How To Install screenlets on Debian 9

In this tutorial we learn how to install screenlets on Debian 9. screenlets is Widget-like mini-applications for GNOME

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install screenlets on Debian 9.

What is screenlets

screenlets is:

Screenlets are small owner-drawn applications (written in Python) that can be described as “the virtual representation of things lying/standing around on your desk”. Sticky notes, clocks, rulers, … the possibilities are endless.

The goal of the Screenlets base-classes is to simplify the creation of fully themable mini-apps that each solve basic desktop-work-related needs and generally improve the usability and eye-candy of the modern composited Linux-desktop.

Features:

  • Real applications, no HTML-“widgets”
  • Easy to use, easy to develop
  • Full compositing support
  • Works with any composited X desktop (compiz, xfce4, …)
  • Works also on non-composited desktop
  • Included ability to apply themes (SVG, PNG or mixed)
  • Fully scalable when using SVGs
  • Embedded drag&drop-support
  • Automated storing of options (using ini or GConf)
  • Controllable through customizable D-Bus service
  • Can be used together with compiz’ widget-plugin to create a Dashboard-like feature as seen on OS X
  • Uses Cairo and GTK2 for drawing and windowing

There are three methods to install screenlets on Debian 9. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install screenlets Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install screenlets using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install screenlets

Install screenlets Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install screenlets using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install screenlets

Install screenlets Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install screenlets using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install screenlets

How To Uninstall screenlets on Debian 9

To uninstall only the screenlets package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove screenlets

Uninstall screenlets And Its Dependencies

To uninstall screenlets and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 9, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove screenlets

Remove screenlets Configurations and Data

To remove screenlets configuration and data from Debian 9 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge screenlets

Remove screenlets configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove screenlets configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge screenlets

Dependencies

screenlets have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install screenlets package on Debian 9 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.