Future of Gnome with Linux Mint?

[lngndvs]

I'm a newcomer to Linux Mint, although I've been using GNU/Linux for 18 years or so. I've defected, as it were, from Ubuntu, because I cannot seem to get an installation together that works for me, after I moved to Ubuntu 11.10 Beta. I wanted kernel 3.0.1, for support for the wireless adaptor of my HP laptop (ralink).

The setup of the Linux Mint Gnome desktop is the most intuitive one I have found---for me. After experimenting with Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu 11.11 (Beta), I am left to worry what is going to happen to Gnome. This Gnome 2.32 is working really well, and I have found precompiled binaries on line for the Linux-3.0.1 kernel. I am happy now. More, I like the way Linux Mint is set up.

This all begs the question, again, where will Gnome 3 lead to?

Alan

[tdockery97]

According to Clem in the most recent Mint Blog posting:

"R&D started on Gnome 3. Although the new desktop is extremely different than what we’re aiming for, it looks extremely promising from a technical point of view and easy to modify and improve upon. We’re planning to do some R&D on Gnome 2 as well in order to assess the work involved in maintaining it within Linux Mint. Of course, all you probably want to know is whether Mint 12 will come with Gnome 3, Gnome 2 or something else.. and I’m afraid you’ll need to wait a little more before we can tell you for sure. At this stage it might go either way, or it’s possible we might support both versions of Gnome going forward. We’re aware of what the community wants, we’ve got a precise idea of what we want to achieve, and based on the technicalities, and confidence we have in these two technologies, not only now, but for the future, we’ll take our time and make the right decision."

[itlarson]

I'm hoping the mint team will be able to create a customised version of Gnome 3 which keeps the functionality of Gnome 2, but allows us to use the better innovations of the new version .

For me the clean simplicity of a single auto-hiding panel is something I am loathe to give up. On it I have many application launchers, the application and desktop switchers, and several other useful widgets all of which I use constantly. And because it is on the bottom, there is a simple division of labour, with the desktop having it's controls and menus on the bottom of the screen, and the applications having theirs on the top.

Gnome 3 is supposed to be very flexible, so in my ideal scenario, it would be possible to customise it to look more like Gnome 2. If this turned out to be feasible, a simple check-box in settings could choose a traditional or new style desktop. Or better yet, a settings manager could allow the mixing and matching of the best features of both desktops.

I'm no programmer, and I don't know what's involved in this, or any other option. I do hate the idea of a Gnome fork, though. There's enough fragmentation in Linux already, so I would rather see Mint throw their efforts behind XFCE, or KDE, rather than spend their time maintaining a separate version of Gnome.

[tdockery97]

My personal opinion (or guess, if you will), is that Clem will figure out a way to configure the Gnome 3 desktop to be a reasonable emulation of the Gnome 2 desktop. At least for the main edition. For the Linux Mint Debian Edition Gnome 3 is going to be coming as is, like it or not. So if you want to run Mint Debian and do not like Gnome 3, you will want to run the XFCE, FluxBox, KDE, or whatever else comes onboard the Debian base. Personally, I have opted for LMDE KDE.