How To Change The Default Look Of Ubuntu 10.10 “Maverick Meerkat”

Here is some sort of a manual showing you how to change your Ubuntu. I will start by showing you how to change your grub2 loader followed by changing your plymouth and how to change your login screen. I made this article because i thought it would be a good thing to have one article (instead of 3 articles) telling you how to change things…..

Step 1: Change GRUB2
First you need to install the grub2 splash images, open a Terminal window (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and copy+paste the following line:

sudo apt-get install grub2-splashimages

Now a new folder called grub is added in your /usr/share/images/ folder here you will find some images you can use or you can use your own images. To add the image to the GRUB2 loader copy+paste the following line:

sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme

Now go to line 10: WALLPAPER=”/usr/share/images/desktop-base/moreblue-orbit-grub.png”

And change it into: WALLPAPER=”/home/yourusername/Pictures/your_image.png”

If you want to change the text color change the following lines:

COLOR_NORMAL=”black/black”
COLOR_HIGHLIGHT=”magenta/black”

some color names to play with are: black, blue, brown, cyan, dark-gray, green, light-cyan, light-blue, light-green, light-gray, light-magenta, light-red, magenta, red, white, yellow. When you are done save+exit the file.

Now you need to update the GRUB2 boot loader, to do this copy+paste the following line in your Terminal window:

sudo update-grub

Step 2: Change Plymouth theme

To install the Zorin Splash Screen Manager follow these steps. Download the file here and save it to your disk. When donwloaded double click on the splashscreenmanager_1.0.deb file and install it. When installed you can find the Splash Sreen Manager under System -> Administration -> Splash Screen Manager. When started you will be asked to fill in your password.

To change your default plymouth theme click on the Change Default theme button, select the folder your theme is in and when the folder is open select the .plymouth file and click on the open button. Now you will get a message saying: “Click OK..” so click on the OK button and wait for the plymouth theme to be installed.

To install a theme click on the Install button, go to the folder the theme is located and select the plymouth file you want to install click on the Open button. When your plymouth theme is installed you will get a message telling you all went well and asks you to click on the OK button. Now all you have to do is set the installed plymouth theme as your default theme.
To remove a theme click on the Remove button, go to the folder the theme is located and select the .plymouth file from the theme you want to remove and click on the Open button. When your plymouth theme is removed you will get a message telling you all went well and asks ou to click on the OK button

Step 3: Change Login Window

Open a Terminal window (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) then copy+paste the following line:

sudo cp /usr/share/applications/gnome-appearance-properties.desktop /usr/share/gdm/autostart/LoginWindow

Now close the Terminal window and logout, when logged out the Appearance window pops up. Here you can make the changes you want and when your done you can login as usual.

To prevent the Appearance Manager from opening when you login, open a Terminal window (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) then copy+paste the following line:

sudo unlink /usr/share/gdm/autostart/LoginWindow/gnome-appearance-properties.desktop