What's the feeling around here about Gnome-shell?

[autocrosser]

Thank you for the information....I'm leaning towards the Sid install---have 2 Ubuntu installs that I'm going to get rid of.

[tacoz]

Tiresome how you have to keep switching into that overall view that shows all of the open windows and then back again.

+10 on that!

[J.D.]

Gnome-Shell/ Unity strike me as over-engineered and superfluous. It's 2011, the desktop is a solved problem, why is anyone still indulging in all this endless tinkering?

[sgosnell]

Same reason as "why climb the mountain?". Because they can. If they were serious, there would be .deb files available, and it would go into the repositories. Building from source code, using development libraries, is just tinkering, not serious development. If they want to have fun, that's fine, and it appears that's the whole point of gnome-shell. Until it's available as a real package, I'll continue to ignore it.

[autocrosser]

And we will see come March. I have helped "tinker" with GS for 2 years now & yes, I love to muck about with my OS.....The brain exercise that comes about from playing with software is something that removes me from my "normal" 8to5 work. I also find that it expands my understanding under the hood of Linux....not a bad thing all things considered.

[joutlan]

I voted to check out Unity, but truth be told I prefer KDE and don't really have any gnome related interest. I can only dream....

[autocrosser]

***UPDATE***

Well, as of this time I am not successful in getting all the depends for Gnome-Shell to build....main problem is xulrunner-1.9.2-dev. I destroyed a Sid updated install trying to get everything in, so for now it looks like I would need the Ubuntu-derived Mint to have as a base. Guess that I'll have to wait or install Mint 10.......

[tacoz]

All I can say is... rats! I like it!

I guess I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I've never used Ubuntu... seen it sure. I converted from OpenSuse when a Mint 3 CD was given me. When LMDE was released I moved over 'cos (a) as a Microsoft devotee I cut my teeth on Linux with Debian and (b) I was happy to put some distance between me and my Ubuntu buddies.... besides the fact that I really, really like working with this LMDE release! So.

I tried the method posted on the Gnome3 site. I used the 64 version. I guess with having a Mac at home I'm not as attached or fixed into any one or other method of managing windows. I only have one criteria when using a computer... if I have to use Microsoft, it runs in VirtualBox and lives by itself on another workspace! Anything else... well that can be managed however... which currently is with Gnome 2.30 and Compiz! To date those methods have served me very, very well. I have no issues there... but I liked what I saw with that alpha download. Sure, I'm gonna really, really miss some of my fav Compiz stuff but if I read the Gnome 3 roadmap and read some of them dev's blogs... then I'm not too fussed. When Gnome 3 goes life... I'll make the switch 'cos (a) I kinda like changes anyways and (b) the Gnome 3 guys are really, really good design guys and if this is how it starts, well it can only get better.

Besides I kinda remember the fuss with some die-hard Gnome users when Gnome 2 was announced... almost the same kinda noise...
http://www.gnome3.org/tryit.html

[autocrosser]

Yes--I remember the "fuss" when Gnome2 came out---You remember the garnome project? (really fun testing---8-10 years ago ) I've got a thread running about running Experiential sources & G-S for the default session....working very well for my daily user...only has had one or two b0rks in the last couple of weeks......nothing showstopping. Glad you like it....it has lots of promise & after release I can see the hackfest will be twice as fun.......

[tacoz]

I thought I'd gauge the feeling around here about Gnome-Shell. I left Ubuntu-Testing due to Unity being "forced" down the users throats---I've been involved with Gnome-Shell from the very start & would have rather had it as default in Ubuntu than Unity......So, what do people here think about it?

Umm... so what is your role there? Do you blog?

My first post on this thread highlights my initial frustration with my experience when I first installed gnome-shell.
One of my sons is a graphics designer and when we explored this alpha we both came away being somewhat impressed--as noted in my next post--so, I have done a one-80. Consequently I followed two designers blogs: Jon McCann and Jakub Steiner's. For those that prefer the current status quo, may I suggest that you check out the Gnome 3 road-maps, pick up on one or two blogs and check out the context for where this project is going.
I for one am waiting in... an-tiss-see-pay-tion!

[anzan]

I have Xfce set up and will use it when 4.8 slides into Wheezy. Just waiting for Thunar to use gvfs.

[autocrosser]

I'm not much of a blogger....I really enjoy testing, so I look for interesting projects & when G-S was announced to the community---I joined in very close to the beginning. It has been fun watching it grow from a idea to a almost complete UI.....

[tacoz]

Ok... so the question up front on the poll included 'Unity' but there wasn't much dis-cussion about it per se.
I've just got back from a really long, long-weekend where I had the opportunity to play with both Ubuntu and Xubuntu 11.10.

Being an ex-XFCE user it was easy to be impressed...
After months of using G3 in default and classic modes--and on occasion defaulting to Cinnamon--I just find it hard to buy into default G3. Classic and Cinnamon at the end of the day, are about getting into a G2 way of working albeit with G3. Nice. I can buy into those alternatives. But back to XFCE... after these past few months, Xubuntu for a brief moment felt like being back in a G2 world. I had to remind myself that this was indeed XFCE. It was responsive and after some additional apps and some simple tweaking... well I was almost ready to adopt it as a default local-host OS. It wasn't Gnome but hey, it certainly had the look-n-feel of where I wanted to be. There was something quite familiar about it.

I then booted with the Ubuntu CD.
Now I last used Ubuntu prior to Mint 3. Since Mint 3's release I've been a Mint user to date! I really was presently surprised by the experience. After a few days in XFCE I was kinda missing Nautilus. Thunar is great but there are no tabs or extra pane, so it was nice having some familiar and 'cool' functionality back again. But... the question I had in the back of my mind was... what was this Unity thing gonna be like. On occasion I would read disgruntled ex-Ubuntu users disgruntling about Unity and of course, I was happy that we had another Mint user on our end.

But seriously, after a day of Oneiric I was happy to set aside Xubuntu, make a partition and dual boot with Ubuntu. I don't yet get what the fuss is about. Ok. So their 'docky' is a 'dash' and instead of sitting horizontally it sits at the left vertical. It doesn't look cool... but it works. And their dash button--imho--works better than the one in G3. It has more features and I like that it remembers what you used... kinda like a recent shortcut history. But ok, today is only day three of using this stuff. My intention is to see where Unity may break down and at the end of the day, determine what may be frustrating others about the functionality. But so far... I like the fact that it feels like G2 and the familiar compiz stuff is working.

The bummer--and it is so for me--is that I am talking about this here in my Mint forum!