Get classic Mint desktop in Gnome shell

[esteban1uy]

Update: You don't need to use this tweak because there's a new extension to fix windows list behaviour.

Fix windows list width.

I didn't believe this can be easily fixed, but it was.
This workaround only applies to those who prefer to use a single bottom panel.
As many of you noticed, the window list at the "taskbar" is unable to grow past the exact center of the panel.
Let's change it:

Open a terminal and type sudo gedit /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/windowlist@linuxmint.com/extension.js
Now scroll down to line 404 and you'll find this:

Code: Select all

//        this._container.connect('allocate', Lang.bind(Main.panel, this._allocateBoxes));

(It seems Mint's team was trying to get it work...)

Replace that line with this:

Code: Select all

        Main.panel.actor.connect('allocate', Lang.bind(Main.panel, this._allocateBoxes));
        this._refreshItems();

Save, restart Gnome-shell (Alt+F2 r) and enjoy:

(Click for fullsize)

[bimsebasse]

Nice one esteban! Can you upload the tweaked extensions + theme one more time? Then I'll put them in the first post and add an installation script.

[esteban1uy]

Nice one esteban! Can you upload the tweaked extensions + theme one more time? Then I'll put them in the first post and add an installation script.

That theme is just the updated "Minty" by Satya164, plain and simple (and elegant), with no tweaks.
And for the extensions, I truly believe it's worthless to upload them as an attachment because those tweaks will only last until a regular MGSE update. It is more useful (and faster) to do a sudo gedit and change a couple of lines everytime those extensions get overwritten because you'll always be tweaking an updated version of those extensions, not installing some outdated set.

[bimsebasse]

Not for normal users I don't think, Daniel got around the updated extensions problem by giving the tweaked ones new names.

But can you organize your tweaks in a post, then? Sorry I'm asking so much

[esteban1uy]

Not for normal users I don't think, Daniel got around the updated extensions problem by giving the tweaked ones new names.

But can you organize your tweaks in a post, then? Sorry I'm asking so much

Ok, I'll do it. Give me some time, cause I have to re-read all the thread...

(I'm not as fast and efficient as you )

[bimsebasse]

No hurry, esteban, and thanks.

[esteban1uy]

Well... we don't have to tweak the windowlist extension anymore... there's a new extension available at Shell Extensions Alpha to get the windows list the way we want!!!

Navigate to that link using Firefox and you'll be able to install "Extend left box" extension just clicking the on/off switch at the left side of that page.
Remember to do a Alt+F2 r to apply changes.

So easy!!!

[gabo]

UPDATE: Fix windows list width.

I didn't believe this can be easily fixed, but it was.
This workaround only applies to those who prefer to use a single bottom panel.
As many of you noticed, the window list at the "taskbar" is unable to grow past the exact center of the panel.
Let's change it:

Open a terminal and type sudo gedit /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/windowlist@linuxmint.com/extension.js
Now scroll down to line 404 and you'll find this:

Code: Select all

//        this._container.connect('allocate', Lang.bind(Main.panel, this._allocateBoxes));

(It seems Mint's team was trying to get it work...)

Replace that line with this:

Code: Select all

        Main.panel.actor.connect('allocate', Lang.bind(Main.panel, this._allocateBoxes));
        this._refreshItems();

Save, restart Gnome-shell (Alt+F2 r) and enjoy:

(Click for fullsize)

Esteban thanks for everything man, could you tell what is that on the right side of you desktop? That app with all the info of the computer.. thanks

[esteban1uy]

Esteban thanks for everything man, could you tell what is that on the right side of you desktop? That app with all the info of the computer.. thanks

That's just a "conky".
Take a look at this tutorial: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=77417&start=0&hilit=conky+tutorial
And you can get the customizations from here: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=141411
And here the workaround to avoid conflict with windowslist extension: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=205&t=85775&start=140#p502735

[Monsta]

That "Extend left box" extension is a nice find. Thanks, esteban1uy

[Daniel4lm]

Well... we don't have to tweak the windowlist extension anymore... there's a new extension available at Shell Extensions Alpha to get the windows list the way we want!!!

Navigate to that link using Firefox and you'll be able to install "Extend left box" extension just clicking the on/off switch at the left side of that page.
Remember to do a Alt+F2 r to apply changes.

So easy!!!

This really is a wonderful discovery. Maybe we should propose a solution to Mint team, because these are intended to solve the same problem(or they will just recently do that). This is a very good package of extensions, perhaps we should make a tutorial on this, or something similar (majority of users Lina Mint are beginners).

[esteban1uy]

This really is a wonderful discovery. Maybe we should propose a solution to Mint team, because these are intended to solve the same problem(or they will just recently do that). This is a very good package of extensions, perhaps we should make a tutorial on this, or something similar (majority of users Lina Mint are beginners).

Is far as I know, Mint's team is working on a new windowlist extension (with drag-n-drop capabilities) and a fully configurable MGSE menu.

Look at this: https://github.com/linuxmint/MGSE

And this seems to be pulled too: https://github.com/linuxmint/MGSE/pull/27

Here the new look of MGSE

I bet ahdiaz (the coder of reflections extension) is going to work on MGSE too, so there will be a native MGSE reflections extension!

[bimsebasse]

Looks like what we've been trying to achieve here is in the works for Mint 13:

Features for Mint 13
Single bottom panel
Ability for the user to hide the "Show desktop" button
Shutdown/logout..etc.. in mgse-menu

https://github.com/linuxmint/MGSE/wiki

That means I'm gonna stop tinkering with it in here - esteban and daniel (and others), you should commit ideas and possible fixes straight to the devs on the github page if you got any.

[esteban1uy]

That means I'm gonna stop tinkering with it in here - esteban and daniel (and others), you should commit ideas and possible fixes straight to the devs on the github page if you got any.

How long will it take for Mint 13 to be released?

Well, in the meantime we can play a little.
As it was announced, both MGSE-menu and windowlist were updated, and now is time to re-apply our tweaks to the improved versions.
(It is assumed that you have the tweaked version of reflections already installed and you are using the single bottom panel configuration)

Let's start with MGSE menu. Let's get rid of the ugly "-" :

Open a terminal and do a sudo gedit /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/menu@linuxmint.com/extension.js
At the opened gedit, scroll down to line 830 and you will find this:

Code: Select all

        Main.panel._rightBox.insert_actor(activitiesButton.actor, Main.panel._rightBox.get_children().length);
        activitiesButton._label.set_text("-");   

Now change it to this:

Code: Select all

    //    Main.panel._rightBox.insert_actor(activitiesButton.actor, Main.panel._rightBox.get_children().length);
    //    activitiesButton._label.set_text("-");   

Save it and close gedit.

Now the windowlist, let's make the popup menu show upwards:

At terminal, type the following: sudo gedit /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/windowlist@linuxmint.com/extension.js
Scroll down in the opened gedit to line 37, you will see this:

Code: Select all

PopupMenu.PopupMenu.prototype._init.call(this, actor, 0.0, St.Side.TOP, 0);

Now, change it to:

Code: Select all

PopupMenu.PopupMenu.prototype._init.call(this, actor, 0.0, St.Side.BOTTOM, 0);

Save and restart Gnome shell (Alt+F2 r).

What's new?

No more shell crash when we install new applications (that was menu's bad behaviour), and now windowlist has drag&drop !!!

Try this: open two nautilus windows, minimize one of them, then pick a file or folder from the other and drag it to the window list button of the minimized window... see?

And if you take a closer look you will notice some other cosmetic changes.

[bimsebasse]

Nice one esteban - are there any bugs left at all? The window tabs not expanding past the middle of the panel was the last major bug, I think, now it's a fully operational alternative. Gonna be interesting to see how the Mint devs will go about getting a bottom panel only for Mint 13.

[esteban1uy]

Nice one esteban - are there any bugs left at all? The window tabs not expanding past the middle of the panel was the last major bug, I think, now it's a fully operational alternative. Gonna be interesting to see how the Mint devs will go about getting a bottom panel only for Mint 13.

No bugs detected (for now).
I was trying to contact the developers at #linuxmint-dev but without success.
The key to the single bottom panel is reflections extension, specifically our tweaked version, and if you take a close look to its code... it is extremely simple!!!
I really have no clue why it isn't already implemented as a regular Mint's extension.
Well... maybe that weird implementation of gnome-shell extensions loading order...

[craig10x]

Mint 13 would probably be out about a month after ubuntu 12.04...so figure like in late may i would say...That's great news about it having the single panel on bottom again as default as well as other improvements such as to the new mint menu

In the meantime...i was curious as to whether Clem could upload additional MGSE extensions in Mint 12 updates (should they become available before mint 13 is released)...i don't know if that is technically possible...but just curious about it...

[bimsebasse]

I think it's too late now, and they probably never wanted the two-panel setup, it just wasn't as easy setting up a single bottom panel shell 3-4 months ago as it is now. They got almost half a year to work on it now and I'm sure they'll have created a full-fledged classic Mint desktop (with fully functional Mint Menu as well) by then.

[wei2912]

So is there an easy way to get rid of those hot corners in MGSE? I'm having flashbacks of that Unity bar jumping out at me every time I get the cursor too deep in those corners.

Top left hot corner disabled if that's not included in esteban's fix:

Code: Select all

sudo gedit /usr/share/gnome-shell/js/ui/layout.js

And change true to false in the last line below:

Code: Select all

this._corner = new Clutter.Rectangle({ name: 'hot-corner',
                                               width: 1,
                                               height: 1,
                                               opacity: 0,
                                               reactive: true })

Thanks for this tweak.

[zerubbabel]

Well, everything was working nicely with Esteban's tweaks, but the latest updates must have undone it all. After a reboot I'm back to having a bar at the top and the bottom again. Yuck! How can I get my nice single bottom bar back again?