Ubuntu GNOME Remix

Ubuntu GNOME Remix is an open source software project that has been designed from the ground up to transform your regular Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system with the Unity desktop environment into a distribution that uses the GNOME graphical desktop with GNOME Shell.

It can be deployed on top of an existing Ubuntu 11.04 installation

Ubuntu GNOME Remix is not an actual operating system, it is a collection of packages that will transform a fresh Ubuntu 11.04 installation into a modern and pure GNOME-powered distribution of Linux, still based on Ubuntu.

How to install Ubuntu GNOME Remix on top Ubuntu 11.04

The following instructions will actually teach you how to install the GNOME desktop environment (with the GNOME Shell interface) on top of an existing Ubuntu 11.04 operating system.

First of all, you should download and install a fresh Ubuntu 11.04 operating system (see download links on Softoware). Then, you must perform all the available updates and configure the system to not login automatically.

You’ll have to download and run a shell script from the project’s website (see the link of the downloads section above), and add the following Ubuntu GNOME Remix repositories:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntugnometeam/ppa-gen

Run the “sudo apt-get update” command to refresh the software repositories and then execute the following commands, one by one hitting Enter after each one, to install the GNOME desktop environment:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install ugr-desktop-g3
sudo apt-get upgrade

The Unity interface will not be replaced

Keep in mind though, that the Unity interface of Ubuntu 11.04 will not be replaced or removed by the GNOME desktop environment. They will both work properly, selectable from the login prompt of the distribution.