Ubuntu Tweak 0.6 Enters beta

Michael Reed — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:00:00 +0000

There are a wealth of changes which can be made to an Ubuntu system that sit in a category that is half way between the obscure and the genuinely useful. Ubuntu Tweak is utility that exposes these options with a handy GUI.

At time of writing the Ubuntu Tweak 0.6 beta can be installed by using the PPA on the website (see this page).

Ubuntu Tweak may be runnable on other Ubuntu powered desktops or even other distros, but it’s clear that it is aimed squarely at users of stock Ubuntu who like to fiddle. There look to be about 100 options which are divided into three main categories which are then divided into further subcategories:

Startup (Login Settings, Session Control)

Desktop (Compiz Settings, Desktop Icon Settings, GNOME Settings, Window Manager Settings)

System (Nautilus Settings, Power Manager Settings, Security Related, Workarounds)

Version 0.6 has switched to an icon pallet interface rather than the list based interface of previous versions. The options themselves could all be classed as useful but not essential. For those of you who haven’t used Ubuntu Tweak before, I’ll pick out some features to give you a flavor of what’s available.

It’s possible to toggle the startup sound, alter the background image of the GDM login screen, remove the restart icon from the Gnome menu and suppress the restart confirmation dialog. The window manager tweaks move into KDE territory as you can tweak things like the actions of different mouse buttons on window title bars and other areas of the user interface. Under the System section, there are options to control whether the system should become locked when power management blanks the screen and you can force Nautilus to always use the location entry bar rather than the path bar.

Some some of the janitor tools. It's amazing how often purging a cache can resolve a problem. As ever with Ubuntu Tweak, one begins to wonder if these features should be made standard in Ubuntu.

There are many other options, and despite the level of detail offered, the actual navigation between them is perfectly simple thanks to the arrangement of sections and subsections.

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Ubuntu Tweak 0.6 Enters beta