Ubuntu 12.10 Simplifies GRUB Boot Menu

Ubuntu 12.10 features a minor but interesting change in GRUB2 Boot Menu.

Menu entries now have 'Ubuntu' as the first option instead of 'Ubuntu with Linux (Kernel version)'. Everything else has been tucked into a new 'Advanced Options' entry which lists older Kernels and recovery mode options.

Here is a screenshot of new boot menu:

Advanced Options:

For comparison, here is a screenshot of boot menu in Ubuntu 12.04:

New boot menu makes sense as any first time Linux user may get confused by recovery mode option and Kernel versions. A simple 'Ubuntu' entry is enough to tell a user what to do in case he is presented with a boot menu.

By default GRUB menu is hidden and it is only shown when a system fails to shut properly or Shift key is held during boot time.

Sway Black-Base ORANGE: A Nice Dark GTK3 Theme for Unity and Gnome Shell - Ubuntu 12.04/Linux Mint 13 (Maya).

Sway Black-Base ORANGE is an elegant GTK3 theme that uses a striking combination of black and orange colors. The theme can be enabled under Unity and Gnome Shell. Here is a screenshot of Sway Black-Base ORANGE under Ubuntu 12.04 (Unity):

Sway Black-Base ORANGE Installation

To install this theme under Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/11.10 or Linux Mint 13 (Maya), open the terminal and issue these commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:upubuntu-com/gtk3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sway-black-orange

You can use Gnome Tweak Tool to enable it, or run these two commands:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme 'Sway Black-Base ORANGE'

gconftool-2 --set --type string /apps/metacity/general/theme 'Sway Black-Base ORANGE'


Theme source: gnome-look

Install Latest Build of Terminator from PPA

Terminator allows users to have multiple terminals in one window and use key bindings to switch between them. It provides an efficient way of filling a large area of screen space with terminals.

Some new features and fixes have been included in Terminator since its last release, so I have packaged it into a PPA.

 

Changes:

 

• Auto-resize columns/rows: Double clicking on a splitter evenly redistributes columns/rows in that grouping
• It is now possible to rename multiple windows of Terminator using a keyboard shortcut
• You can now add a keyboard shortcut for inserting terminal numbers
• Added possibility to rotate the paned containers. Super + R for rotating terminals clockwise and Super + Shift + R for rotating terminals counter-clockwise
• Fixed, titlebars not refreshing when using some keyboard shortcuts
• Fixed initial terminal sizing with non-default font sizes
• Many other fixes

You can download latest build in Ubuntu 12.04 and 12.10 by running the commands below. Do note that this is not an official stable release from developers.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:niteshgupta16/ubuntuvibes

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install terminator

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Some new features and fixes have been included in Terminator since its last release, so I have packaged it into a PPA. 

Open Source Creativity - Hackerspaces: Science on the SPOT

Get malys ex - new elegant and stylish icon set by Jonny Malys

Malys -ex is the newest icon set created by the prolific artist Jonny Malys. The main style of this icon set is a spherical symbol inside a square with nice color combination.
 Here is a screenshot of this beautiful icon set:

 To install Malys -ex, you can just download it here then extract the icon folder to /usr/share/icons.
If you are using Ubuntu or Linux Mint, just open the terminal and run this command to install Malys -ex from the PPA

 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/icons  
 sudo apt-get update  
 sudo apt-get install malys-ex