Unity | UbuntuHandbook

95 Beautiful Images From Ubuntu 14.04 Wallpaper Contest

Last updated: March 4, 2014

Here are some beautiful images from the Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr Wallpaper Contest.

The atareao team has built these images into the PPA. You can download the .tar.gz package and get all the pictures in its data folder, or install the .deb which will save all the wallpapers into /usr/share/backgrounds/, the default location for Ubuntu Wallpapers.

Below are a few of them:

To download these images, go to the link below and scroll down and click the line that says “trusty-tahr-wallpaper-contest – 0.0.1-0extras14.04.0“.

Download Ubuntu 14.04 Wallaper Contest

In Unity Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.04 Wallpapers

How to Install Numix 2.0 GTK & Icon theme in Ubuntu 13.10, 14.04

Last updated: October 24, 2013

Numix is a modern flat theme with a combination of light and dark elements. It supports Gnome, Unity, XFCE and Openbox.

This simple tutorials shows how to install Numix GTK as well as Numix icons on Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise and Linux Mint.

First take a look at screenshots:

numix gtk Ubuntu 13.10 Unity

numix gtk & icons linux mint

numix icons & gtk xfce4

numix gtk & icons gnome shell

Install Numix GTK & Icons via PPA:

Numix project gets a launchpad PPA to make it easy to install Numix GTK, icons, wallpaper in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04 and their derivatives.

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:numix/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install numix-gtk-theme numix-icon-theme numix-wallpaper-saucy

Once installed, use Gnome Tweak Tool, Unity Tweak Tool or other system tools to apply Numix theme and icons.

In Gnome Shell, Howtos, Linux Mint, Unity, Xfce numix 2.0, numix gtk theme, numix icons

How to Disable Overlay Scrollbars in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy

Last updated: October 14, 2013

This quick tutorial is going to show you how to disable overlay scrollbars and switch back to old fat regular scrollbars in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander.

Since Ubuntu 13.04, there’s an option in Dconf Editor allows to switch on / off this feature. Follow steps show you how:

1. Open Ubuntu Software Center. Search for and install dconf Editor.

2. Open dconf Editor, navigate to com/canonical/desktop/interface. Change the scollbar-mode to normal

If you’re familiar with command line, just run one command in terminal:

gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode normal

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Unity overlay scrollbars, Ubuntu 13.10

How to Remove Nvidia Logo From Ubuntu Startup Screen

Last updated: August 18, 2013

After properly installed Nvidia drives in Ubuntu, you may get the Nvidia Logo while booting up your machine. If you find it’s annoying to have this screen, this tutorial will show you how to easily disable it by two ways.

One command to disable Nvidia logo

The easiest way to do this is running below command in terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo nvidia-xconfig --no-logo

After that, you won’t see the logo in bootup any longer.

The other way is to manually edit the Nvidia config file. Edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf by running below command:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

add Option “NoLogo” to Section “Device”, make it look like this:

Section “Device”
Identifier “Device0”
Driver “nvidia”
Option “NoLogo”
VendorName “NVIDIA Corporation”
BoardName “GeForce 9600 GT”
EndSection

After that, save the file and reboot.

In Unity Remove Nvidia Logo from Ubuntu Bootup, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10

Install FolderView Screenlet in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10, 12.04, Linux Mint

Last updated: August 15, 2013

Want to display KDE style folder view widget on your desktop? Well, here I’ll show you how to do it in Ubuntu Unity and Linux Mint Cinnamon.

The FolderView screenlet displays your favorite folder items on your desktop and allows to single click to open files or folders with default program.

To install FolderView in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise, Linux Mint and Elementary OS Luna, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, run command to download the DEB (copy code via Ctrl+C, paste in terminal via Ctrl+Shift+V):

wget https://launchpad.net/~screenlets/+archive/ppa/+files/folderview-screenlet_0.9.91%2B%2B%2B~precise1_all.deb

Then install the screenlet as well as screenlets manager indicator via below commands:

sudo dpkg -i folderview-screenlet_0.9.91*.deb; sudo apt-get -f install

Open FolderView screenlet from Unity Dash. Right-click to get the menu, navigate to Properties -> Options -> Folder and set Folder path to Other and choose your favorite to display on desktop.

In Unity FolderView screenlet, Install FolderView screenlet in Ubuntu

How to Add Folders to Nautilus ‘Places’ Sidebar in Ubuntu 13.04

Last updated: August 11, 2013

This quick tutorial is going to show you how to add a folder to Nautilus file browser ‘Places’ sidebar in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail, Ubuntu 13.10 Quantal.

Actually this will add your folders to a new column called Bookmarks. You can add a user folder, system folder, mounted folder to sidebar by going into the directory in Nautilus and then click the “gear” button and click Bookmark this Location

If you’re on Ubuntu 12.04 Precise with Nautilus 3.4.x, use menu Bookmarks -> Add Bookmark instead.

In Unity add folder to nautilus sidebar, nautilus, Ubuntu 13.04

Install and Use Gdebi as Default Package Installer in Ubuntu

Last updated: March 12, 2025

Gdebi is a lightweight deb packages installer which was the default in Ubuntu Desktop. Now Ubuntu uses Ubuntu Software Center which is slow and frequently gives me ‘The package is of bad quality’ error.

You can easily install Gdebi package installer (default in Linux Mint) and set it as default deb installer by this tutorial.

Go to Ubuntu Software (or App Center for Ubuntu 24.04 and higher), search for and install GDebi Package Installer (gdebi) package:

Then, open your file manager and go to Properties window of one deb package by right-clicking on it. Under open with tab, highlight Gdebi package installer and click Set as default button.

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Unity install gdebi, ubuntu, use gdebi as default package installer

Use Unity Webapps with Google Chromium in Ubuntu

Last updated: August 10, 2013

This quick tutorial is going to show you how to use Unity Webapps with Google Chromium browser in Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10.

As the default is Mozilla Firefox, you can manage to get unity webapps working in Chromium by installing a plugin.

To install this plugin, go to Ubuntu Software Center. Search for and install the unity-chromium-extension package.

NOTE: The default version in Software Center is 2.4.6 for Ubuntu 13.04. I recommend you install the latest version (2.4.7 so far) which is available for downloading from below link. This version fixes no gmail icon on Unity Launcher for Chromium 27 & 28.

unity-chromium-extension

Unfortunately, new mail counts and indicator integration is still not working. Probably best to wait some more days for a fix.

In Unity Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10, unity webapps in chromium

How to Install TrueCrypt with Indicator Applet in Ubuntu 13.04

Last updated: August 9, 2013

This simple tutorial shows you how to install TrueCrypt as well as its indicator applet in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail.

There’s a PPA which contains the TrueCrypt package with the tray icon replaced by a application indicator, so that you can get back the TrueCrypt indicator applet in Ubuntu 13.04 panel since the tray icons is no longer supported. The PPA also supports Ubuntu 12.04 Precise and Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal.

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, run below command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stefansundin/truecrypt

Then update package lists and install TrueCrypt.

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install truecrypt

The indicator applet exits when the main window is closed if there’s no mounted volumes. To keep the indicator, go to TrueCrypt preferences -> Background Task tab, uncheck the box where it says “Exit when there are no mounted volumes”.

If for some reason this ppa does not work properly for you, run below commands one by one to remove the ppa as well as the installed TrueCrypt.

sudo apt-get remove truecrypt
sudo apt-add-repository --remove ppa:stefansundin/truecrypt
sudo apt-get update

In Unity truecrypt, truecrypt indicator, truecrypt ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.04

How to Reset Unity and Compiz in Ubuntu 13.10

Last updated: August 9, 2013

This tutorial shows you how to reset your Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Unity and Compiz to the default settings if you messed up your desktop. All you need to do is run two commands in terminal.

Don’t be scared if you’re not comfortable with terminal commands. Just copy the code via Ctrl+C, then paste into terminal via Ctrl+Shift+V and finally hit Enter to run.

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal window. When it opens, run below command to reset Unity and Compiz settings: