If you like the new Plymouth theme Ubuntu Lucid got recently and want to use it in Ubuntu Karmic... you can't (or can but have to install Plymouth) because Karmic doesn't use Plymouth. But you can install this nice XSplash screen called lucid-Xsplash:

To install it, download lucid-Xsplash, then open nautilus as root (press ALT + F2 and enter: gksu nautilus), navigate to /usr/share/images/xsplash and extract there all the contents of the downloaded archive. Then remove all the images in that folder having the name "bg_RESOLUTION.jpg" (where RESOLUTION is a number like 800x600, etc.), and then append "bg_" in front of each resolution file (eg: 1024x768.jpg) file extracted from the archive. You have to do that because it appears the author of this XSplash forgot to add the "bg_" prefix to the files.

Then, to test the new XSplash, type this in a terminal:

sudo xsplash

And pres ESCAPE to exit the XSplash preview.

See also: 8 More Beautiful XSplash Screens For Ubuntu

Gstyle is a new full Gnome theme manager with some really great features which I am sure you will love if you like to customize your Desktop look constantly. Gstyle can automatically download and install wallpapers, Xsplash, GTK themes, icon themes, full themes, mouse pointers and more from gnome-look, deviantart, customize.org and others, or directly from the software source. But not only that, Gstyle can show you how a theme (any kind of theme: icons, Emerald, Metacity, etc.) actually looks, not just a preview. You will see what I mean in the screenshots below (3rd screenshot).

Gstyle can also apply different Compiz cube (well, actually Sphere) styles called Cubemodels. I'm sure you're going to love them. Of course, there is still work to do, but Gstyle is still in its infancy, this being the first version ever released. I think we'll see more of Gstyle soon.


A few Gstyle screenshots:

Gstyle Gnome Full Theme Manager also comes with a script to install some applications such as AWN, Cairo-Dock and others, but something required by Gstyle too: Compiz GIT, including the latest plugins (many many new plugins!) (required for Cubemodels only). There is a downside to this script which worked flawlessly for me: it's in French. Yes, even though Gstyle is in English, the script to install Compiz from GIT and the latest plugins (among others) is in French so you can either install Compiz from GIT yourself, or learn French or... use Google Translate. But everything is pretty easy to understand even if you don't know French (or so it seems to me).

Before you proceed with the installation, here is a video with Gstyle in action:

XSplash Background Settings provides a background settings dialog for XSplash and the login screen (GDM) so you can use it to change your XSplash or GDM image and optionally (my favourite): change the XSplash and GDM backgrounds to match your current desktop wallpaper.

"8 more" becase we already wrote about another 6 nice Xsplash themes for Ubuntu.

The first 3 XSplash themes (screens) are part of the Fusion-GX-v00 pack and can be downloaded from the same location - download link after the third XSplash.

You already know PackoXsplash HD (we wrote about it a few days ago) which is my favourite Xsplash, but I guess not everybody likes the same things, so here are some other nice Xplash Themes to use with your new Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10.

Before we get started, here is a quick info you'll need. To change you Xsplash theme, download the archive for the Xsplash theme you want and extract the contents to the /usr/share/images/xsplash folder (you need to open nautilus as root: Alt + F2 and type: gksu nautilus).

The Xsplash I'm talking about is called PackoXsplash HD and comes in two versions:

Epidermis theme manager is an open source GTK application for managing, automatically downloading and installing themes of various types, in order to transform the look of your Ubuntu desktop, from the moment you turn it on until the moment you turn it off.

Basically, Epidermis can be used to install new themes (Metacity, GTK), wallpapers, icons, cursors, spash, xsplash, GRUB and GDM.

Version 4.0 which was released yesterday does not work for Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10, but version 4.0.1 fixes this.

Changes in version 4.0:

* Added support for Xsplash themes.
* Removed support for Usplash themes.
* Skin previews are displayed.
* Added autogenerate button for Epidermis Creator so that previews of pigments can be automatically created.
* Help message is displayed if no skins are installed.
* License updated to GPLv3.


Download Epidermis 4.0.1 for Ubuntu (.deb) | Download other versions or for other Linux distributions.

Similar applications: Gnome Colors, Gnome-Art and Gnome-Art Next Generation.