hover over the shortcut, and a lot of other stuff. It's not the easiest setup, but it's not hard, either. Here's how to do it.

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T), and run gedit ~/Desktop/Arduino.desktop.

In the text editor window that opens, paste this:

 [Desktop Entry]
 Name=Arduino
 Comment=Arduino IDE
 Exec=/path/to/the/arduino/executable
 Path=/path/to/the/arduino_folder/
 Icon=/path/to/arduino/icon.png
 Terminal=false
 Type=Application
 Categories=Utility;Application;Development;

Edit the Exec,Path, and Icon fields to point to the appropriate locations.
Save the file and close Gedit.
Now, go to your Desktop folder and test the shortcut bu double-clicking it. If it works, you can drag the icon to your launcher to have it there, as well.

NOTES:

You may get a warning when you try to use the .desktop file, telling you it is not trusted, or something similar. If you see this, right click on the file, go to Properties >> Permissions and check the box that says something like Allow executing file as program. The warning will be gone.
Remember to use absolute paths in the desktop file. Don't use relative paths. An example of an absolute path is /home/username/arduino-1.6.7/. A relative path is something like ~/arduino-1.6.7 (the ~/ points to your user folder) or ./arduino-1.6.7 (./ means whatever folder you're currently in, which would be the Desktop in this case).

If you need any help, comment.

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Creating desktop icon for Arduino 1.6.7 in 14.04

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