Adding Gnome 3/Shell in LMDE 201303?

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jackmetal

Adding Gnome 3/Shell in LMDE 201303?

Post by jackmetal »

--begin edit--
OK, I decided against moving this 'new' system over to Debian Testing repo's just yet. It looked like it would end up breaking a number of things. :-) So I'll keep that one system on the update-packs. So....With keeping it on the update packs, what would be the best way to get Gnome 3/Shell and GDM in fairly safely? ;-)
--end edit--

Anyone have any thoughts? ZeroZero, GeneC ?

My current thoughts are the following:
1) After new install from 201303 media and updates, change my repo's to Debian Testing and perform a new upgrade , dist-upgrade as usual, reboot and then
2) sudo apt-get install gnome-shell gnome-session gnome-tweak-tool gnome-control-center gdm

I had quit using any of the newer LMDE builds since 2010 or 2011 because of the change over to Cinnamon, MDM, Mate, etc... But, I decided to give 201303 a go. I've been reading through a number of forum posts and searching but haven't really found a good set of instructions to move this new version to GDM, Gnome 3 and Gnome Shell. I also keep all of my other systems built from the old LMDE and Debian Testing repo's but I'd like to get a good install doc created using the newer builds (201303).

Does anyone happen to have a pointer to one?

Thanks for any help! I definitely miss my clean Debian install running Gnome 3/Shell with Mint added; but I wanted to at least test this newer version so I'll have the current Mint and also my standard Gnome desktop available.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
GeneC

Re: Adding Gnome 3/Shell in LMDE 201303?

Post by GeneC »

Hey 'jm'

Its easy enough. I added Gnome Shell to LMDE 201303-Cinnamon with no issues. I prefer the Shell as long as a dozen good extensions are installed.
Easier with the Cinnamon version as it is based on Gnome and has many Shell dependencies already installed.

Image

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gene@lmde-cin ~ $ inxi -F
System:    Host: lmde-cin Kernel: 3.8-6.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Gnome Distro: LinuxMint 1 debian
Machine:   Mobo: ASUSTeK model: M4A88TD-M/USB3 version: Rev X.0x Bios: American Megatrends version: 1501 date: 08/09/2012
CPU:       Quad core AMD Phenom II X4 955 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm) 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 800.00 MHz 2: 800.00 MHz 3: 800.00 MHz 4: 800.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GF104 [GeForce GTX 460] X.Org: 1.12.4 driver: nvidia Resolution: 1680x1050@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 460/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 4.3.0 NVIDIA 319.12
Audio:     Card-1: NVIDIA GF104 High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
           Card-2: Creative Labs CA0106 Soundblaster driver: snd_ca0106
           Card-3: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) driver: snd_hda_intel
I am tracking Debian SID, so you may find an older version... :!:

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gene@lmde-cin ~ $ apt-cache policy gnome-shell
gnome-shell:
  Installed: 3.4.2-7
  Candidate: 3.4.2-7
  Version table:
 *** 3.4.2-7 0
        700 http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Basically just install

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gnome-shell 
gnome-session
(I THINK it pulls in gnome-control-center)?


I would also recommend

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gnome-shell-extensions
(basic extensions)
and

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gnome-tweak-tool
and go to
https://extensions.gnome.org/#sort=recent
for more extensions..

---------------

This is a good reference thread, its very long but you can get good info there...
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=201&t=65745


PS.
I've kept MDM. If you want GDM its a simple install. You will be asked some configuration questions..
I also use Nemo. Nautilus is less functional... :wink:
GeneC

Re: Adding Gnome 3/Shell in LMDE 201303?

Post by GeneC »

A list of installed extensions that I find quite useful.
Not all are in use in the desktop screenshot in above post.

(click)
Image
jackmetal

Re: Adding Gnome 3/Shell in LMDE 201303?

Post by jackmetal »

Many Thanks GeneC!

I'll give that a shot. I've stuck with Gnome Shell since it came out (I'm still running the original LMDE from 2010 on my main laptop, pointing to debian testing repo's and with Gnome 3/shell and I love it). With all of the extensions available these days, I have it set up even better than my old Gnome 2 days. :-)

Thanks again for the tips, hopefully I can get this new 201303 media like I like it with Gnome shell (otherwise, I'm back to building all of my systems with the 2010 or 2011 LMDE media, pointing to testing and doing the thousands of updates). ;-)

I sure wish they would have a clean Gnome 3/Shell version of LMDE. Gnome Shell has come a long way in the past year or so.
zerozero

Re: Adding Gnome 3/Shell in LMDE 201303?

Post by zerozero »

jackmetal wrote:--begin edit--
OK, I decided against moving this 'new' system over to Debian Testing repo's just yet. It looked like it would end up breaking a number of things. :-) So I'll keep that one system on the update-packs. So....With keeping it on the update packs, what would be the best way to get Gnome 3/Shell and GDM in fairly safely? ;-)
--end edit--
hi jackmetal :D
i don't see those problems here: vanilla 201303 cinnamon-64bit pushed from latest to testing

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541 upgraded, 10 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 467 MB of archives.
After this operation, 3,995 kB disk space will be freed.

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zerozero@zerozero-vb ~ $ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import
#deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free
#deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
#deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/multimedia testing main non-free
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org testing main non-free
and even with the standard pin priority

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zerozero@zerozero-vb ~ $ cat /etc/apt/preferences
Package: *
Pin: release o=linuxmint
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: origin packages.linuxmint.com
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: 500
will finish the update and follow-up the rest of the subject :wink:
GeneC

Re: Adding Gnome 3/Shell in LMDE 201303?

Post by GeneC »

jackmetal wrote:--begin edit--
OK, I decided against moving this 'new' system over to Debian Testing repo's just yet. It looked like it would end up breaking a number of things. :-) So I'll keep that one system on the update-packs. [...]
I've upgraded to Debian Testing with no issues, and then to Debian SID with no issues, no breakages... 8)
zerozero

Re: Adding Gnome 3/Shell in LMDE 201303?

Post by zerozero »

actually jackmetal is right, i also see a potential breakage in this move from the default 201303 release to testing:
the dist-upgrade breaks halfway through with debian-system-adjustments

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2.10.8.1-5, 2.10.8.1-8)
Error: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
End-Date: 2013-04-23  22:25:31

Start-Date: 2013-04-23  22:42:55
Commandline: apt-get -f install
End-Date: 2013-04-23  22:45:37

Start-Date: 2013-04-23  22:47:21
Commandline: apt-get dist-upgrade
one needs to -f install some of the broken packages and then redo the dist-upgrade to finish over 200 packages that are still to install
============
and now removing the preferences file i have

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The following packages will be REMOVED:
  mint-meta-debian-cinnamon thunderbird
The following packages will be upgraded:
  banshee gtk2-engines-aurora hunspell-en-us xchat xchat-common
5 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 6,459 kB of archives.
in this situation mint-meta-debian-cinnamon makes perfect sense, thunderbird is because of hunspell but can be installed afterwards (if wanted)
jackmetal

Re: Adding Gnome 3/Shell in LMDE 201303?

Post by jackmetal »

Many Thanks for the help ZeroZero and GeneC!

I should have some time this weekend to get it set up. I think I'll do my tests in a Virtual Machine first and then do it for real. :-)

The main reason I want to stay with real Gnome (3/shell) instead of Cinnamon or Mate is the renaming of the programs. There are a number of programs that point to nautilus for example (TrueCrypt)... so a double-click on the container or partition in TrueCrypt doesn't work. Not a huge issue, since I really don't pull up my encrypted partitions that way, but I still prefer apps to work like they should and you can't go wrong with a true Gnome desktop. I've been working with Linux since the mid 90's and I guess I'm kind of a stickler for sticking close to generic, but I have been a Mint fan since the original LMDE was released (at least before Cinnamon and Mate). :-(

I've actually started looking around at some other Debian derivatives to see what's out there, but I've begun to think that sticking with true Debian and then "Mintifying" it may be the way to go (that's what I did on my main laptop). ;-)


Thanks again, you guys and everyone else on the forum in general are always extremely helpful...
jackmetal

Re: Adding Gnome 3/Shell in LMDE 201303?

Post by jackmetal »

It took me long enough to finally get around to testing this. :-)

GeneC, I pretty much did like you. I kept it with MDM and just installed gnome-shell (and it's various and sundry parts). I also fixed the issue with nautilus by keeping nemo and just making nautilus links to each of the nemo commands. ;-)

I like Gnome Shell much more than Cinnamon after I have all of my Gnome Extensions set up..

I'm even testing just sticking with the Update Packs on this one and not moving it to Testing or SID (although I do have a number of other ones still on Testing and SID)..

My old laptop image that has been running since somewhere around 2010 (whenever the very first install CD of LMDE came out) has finally had a couple update issues. On this last update (yesterday I think, or maybe the day before) it ended up removing a bunch of apps like smplayer, etc... Like a dumb@$$ I didn't read it well enough and just hit enter (but I DO have a previous backup, so I'm good if I 'want' to go back and restore).
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