So I am just playing around, but I figure this may help someone. Never mind that I am being very lazy! I figure why rewrite all this crap since there are instructions out here? I figure why not just get those that worked rather than spending time figuring out this and that myself. If nothing else I got to crack on my wife's Mac again, considering my Ubuntu desktop looks very much like it now and I have cooler effects and free software!

Here is everything to get Compiz , AWN , and Screenlets running... I am running Ubuntu Studio on Gutsy 7.10. I would think this would work the same on Mint, Debian, etc... Kubuntu (KDE) has some weirdness with Compiz so you may run into some strangeness and I know for a fact AWN will not start. To get Compiz on KDE you need to install xserver-xgl btw

Compiz should be installed on Ubuntu 7.10 by default, but you will need to install Emerald and the settings dialog if you want to tweak settings, effects, and w indow borders. You will need the settings manager to get the Screenlets working as you need to tick the widget plugin:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install emerald compizconfig-settings-manager

You can then easily install Avant Window Navigator following this great post

Then last, install the screenlets (widgets) by following these instructions . 

To theme your system to look like OS X I found this if that interests you. My wife's dirty look was enough for me to put myself through the setup ;)

And don't forget to visit Gnome Look !

now,  some screenshots. These are big! Scroll to the bottom right corner for the close link ;)

Have fun!!!