Gnome3 for the experienced (FUN Stuff!!!)

[secipolla]

Victor, the error message is complaining about glib, not atk.

[victorsk]

Thank you secipolla. Just a quick note that it's probably not worth it trying to install gnome 3 from source because there are a lot of dependencies which are not listed in gnome's ftp source site but are required for compilation. So it's very time consuming chasing after dependencies. Also, after I compiled some of gnome 3 sources my gnome 3 desktop has become quite unstable so it looks like I'll have to re-install LMDE in its entirety because it's waaay too time consuming to build gnome3 from source.

[samriggs]

Alrighty I decided to wipe out my system once again and actually try this
Got things going ok so far but one question would be nice to be answered, out of all those files what list do we actually need to get gnome 3 and gtk3 working?
Going through the huge list in synaptics which ones do we need?
There is a lot of them that say version 3 but not all are for gnome 3 by the looks of it.
Just afraid of installing stuff that might break it or stuff I really do not need, all I am looking for is the list of whats basically needed to get it going then I can add from there slowly

Kind of interested in how this works.
Here it is the first part before any tweaking the heck out of it, its still trying to download a lot of files, I selected a lot of them thinking I might need I feel a bork coming on

screenshot.png

Got to tweak the heck out of this thing and theres 288 mint updates available it says
Sam

[autocrosser]

Alrighty I decided to wipe out my system once again and actually try this
Got things going ok so far but one question would be nice to be answered, out of all those files what list do we actually need to get gnome 3 and gtk3 working?
Going through the huge list in synaptics which ones do we need?
There is a lot of them that say version 3 but not all are for gnome 3 by the looks of it.
Just afraid of installing stuff that might break it or stuff I really do not need, all I am looking for is the list of whats basically needed to get it going then I can add from there slowly

Kind of interested in how this works.
Here it is the first part before any tweaking the heck out of it, its still trying to download a lot of files, I selected a lot of them thinking I might need I feel a bork coming on
Got to tweak the heck out of this thing and theres 288 mint updates available it says
Sam

Welcome to the "crazy" bunch....It's interesting that "Expermintal" b0rks less than Sid...as far as needed libs/apps...if you've got G-S working....you are there I just let the taps open on Expermintal & let come what may (zerozero is doing the same)...I post if anything b0rks real bad... But, it all depends on when you update & what source you are pulling from. I recommend Debian main--no mirrors..

As far as tweaking...look back thru this thread & you will find most if not all available for mods...I tend to like theming work, so my posts cover new themes & tweaking to that part of G-S...you will be well served by reading FP Murphys blog...He is a wealth of good info.

Above all else....ENJOY the ride...'tis a bit bumpy at times, but really a good time is had by all!!!!!!

[samriggs]

did another update with dist-upgrade and watch everything get removed
Yup even my gimpers went bye bye the software manager went away couldn't even reinstall stuff through that, then I had to do it through synaptics to at least get my software manager back, watch pae go bye bye too after it had 3 of them from the original upgrade now I am back to one , so I closed the tap from experimental for now unitl I get it all back to normal again, got my cairo dock on so it makes it easy to get what I want until I get used to this stuff, had an issue with gstreamer 10 after that experimental upgrade still wont install but it works so far so who cares
Reinstalling everything that last one removed on me, should of saved the list it was quite humourous watching everything on my system getting removed I thought OH NO THERE IT GOES almost like a virus wiping ya clean
even got debian image on the login screen, hey but it still all works I dont know if it went backwards or not from that orginal upgrade but it works
Getting the wireless set up was weird, I can only shut the system off by pressing my on and off button not the shut buttons work yet.
Ahh give me something to play with for a bit anyhow

[sv1xv]

did another update with dist-upgrade and watch everything get removed

I had the same experience a month ago on a small ASRock computer. As it is a "production" system, I did not reload LMDE but replaced it with Katya. Now I run LMDE only from an extra partition of an "experimental" computer.

[samriggs]

did another update with dist-upgrade and watch everything get removed

I had the same experience a month ago on a small ASRock computer. As it is a "production" system, I did not reload LMDE but replaced it with Katya. Now I run LMDE only from an extra partition of an "experimental" computer.

Ya that was weird, I can't get eclipse to work either after that update, its toast, so if I update experiment it wipes out gimp, (just checked it again to see if it would and yup it wants to remove gimpers and I cant get eclipse to work, so thats two programs I use 99% of the time, actually I can have a cmoputer with just gimpers, inkscape, eclipse and a browser and email client and I'm good to go, so half of what I need don't wanna work, well gimpers will if I dont update experiment.
Plus I only can shut it down by pressing the button on the laptop which aint good and I cant get the tap to work on the login screen, so theres to much going wrong to keep this on this machine for now, its a production machine and I need those things to work (there basic but I need them), maybe after a bit I'll try it again, I wanted to try some themeing for it but nawww I'll hold off till it doesn't try to kill my system
Back to lmde only I guess for now.
The only thing that really worked good was the dock loads automatically it doesnt in lmde
Sam

[zerozero]

Sam, for now trying out the shell in LMDE is a bit tricky, probably shouldn't be done in a production machine, or at least not in the only partition;
also, i don't recommend, in fact is apt that doesn't recommend to dist-upgrade, as you saw half your system went caput, since i joined the ride i been doing update / upgrade and the system is going on safe;

those incompatibilities with eclipse and gimp, they are probably related with newer perl and python v. available in experimental, that's why i'm doing an upgrade opposed to a dist-upgrade.

[GregE]

I can only shut the system off by pressing my on and off button not the shut buttons work yet.
Ahh give me something to play with for a bit anyhow

Click on your name on top right then hold down the alt key and the menu will change to give you shut down as an option. That set up had to be the dumbest decision the Gnome devs made. It can be fixed, like most things in Gnome3, by an extension.

[GregE]

@samriggs

I am the odd one out around here, but if you build it on top of Testing it is as stable as any distro.

Install LMDE Xfce, do all the updates and configure video, wireless, printers and whatever else.

Then add sid and experimental. After installing Gnome 3 and it's dependencies remove sid and experimental and do an apt-get clean then do an apt-get update. That way a working Gnome 3 is frozen while you can update the rest of the system normally. Do not install any other software while sid and experimental are open and do not do a dist-upgrade or a normal upgrade with sid or experimental active. Such a system is rock solid. Once a fortnight open sid and experimental, search on Gnome and gtk in Synaptic and update what needs updating - then remove sid and experimental and do an apt-get clean. Read this forum before updating to ensure it is safe to do it. Programs like Gimp should only be installed or updated with sid/experimental closed.

I have four system running like this and they do not break.

As autocrosser and zerozero have said, you should only leave the taps open on an install that you are willing to trash. My way might be boring, but that is kind of the point.

[samriggs]

Alrighty then I'll give it another shot, this this time I'll close the tap after getting gnome3 in there.
After I turn off the tap, I'll install eclipse and gimpers and see if there is any issues.
Brb with a hopefully working machine
Sam

[samriggs]

Well I am back that took awhile and two installs, the first one broke (my stupid fault) and I got it all working nicely finally
I installed the sucker then shut the taps off this time did a clean then an update and its all good so far, I got eclipse working nicely had to point it to the java jdk sdk instead but I had to do that before to get it update android for me, gimpers is back to normal just have to install the printer drivers and kobo for the wife (it only runs on a 32bit system for the linux version) put xampp back on and I sould be good to go, the main thing was gimpers and eclipse for me so I am happy
Question: where the heck do you put the themes? I was gona put in a metacity theme just for the borders that I made but it don't read from .themes by the looks of it (do you have to shove them in /usr/share/themes?).
Now that its up and running nicely (knock on wood, my head) I want to try and make a gtk3 theme for the first time.
Sorry zero I wanted to try this I figured its coming down the pipeline soon anyhow so I want to fool around with it and try and create some themes for the thing. Plus I have to show 4 other people how to run this gnome3 when it does come down so this gives me a head start.
Hers how it looks so far: I had to rearrange the wallpaper I made to fit the new look.
Next I'll be hopefully making a dock theme (the wife gets her first (a stargate space theme for the dock)

Screenshot.png

Soon as I find where the themes go I'll start fooling around with making one.
Thanks for all the help greatly appreciated
Sam

[GregE]

Sam,

The Kobo Linux software has never worked for me. It will not let me log in. However the Windows version will run under wine. You need a newer version of wine, 1.2 or newer. Then plug in the Kobo and wait until it mounts, then start winecfg and set the Kobo to be a floppy disk. Then start the Kobo Windows software and it will sync the Kobo and your account. It is annoying in that you have to keep logging in every time you do anything, but it works.

Just in case the Linux software no longer works when you try it.

enjoy

[samriggs]

Sam,

The Kobo Linux software has never worked for me. It will not let me log in. However the Windows version will run under wine. You need a newer version of wine, 1.2 or newer. Then plug in the Kobo and wait until it mounts, then start winecfg and set the Kobo to be a floppy disk. Then start the Kobo Windows software and it will sync the Kobo and your account. It is annoying in that you have to keep logging in every time you do anything, but it works.

Just in case the Linux software no longer works when you try it.

enjoy

I got it working no problem on linux and even gnome 3, did you install libzip1? and are you using a 32bit system? that was the two requirements to get it to work, I can get you my deb file if you want to try it.
Also gnome 3 just disapearred on me the tap stop working and in the login it only shows default and xfce no more gnome , that disapeared also, I tried to open ice weasle it froze then everything froze I had to do a hard boot and then wammo it all went away, any suggestions because I had it working nicely and was actually enjoying it and got everything set up nicely.
Sam

EDIT: I FIXED IT I think it was evolution actually because I installed but it gave me headaches so I regressed from version three had some issues but I had it opened when it all went frozen when I tried to open ice weasle, soooooo I did a

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apt-get install -t experimental gnome3-session

While in recovery and in xfce (thanks zero for telling me to keep that in there although I am not a fan of xfce it saved me this time.)
I noticed evolution was in there and went into version 3 again so I'll see if it works again, if not no biggy I'll use it online instead.
So thats the fix if anyone has that issue just install that session and it's all good again
EDIT EDIT just check evolution it migrated everything over and is working nicely also now. I am a happy man

[cbowman57]

Ok, I've been tinkering a bit & this is what I came up with so far, I've had a thread going on ubuntu forums http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p= ... stcount=68 I know there are other blogs & articles for doing this but they seemed incomplete & really didn't cover LMDE or the inclusion of updating LMDE to Sid. Anyway, here it is, of course the pinning file may need to be tweaked at some later date but for now it works.

Recipe for Mogwai
Ok, I think I've got it somewhat figured out.

1. Install LMDE (Xfce version recommended)
2. Run mintupdate, it will update itself & restart. Run it again, install everything it suggests.
3. Purge evince* [sudo apt-get purge evince*] You can install it after you are finished (It provides support for reading pdf files).
4. Shutdown/Restart
5. gksu thunar & navigate to /etc/apt, rename your sources.list just to be prudent, then create a new sources.list that contains this data:

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deb http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/linuxmint-packages/ debian main upstream import backport romeo
deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/incoming testing main contrib non-free
# deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing main non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian experimental main contrib non-free

## Liquorix sources added by smxi ##
# deb http://liquorix.net/debian/ sid main

6. Now navigate to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d create a file called local, insert this data into it:

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APT::Default-Release "sid";
APT::Install-Recommends;

7. Go to /etc/apt/preferences.d create a file called gnome, insert this data into it & save it.

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Package: *gnome* libglib2.0* *vte* *pulse* *peas* libgtk* *gjs* *gconf* *gstreamer* alacarte *brasero* cheese ekiga empathy* gdm3 gcalctool baobab *gucharmap* gvfs* hamster-applet *nautilus* seahorse* sound-juicer *totem* remmina vino gksu xdg-user-dirs-gtk dmz-cursor-theme eog epiphany* evince* *evolution* file-roller gedit* metacity *mutter* yelp* rhythmbox* banshee* system-config-printer transmission-* tomboy network-manager* libnm-* update-notifier shotwell liferea *software-properties* libunique-3.0-0 libseed-gtk3-0 libnotify* libpanel-applet-4-0 libgdata11 libcamel* libcanberra* libchamplain* libebackend* libebook* libecal* libedata* libegroupwise* libevent* gir1.2-* libxklavier16 python-gmenu libgdict-1.0-6 libgdu-gtk0 gnome-shell gconf2 gir1.2-gconf-2.0 gir1.2-gkbd-3.0 gir1.2-gnomebluetooth-1.0 gir1.2-gnomekbd-3.0 gir1.2-mutter-2.91 gir1.2-networkmanager-1.0 gjs gnome-bluetooth gnome-control-center gnome-icon-theme-symbolic gnome-settings-daemon libcanberra0 libdbus-1-3 libebook1.2-10 libecal1.2-8 libedataserver1.2-14 libedataserverui-3.0-0 libgconf2-4 libgjs0b libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1 libglib2.0-0 libgnome-desktop-3-0 libgnome-menu2 libmutter0 libpulse-mainloop-glib0 libpulse0 mutter python zlib1g gnome-control-center xserver-xephyr gnome-3.0 gir1.2-atk-1.0 gir1.2-clutter-1.0 gir1.2-freedesktop gir1.2-gdkpixbuf-2.0 gir1.2-glib-2.0 gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-json-1.0 gir1.2-mutter-3.0 gir1.2-pango-1.0 gir1.2-polkit-1.0 gir1.2-telepathyglib-0.12 gir1.2-telepathylogger-0.2 gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0 gsettings-desktop-schemas libatk1.0-0 libc0.1 libc6 libcairo-gobject2 libcairo2 libcamel1.2-19 libclutter-1.0-0 libcroco3 libdbus-glib-1-2 libdconf0 libdrm2 libffi5 libfontconfig1 libfreetype6 libgcc1 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libgirepository-1.0-1 libgstreamer0.10-0 libgtk-3-0 libgtk2.0-0 libical0 libjson-glib-1.0-0 libmozjs2d libmozjs5d libnspr4-0d libnss3-1d libpango1.0-0 libpolkit-agent-1-0 libpolkit-gobject-1-0 libsoup2.4-1 libsqlite3-0 libstartup-notification0 libtelepathy-glib0 libtelepathy-logger2 libx11-6 libxcomposite1 libxdamage1 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxi6 libxml2 mesa-utils pkg-config libgnutls26
Pin: release experimental
Pin-Priority: 990

Package: *gnome* libglib2.0* *vte* *pulse* *peas* libgtk* *gjs* *gconf* *gstreamer* alacarte *brasero* cheese ekiga empathy* gdm3 gcalctool baobab *gucharmap* gvfs* hamster-applet *nautilus* seahorse* sound-juicer *totem* remmina vino gksu xdg-user-dirs-gtk dmz-cursor-theme eog epiphany* evince* *evolution* file-roller gedit* metacity *mutter* yelp* rhythmbox* banshee* system-config-printer transmission-* tomboy network-manager* libnm-* update-notifier shotwell liferea *software-properties* libunique-3.0-0 libseed-gtk3-0 libnotify* libpanel-applet-4-0 libgdata11 libcamel* libcanberra* libchamplain* libebackend* libebook* libecal* libedata* libegroupwise* libevent* gir1.2-* libxklavier16 python-gmenu libgdict-1.0-6 libgdu-gtk0 gnome-shell gconf2 gir1.2-gconf-2.0 gir1.2-gkbd-3.0 gir1.2-gnomebluetooth-1.0 gir1.2-gnomekbd-3.0 gir1.2-mutter-2.91 gir1.2-networkmanager-1.0 gjs gnome-bluetooth gnome-control-center gnome-icon-theme-symbolic libcanberra0 libdbus-1-3 libebook1.2-10 libecal1.2-8 libedataserver1.2-14 libedataserverui-3.0-0 libgconf2-4 libgjs0b libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1 libglib2.0-0 libgnome-desktop-3-0 libgnome-menu2 libmutter0 libpulse-mainloop-glib0 libpulse0 mutter python zlib1g gnome-control-center xserver-xephyr gnome-3.0 gir1.2-atk-1.0 gir1.2-clutter-1.0 gir1.2-freedesktop gir1.2-gdkpixbuf-2.0 gir1.2-glib-2.0 gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-json-1.0 gir1.2-mutter-3.0 gir1.2-pango-1.0 gir1.2-polkit-1.0 gir1.2-telepathyglib-0.12 gir1.2-telepathylogger-0.2 gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0 gsettings-desktop-schemas libatk1.0-0 libc0.1 libc6 libcairo-gobject2 libcairo2 libcamel1.2-19 libclutter-1.0-0 libcroco3 libdbus-glib-1-2 libdconf0 libdrm2 libffi5 libfontconfig1 libfreetype6 libgcc1 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libgirepository-1.0-1 libgstreamer0.10-0 libgtk-3-0 libgtk2.0-0 libical0 libjson-glib-1.0-0 libmozjs2d libmozjs5d libnspr4-0d libnss3-1d libpango1.0-0 libpolkit-agent-1-0 libpolkit-gobject-1-0 libsoup2.4-1 libsqlite3-0 libstartup-notification0 libtelepathy-glib0 libtelepathy-logger2 libx11-6 libxcomposite1 libxdamage1 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxi6 libxml2 mesa-utils pkg-config
Pin: release unstable
Pin-Priority: 950

Package: *
Pin: release experimental
Pin-Priority: 150

8. Open terminal & sudo apt-get update.
9. Purge gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad [sudo apt-get purge gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad], it also removes other files but you can reinstall when done.
10. Do a dist-upgrade, sudo apt-get dist-upgrade. It will add, remove & upgrade quite a few files.
11. Shutdown/Restart
12. sudo apt-get update & sudo apt-get upgrade
13. Run update manager & update suggested files.
14. Install gnome-shell [sudo apt-get install gnome-shell] Hopefully all dependencies are met, if not you might have to do some research.
15. Install gnome-tweak-tool [sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool].

That should get you an installation of Gnome 3.0 shell & fallback installed on Linux Mint Debian Edition upgraded to Sid, otherwise known as Mogwai.

Installing user theme & extension support will be another post, but the simple way is to add the natty .debs from launchpad, make sure you install the ones for gnome-shell 3.0.2.

You will likely only have gnome-session-fallback when you log on from the gdm (don't forget to select your DE). You can install your video drivers via synaptic or use the smxi script (link in post #1).

I'm sure there are some errors & redundancies, also shortcuts I didn't try, but overall I think this is a good start.

[GregE]

@samriggs

I tried the Kobo linux client again and it works. Very happy to get my Kobo working natively again. I think it was just that for the last few months i was using the 64bit versions of various distros. My current setup is 32bit LMDE with Gnome3, so I think I might stay 32bit until I update to a new eBook reader - a long time off as the Kobo is great for reading books.

Thanks for making me try again.

[samriggs]

@samriggs

I tried the Kobo linux client again and it works. Very happy to get my Kobo working natively again. I think it was just that for the last few months i was using the 64bit versions of various distros. My current setup is 32bit LMDE with Gnome3, so I think I might stay 32bit until I update to a new eBook reader - a long time off as the Kobo is great for reading books.

Thanks for making me try again.

No problem, its a must for the wife so I had to make it work
I tried on her 64bit and tried everything I could find to try and make it work but I had the same issue where it would not me log in, on 32bit its great
Some folks forget to install the libzip1 also which they need.

[drewkeller]

Hmm.... was gonna try this out in a virtualbox the other day by installing on top of testing similar to GregE (via cloning an up-to-date LMDE-XFCE vbox) but kept running into unmet dependencies with libconf2 or some such. Thought I'd try the same thing again today but now the issue is with libevince3-3.

Yesterday, I had tried going the dist-upgrade route a couple times, but that went to be a real mess real fast. By "real fast", of course I mean, go to the grocery store and hope it's done downloading and processing by the time I get back. Deleting the clone and starting over is the fast part.

Anyway.

[autocrosser]

Hmm.... was gonna try this out in a virtualbox the other day by installing on top of testing similar to GregE (via cloning an up-to-date LMDE-XFCE vbox) but kept running into unmet dependencies with libconf2 or some such. Thought I'd try the same thing again today but now the issue is with libevince3-3.

Yesterday, I had tried going the dist-upgrade route a couple times, but that went to be a real mess real fast. By "real fast", of course I mean, go to the grocery store and hope it's done downloading and processing by the time I get back. Deleting the clone and starting over is the fast part.

Anyway.

Normally I do aptitude update--upgrade & pass the dist-upgrade--have had too many problems with dist-upgrade.

[GregE]

Hmm.... was gonna try this out in a virtualbox the other day by installing on top of testing similar to GregE (via cloning an up-to-date LMDE-XFCE vbox) but kept running into unmet dependencies with libconf2 or some such. Thought I'd try the same thing again today but now the issue is with libevince3-3.

Yesterday, I had tried going the dist-upgrade route a couple times, but that went to be a real mess real fast. By "real fast", of course I mean, go to the grocery store and hope it's done downloading and processing by the time I get back. Deleting the clone and starting over is the fast part.

Anyway.

No matter how you do it, for the moment you will need to remove evince then install the Gnome 3 version. Dependency problems will always happen when you take stuff from experimental.