How to Install GNOME Tweak in Ubuntu Linux

In this blog, we will learn how to install GNOME Tweak tool in Ubuntu Linux.

This blog, we will not only learn how to install GNOME Tweak Tool in Ubuntu Linux, but will also learn about Desktop Environment and GNOME.

If you are here only to learn about the installation process, use the Table of Contents to directly move to that part.

What is a Desktop Environment?

In Simple Words, A Desktop Environment can be understood as a collection of software that can change the Graphical User Interface of an Operating System. For Example, A Desktop Environment allows us to change the theme, icon, font, etc.

In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that shares a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphical shell.

Source – Desktop Environment Wikipedia

If you were using Windows or macOS previously, then this term would be pretty new for you. One question that may strike to your mind is when we had to change the theme in Windows or macOS, we didn’t use any kind of Desktop Environment.

The Answer to the question is, A Desktop Environment in Windows and macOS is part of the Operating System itself and we don’t have to configure it separately. But in Linux Distributions we have to install a desktop environment and configure it in order to change the theme of the operating system.

Now you might be thinking what Desktop Environment we will be using in order to customize our Linux distribution Ubuntu?

We will use the GNOME-TWEAK tool to customize our Ubuntu.

Before Installing GNOME Tweak Tool on our Ubuntu, let’s take a brief look at GNOME.

What is GNOME?

GNOME is a free and open-source desktop environment for Unix-like operating systems. GNOME was originally an acronym for GNU Network Object Model Environment, but the acronym was dropped because it no longer reflected the vision of the GNOME project.

Source – GNOME Wikipedia

By default, GNOME 3 is the Desktop Environment for many Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, Oracle Linux, SteamOS, etc.

Install GNOME-TWEAK Tool in Ubuntu

Follow the below steps to install the gnome tweak tool in ubuntu using terminal.

Step 1: Enable Universe Repository in Ubuntu

Ubuntu has mainly four repository:

1. Main Repository – Contains software supported by the Ubuntu team. These applications are also free and redistributable.
2. Universe Repository – Contains Community maintained software. The open-source software that we install resides here.
3. Restricted Repository – Contains Restricted Software like device drivers, etc.
4. Multiverse Repository – Contains paid software.

Learn in detail about these repositories from the ubuntu help site.

As we are going to install an open-source software. we need to enable the universe repository in Ubuntu.

$ sudo add-apt-repository universe

'universe' distribution component is already enabled for all sources.

If you get the same output as above, then your universe repository is already enabled.

Now we can proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Install GNOME-TWEAK Tool

This is the main step of this blog, as you all have come to know this command only.

To install the gnome tweak tool run the below command.

$ sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool

This will install the gnome tweak tool on the ubuntu machine.

Step 3: Open gnome-tweak tool

Let’s check is the gnome-tweak-tool installed correctly.

Execute the below command to open gnome-tweak tool or go to Show applications and then search the gnome-tweak tool.

$ gnome-tweaks

After executing this command, the gnome-tweaks application will be opened.

Don’t worry if your GNOME Tweak tool doesn’t match with the above image as I have customized my ubuntu operating system. Follow the next blog to learn how you can also customize your ubuntu operating system.

Easy Way to Install GNOME Tweak Tool in Ubuntu

If you don’t want to use the terminal for installing the gnome-tweak tool, you can use the Ubuntu Software Center for installing it.

Go to Ubuntu Software -> Search for “Tweaks” -> Install.

You might think why I revealed the easiest way at the end. It’s because you are working in Linux and you should know how to use the terminal for installing and uninstalling software along with the basic Linux commands.

Search GNOME Shell Extension

Now when we have GNOME-Tweaks installed on our Ubuntu. Let’s see how we can search for gnome shell extensions.

$ apt search gnome-shell-extension

This command will list all the available extension. Choose the extension which you want.

It’s time to learn how we can install the gnome-shell-extension.

Install GNOME Shell Extension

Previous section, we searched the gnome shell extension. Now we want to install it.

Installing gnome-shell-extension is very easy. Just copy the name of the extension and execute the below command. Here in this case I am installing the gnome-weather extension whose name is gnome-shell-extension-weather.

$ sudo apt install  gnome-shell-extension-weather

This will install the extension, and will be displayed in the Extension Section of the GNOME TWEAKS Tool.

If the installed extension doesn’t show up, restart the ubuntu machine.

GNOME Shell Integration with Browser

You might think about why we should integrate our GNOME Shell with the browser. The Answer is this makes it easy for us to install extensions.

The First step is to install an add-on (extension) on your favorite browser.

After Installing the Add-on on the browser. Open the terminal and execute the following command on the basis of your Linux distribution.

$ sudo apt-get install chrome-gnome-shell

$ sudo dfn install chrome-gnome-shell

To make sure the integration has been successful, visit the extensions.gnome.org and you will see a toggle switch to ON and OFF the extension.

If you turn it ON the first time, the extension will be installed and will be shown in your tweak tool extension section.

You can also switch the extension ON & OFF from the browser itself.

Hope you like it!

In the Next Blog, we will learn how to customize the Ubuntu Linux distribution using the GNOME Tweak Tool. The Blog will also discuss extensions in detail and also we will install some useful extensions to customize our Ubuntu Linux Distribution.

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