Extensions to gnome 3

[leonardevens]

I put off upgrading Fedora 14 on my primary machine while I fiddled with gnome 3 under Fedora 15 on another machine.

Finally, I had to bite the bullet so I upgraded to Fedora 17 on my primary machine and I am running raw gnome 3. I know how to use it, but i am not enitrely happy. I see from a google serach that there are various extensions avaialble which might make it more usuable.

What I miss the most from the old gnome is the capability to put files on my "Desktop". Under gnome3, Desktop is just another diretory, and while i can access it with the file manager, using it is not terribly intuitive.

Can anyone recommend extensions to gnome 3 which i might find useful and which won't lead me up a garden path I don't want to get stuck in?

[BBQdave]

Originally Posted by leonardevens

What I miss the most from the old gnome is the capability to put files on my "Desktop". Under gnome3, Desktop is just another diretory, and while i can access it with the file manager, using it is not terribly intuitive.

I tell ya leonardevens, that Gnome 3 is buggy and adding the extensions = a little more buggy. To qualify, this is my experience and perhaps not everyone's. But I hear you on Desktop being a folder in Nautilus.

So I switched to F16 Xfce. It is a nice blend of Gnome and Xfce 4.8. I am running F16 Xfce 32-bit on an older machine and the 64-bit edition on my new notebook with out issue. Stable and familiar, solid performance.

The little that I tested F17, it seemed not ready for prime-time. So I am hanging with F16 until EOL and the release of F18 Xfce (with Xfce 4.10).

Give F16 Xfce a spin

[mikee]

You can try cinnamon:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=274611

Or install gnome-tweak-tool.. You can search the forum on that.

Or go with another desktop. I have been using xfce on my F15, and deciceded to go that way on my work laptop
and upgraded F14 to F16. (I upgraded the F15 to F16 too). There were some annoyances with xfce, that once I jumped
in I figured out.

[nonamedotc]

Originally Posted by leonardevens

What I miss the most from the old gnome is the capability to put files on my "Desktop". Under gnome3, Desktop is just another diretory, and while i can access it with the file manager, using it is not terribly intuitive.

Install gnome-tweak-tool and under 'Desktop' option, toogle the 'Have File Manager handle Desktop' to ON position. You will have a fully functional desktop back. It works!

yum install gnome-tweak-tool

Originally Posted by leonardevens

Can anyone recommend extensions to gnome 3 which i might find useful and which won't lead me up a garden path I don't want to get stuck in?

I would recommend using GNOME extensions portal to try out different extensions. Some of them do not work. Some extensions work but have some minor issues. Two extensions I can think of being very useful is 'Alternative Status Menu' and 'Alternate Tab'. The former puts shutdown back on the menu while latter restores conventional Alt+Tab functionality.

Hope this helps. Cheers.

[joncr]

Originally Posted by leonardevens

Can anyone recommend extensions to gnome 3 which i might find useful and which won't lead me up a garden path I don't want to get stuck in?

To answer your Desktop question:

You need to install gnome-tweak-tool, which really needs to be there by default. It installs as "Advanced Settings". You can tweak font settings, decide what's on the desktop, etc.

Open "Advanced Settings", click on "Desktop" and turn on the option to "Let File Manager Handle the Desktop". Icons for Home, Computer and Trash appear. Anything you drag into the Desktop folder shows up.

To get icons to launch applications onto the Desktop, open Nautilus and go to /usr/share/applications. Right click on an icon and you will see a "Copy to..." option. One of the destinations is the Desktop.


Get your extensions at extension.gnome.org. Very easy to install them, or remove them right at that site.

Some extensions can be configured. Do it there by clicking on the link to list your installed extensions. The configurable ones have an extra little icon to their left.

Extensions often seem to be sensitive to the Gnome version. You can filter for that on the site.

I just try them and keep what I like, deleting what I don't. Ihaven't run into any problems caused by an extension gumming up the works. I use extensions to kill the launcher and add a nice little dock.