In this post are describre several useful tips for Linux Mint 18 like:

  • add desktop/panel shortcut for wine applications
  • pin programs to the panel
  • creating custom launchers

This tips are tested with latest realease of Linux Mint 18:

Add Desktop shortcut

If you want to add new shortcut or new application launcher in Linux Mint Cinnamon you can do:

  1. Right click on Desktop
  2. Create a new launcher here
  3. Select App details:

Name: IntelliJ IDEA 17.2

Command: "/home/user/Software/idea-IU-172.4343.14/bin/idea.sh" %f

Comment: Develop with pleasure!

  1. Press OK

Add a Program Shortcut from the Mint Menu

Some programs doesn't add shortcuts to Mint Menu during installation or can be used without installation. I have several programs like this and I needed to add a shortcut for Intellij for example. In order to do this you can:

  1. Right-click the Mint Menu,
    1.1 Configure
    1.2 Open the menu editor.
  2. Select a category i.e. Internet from Applications.
  3. Press "New Item" (at the right panel)
  • Set a name for the shortcut i.e. IntelliJ 172.4343.14 .
  • For "Command", browse to the application folder i.e.
/home/user/Software/idea-IU-172.4343.14/bin/idea.sh" %f
  • Add comment if needed
  • Click OK and Close buttons.

Sample:

Name: IntelliJ IDEA 17.2

Command: "/home/user/Software/idea-IU-172.4343.14/bin/idea.sh" %f

Comment: Develop with pleasure!

Note: You may need to add executable rights to the launcher by:

chmod +x idea.sh

P.S. In the case with Intellij there is a much simpler way of adding shortcuts: You need to:

  • start the application
  • Menu
  • Tools
  • Create Desktop Entry

Pin Programs to the Panel

Pinning programs to the panel of Linux Mint 18 is fairly easy task. This can be done by:

  • Find your application in the Menu.
  • you can use the search
  • Right click an application
  • Select Add to panel - or
  • Drag and drop the application it to the panel.
  • The program icons can be moved( on the panel launcher ) as you like by drag-and-drop.

Note: In the similar way by right-clicking an application from the Menu, you can also add a program shortcut to the Favorites or the Desktop .The Favorites support drag-and-drop and re-ordering as well.

Add wine application to Panel

Still in 2018 there are programs for Linux Mint and Ubuntu which is better or can be used only with wine like:

  • Notepad++
  • HeidiSQL
  • AIMP3

If you want to add wine programs to your panel you can check first if the program is visible in the Linux Mint menu and add by add to panel button. If not you can manually add it by(for example if you are using portable applications in wine).

  1. Right click on Panel
  2. Press Add
  3. In the Launcher Properties enter:

Name: foobar2000

Command: env WINEPREFIX="/home/user/.wine" wine C:\windows\command\start.exe /Unix /home/user/.wine/dosdevices/c:/users/Public/Start\ Menu/Programs/foobar2000.lnk

Comment: Play, organize and tag your music.

  1. You can select an icon - optional.

  2. Press OK

This is another example for portable Notepad++ shortcut for the Linux Mint panel:

Name: Notepad++

Command: wine "/home/user/.wine/dosdevices/c:/Portable Software/npp.7.3.3.bin/notepad++.exe" %f

Comment: Text editor.

As you can see the most important part of the script is the command. You can play and change the way the program is started. But my preferred one is:

Command: wine "/home/user/.wine/dosdevices/c:/Portable Software/npp.7.3.3.bin/notepad++.exe" %f