How to Install Screenlets on Ubuntu 24.04 (Step-by-Step Guide)

If you’re running Ubuntu 24.04 and want to give your desktop a bit of personality, Screenlets is a fun way to do it. Think of them as little widgets a clock, a weather app, maybe a system monitor that you can drop anywhere on your screen.

The good news? Installing Screenlets on Ubuntu 24.04 is dead simple. You just need to pop open the terminal, run a quick update, and pull the package. Even if the Linux command line feels intimidating, don’t stress it’s only a couple of commands and you’ll be done in minutes.

Whether you’ve been using Ubuntu for years or you just installed it yesterday, adding Screenlets to your setup is an easy way to make your desktop more useful and more “you.”

What You Need Before Installing Screenlets

Screenlets isn’t heavy software, so don’t worry you don’t need a monster PC to enable Screenlets on Ubuntu 24.04. Still, a few basics help things run smoothly:

About 2 GB of RAM. Less than that and the desktop might start dragging once you load a few widgets.

A dual-core processor. Honestly, if your computer can run Ubuntu 24.04 at all, you probably already have this covered.

Graphics with OpenGL support. This part matters. If your drivers are outdated, widgets can look weird or not show up. (I’ve had a clock widget freeze because of this before updating the driver fixed it.)

And finally, it’s always worth doing a quick update with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. Saves you from running into silly dependency errors later.

That’s really it. If your system ticks these boxes, Screenlets will run just fine on Ubuntu 24.04.

Installing Screenlets on Ubuntu 24.04

Getting Screenlets up and running on Ubuntu 24.04 isn’t complicated at all. You basically open a terminal, update your system, and pull the package that’s it.

So first, hit Ctrl + Alt + T and you’ll see the terminal pop up. I usually start with an update because without it you sometimes get those annoying “package not found” errors.

sudo apt update

Type your password when asked, let it refresh the package list, and then go ahead with the actual install for Ubuntu 24.04’s Screenlets.

sudo apt install screenlets

The download is usually quick on a decent connection it’s done in just a minute or two. Once it’s done, you’ll see the “Screenlets installed” confirmation in the terminal.

After the installation finishes, just head over to your applications menu and Screenlets will be there waiting. Open it up, and you can decorate your desktop with handy widgets like a system monitor, clock, or weather panel. Play around with them, resize a few, see what feels good.

That’s really all there is to it.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Most people get Screenlets running on Ubuntu 24.04 without any trouble, but a couple of small hiccups can happen.

The one I’ve seen most often is that dreaded “package not found” message. Annoying, but not serious it usually just means your system’s package list is a bit out of date. I normally fix it by running sudo apt update and then trying the install again. In nearly every case I’ve seen, that simple step does the trick.

Another issue is when the widgets install fine but don’t actually show up properly on the desktop. Maybe they look glitchy, or nothing appears at all. In my case, that turned out to be an old graphics driver. Updating my graphics drivers fixed the problem, and in one case I had to switch over to the proprietary driver to get everything displaying correctly.

If you hit either of these, don’t panic they’re quick fixes. After that, Screenlets should run smoothly and stay out of your way.

Conclusion

That’s pretty much it getting Screenlets running on Ubuntu 24.04 is quick, and once it’s installed you can play around with different widgets. Personally, I like having a tiny system monitor and a clock on the side of my desktop, it just makes things easier at a glance.

It doesn’t take much effort, just a couple of commands on your Ubuntu 24.04 machine, and suddenly your setup feels more personal. Try it out, move things around, and see which Screenlets actually fit your workflow. In my experienced, even minor tweaks can make your setup feel brand new.