Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

Download The Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander Community Wallpapers

The Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander community wallpapers have landed in Saucy recently.

The wallpaper pack comes with 18 elegant images, including 3 cool salamander wallpapers:


Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander wallpapers

New PPA For Numix GTK And Icon Themes, More

Quick update for Numix fans: a new Numix PPA has been created and it hosts daily builds for Numix GTK theme, two Numix icon themes, a Plank theme and even a Numix wallpaper. More Numix related artwork will be added to this PPA in the future.

Furthermore, Numix GTK theme is now compatible with GTK 3.4 and Pantheon (it already supported GTK 3.6 and 3.8), meaning it should work properly in Ubuntu 12.04 and elementary OS 0.2 Luna.

Here are a few screenshots:

Numix themes
Numix GTK, icon themes and wallpaper (Unity)

Lubuntu 11.10 Default Theme "Ozone2" Gets Revamped

Lubuntu is a lightweight Ubuntu flavor that uses LXDE. According to the Ubuntu Developer Summit that took place earlier this year in Budapest, Lubuntu will finally be considered an official Ubuntu flavor starting with 11.10.


The default Lubuntu theme - Ozone2 - has been revamped for Lubuntu 11.10:

Lubuntu 11.10 Ozone2

GIMP And Inkscape Plugins To Publish Images To DeviantArt

Gimp publish to deviantart

Martin Owens has announced the release of two plugin that allow you to publish your images to DeviantArt with a single click from GIMP or Inkscape:

This is a BIG deal my friends and I’m very excited because not only do we have this functionality, but we have it FIRST, before ANY proprietary software package. That’s right, the stash API was only announced last week and here I am giving you the keys to brand spanking new functionality right from within your favourite art creation applications!

- Martin Owens

Lubuntu 11.04 Gets New Default Theme, Wallpaper

Lubuntu is an unofficial Ubuntu flavor based on LXDE.

Remember Ozone, the theme proposed to become default in Lubuntu 11.04? Well, the theme got some improvements and it's now a lot faster so it was made default starting today. Here's how Ozone looks now:

Lubuntu 11.04 new default theme

Ozone: New Lubuntu 11.04 Proposed Theme

A new theme called O³ (Ozone) has been proposed for being default in Lubuntu 11.04 (an LXDE unofficial Ubuntu spin). The theme looks a lot like the new Xubuntu theme (introduced in Xubuntu 10.10) and in fact it's based on the same theme: Zuki Blues by Lassekongo.

Ubuntu Light Themes 0.1.8 Update In Maverick Brings Fixes, Improves Menu Speed

The Ubuntu Light Themes - version 0.1.8 was released today (with a bit of a delay - these fixes were announced  a week ago on the Canonical Design blog)  and while it doesn't bring major changes, it improves the menu slowness (it seems the fix only improves the situation but does not completely solves it - see the comments on this post) and fixes bad contrast between text and background.

New Way To Get The New Official Ubuntu Font Family

In case you don't know, the new Ubuntu font which is supposed to be shipped with Ubuntu 10.10 is only available in a private PPA for now.

A while back we posted about getting the official Ubuntu font by joining the Kubuntu-users group. There were way too many people joining this group so it was revoked access to the private PPA. In a discussion with Paul Sladen, he pointed to a new way regular users can get access to the Ubuntu Font Family private PPA: go to https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-typeface-interest and click "Join this team" (you'll of course need a Launchpad account). You should receive an email when you have been accepted to this team (it will take a while - I'm not sure how long). When this happens, do not install the deb! Add the PPA so you can stay up to date with the latest versions of the font!

The Final Ubuntu 10.10 Default Wallpaper, Released! [Download]

Like you all know, the community wasn't too happy with the wallpaper chosen to be default for Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat (so unhappy that a bug was submitted) so a new one was to be created. And here it is, the final Ubuntu 10.10 default wallpaper:

Ubuntu 10.10 default wallpaper

Download it from HERE (1920x1280). Or download all the Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat wallpapers (including the new default wallpaper) from Launchpad.



This is how the Ubuntu 10.10 default (but now replaced by the new wallpaper above) wallpaper which got so much criticism looked:

Ubuntu 10.10 temporarely default wallpaper


Besides the new default wallpaper, the Maverick update today also brings a bundle of all the community wallpapers as an animated wallpaper. The package is currently building on Launchpad so give it about an hour or two and it should be available for everyone using Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

Ubuntu 10.10 Default Wallpaper Revealed, Updated Community Wallpapers And Light Themes

The new Ubuntu 10.10 default wallpaper came in an update today and looks... well, take a look for yourself:

Ubuntu 10.10 default wallpaper




The community wallpapers were also updated in Ubuntu Maverick and they now include the wallpapers from the community contest:

Humanity Icon Theme Update Comes In Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat

And here it is: with the Maverick User Interface freeze coming in 2 days, the first update to the Humanity Icon Theme in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. Well, in fact there was another update a while back to the ubuntu-mono icons, but the only change was the new controls for the sound indicator.

New Artwork For Lubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat [Screenshots]

In case you don't know, Lubuntu is using LXDE and is designed for computers running old hardware or netbooks.


Lubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, the unoficial LXDE flavor of Ubuntu got an artwork update last week. I'm posting this only now because I had some issues downloading the latest Lubuntu development ISO.

Almost every element of the Lubuntu arwork was updated: backgrounds (panel and menu), the Openbox theme, Lubuntu menu logo, splash images (LXDM and logout dialog banner) and wallpaper.

There are no changes to the Live CD artwork because these changes are only available for those who are using the Lubuntu Desktop PPA (comes enabled by default in Lubuntu). All these should be available in the next Lubuntu 10.10 Alpha release (Alpha 3).



New Lubuntu (Ubuntu w/ LXDE) 10.10 Maverick Meerkat artwork screenshots


Ubuntu 10.04 Proposed Ubiquity Slideshow Goes Live

ubuntu 10.04 lucid slideshow



The Ubuntu Ubiquity Slideshow is a project which uses Webkit that provides a slideshow when you install Ubuntu.



The new Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Ubiquity Slideshow which we were telling you about ~2 weeks ago is now live and you should be able to take a look for yourself by downloading an Ubuntu 10.04 daily build starting tomorrow (or by updating the installer but that didn't work for me - the package is probably not in the repositories yet).

Besides the improved look, there are some other changes too: the Ubuntu slideshow is now 816x500 pixels in size (it used to be 700x420), the slideshow now uses the official Firefox icon rather than a generic browser icon, as well as some other minor improvements.


Here are a few more screenshots:

And The Reason Why The Metacity Window Buttons Are On The Left In Ubuntu 10.04 Is...

...from Mark Shuttleworth himself:

The default position of the window controls will remain the left, throughout beta1. We're interested in data which could influence the ultimate decision. There are good reasons both for the change, and against them, and ultimately the position will be decided based on what we want to achieve over time.

Moving everything to the left opens up the space on the right nicely, and I would like to experiment in 10.10 with some innovative options there. It's much easier to do that if we make this change now. I appreciate that it's an emotive subject, and apologise for the fact that I haven't been responding in detail to every comment - I'm busy moving house this week. But the design team is well aware of the controversy, your (polite) comments and more importantly *data* are very welcome and will help make the best decision.

When we have a celebrity bug report like this, it's a real exercise for our values of communication, civility, and ubuntu. Thank you to those who have pointed to the code of conduct when things get heated. And thanks even more to those who FELT heated but didn't let it show :-)

So the buttons might be moved to the right somewhere between beta 2 and the release of Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid depending on the data gathered data, but that would be a bit in the way of the changes planned for Lucid+1 (10.10).

What do you think Mark Shuttleworth is planning on introducing to the top right corner of the windows starting with Lucid+1? Could it be some indicator messages or some sort?

Almost Official: Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Will Have The Window Buttons On The LEFT!

ubuntu light left corner metacity theme


An update came seconds ago in Ubuntu Lucid (it's not yet in the repositories but should be available soon), stating that:

ght-themes (0.1.5.4) lucid; urgency=low

* debian/gconf-defaults:
- correctly set the wm buttons on the left corner

[ James Schriver ]
* Fix dark menubar text OOo (LP: #532461).


I didn't even install the theme yet, instead I looked at the source code and it clearly states:

/apps/metacity/general/button_layout maximize,minimize,close:

Ubuntu 10.04 Light (Radiance) And Dark (Ambiance) Themes Are Now Available For All (Download)

radiance light ubuntu theme


ambiance light dark ubuntu 10.04 theme

The new Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lunx: Light and Dark themes are now available for all. The themes are called Ambiance (dark) and Radiance (light).

Update On The New Ubuntu Themes [Dark And Light]

This is an update on the New Ubuntu Theme(s), Boot Splash, Logo Revealed (And More!) post which I'm sure will make many people happy.

Dustin Kirkland, a Core Developer of the Ubuntu Server for Canonical posted some screenshots with Byobu and the new Ubuntu Light and Dark themes.

So what's so interesting about those screenshots? Well, the window buttons are in the top right corner:

new ubuntu theme top right window buttons

A New Default Empaty Theme Lands In Ubuntu Lucid

A recent Ubuntu Lucid update brought a new default Adium theme for Empaty, called "adium-theme-ubuntu":

adium theme ubuntu

If you didn't get the update yet or want to try out the theme in an older Ubuntu version, you can download the .deb file from HERE.

New Ubuntu Light Theme(s), Boot Splash, Logo Revealed (And More!) [Screenshots]

Like we told you a while back (well, actually Mark told you), Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) will get a new theme (and yes, it's not brown!):

"The new style of Ubuntu is driven by the theme "Light". We've developed a comprehensive set of visual guidelines and treatments that reflect that style, and are updating key assets like the logo accordingly. The new theme takes effect in 10.04 LTS and will define our look and feel for several years.

In 2009, a small team lead by Mark Shuttleworth, conducted a review of our key brand values and identity. Based on that work, a set of visual treatments were produced, and shared with key members of the Ubuntu Art community, spanning the core distributions, derivatives, and aligned efforts like the Forums. Representatives from Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu, SpreadUbuntu and more came to London and worked with the Canonical design team to refine the designs and work together. The results of that work are presented here."


Firstly, I'm sure you can't wait to see the new Ubuntu theme, so here are some screenshots: Ubuntu is Light:


ubuntu 10.04 light theme



But dark too:

Sorbet - New Community Proposed Ubuntu Lucid Theme And Mockup

Sorbet is a new Ubuntu Lucid community proposed theme with subtle gradients and light colors. The Metacity buttons are based on the Homosapien theme (it seems more and more themes go "Homosapien") and the theme itself is an "loose interpretation" of the new Ubuntu Single Sign On look.

This is how Sorbet looks right now: