LightPad is a lightweight, simple and powerful application launcher. It is also Wayland compatible.

It is being developed for Twister OS and in collaboration with Ubuntu Budgie (and its BudgieLightpad Applet for the system), a big thanks to @fossfreedom

This project was originally forked from Slingshot from the elementary team:

• https://launchpad.net/slingshot

Screenshot

Installation via PPA

Only for Ubuntu based distros, open a terminal and run the next commands:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libredeb/lightpad
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install com.github.libredeb.lightpad

Compilation

1. Install dependencies:

• For Ubuntu:

   $ sudo apt-get install meson ninja-build libgee-0.8-dev libgnome-menu-3-dev cdbs valac libvala-*-dev libglib2.0-dev libwnck-3-dev libgtk-3-dev xterm python3 python3-wheel python3-setuptools gnome-menus

• For Fedora:

   $ sudo dnf install meson ninja-build libgee-devel gnome-menus-devel cdbs vala libvala-devel glib-devel libwnck-devel gtk3-devel xterm python3 python3-wheel python3-setuptools gnome-menus

2. Create a build folder:

   $ meson build --prefix=/usr

3. Compile LightPad:

   $ cd build
   $ ninja

4. Install LightPad in the system:

   $ sudo ninja install

5. (OPTIONAL) Uninstall LightPad:

   $ sudo ninja uninstall

Post Install

Once installed set shortcut key to access LightPad.

• System -> Preferences -> Hardware -> Keyboard Shortcuts > click Add
• Name: LightPad
• Command: com.github.libredeb.lightpad

Now assign it a shortcut key, such as CTRL+SPACE.

Note: Some themes don't have the 'application-default-icon'. LightPad needs to have this icon, so please download it from the elementary_os/icons pack and execute the following commands:

# cp application-default-icon.svg /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/
# gtk-update-icon-cache /usr/share/icons/hicolor

Dynamic Background (optional feature)

LighPad added a new feature, now you can use a custom background of your choice. You can add any wallpaper or image strictly under some of the following path/files and lightpad will use them (prioritizing the JPG format):

$HOME/.lightpad/background.jpg

$HOME/.lightpad/background.png

Blacklist File (optional feature)

Another new added functionality, is the ability to hide applications using a blacklist file. In the file:

$HOME/.lightpad/blacklist

You must add line by line the full name of the binaries of the applications you want to hide in LightPad. For example:

nautilus
rhythmbox
gnome-screenshot
gnome-terminal
firefox
htop
/usr/bin/gparted
/usr/bin/vlc

These lines appear in the .desktop files located in /usr/share/applications as the value of the Exec= tag.

Changelog

Version 0.0.8

• Templates added to make packages for Arch Linux (PKG) and Fedora (RPM)
• Config files are introduced for project constants, replacing the hardcoded paths
• Clean CSS code, some vars and unused functionality
• New feature added: hide apps using a blacklist file.
• The paths of background files are moved to $HOME/.lightpad/

Version 0.0.7

• Change indicator pages text for dots without animations
• Fixed the CSS design of the searchbar that made it look cut on some screens
• Implemented a new feature, now the black background is dynamic using an image if there exists
• Added a new feature, now the apps are ordered alphabetically
• Add SPEC and PKGBUILD files to make packages for Fedora and Arch Linux
• Some bug fixing

Version 0.0.5

• Implemented the exact and standard way to open terminal apps
• Improved meson postinstall script
• Removed desktop environments detection to use the appropiate terminal
• Added xterm as dependency for opening terminal apps

Version 0.0.4

• Fix an important bug in the page indicators causing the wrong size obtained
• Background color brightness of page indicators increased
• Improved the visual appearance of the searchbar
• Increased space between top edge of display and searchbar

Version 0.0.3

• Fix bug 003, where obtain a negative one causing error obtaining array index for indicator pages
• Add suport for LXQT, LXDE and XFCE environments to open terminal apps
• Improve searchbar design, use CSS instead of cairo

Version 0.0.2

• Add dependencies versioning
• Fix a bug with gee assertion index
• Fix bug that cause that terminal apps won't open
• Improve screen recognition for detect netbooks small display

Version 0.0.1

• Clean all code from the fork
• New improved searchbar design
• New revamped icon in different resolutions
• Fix bug for some applications that left their icon in /usr/share/pixmaps
• Support for terminal apps