Ever since Ubuntu introduced its (slick) desktop notification bubbles in Ubuntu 9.10, users have been e-mailing in to ask us how to configure them.

How to change their colour, the font, the icon size or—more crucially—their position on the screen.

Finally I can answer as the new NotifyOSD Config app supports all of those tweaks, plus a few more!

In this post I’ll show you what the app does, and how to install it on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS “Lucid Lynx”, but as this is third-party software (not made or supported by Ubuntu developers), keep that in mind before idly proceeding.

On we go!

NotifyOSD Config: Features

Given its role is to provides configuration options, NotifyOSD Config doesn’t disappoint. There are a glut of settings, toggles, and options you you should be able to find the one want. Below are the features which answer the most common requests I hear.

Positioning lets you decide whether notifications appear near-flush at the top of the screen (dynamic) rather than, by default, one-bubble down (fixed, default setting).

There’s also options to adjust the gap between the screen edge and the bubble itself — but this only goes to a maximum of 1000px horizontally and vertically. If you wanted to shift bubbles to the left or bottom using this, you can’t.

Other notable options:

  • Timeout – change the duration in which a bubble stays on screen
  • Colour – Pretty much any colour can be specified using the colour picker
  • Opacity – How transparent do you want you bubbles? Play around and decide!
  • Icon Size – the bigger you set this the stranger your bubbles are going to look…
  • Corner Radius – want square toasts? super-rounded pills? Adjust this

There are more options besides those, so play around after installing it to see what else it can do.

Oh—you want to know how to install it? Right-o…

Installing NotifyOSD Config on Ubuntu

To use NotifyOSD you’ll also need to install a minor patched version of NotifyOSD itself. Not ideal, but hey: it may no be required for ever.

The following PPAs need to be added, both currently only support Ubuntu 10.04 LTS:

  • sudo add-apt-repository ppa:leolik/leolik
  • sudo add-apt-repository ppa:amandeepgrewal/notifyosdconfig

Finally, to install the app:

  • sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install notifyosdconfig

Now open it via Accessories > NotifyOSD Configuration and start playing!