Ubuntu – How to remove the “Dash Home” icon from the Unity launcher

unityunity-2dunity-dash

My notebook has a widescreen display so vertical space is an absolute premium for me. When I installed Ubuntu 11.10 I was disappointed to see that a new icon confusingly named "Dash Home" had been added to the very top of the Unity launcher. I can't move it to the bottom (by dragging it) and it doesn't have a context menu with which to remove it (by unchecking "Keep In Launcher"). It's horrible.

How can I remove it from the Unity launcher and reclaim the space that was taken from me? (I realize that if it's removed I'll have to open the dashboard with the super key – I'm fine with that)

Best Answer

I wasn't satisfied with the answers so I compared the 11.10 Unity-2D source with earlier versions. It can be done. Here's how to do it:

(for 11.04/11.10)

gksudo gedit /usr/share/unity-2d/launcher/Launcher.qml

(for 12.04)

gksudo gedit /usr/share/unity-2d/shell/launcher/Launcher.qml

Scroll down until you find the following section:

    Component.onCompleted: {
        items.appendModel(bfbModel);
        items.appendModel(applications);
        items.appendModel(workspaces);
        items.appendModel(devices);
        shelfItems.appendModel(trashes);
    }

items.appendModel(bfbModel); is the offending line of code. Remove this line (or comment it out). Save your changes and close the file.

Restart Unity-2D with:

killall unity-2d-launcher

(12.04)

killall unity-2d-shell

Let's hope someone adds a way to toggle this feature in the upcoming Unity settings manager. Cheers!

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