Install Bisigi Themes for Your Desktop in Ubuntu 10.04

August 27th, 2010 by Lori Kaufman | File in: Linux Tips

If you are bored with the default theme in Ubuntu or with the themes that come with Ubuntu by default, you can easily add other themes. In this post, we will show you how to easily install Bisigi themes to give yourself more options for decorating your desktop.

Visit the following web page on the Bisigi project website to view samples of the available themes:

http://www.bisigi-project.org/?page_id=6&lang=en

First, we need to add the Bisigi repository. Open a Terminal window, by selecting Accessories | Terminal from the Applications menu.

To add the Bisigi repository, enter the following command at the prompt and press Enter.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bisigi

To update all repositories, enter the following command at the prompt and press Enter.

$ sudo aptitude update

To close the Terminal window enter “exit” (without the quotes) at the prompt and press Enter.

To install the themes from the Bisigi repository you just added, select Ubuntu Software Center from the Applications menu, and enter your password when prompted.

On the Ubuntu Software Center dialog box, an option called PPA for Bisigi has been added under Get Software in the tree on the left. Select that option to see a list of available themes on the right.

There is an option to install all the Bisigi themes. We chose that option to give us a quick and easy way to switch themes when we want to. Select a theme or the package to install all the themes and click the Install button that becomes available.

NOTE: It will take a while to install all the themes.

You must provide your password when installing software. Enter your password in the Password edit box on the Authenticate dialog box that displays and click Authenticate.

Once you have entered your password, you must click the Install button again to start the installation. The progress of the installation displays.

Once the installation is finished, select Close from the File menu to close the Ubuntu Software Center.

Now, you need to select one of the installed themes to use. To do this, select Preferences | Appearance from the System menu.

The Appearance Preferences dialog box displays. Make sure the Theme tab is active. You will notice additional themes added from the Bisigi repository. Select a theme from the list. We selected the ellanna theme, initially.

The background image for the selected theme is not applied automatically. A message displays saying that the current theme suggests a background. To accept the background that goes with the selected theme, click the Apply Background button.

For now, close the Appearance Preferences dialog box so you can see your desktop with the theme applied.

Here is a sample of the ellanna theme applied.

Here is our desktop with the Airlines theme applied.

If you want to go back to the default Ubuntu 10.04 theme, open the Appearance Preferences dialog box again (select Preferences | Appearance from the System menu). On the Theme tab, select the Ambiance theme.

The background image does not automatically switch back to the default background image. Click the Background tab and select the Ubuntu purple-ish background image, as shown on the image below. Click the Close button to close the Appearance Preferences dialog box.