GNOME 3 in Mint 11

Eggnog · Post by **Eggnog** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 1:58 pm

I read that Mint 11 will have GNOME 3. Then I read that GNOME 3 doesn't have minimize and maximize buttons in the title bars. I'm not sure what this all means for usability but I hope it's not something like Ubuntu moving the buttons from the right side to the left, which is still driving people nuts.

kvv · Post by **kvv** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:07 pm

Just so you know Mint will be using GNOME3 without gnome shell as the default shell.

Eggnog wrote:Then I read that GNOME 3 doesn't have minimize and maximize buttons in the title bars.

That's just the default setting, and can be changed in the gconf editor, which Mint may do before releasing Mint11. The minimize and maximize buttons were removed because according to GNOME developers, it didn't make any sense from a UI perspective when using GNOME shell.

valent · Post by **valent** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:32 pm

Could you please share where are gconf keys for controlling some of settings that Linux Mint tweaks on Gnome 3.0. I'm Fusion Linux project leader and I will also consider using Gnome 3.0 or switch to XFCE so any help is welcome.

Cheers,
Valent.

cpatrick08 · Post by **cpatrick08** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:00 am

valent wrote:Could you please share where are gconf keys for controlling some of settings that Linux Mint tweaks on Gnome 3.0. I'm Fusion Linux project leader and I will also consider using Gnome 3.0 or switch to XFCE so any help is welcome.

Cheers,
Valent.

try looking at pinguyos they have a 11.04 pre-alpha of their distro and they are based on mint and ubuntu and use the mintmenu link to page about 11.04pre-alpha http://forum.pinguyos.com/Thread-pinguy ... alpha--877 and theyhave a irc channel on the freenode newwork #pinguyos hope i helped you out

AlbertP · Post by **AlbertP** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 4:41 pm

Will it be easy to switch to Unity or Gnome Shell (and back) in Mint 11? Otherwise, I will stay with 10 till the KDE version is out.

viking777 · Post by **viking777** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:02 am

Eggnog wrote:I read that Mint 11 will have GNOME 3. Then I read that GNOME 3 doesn't have minimize and maximize buttons in the title bars. I'm not sure what this all means for usability but I hope it's not something like Ubuntu moving the buttons from the right side to the left, which is still driving people nuts.

Yes, I read about that as well, insanity isn't it? As far as I can make out this is all to do with having a common looking interface between mobile devices and computers. Well I am lucky enough to own both of those device types, and although I am happy enough with the UI of the mobile device, it is still dramatically inferior to the UI on my ordinary PC. So if anybody thinks that I want my computer UI to emulate my mobile UI they are out of their minds!
The other way around perhaps (though I appreciate that would be difficult).

They should just come clean and say that they are doing it to save money on design and development, at least I could live with that, it is more honest than telling me I want the opposite of what I actually do want.

dreamtrip · Post by **dreamtrip** » Tue May 17, 2011 2:34 pm

the core problem with gnome 3 is that it was rebuilt from scratch.
I tested out the usability and it is VERY customizable.
Due to the rewrite the tools for customization i.e. the Tweak tool and the user theme selector for gnome-shell are bare bones in features BUT the options for theme changes and icon theme changes are there and VERY usable.
Honestly, the default gnome-shell settings were very comfy. I would go so far as to say that they're very tablet friendly too so gnome 3 might see extensive tablet implementations.
as far as the openSUSE and fedora live discs are concerned (available from the gnome 3 website) the settings needs tweaking so I would recommend waiting for upgrades so that the system is more reliable and conforms to the basic feature set.
Honestly, actually feel that gnome 2.3x is a little dated....
The good thing about the mint community is their extensive hands-on testing which ensures that people don't have to roll back to an earlier version so I don't think gnome-shell will see the light of day here for quite some time.
even the gentoo community's taken a call to delay gnome3 on gentoo so mint wouldn't be alone.
I've digressed extensively but gnome 3 is MY FAVORITE...early to say? not at all...the promise is there...but like all new initiatives it'll need some patience and tweaks to get snug as a bug in a rug with.

AlbertP · Post by **AlbertP** » Tue May 17, 2011 2:55 pm

Rebuilt from scratch is not a problem. Gnome was getting huge and wasting memory. With Firefox, GParted, System Monitor and Nautilus open I am using 577,2 MB. Gnome 3 consumes less memory and 440MB machines may again be able to run Mint without needing much swap.

DrHu · Post by **DrHu** » Tue May 17, 2011 4:31 pm

viking777 wrote:So if anybody thinks that I want my computer UI to emulate my mobile UI they are out of their minds!
The other way around perhaps (though I appreciate that would be difficult).

Couldn't agree more..

Making a home or netbook/notebook use a stripped down OS that suits a smartphone or other small mobile device, tablet-like PC might be the business way
--but it is in no way user friendly to many computer users, who already have PCs or notebooks..

It is easier to strip away than built up

Science often works the other way, starting simple and becoming complex
--but whoever said computer interfaces represented a science project, like most design it is more Art than Science..

--if they (system developers) start from the simplest interface, they can't make it easier, because it is already that easy (at least for mobile devices)

jasonwatkins · Post by **jasonwatkins** » Wed May 25, 2011 6:50 pm

rather than start a new topic, since my question is about gnome 3, i was just wondering if it's at a state now where I could feasibly just download and install mint 11 and then "apt-get install gnome 3" .. (over simplified i accept but you get what i mean

)

i tried gnome 3 with fedora 15 and i have to say i love it, but fedora was too much fannying around trying to get my nvidia 7300le graphics card to install ..

cheers

AlbertP · Post by **AlbertP** » Thu May 26, 2011 5:01 am

You can do this on Mint 11:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3

Mint 11 used to have a bug with PPA's, I don't know if this is already fixed.

crispata · Post by **crispata** » Thu May 26, 2011 9:41 am

^^ Can anyone confirm that the above works? In searching the forums I have not found anything definitive.

I ask only because although that PPA worked fine for me with Ubuntu 11.04 as of my old build just about 3 weeks ago, my fresh build has rejected it repeatedly (rebuilt each time to be confident) despite following several different howtos which utilize that PPA. (including the UGR howto and script)

If Mint 11 will get me to Gnome 3 w/ Gnome Shell painlessly, I'll be starting the install as soon as I arrive at home.

AlbertP · Post by **AlbertP** » Thu May 26, 2011 12:11 pm

Mint 11 RC had a bug with PPA's, it tries to download for 'katya' instead of Ubuntu Natty. You can change 'katya' to 'natty' in the Software Sources program.
I think this is fixed but I haven't had confirmation on this.
Edit: bug is indeed fixed.

Nexus · Post by **Nexus** » Sun May 29, 2011 9:38 pm

crispata wrote:^^ Can anyone confirm that the above works? In searching the forums I have not found anything definitive.

It works....

kvv · Post by **kvv** » Mon May 30, 2011 12:59 am

Very nice, Nexus! Looks like you have installed some extensions?

Are there any glaring bugs in the ppa?

Nexus · Post by **Nexus** » Tue May 31, 2011 1:48 am

kvv wrote:Very nice, Nexus! Looks like you have installed some extensions?

Are there any glaring bugs in the ppa?

I haven't had any issues myself, and yea I installed a few extensions. Mainly to make theme applying easier.

Frater AB · Post by **Frater AB** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 12:45 am

Hi All,
I ran the sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3 line in terminal server, all seemed to go well. How do I activate gnome 3? I dont find it under my themes.
thanks
AB

Nexus · Post by **Nexus** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 2:24 am

Frater AB wrote:Hi All,
I ran the sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3 line in terminal server, all seemed to go well. How do I activate gnome 3? I dont find it under my themes.
thanks
AB

It's not a them and adding the repositories doesn't automatically add Gnome3

First if you haven't already open that terminal back up and enter

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

After that reboot, when you get to the Login screen make sure it has GNOME in the drop down box, not Gnome or Gnome Fallback

AlbertP · Post by **AlbertP** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 2:34 pm

Instead of running those 3 commands, you could better just open the updater (shield-like icon) and install Gnome 3 there.

Frater AB · Post by **Frater AB** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:19 am

It's not a theme and adding the repositories doesn't automatically add Gnome3

First if you haven't already open that terminal back up and enter

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

After that reboot, when you get to the Login screen make sure it has GNOME in the drop down box, not Gnome or Gnome Fallback

I did this and when I reboot it gives me the drop down with GNOME in it, and it looks like it took but when I log in it kicks me back out to the login screen again. It never seems to load the desktop but puts me back to square one.

any thoughts?

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