How do I add parameters to Unity icons?

Question

Many posts tell you to copy files from /usr/share/applications to your home directory.

Well, unfortunately that does not work for non-Ubuntu stuff.

Can anybody show me how to add this

  xterm -bg black -fg white -fn 10x20

to my XTerm icon?

Answer 1

The file you are searching for under /usr/share/applications is debian-xterm.desktop.

Anyway, you don't actually need to copy this to your home directory, unless you don't have (or you cannot gain) the rights in order to write to this file.

If you have the rights to write to that file, open a terminal (or hit Alt+F2) and give:

gksudo gedit /usr/share/applications/debian-xterm.desktop

Once gedit opens, head to the Exec field and place, instead of xterm, your entry: xterm -bg black -fg white -fn 10x20. Save the file and you are done.

If you don't (or you cannot gain) write permissions there, copy that file to your home directory (~/.local/share/applications/), edit it there, and you are done!

Answer 2

Another possibility is to launch "Main Menu" from Dash, find the Terminal app and modify the command.

1. Press the windows key and type "menu"
2. Open "Main Menu"
3. Under "Accessories" click "New Item"
4. Give it a description and type the xterm command with parameters as desired.