Gnome 3 and Shell now being used by LMDE_SID

[GeneC]

Just an update to those interested in the future of Gnome in Mint.
I know there are several thread addressing different avenues of Gnome3

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 0&start=20

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=201&t=65745

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 80#p483457

But, the future is here now in LMDE -Gnome, if you are tracking the SID (unstable) repository.

I am currently running a partition with LMDE 64bit tracking SID.
Gnome 3 with Shell and Fallback mode are the current DE there.

I did not do this by going out of my way, adding repos (for example - experimental) or adding any specific packages.
The change from Gnome 2.3 to Gnome 3.0 just came about through normal full distribution updates. This happened about 10 days ago in SID, so that means that in about a month or so, it will come about with those tracking LMDE 'Testing'.

So far, for me and many others. http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=201&t=65745
It has not been the end of the world that many seem to be forecasting.

Main desktop (I added AWN dock, Rainlendar calendar, and a few 'extensions').
I modified what was 'Activities' text in upper left of panel to read LMDE with icon.

(Click on Thumbnails to make larger)


Thumbnails Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Poke your mouse in upper left corner to trigger 'hot spot' and you see this (the overlay)
You get open windows neatly tiled. A 'dock' on left, and 'workplaces' partially auto-hid on right
.

Click 'Applications' tab


or 'Themes' (this is an added extension)
(Thanks to our 'Sam Riggs' for his Star Trek Theme)



Want Shell to look more like Mint/UBUNTU?
Just add a few extensions
Bottom Panel with 'window-list', 'workplace switcher'.
Top Panel with 'favorites', 'places', 'app-menu' (not Mint-menu -YET!)


To add things to the panel you need 'extensions'. These are custom add-ons there are currently about a dozen available for download for Gnome 3.0, and more for Gnome 3.2. 3.2 will be coming to SID soon.

Some of the extensions can do things, like add shutdown to the shutdown menu (not there by default ), add a bottom panel, move clock location, add weather, add 'favorites' to panel, add 'menu' to panel, et. Not as many things you can add to the panel as with Gnome 2.3 'applets', but more and more coming weekly. I understand they are pretty easy to constuct, using java code. So not to worry if your favorite panel add-on is not there. It may soon be.

Shell does not use Compiz for composting. Matter of fact, it wont run with it. It uses its own composting. Mutter+Clutter.
There is not much that I really miss from Gnome 2.3 and Compiz. 'Open window in center' is one that I could set with compiz, not so (yet) with the Shell.

Its been very stable (I AM running SID). No so much as a hickup in the ten days running it.
I have to say that i do not have the problems with Nvidia and xorg, that lots of folks have. My card support the 'trapezoidal "thingy". I am using the latest xorg from SID and Nvidia 285.05.09 from SID.

Code: Select all

System:    Host zordon Kernel 3.0.0-6.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit) Distro Linux Mint Debian Edition
CPU:       Quad core AMD Phenom II X4 955 (-MCP-) cache 2048 KB flags (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm) bmips 25711.3 
           Clock Speeds: (1) 800.00 MHz (2) 800.00 MHz (3) 800.00 MHz (4) 3200.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card nVidia GF104 [GeForce GTX 460] X.Org 1.11.1.901 Res: 1680x1050@60.0hz 
 GLX Renderer GeForce GTX 460/PCI/SSE2 GLX Version 4.2.0 NVIDIA 285.05.09 Direct Rendering Yes

Granted some may not like it, but I think given a chance most will be happy with Gnome 3.

To ease the transition
http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/CheatSheet

The 'fallback mode' is quite limited, and it looks like its lifespan will be quite short.
Gnome 3 with UNITY is just nasty to me. Quite unlike the Shell, but then it may be real nice on a small notebook screen.
Unity does NOT come with LMDE's version of Gnome 3,and its not in the repo (Good for them!)
I used it with Oneiric.

To me these are good times with Gnome. The Gnome developers did a good job with 2.3, no reason to believe they didn't with 3.0 and beyond.
Just give Gnome 3 a chance before you condemn it. Its really pretty nice.

[tdockery97]

Thanks for the rundown Gene. Since I have a recent clone of my "LMDE KDE", If I find the time I may try upgrading to Sid repos and replace the KDE with Gnome to see what I can do with it. It's part of what makes Linux so much more fun than Windows.

[GeneC]

Hi td

Yep. I ran Windows for years without really knowing very much about it. Only been at Linux for a year, but feel totally immersed in it. Mint is my home.

Just a word about SID. Its been almost unbelievably stable in the last month. Actually have more issues with 'testing'. the only thing to be aware of in SID is the same xorg/nVidia problems that so many people are having. So be aware of that. There have been two xorg upgrades in Sid over testing. I dont know if these address the xorg/nVidia problem. As I never suffered from it. Otherwise, it should be a seamless upgrade.

Good Luck. Its quite nice.

[tdockery97]

the only thing to be aware of in SID is the same xorg/nVidia problems that so many people are having. So be aware of that. There have been two xorg upgrades in Sid over testing. I dont know if these address the xorg/nVidia problem. As I never suffered from it.

Good Luck. Its quite nice.

I haven't suffered any problems with xorg updates at all. Of course I don't use proprietary video drivers. I have ATI video, and the open-source driver has become so good that it's all I need to use.

[GeneC]

Looks like we are both lucky on that score.
Its a real mess, I understand for a lot of folks.

[tpprynn]

Have you found that your Mintified Activities icon has stopped appearing now? (With Ubuntu 11.10 I've replaced the word Activities with 'Ubuntu Dash' as the unbranded-ness of it otherwise is irritating.)

Is this Gnome 3.2? That extension has broken generally, the author is redoing it for 3.2. Although there is one Gnome Shell theme on gnome-look.org that gets round this, and one that looks quite like Mint X updated for Gnome 3 conveniently enough! Forgotten what it's called but it has the word 'metal' in the title. I think Clem & co should have a word with its author.

Have the Debian team said that Gnome 2 will still exist for them for some time to come or is this now impossible?

Thanks.

[GeneC]

Have you found that your Mintified Activities icon has stopped appearing now? (With Ubuntu 11.10 I've replaced the word Activities with 'Ubuntu Dash' as the unbranded-ness of it otherwise is irritating.)

No. It still works just as before. I used jpmurphy's extension'
I used his instructions here http://blog.fpmurphy.com/page/17

Is this Gnome 3.2?

Nope. Gnome 3.0 from Debian SID

Have the Debian team said that Gnome 2 will still exist for them for some time to come or is this now impossible?

Thanks.

Here is what Clem has to say in his blog.

Linux Mint 12 “Lisa” will be released in November this year with continued support for Gnome 2 but also with the introduction of Gnome 3. The radical changes introduced by the Gnome project split the community. At the time of releasing Linux Mint 11 we decided it was too early to adopt Gnome 3. This time around, the decision isn’t as simple. Gnome 3.2 is more mature and we can see the potential of this new desktop and use it to implement something that can look and behave better than anything based on Gnome 2. Of course, we’re starting from scratch and this process will take time and span across multiple releases. Until then, it’s important we continue to support the traditional Gnome 2 desktop. We’re likely to release two separate editions, one for Gnome 2.32 and one for Gnome 3.2. We’re also working in cooperation with the MATE project (which is a fork of Gnome 2) at the moment to see if we can make both desktops compatible in an effort to let you run both Gnome 2 (or MATE) and Gnome 3 on the same system, either in Linux Mint 12, or for the future.

[Lippy]

I ended up installing the Xfce edition of LMDE so that I could keep a familiar interface to rely on. However, I'm still open to trying out Gnome 3 for myself, and tbh part of the reason why I went Xfce is so I can easily revert if I don't like it. I've always liked Gnome in the past due to the high level of polish it has. Even though Gnome 3 is a big change from what I'm used to, it looks like it hasn't lost that level of consistency from the transition. I'm open to change and this thread looks extremely encouraging. I can't wait to try it out when it hits Testing so I can see first-hand what it's like.

I was unsure about the Firefox 4 interface changes too, but that grew on me as I used the betas. I think Gnome 3 might end up being a similar case. If I can make it work (and I think there's a good chance that will happen), then I'll be happy to use Gnome as my primary DE once again.

[dritzominous]

Looks hot!

But, how is it when you have multiple windows open? Is it hard to keep track of what's running? How's the window management experience overall?

[GeneC]

Good question.
Takes a little getting accustomed to. I have AWN dock, and can easily check there to see what is open. But, a quick move of the mouse to the upper left corner to hit the "hot spot" triggers shell's 'overview mode' with all open windows, neatly tiled.



It gets to be 2nd nature to poke the mouse up there after using it for a week, but takes a couple days to adapt.

EDIT:

Also there is an 'extension' that adds a bottom panel with 'window-list', 'workplace switcher'
See last image in first post.

[proxima_centauri]

You can also simply press the [Win] key to access overlay mode as well instead of moving the mouse to top-left.
I've been using GNOME3 since it was released and window management is a breeze for my purposes (5-8 different applications/windows open at once). You can also utilize the different workspaces to better separate applications or type of work.

[GeneC]

You can also simply press the [Win] key to access overlay mode as well instead of moving the mouse to top-left.
I've been using GNOME3 since it was released and window management is a breeze for my purposes (5-8 different applications/windows open at once). You can also utilize the different workspaces to better separate applications or type of work.

Thanks for that proxima_centauri. I like learning new shortcuts.

[wyrdoak]

I decided to take the plunge today. First off my Intel video is much better. Gonna take to so time find my way around. So far haven't found anything broken.

[GeneC]

wyrdoak

here some links to extensions, if your interested.

http://intgat.tigress.co.uk/rmy/extensions/index.html
make sure to use the ones for 3.0 not 3.2

http://www.fpmurphy.com/gnome-shell-extensions/3.0/
fpmurphys 3.0 extensions

Page through this blog for lots of info.
http://blog.fpmurphy.com/page/18

[dritzominous]

Aw, nice yall!

I'll be checking this out. Xfce is nice, but I just might wanna try something new.

[wayne128]

Looks like we are both lucky on that score.
Its a real mess, I understand for a lot of folks.

Oh, I did not know I was also lucky ones.
zero problem on Debian Sid-gnome with ATI

Gene,
your thread made me convert one LMDE-gnome to Sid for play

First thing to do is to install the extension below, as Sid gnome had version 3.0 so I did it with version 3.0
Restart, and wow
the activities is now Applications with all the favourite icons.. time to play

thanks for the thread and pointers
by the way as I mentioned in another thread, my Debian Sid-gnome, after DU, the font is very nice and I cannot tell different between running Debian iceweasel 7 and LMDE on firefox, because it somehow default to the same theme and with nice font rendering..something that people had always commented on straight Debian.

wyrdoak

here some links to extensions, if your interested.

http://intgat.tigress.co.uk/rmy/extensions/index.html
make sure to use the ones for 3.0 not 3.2

[GeneC]

Hey Wayne

Glad you joined the 'club'.
The more I use the shell, the more i like it. No need to add to many 3.0 extensions, as they wont work, when shell goes from 3.0 to 3.2, and that does not look that far off. Experimental has many 3.2 packages already.

I did find more extensions hosted by our own 'cbowman57'
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 60#p487234

download the 'gNatty extensions tarball'. They are 3.0 extensions (.debs from Natty).
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=32EC6E89 ... 803B%21201

Have FUN!

[wayne128]

You can also simply press the [Win] key to access overlay mode as well instead of moving the mouse to top-left.
I've been using GNOME3 since it was released and window management is a breeze for my purposes (5-8 different applications/windows open at once). You can also utilize the different workspaces to better separate applications or type of work.

thanks proxima_centauri
well, it is productive !
I like shortcut instead of too many mouse clicking and moving..

[wayne128]

Hey Wayne

Glad you joined the 'club'.
The more I use the shell, the more i like it. No need to add to many 3.0 extensions, as they wont work, when shell goes from 3.0 to 3.2, and that does not look that far off. Experimental has many 3.2 packages already.

I did find more extensions hosted by our own 'cbowman57'
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 60#p487234

download the 'gNatty extensions tarball'. They are 3.0 extensions (.debs from Natty).
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=32EC6E89 ... 803B%21201

Have FUN!

Thanks Gene,

yes this is the first extension I tried,
it get me with productivity! Just found faster to shutdown

trying to figure out how to drag and drop ICON ???:idea:

[wyrdoak]

Well after all the updates, this is the only problem it gives me, but I don't use any encryption and haven't noted anything wrong yet for it not working.

sudo: pam_mount.c:417: modify_pm_count: Assertion `user != ((void *)0)' failed.
Aborted