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I have been using Ubuntu Desktop (GNOME) for more than two years, and I'm addicted to its beauty (themes, mouse cursors, menu location, &c.). But I like to experiment with my system, compile it from source and explore how it works. I tried Gentoo and liked it a lot.

It works fine on my server, but when I tried to install the GNOME environment using the official handbook, I was disappointed to find that its GNOME differs from Ubuntu's. It had another theme and very inconvenient font and cursor. Also, I could open the "Applications" menu.

I was very disappointed, and switched back to Ubuntu 10.10. But the idea of switching will not leave me alone. Is there a way to convert my Gentoo graphical environment to Ubuntu's, leaving everything as-is? If so, what is it? I would appreciate a step-by-step solution.

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Reset to default
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It's a rather easy process. Under Ubuntu, system themes are stored in /usr/share/themes and icons in /usr/share/icons. Simply copy your desired theme and files to the same locations in your Gentoo install and select them from Gnome's appearance manager. X11 cursor sets are stored inside /usr/share/icons theme packages, so those will be copied as well.

Edit: step by step with GUI, starting from your current Ubuntu install. I assume that if you want command copy line commands you can deduce them yourself?

  1. Open file browser windows as root to easily copy your files to a thumb drive or other portable storage, eg $ sudo nautilus --no-desktop /usr/share/themes; sudo nautilus --no-desktop /usr/share/icons

  2. Drag and drop to copy

  3. Reboot to Gentoo, plug in your thumb drive

  4. sudo nautilus --no-desktop /path/to/yourDrive; sudo nautilus --no-desktop /usr/share/themes; sudo nautilus --no-desktop /usr/share/icons

  5. Copy files over.

  6. Launch your Gnome appearance preferences, click on Themes, and choose your favorite theme from Ubuntu. You may have to click 'Customize' and individually select your window border, GTK widget style, cursor, and icons.

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  • Hi Just Jake, many thanks for this great solution, I'll definitely try it today!
    – gennad
    Commented Mar 30, 2011 at 9:02
  • Sorry, don't have enough reputation to vote ...
    – gennad
    Commented Mar 30, 2011 at 9:02
  • @gennad, you can still choose his answer as the accepted answer if it covered everything you wanted.
    – Gareth
    Commented Mar 30, 2011 at 13:34
  • That's nice. Just click on use the beautiful Ubuntu theme and you are done.
    – tshepang
    Commented Mar 30, 2011 at 19:55

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