How to make Unity Launcher backlight use one colour?

Solution 1:

You will need the Gimp to do that.

First, we need to backup some launcher icons.

Open a terminal:

cd && mkdir launchericons
cd /usr/share/unity/4/
sudo cp launcher_icon_back_54.png launcher_icon_back_54.png.old
sudo cp launcher_icon_glow_62.png launcher_icon_glow_62.png.old
sudo cp launcher_icon_edge_54.png launcher_icon_edge_54.png.old
sudo cp launcher_icon_shine_54.png launcher_icon_shine_54.png.old

Now, we copy these 4 files to our newly created folder launchericons:

sudo cp launcher_icon_back_54.png launcher_icon_glow_62.png launcher_icon_edge_54.png  launcher_icon_shine_54.png ~/launchericons/

Ok. Files are backed up and copied to our home folder.
If you haven't already done so, install the Gimp:

sudo apt-get install gimp

Start Gimp:

Alt+F2gimp

Go to "File" -> "Open" . Open your folder "launchericons" and select the first png: launcher_icon_back_54.png .

Now, we have to choose the colour we want to use:

click on "Foreground & Background colors" (screenshot)

Select the color you want (see the arrows, you can also use the eyedropper (circled) to select a blue anywhere on your desktop).

Make sure you write down somewhere the HTML notation of your selected color.

Now select in the Toolbox the "Bucket Fill Tool" and click in your launcher png in Gimp's main window (the little one):

Save the changed png, and repeat the same process with the other 3 png's.

Then, copy all 4 files back to /usr/share/unity/4/:

sudo cp launcher_icon_back_54.png launcher_icon_glow_62.png launcher_icon_edge_54.png  launcher_icon_shine_54.png /usr/share/unity/4/

Logout and login back to unity and your backlights are now blue.