Gnome-3 Top panel- love or hate?

[DaComboMan]

Let's just say that a lot has happened since.

Have recently picked up of the tip in advanced settings to turn off "bottom panel extension" in "shell extensions"
which then places the menu in top panel:
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=86813

This tip suites me fine for now. Much easier to follow through.

Doesn't mean that i wipe away "don't fix it if it ain't broke!"

And don't get me wrong, i'm enjoying LM12 very much!

It's just that i sympathize with people like me (getting older) and find it harder to get used to the newer stuff and to have to look around for something that used to be there but ain't there no more.

[monkeyboy]

So I guess this is kind of a poll- Do you think that in the future the Gnome 3 version of Mint should ship with a single bottom panel, dual panels or just the top panel. If your a fan of top panels, tell me what you like about them. If you agree with me, explain why.

Its just panels. As long as there is a reasonable way to configure them I really don't care what the default is. I am more concerned with overall stability and ease of configuration. Enjoy

[RamBurner]

Well for folks like me that wear bifocal lenses on their glasses, it's a literal pain in the neck to have to look up that far to the top for a panel that SHOULD be able to be moved.

I do my best to not use the word 'Hate' as that word is misused a lot, I Extremely Dislike a panel I can't move.

I don't want an extension to hide it either, I want to be able to move it where I can comfortably use it.

[DaComboMan]

RamBurner was much more polite than I.

Ideally, it would be much appreciated if LM could give us the default right-click options to set panels where and how we want them.

Coming in from Windows 7, it's always a challenge for me to adapt to Linux.
Just recently i re-installed the M$ OS and when i went back and installed LM12 again, instead of trying to figure out where and how to hide/autohide the top panel i just sent the bottom menu to the top. Lazy? Perhaps. But if LM wants to attract more Windows users it needs to help to make that transition less painful as possible.



A newbie who has found a nice page to get more familiar with basic Linux stuff:
http://www.tuxfiles.org/

[axel668]

usually Gnome3 ONLY has the top panel, and you can get back to this by simply disabling the bottom panel extension ... works quite well for me ... as for having the panel at the bottom, read some people are working on an extension but it's not 100% done yet. all known Gnome Tweaks are bundled in this thread viewtopic.php?f=42&t=86813

[DaComboMan]

So have you installed the extension which easily hides the top panel or was there not time for that with all the complaining?

I don't know how to say this...
After going back in my footsteps, i tried to install that extension again.
I think it worked on reboot (but didn't know it until this a.m.).
Was it the latest updates from LM or was it this extension?

I guess i owe someone an apology. I'm sorry for all the naggin'!

Hope i can repeat if ever i re-install again.


-now if i could only get my opera browser to hide its titlebar...

[eightup1]

But there are other desktop environments to choose from. No one's putting a gun to your head and forcing you to use Unity/GNOME 3. In fact, I'm typing this from a Unity desktop that I installed onto Mint 12 which I put on there quite willingly (but then, I rather like it).

The choices are still there, folks.

any time i have ever installed an alternate desktop the distro has become unstable or buggy ... i installed kde on mint 9 and almost none of my programs would open anymore i got a permissions error after almost punching a hole in my monitor i figured out what folders and sub folders needed permissions changed but it still never worked great .... i decided you take what you get with linux unless you want to spend countless hours figuring out un satisfied dependencies .

as for the gnome panel I hate the top panel .. having a bottom panel only has been the single only reason i have ever used mint , well that and because i despise the drab dreary colors of ubuntu .... i really dont like the gnome 3 look but i guess im going to have to learn to live with it , I installed the extension that is supposed to move the panel to the bottom but i cant get it to work so im stuck with a top panel that i hate till i decide to go back to mint 9 ..... if mint EVER dares switch to unity im putting on a life preserver and jumping ship

[Evil-K]

any time i have ever installed an alternate desktop the distro has become unstable or buggy ... i installed kde on mint 9 and almost none of my programs would open anymore i got a permissions error after almost punching a hole in my monitor i figured out what folders and sub folders needed permissions changed but it still never worked great .... i decided you take what you get with linux unless you want to spend countless hours figuring out un satisfied dependencies .

as for the gnome panel I hate the top panel .. having a bottom panel only has been the single only reason i have ever used mint , well that and because i despise the drab dreary colors of ubuntu .... i really dont like the gnome 3 look but i guess im going to have to learn to live with it , I installed the extension that is supposed to move the panel to the bottom but i cant get it to work so im stuck with a top panel that i hate till i decide to go back to mint 9 ..... if mint EVER dares switch to unity im putting on a life preserver and jumping ship

But that's KDE, a desktop environment known to be extremely buggy and unstable. Since I posted that, I've since installed the LXDE, Xfce, and Fluxbox environments onto 12 (yes, I'm nuts). Granted, when I booted this morning, I got the Debian bootloader, so I'm gonna check it out and see if I screwed something up, but so far so good.

[MALsPa]

any time i have ever installed an alternate desktop the distro has become unstable or buggy ... i installed kde on mint 9 and almost none of my programs would open anymore i got a permissions error after almost punching a hole in my monitor i figured out what folders and sub folders needed permissions changed but it still never worked great .... i decided you take what you get with linux unless you want to spend countless hours figuring out un satisfied dependencies.

That hasn't been my experience. I haven't added KDE 4 to a GNOME 3 distro yet, but I've added other DEs and WMs to whatever came with the default numerous times with no major problems. I had KDE and Xfce along with the default GNOME in Linux Mint 9, too. I don't generally stick with only the default DE in my Linux installations, at least not for very long.

[DaComboMan]

It would be nice if the author of this thread could set up a poll for it.

[rjs]

Whether gnome3 (Which I don't like), or another, I don't like top menu bars at all. Never did. I prever a single thin (32pix or less) bar on the bottom for everything including docking shortcuts. The fewer the taskbars, the fewer the desk icons, the better. I've always prefered the screen space being completely empty and the bottom task bar autohide. You can just imagine what a guy like me thinks of the "New Desktop" designs. ... and why I took to Linux Mint style right off (LMDE gnome or xfce). The one bar with mint-menu is all a person would need IMO. Non cluttered. Organized.

[AlbertP]

I at first didn't like this waste of space but now I've gotten used to the activities window. But I still prefer a panel to switch between windows.

[seppalta]

Why even bother about Gnome, Mate, etc? LXDE allows you to put the panel or panels almost anywhere you want - bottom, top, right, left middle, across multiple monitors, bottom or top center, etc. Hopefully they will allow a diagonal one across the screen in the next release if it isn't already there and I just haven't found it. I tried Gnome 3 for a few hours - couldn't figure out how to put launchers on either panel. So back to LXDE where I'm the boss!

[Evil-K]

Why even bother about Gnome, Mate, etc? LXDE allows you to put the panel or panels almost anywhere you want - bottom, top, right, left middle, across multiple monitors, bottom or top center, etc. Hopefully they will allow a diagonal one across the screen in the next release if it isn't already there and I just haven't found it. I tried Gnome 3 for a few hours - couldn't figure out how to put launchers on either panel. So back to LXDE where I'm the boss!

LXDE is indeed a great user interface, as is Xfce (which I have a mild preference for out of the two), which is why the whining and temper tantrums over GNOME really mystify me.

[eightup1]

Mint LXDE allows panels where ever is your desire - top, right, left, bottom - 1,2.3 or 4 panels. Isn't that the best solution for the most?

last time i tried LXDE it took 10 hours to get the first suggested updates .... debians servers are a joke , i'll never even consider LXDE again until someone can prove to me that debian has improved their download speeds

EDIT : NEVER MIND I WAS CONFUSING LXDE FOR LMDE .... ive never heard of lxde ill have to check it out

[AlbertP]

You can use a local mirror of the Debian repo to get better download speeds.

LMDE's replacement of the Debian repo also has local mirrors IIRC.

[eightup1]

Whether gnome3 (Which I don't like), or another, I don't like top menu bars at all. Never did. I prever a single thin (32pix or less) bar on the bottom for everything including docking shortcuts. The fewer the taskbars, the fewer the desk icons, the better. I've always prefered the screen space being completely empty and the bottom task bar autohide. You can just imagine what a guy like me thinks of the "New Desktop" designs. ... and why I took to Linux Mint style right off (LMDE gnome or xfce). The one bar with mint-menu is all a person would need IMO. Non cluttered. Organized.

I could not have said it better myself that is exactly what i like in a desktop clean and simple with nice organized text menus at the bottom where they belong

[AlbertP]

In case you prefer a single bar on the bottom, you'll surely like the plans for Mint 13: https://github.com/linuxmint/MGSE/wiki

[DaComboMan]

In case you prefer a single bar on the bottom, you'll surely like the plans for Mint 13: https://github.com/linuxmint/MGSE/wiki

Hope they can tag on an "autohide" feature while they're at it!

[eightup1]

You can use a local mirror of the Debian repo to get better download speeds.

LMDE's replacement of the Debian repo also has local mirrors IIRC.

I was confusing the lxde destop with lmde .... but if theres anyway i could get better download speeds from debians servers I'd like to try it again on one of my boxes , i did like the distro just couldn't live with the constant upgrades that took hours