DEV Community: Logan Schmidt

How-to use a Custom Start Button Image in Linux Mint

Logan Schmidt — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 19:50:38 +0000

The Problem

I spent a while trying to get a custom Windows XP-style start button to display correctly on my Linux Mint Cinnamon desktop. The button would work sometimes, but the solution was fragile and caused unintended side effects - like the start button image appearing in the Linux Mint Welcome Screen's lower right corner.

What Didn't Work

The gsettings Approach ❌

Initially, I tried using gsettings to force the icon:

gsettings set com.linuxmint.mintmenu applet-icon "file:///home/user/Desktop/start-button.svg"

Why this failed:

This sets a system-wide configuration that affects all applications
The start button image leaked into other parts of the system (Welcome Screen)
It created "messes" that looked unprofessional

The Base64 Data URI Approach ❌

Next, I embedded the PNG image directly into the CSS as a base64 data URI:

background-image: url("data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgo...") !important;

Why this failed:

The base64 string was enormous (12KB+ image encoded)
The image simply wouldn't display despite correct CSS selectors
Overly complex and hard to maintain
The approach was "overworked" - too much effort for what should be simple

What Finally Worked ✅

The Simple File Path Solution

The solution is elegantly simple:
Use a relative file path in CSS.

background-image: url("assets/start-button.png") !important;

That's it. No base64 encoding. No gsettings. Just a clean, relative file path.

Step-by-Step Implementation

1. Prepare Your Image

Place your start button image in the theme's assets directory:

~/.themes/Mint-XP/cinnamon/assets/start-button.png

Image specs:

Dimensions: 122×40 pixels
Format: PNG (transparent background recommended)
Size: ~12KB

2. Edit the Theme CSS

Open your theme's CSS file:

~/.themes/Mint-XP/cinnamon/cinnamon.css

Add this CSS block (or modify if it already exists):

/* === Windows XP Start Button Override === */
#panelLeft .applet-box:first-child {
    background-color: transparent !important;
    background-image: url("assets/start-button.png") !important;
    background-repeat: no-repeat !important;
    background-position: 0px center !important;
    background-size: 122px 40px !important;
    min-width: 122px !important;
    width: 122px !important;
    max-width: 122px !important;
    min-height: 40px !important;
    height: 40px !important;
    max-height: 40px !important;
    padding: 0 !important;
    margin: 0 !important;
    border: none !important;
    border-image: none !important;
    box-shadow: none !important;
}

/* Hide the default icon */
#panelLeft .applet-box:first-child StIcon,
#panelLeft .applet-box:first-child .applet-icon {
    width: 0 !important;
    height: 0 !important;
    icon-size: 0 !important;
    opacity: 0 !important;
    margin: 0 !important;
    padding: 0 !important;
}

/* Hide the label text */
#panelLeft .applet-box:first-child .applet-label {
    width: 0 !important;
    height: 0 !important;
    font-size: 0 !important;
    opacity: 0 !important;
    margin: 0 !important;
    padding: 0 !important;
    color: transparent !important;
}

/* Adjust spacing for next applet */
#panelLeft .applet-box:first-child + .applet-box {
    margin-left: -2px !important;
    padding-left: 0 !important;
    border: none !important;
    border-image: none !important;
    box-shadow: none !important;
}

/* Remove borders from panel elements */
#panelLeft,
#panelLeft .applet-box,
#panelLeft .applet-box:first-child,
#panelLeft .applet-box:first-child + .applet-box,
.panel-launchers,
.panel-launcher,
.panel-launcher:first-child {
    border: none !important;
    border-image: none !important;
    box-shadow: none !important;
    outline: none !important;
}

/* Hide separators */
#panelLeft .applet-separator,
#panelLeft .applet-separator-line {
    border: none !important;
    background: none !important;
    width: 0 !important;
    margin: 0 !important;
    padding: 0 !important;
}

/* Ensure other panels aren't affected */
#panelRight .applet-box:first-child,
#panelCenter .applet-box:first-child,
#panelTop .applet-box:first-child,
#panelBottom .applet-box:first-child {
    background: none !important;
    background-image: none !important;
    width: auto !important;
    height: auto !important;
    min-width: auto !important;
    min-height: auto !important;
}
/* === End Windows XP Start Button Override === */

3. Clear Any gsettings Overrides

Ensure no system-wide settings are interfering:

gsettings set com.linuxmint.mintmenu applet-icon ''
gsettings set org.cinnamon app-menu-icon-name ''

4. Reload Cinnamon

Press Alt+F2, type r, and press Enter to reload Cinnamon.

Key Lessons Learned

1. Keep It Simple

The simplest solution is often the best. A relative file path beat complex base64 encoding.

2. Avoid System-Wide Settings

Using gsettings for theme customization can have unintended consequences. CSS-only solutions are safer and more maintainable.

3. The !important Flag Matters

Cinnamon's CSS has high specificity. Using !important on every property ensures your styles take precedence.

4. Relative Paths Work

CSS file paths are relative to the CSS file location:

CSS at: ~/.themes/Mint-XP/cinnamon/cinnamon.css
Image at: ~/.themes/Mint-XP/cinnamon/assets/start-button.png
Reference as: url("assets/start-button.png")

5. Test Incrementally

When I tested with a solid color background (background-color: red !important;), I confirmed the CSS selector was working. This proved the issue was with the image reference, not the targeting.

Troubleshooting

If your button doesn't appear:

Verify the image exists:

   ls -lh ~/.themes/YOUR-THEME/cinnamon/assets/start-button.png

Check file permissions:

   chmod 644 ~/.themes/YOUR-THEME/cinnamon/assets/start-button.png

Test with a solid color first: Replace the background-image line temporarily with:

   background-color: red !important;

If you see a red box, your selector works and the issue is the image path.

Check for typos in the path:
- File name is case-sensitive
- Path is relative to the CSS file
- No leading slash for relative paths
Clear gsettings:

   gsettings reset com.linuxmint.mintmenu applet-icon
   gsettings reset org.cinnamon app-menu-icon-name

Why This Matters

Custom desktop theming is about more than aesthetics - it's about making your workspace yours. But when solutions are fragile or create side effects, they undermine the experience. This CSS-only approach is:

Clean: No system-wide settings pollution
Maintainable: Easy to modify or disable
Portable: Works across Cinnamon updates
Predictable: No side effects in other UI elements

Conclusion

After 5 days of trying complex solutions, the answer was simple: use a relative file path in CSS. Sometimes the best solution is the one that doesn't try to be clever.

If you're customizing Cinnamon themes, remember: CSS file paths, not gsettings, and definitely not base64.

System Info:

Linux Mint (Cinnamon Desktop Environment)
Theme: Mint-XP (custom modification)
Image: 122×40 PNG, ~12KB

Files Modified:

~/.themes/Mint-XP/cinnamon/cinnamon.css (CSS styling)
~/.themes/Mint-XP/cinnamon/assets/start-button.png (image asset)

Feel free to adapt this solution for your own custom panel buttons!

EC2 Linux "100% Full Disk" Recovery Pathway

Logan Schmidt — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 17:57:41 +0000

I've been working with several Linux EC2s over the years.

If you've ever run into your Linux EC2 server not behaving properly, one of the first things I would check is the DISK usage.

The disks for most "debug" servers are typically minimal, and can easily fill up.

1. Check your disk usage/space using `df -h`

Typically look for whatever is mounted to "root" or /.

root@ip-10-75-3-227:/home/ubuntu# df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            473M     0  473M   0% /dev
tmpfs            98M   11M   87M  11% /run
/dev/xvda1      7.7G  7.7G     0 100% /
tmpfs           488M     0  488M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs           488M     0  488M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop0       56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/2785
/dev/loop1      117M  117M     0 100% /snap/core/14946
/dev/loop2      119M  119M     0 100% /snap/core/15511
/dev/loop3       25M   25M     0 100% /snap/amazon-ssm-agent/6312
/dev/loop4       25M   25M     0 100% /snap/amazon-ssm-agent/6563
/dev/loop5       56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/2745
tmpfs            98M     0   98M   0% /run/user/1000

I know this can be a lot to look at, so let me draw your attention to the problematic spot:

/dev/xvda1      7.7G  7.7G     0 100% /

100% used space and 7.7G out of 7.7G used.

It's full...

2. Reclaim enough space to be able to perform commands.

Using Ubuntu, apt-get clean
(sudo yum clean all on Debian systems)
(sudo dnf clean all on Amazon Linux 2023+)

root@ip-10-75-3-227:/home/ubuntu# df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            473M     0  473M   0% /dev
tmpfs            98M  716K   97M   1% /run
/dev/xvda1      7.7G  7.6G  156M  99% /
tmpfs           488M     0  488M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs           488M     0  488M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop0       56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/2785
/dev/loop1      117M  117M     0 100% /snap/core/14946
/dev/loop2      119M  119M     0 100% /snap/core/15511
/dev/loop3       25M   25M     0 100% /snap/amazon-ssm-agent/6312
/dev/loop4       25M   25M     0 100% /snap/amazon-ssm-agent/6563
/dev/loop5       56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/2745
tmpfs            98M     0   98M   0% /run/user/1000

3. Scale the disk in the AWS Console

EC2 > Volumes > Modify

In our case, we're going from 8GiB to 10GiB.

4. Check the block to expand

Use lsblk to list blocks out.

root@ip-10-75-3-227:/home/ubuntu# lsblk
NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0     7:0    0  55.7M  1 loop /snap/core18/2785
loop1     7:1    0 116.8M  1 loop /snap/core/14946
loop2     7:2    0 118.2M  1 loop /snap/core/15511
loop3     7:3    0  24.4M  1 loop /snap/amazon-ssm-agent/6312
loop4     7:4    0  24.8M  1 loop /snap/amazon-ssm-agent/6563
loop5     7:5    0  55.7M  1 loop /snap/core18/2745
xvda    202:0    0     8G  0 disk
└─xvda1 202:1    0     8G  0 part /

In this case xvda and partition 1 is "root" for us.

5. Scale the disk using the following two commands

First, grow the partition,
growpart xvda 1

Lastly, resize the file system to use the new space,
resize2fs /dev/root

6. Confirm with `df -h` we're done!

root@ec2:/home/ubuntu# df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            473M     0  473M   0% /dev
tmpfs            98M  776K   97M   1% /run
/dev/xvda1      9.7G  3.7G  6.0G  38% /
tmpfs           488M     0  488M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs           488M     0  488M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop1       26M   26M     0 100% /snap/amazon-ssm-agent/5656
/dev/loop0       56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/2679
/dev/loop2      106M  106M     0 100% /snap/core/16202
/dev/loop3      117M  117M     0 100% /snap/core/14784
/dev/loop4       56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/2708
/dev/loop5       25M   25M     0 100% /snap/amazon-ssm-agent/6312
tmpfs            98M     0   98M   0% /run/user/1000

/dev/xvda1 9.7G 3.7G 6.0G 38% /

That's all!

AWS re:invent 2023 - A Zillennial's First Time

Logan Schmidt — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 01:54:12 +0000

Intro

This is a short, sweet, information packed post I'll provide YOU with some tips and explanations which I found invaluable while attending AWS Re:invent in 2023.

Travel tips ✈️

Keep a day for traveling both at the start, come on Sunday not too late at night. 🛫

And then when leaving, depart later on Friday to give yourself time to recover from the longer week, and re:play (on Thursday) 🛬

Hotel choice 🏨

MGM Grand where I stayed, is a great affordable "hub" for the event.

Why is this a good hotel for re:invent?

Easy fast travel to other event hotels (First thing in the morning @ 7am the monorail starts from MGM Grand and goes to everywhere else, so you'll always have a spot on the monorail if you get there before 7am :)

Affordable rooms (MGM is fair priced compared to where lots of execs/C-levels stay, at the Venetian where the Expo & Keynotes are held)
Many sessions (MGM Grand had a lot of really good sessions I attended 30-40% of my sessions right in my own hotel!)
Food provided (Not all hotels have meals, MGM Grand does)
AWS Re:play travel is ideal with the monorail setup of MGM Grand being first stop, and the re:play event being last stop. (No one else at any other hotels even came close to fitting on the monorail. Go MGM Grand, get your monorail spot at station #1 locked in!)

Must do's

Reserve sessions which you truly care about

Keep a very very close eye on AWS social media and your inbox 📥, they tell you about reserving sessions weeks/months ahead of re:invent, and you'll want to be ready for that!

You can log in early and "favorite" all the sessions you want, then when reservations open you can easily go to your calendar and hit "Reserve Seat" on all the ones you want!

Go to the Keynotes!

I only missed one keynote (the vendor keynote).
But I would highly recommend going to as many as you can!

Dr. Werner Vogels had my favorite keynote.

If you haven't already, check out Dr.Vogels thefrugalarchitect.com

Meet People & Network (Friends, Family, co-workers, clients, vendors)

AWS Re:invent is the place to network! I had the pleasure of meeting some fantastic folks from NASCAR, BMW, Adidas, and many more. Connect with folks on LinkedIn, or use Apple's NameDrop feature which works very well!

I also had the pleasure of randomly bumping into my cousin in-law who happened to be there as well.

We walked the Expo center and enjoyed some AWS Deep Racer

The food

The meals provided were fantastic!

The dining halls are very large, the food provided is fantastic quality. They meet all dietary special needs for folks.

Herbal tea, regular teas, and coffee are provided (sometimes with snacks) in the afternoon.

Breakfast and Lunch are offered. Dinner is on YOU.

Enjoy Re:play!

Even if you aren't a big party person, or don't drink. (which explains me) It is still an absolute blast to see all our peers in the industry just having fun and celebrating the week.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, AWS re:Invent is more than just a conference; it's an experience.

From the hotel choice to reserving your sessions, detail matters in making the most of this event!

The keynotes are a must-see, and the networking opportunities are invaluable. The food is excellent, and the Re:play event is a fun way to wrap up the week.

Whether you're a seasoned attendee or a first-timer (like me), these tips should help you navigate re:Invent and make the most of your time.

Remember, it's not just about learning; it's about connecting, growing, and having fun along the way!

Logan S. @d4rkd0s

Cloud Garbage 🗑️

Logan Schmidt — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:37:33 +0000

The Problem

I wanted to draw attention to garbage in the cloud.

I believe there is a significant amount of resources built in the cloud that are:

unpatched / out of date (OS, Framework, TLS/SSL)
idle / over-provisioned resources
over-engineered / complex

This is contributing to global environmental shifts as the energy usage of these workloads exceeds the ability of natural processes to safely balance things out.

Solutions / Ideas

Coming out of AWS re:invent 2023 I know the most critical part of knowing waste is knowing cost! After all, extra crap in the cloud costs extra money. Follow the money, and you'll likely find the most misconfigured things.

This is a great time to plug Dr. Werner Vogels' small but powerful "book" on The Frugal Architect thefrugalarchitect.com

I highly encourage you to read it, it’s only 7 small but extremely vital points!

Some of my ideas

Most systems are comprised of smaller components, so the following tricks can have a great impact:

Tag everything (come up with a tagging standard that can be used across all resource types that provides the greatest value to the business)
Use Resource Groups (Using resource groups can be a fantastic way to group related resources for cost analysis as well as application monitoring using AWS DevOps Guru)
Standardize Compute Workload Strategy (Work to provide your developers with a few solid pathways to having code run in the cloud efficiently. Ex: an EC2 pathway, a container pathway, a serverless pathway, etc)

AWS Cost Explorer

The AWS Cost Explorer lets you visualize, understand, and manage AWS costs and usage over time. It provides detailed reports that show cost trends for various dimensions such as service, linked account, tag, etc.

Key features of the AWS Cost Explorer are:

Forecasting (It can predict your likely spending over the next three months based on your historical cost data.)
Customizable filters and views (You can filter and group your cost data by various dimensions to focus on the areas that matter most to you.)
Reserved Instance (RI) Reports (These reports help you manage your reserved instances by showing your usage, modifications, and exchanges. This can help when planning adjustments to your prepaid EC2 compute resources.)

By using AWS Cost Explorer, you can identify trends, pinpoint cost drivers, and detect cost anomalies. This understanding lets you control your costs more effectively.

For example, you might find that you're spending more on a particular service than you expected, and you can then investigate whether this cost is necessary or if there are ways to reduce it.

Some of the key services we were overspending on were:

KMS
S3
CloudWatch

For KMS 🔑,
Each key is ~$1/mo, and with CDK, keys are generated on a massive scale, if not centralized.

We decided to optimize and centralize some of our keys, having a "data key" for example for all data in an env/region. Which is imported and used by CDK projects to reduce the per-project key cost.

For S3 🪣,
We noticed larger expenses, and decided to reduce the storage class on data we knew we weren't fetching often.

A good example of this was our Datadog Log Archive, which is what we use to re-hydrate older logs from S3 to Datadog to troubleshoot issues which occurred in the past.

We lowered the storage class on this and immediately started saving on cost with no noticeable impact on the user's performing re-hydration of logs.

For CloudWatch 📄,
This one has always been insane on pricing to me. CloudWatch Logs are very expensive...

There's only 1 answer to this... Don't Log Everything! Set a proper log level, and don't adjust it above ERROR unless you're performing true DEBUG work.

We found hundreds of services on the INFO/DEBUG level which was an insane cost increase that wasn't needed. We're working to adjust them all down to ERROR, and only ramp that up on a case-by-case basis.

Conclusion

In conclusion, managing cloud resources efficiently is not just a matter of cost, but also a matter of environmental responsibility! 🌲🕊️

By identifying and eliminating waste, we as a society can reduce our expenses and in turn, our carbon footprint.

Tools like AWS Cost Explorer, along with good practices such as tagging resources, using resource groups, and standardizing compute workload strategies, can help us collectively achieve this goal.

Remember, every bit of optimization counts, not just for your budget, but for the planet as well. Let's strive to be frugal architects of our cloud infrastructure, making the most of every resource we use!

Logan S. @d4rkd0s

DEV Community: Logan Schmidt

How-to use a Custom Start Button Image in Linux Mint

The Problem

What Didn't Work

The gsettings Approach ❌

The Base64 Data URI Approach ❌

What Finally Worked ✅

The Simple File Path Solution

Step-by-Step Implementation

1. Prepare Your Image

2. Edit the Theme CSS

3. Clear Any gsettings Overrides

4. Reload Cinnamon

Key Lessons Learned

1. Keep It Simple

2. Avoid System-Wide Settings

3. The !important Flag Matters

4. Relative Paths Work

5. Test Incrementally

Troubleshooting

Why This Matters

Conclusion

EC2 Linux "100% Full Disk" Recovery Pathway

1. Check your disk usage/space using df -h

2. Reclaim enough space to be able to perform commands.

3. Scale the disk in the AWS Console

4. Check the block to expand

5. Scale the disk using the following two commands

6. Confirm with df -h we're done!

AWS re:invent 2023 - A Zillennial's First Time

Intro

Travel tips ✈️

Hotel choice 🏨

Must do's

The food

Enjoy Re:play!

In Conclusion

Cloud Garbage 🗑️

The Problem

Solutions / Ideas

Some of my ideas

AWS Cost Explorer

Conclusion

1. Check your disk usage/space using `df -h`

6. Confirm with `df -h` we're done!