When Ubuntu 24.10 is released in October it will mark the 20th anniversary of Ubuntu, so it’s only fitting that the ‘Oracular Oriole’ come bearing a few easter eggs in honour if its past.
And what’s more retro-Ubuntu than the colour brown?
In a nod to the first ever Ubuntu release, Ubuntu 4.10 ‘Warty Warthog’, Ubuntu 24.10 ships with a ‘Warty Brown’ accent colour1 that folks can tint their systems with.
Ubuntu’s offered accent colours since 2022, albeit as a patch. GNOME 47, included in this release, has an official implementation. Ubuntu’s switching to upstream’s version, and using the opportunity to refresh its palette of accent colours.
And since this is an anniversary release, Ubuntu 24.10 includes a ‘warty brown’ accent colour.
Like other accent colours, this hue is applied to UI elements like as toggles, switches, focus rings, and selection bounds, as well as a number of Yaru icons, including folders.
Interestingly, when the ‘warty brown’ accent colour is selected the top bar turns light – just like the GNOME panel in the original Ubuntu 4.10 release!
The nostalgia doesn’t end there, my friends!
Original Ubuntu Startup Sound is Back
Ubuntu 24.10 enables “support for playing a startup sound” in GNOME Shell 47, and plays the original ”warty startup sound” on login.
If you were using Ubuntu 20 years ago (or have managed to get use an old ISOs to install that version on real hardware or a VM) you will be familiar with the sound.
But if you don’t know what the original Ubuntu login sound sounded like, hit play on this embed:
Vibey, isn’t it?
I dare say most of are familiar with Ubuntu’s iconic login sound, but the original Ubuntu 4.10 startup chime is different: longer, more ethereal, and contemplative rather than short, punchy, and rhythmic.
My first version of Ubuntu was 7.10 so I hadn’t heard Warty’s startup sound until now — but come October, I’ll be hearing it every time I log in to the Ubuntu 24.10 ‘Oracular Oriole’ desktop.
Will more nods to Ubuntu’s past be added in this anniversary release? I’d be amazed if the (very basic) wallpaper Warty used was recreated and added. I’ll keep you posted as/when/if I spot any more — unless you do first, in which case, loop me in!
- There is a brown accent colour present in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS called ‘bark’. That is replaced by the retro-hued ‘warty brown’ in 24.10 ↩︎