How to create System Menu (mini control panel)

Question

I want to make system menu after login in my Ubuntu server like this image:

To change my Ethernet IP address, the local time and some other stuff important to me, I don't know how I can reach this settings?

Answer 1

I don't know where each option from the example refers to. Here's a working tutorial - How to create a script with similar menu.

First you need to install dialog. This application provides a method of displaying several different types of dialog boxes from shell scripts:

sudo apt install dialog

Then create executable file, let's call it smenu, and place it into the directory /usr/local/bin/, thus it will be accessible as shell command system wide:

sudo touch /usr/local/bin/smenu
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/smenu
sudo nano /usr/local/bin/smenu

The script content should look like this:

#!/bin/bash
HEIGHT=18
CHOICE_HEIGHT=10
WIDTH=78
BACKTITLE="SYSTEM MENU"
TITLE="[ M A I N - M E N U ]"
MENU="Tasks:"

OPTIONS=(
Network/IP   "IP Settings         [sudo nano /etc/hosts                ]"
Network/DNS  "DNS Settings        [sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf          ]"
Network/IFCS "Network Interfaces  [sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces   ]"
Timezone     "Set Time Zone       [sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata        ]"
Reboot       "Reboot the System   [sudo systemctl reboot               ]"
Shutdown     "Shutdown the System [sudo shutdown                       ]"
Logout/Exit  "Logout the Session  [logout                              ]"
Update       "Update & Upgrade & autoRemove & autoClean   [sudo apt ...]"
Edit         "Edit this script    [sudo nano /usr/local/bin/system-menu]"
Shell        "Exit to Shell"
)

CHOICE=$(dialog --clear \
    --backtitle "$BACKTITLE" \
    --title "$TITLE" \
    --menu "$MENU" \
    $HEIGHT $WIDTH $CHOICE_HEIGHT \
    "${OPTIONS[@]}" \
    2>&1 >/dev/tty)

clear
case $CHOICE in
    Network/IP)
        sudo nano /etc/hosts
        ;;

    Network/DNS)
        sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf
        ;;

    Network/IFCS)
        sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
        ;;

    Timezone)
        sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
        ;;

    Reboot)
        sudo systemctl reboot
        ;;

    Shutdown)
        sudo shutdown
        ;;

    Exit)
        logout
        ;;

    Update)
        sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo apt autoremove && sudo apt autoclean
        echo "**"
        sudo uname -a
        echo "**"
        sudo lsb_release -a
        echo "**"
        [ -e /var/run/reboot-required* ] && echo "Reboot is required!" || echo "Reboot is not required."
        ;;

    Edit)
        sudo nano /usr/local/bin/smenu
        ;;

    Shell)
        exit
        ;;
esac

• Copy the above content and use in nano: Shift+Insert for paste; Ctrl+O and Enter for save; Ctrl+X for exit.
• All commands used within the script are available in Ubuntu 16.04.
• The content between the brackets [...] is just a reminder of what will be executed.

Now you will be able to access the script via the command smenu. The result should be:

If you want to open this script after login into a terminal, append next line to the bottom of the file ~/.bashrc:

/usr/local/bin/smenu

---

Instead of dialog can be used the tool whiptail, that offers much of the same functionality (and options) as dialog, and is installed by default in most Ubuntu distributions. For this purpose use the above script and change line 22 in this way:

CHOICE=$(whiptail --clear \

Now the output of our script/command smenu should look like this: