GIMP 2.8 (final) with single window mode … source code is now available … binaries to follow shortly
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Already available in a PPA for 11.10 and 12.04 … see the end of this posting 
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GIMP 2.8 has just been released, bringing with it a load of new features, such as grouped layers, rotatable brushes, and the much vaunted “single window mode”.
After a lengthy development process, GIMP 2.8 has finally been seen fit for release … four years of GIMP 2.6, the 2.7 series of alphas and betas were upgraded to a 2.8 release candidate last month. The new version of GIMP comes with a lot of new features that are bound to please some of the programs more advanced and power users.
Firstly, the headline feature is a single window mode, bringing all the floating tool windows into one unified window. This is an optional setting though, the original multi-window layout can still be used if you prefer.
GIMP 2.8 in “Single Window Mode”
http://linuxforums.org.uk/MGalleryItem.php?id=1538
There’s also a new way to group layers, useful for when you have a lot of different layers in one working image. Otherwise, you can now rotate brushes, add and edit text much easier, and rules for saving and exporting are better represented in the menu structure.
GIMP 2.8 finally released with single window modeYou can still use the old windowed mode if you wish
You can get the source code for GIMP 2.8 from the GIMP FTP server, with binaries on their way shortly.
New features in GIMP 2.8 (stable):
- Single Window Mode: you can finally use a single main window instead of overlapping floating windows. This is optional and can be turned on/off from the Windows menu
- On-canvas text editing: editing text is not performed in a separate window anymore
- Multi-column dock windows which makes the GIMP user interface a lot more customizable
- Improved screen real estate for dockable dialogs
- Using “Save” now saves the file in the GIMP XCF format and it can’t be used for saving PNG and other files. For non-XCF file types, you now have to use the “Export” menu entry
- You can now create layer groups which can be organised in tree-like structures
- Brush system and tool preset improvements
- You can now tag brushes and patterns
- New slider widgets
- A new set of default brushes and tool presets from Ramon Miranda (from GIMP Paint Studio)
- Brushes can now be rotated
- New open window navigation which displays a small preview for each tab
- Tools rendering on canvas have been ported to Cairo to provide smooth anti-aliased graphics
- A new “Lock Pixels” feature
- Support for JPEG2000 and loading 16bit (RGB565) raw data
- Export colour values to CSS, PHP, Java, Python or plain text
- Core integration of the graph-based GEGL library
- Export to PDF
- New tool: Cage Transform which makes it possible to easily warp parts of objects using an adjustable user-defined polygonal frame
- Many others
Original articles:
http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/news/gimp-2-8-finally-released-with-single-window-mode/
and
http://www.webupd8.org/2012/05/gimp-28-stable-finally-available-for.html
GIMP Homepage:
http://www.gimp.org/
gimp.org FTP site for 2.8:
ftp://ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/v2.8/
Someone has already created a GIMP 2.8 PPA for 11.10 and 12.04 … here:
https://launchpad.net/~otto-kesselgulasch/+archive/gimp
installation instructions for 11.10 and 12.04 -
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install gimp
Originally found here:
http://www.ubuntuvibes.com/2012/05/gimp-28-released-install-from-ppa.html
BE AWARE … I have not tested this
