How to create launch icons on Ubuntu Desktop?

Question

I installed Ubuntu in a VM using VirtualBox, and after a few hours of Googling all the things I had to install and configure for the rest of the environment, I am finally up and running with a Ruby on Rails IDE and have MySql up and running.

After I start up the Ubuntu VM, I have to go to a terminal window and do this to start MySql:

/etc/init.d/mysql start

So that works fine, but, since I am such a GUI person, I’m wondering how I can create an icon on the Ubuntu Desktop that I can click on to launch this command.

Can you tell me how to do that?

Answer 1

Right click on the desktop, choose "Create Launcher...", fill in the fields:

Type: Application/Application in Terminal (depends if you want to see the output)

Name: Start MySQLd

Command: /etc/init.d/mysql start

Answer 2

Ubuntu Documentation: How To Add a Launcher.
Here is another oldish reference with screen shots.