Tired Of Tweaking Ubuntu? Try Pinguy OS 10.10 Beta 2! [Ubuntu Remaster]

Update: Pinguy OS 10.10 final has been released!

Want most of the popular application you read about on blogs such as WebUpd8 installed by default? Or maybe you install Ubuntu for some friends or family and you get tired from all the tweaking required to get audio/video/flash and so on to work? You could use Pinguy OS to save yourself some time and get a beautiful and equally useful Ubuntu installation in just a few minutes.

The remastered "Ubuntu after a week of customizations" Pinguy OS 10.10 beta 2 has just been released. For those of you who are not familiar with Pinguy: it's an Ubuntu remaster with a lot of useful default applications "built to have eye candy (Gloobus Preview, GNOME Do, Docky, Elementary*) and for every part of it to be user-friendly".

What's new in Pinguy 10.10 Beta 2?

The major change in Pinguy OS 10.10 is obviously that it uses Ubuntu 10.10 as a base, but there are also a few other interesting changes such as the addition of NotifyOSD Configuration, Vineyard and WineGame which should make Wine a lot more user-friendly and Pastie. Also, the latest Pinguy 10.10 beta 2 comes adds all the Equinox themes, as well as the now well-known Faenza icons (including Faenza Cupertino) - they are not used by default though:

Old is sometimes good

Except the changes mentioned above, there are only a few other minor tweaks so the rest of the default applications are the same as in Pinguy 10.04: 2 Docky instances running by default, Nauilus Elementary, Cover Thumbnailer, IMDB Thumbnailer, Conky (Colors), Gloobus Preview, Cover Gloobus, Gnome Activity Journal (with Zeitgeist), VLC, Rapid Photo Downloader, Ailurus, Ubuntu Tweak, Bleachbit, Open Shot, GDM2Setup, MintMenu, Thunderbird instead of Evolution, Skype and the list can go on - all updated to their latest versions.

Pinguy OS also comes with the controversial Global Menu by default - but not the Ubuntu implementation ("AppMenu") but the original "Global Menu". The Global Menu was also default in Pinguy 10.04 and nobody complained (as opposed to the Unity users) so it's either that the Pinguy OS users (which are quite many by the way) simply like it or it could have something to to with the actual implementation which is a lot better for the original "Global Menu" then for Ubuntu's AppMenu.

The default theme, just like in Pinguy OS 10.04 is a modified Elementary (updated to the latest 2.0 version) and the icons - Elementary as well (also updated to the latest 2.5).

Video, audio and tweaks

Pinguy OS also comes with the packages required to play most videos, music as well as Flash and Java installed by default. Further more, it incorporates some fixes too like some Wireless issues, fixes for Gwibber's Facebook problem and a fix for full-screen flash videos.

One tweak in Pinguy OS (I'm not sure if it was in Pinguy OS 10.04 too) that I really like - even though it's not exactly pleasing to look at and is just something minor - is that when running Nautilus as root, the Nautilus background changes to red. This is something really useful so the users don't confuse it with a regular Nautilus window. Something like this is built-in Thunar and should really come as default in Nautilus (or tweaked and added in Ubuntu) too:

As you can see, Pinguy OS - besides adding a lot of default applications -, is also about fine-tunning your desktop: from fixes to various tweaks which you might not notice until you actually need them.

Give Pinguy OS 10.10 Beta 2 a try

Download Pinguy OS 10.10 beta 2 - includes direct ISO downloads as well as torrent files (all for both 32bit and 64bit).


For fresh news on the latest Pinguy OS 10.10, follow Pinguy OS on Facebook.


Update: Pinguy OS 10.10 final has been released!


See also: Pinguy OS (Remastered Ubuntu) - Ubuntu After A Week Of Customizations [Review]