Tag Archives: gnome 3

[HOWTO] Enable Maximize, Minimize buttons on the title bar in Gnome 3 Gnome-Shell (Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot)

I have just installed Gnome 3 in Ubuntu 11.10 Onieric Ocelot. In Gnome-Shell interface, there are no title bar controls for minimize, maximize/restore. To enable them, open up the terminal and type in (or copy/paste) the following command:

gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/shell/windows/button_layout --type string close,minimize,maximize:

Now, press Alt+F2, type in “r” without quotes and press enter. This will reload Gnome-Shell and the changes will come into effect.

Note: The above will set the buttons in left side as in Ubuntu default theme (or Mac OS X). To place them in the right (like Gnome 2 default, Windows), use the following command instead:

gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/shell/windows/button_layout --type string :minimize,maximize,close

Hope this helps.

[HOWTO] Install Gnome-Shell (Gnome 3) in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

I have installed Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot on my laptop. I had been using Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal on it and since I use this PC for work, I was reluctant in installing Gnome-Shell from PPA. But since Gnome-Shell is available in official repositories, I decided to give it a go. To install, just open Ubuntu Software Center, search for Gnome-Shell and click “Install”. After installation is complete, log out and when logging back in, select Gnome (see screenshot below).

[SOLVED] No package ‘gtk+-3.0’ found

If you are trying to compile a gtk-3 application and if you don’t have development package installed here is the error you can get:

configure: error: Package requirements (gtk+-3.0 >= 3.0.0) were not met:

No package ‘gtk+-3.0’ found

Consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if you
installed software in a non-standard prefix.

Alternatively, you may set the environment variables GTK_CFLAGS
and GTK_LIBS to avoid the need to call pkg-config.
See the pkg-config man page for more details.

If you encounter this error in Fedora, you should install gtk3-devel. In terminal, type in the following:

su -c 'yum install gtk3-devel'

If you encounter this in Ubuntu, you should install libgtk-3-dev. To do so, type in the following in terminal:

sudo apt-get install libgtk-3-dev

Hope this helps.

[HOWTO] Install GPaste in Fedora 15

GPaste is a clipboard management tool for GNOME 3. It is not available in the repos and must be downloaded via git and compiled. Here is how you can do it:

UPDATE:
GPaste is now available in the repos, so you can install it by using Add/Remove Programs or by running the following commands in the terminal:

su
yum install gpaste

That should install GPaste. The following post is for historical reasons only.


Install Git

su -c 'yum install git'

Download GPaste sources

cd; git clone https://github.com/Keruspe/GPaste.git

Install Dependencies

su -c 'yum install gtk3-devel glib2-devel intltool automake autoconf vala'

Compile and Install

cd;cd GPaste
./autogen.bash
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
su -c 'make install'

Restart GNOME Shell
To restart, press Alt+F2, enter ‘r’ (without quotes) and press enter.

You should now see GPaste icon in the top panel.

20 Things to do after installing Fedora 15

Here are few things you can do after installing Fedora 15 to make the experience better. You may have to enable sudo to follow some of the tips or you can run the commands in terminal by logging in as root (su). The following are in no particular order. Feel free to skip the ones you do not need.

1. Enable sudo

2. Install yum-fastestmirror plugin
yum-fastestmirror selects the fastest mirror for updating and installing packages. It can be installed by running the following in the terminal:

sudo yum install yum-fastestmirror

3. Add shutdown menu item permanently

4. Install flash player

5. Add minimize, maximize title bar buttons

6. Enable delete key in Nautilus

7. Enable right click on desktop and add Desktop folder on the Desktop

8. Show date on top panel

9. Install nautilus open terminal
If you use terminal a lot, you may want to have “Open in terminal” in folders in Nautilus file manager. To do so, install the package nautilus-open-terminal

sudo yum install nautilus-open-terminal

10. Install a torrent client
If you download via torrents, you will need a torrent client. While Fedora ships with Transmission Torrent Cliene, I prefer Vuze (Azureus) (written in Java). It can be installed by running the following in the terminal:

sudo yum install azureus

You may also like deluge (written in Python, Gtk) which is also an excellent alternative. It can be installed by running the following in the terminal:

sudo yum install deluge

11. Install Google Chrome
Although Firefox 4 is shipped by default, you may want to have a secondary browser or may prefer Google Chrome. You can simply download rpm from Google Chrome download page and install it. The package will automatically insert repository information so that you get updates from update manager.

12. Install Libreoffice
Libreoffice is available in the repository. I recommend “Add/Remove Software” to select and install office tools you need. libreoffice-writer (Word processor) and libreoffice-calc (Spreadsheet) is all I need. You may also want libreoffice-impress (Presentation) and libreoffice-draw (Drawing).

13. Install Thunderbird
I prefer Thunderbird to Evolution. You can install it from repository by running the following in the terminal:

sudo yum install thunderbird

14. Install a clipboard manager
If you do a lot of writing or programming, you will love a clipboard manager. I like parcellite and it is available in the repos as well. It can be installed by running the following in the terminal:

sudo yum install parcellite

UPDATE: You may also like another clipboard manager called GPaste which integrates well with Gnome Shell.

15. Install Google Voice and Video chat
If you use Google Voice, you can download and install rpm package from Google Voice and Video Download page.

16. Add support for media formats

17. Install support for rar and 7z archive formats
Rar is a proprietary format but it is used widely and you may encounter rar files so it is handy to have it installed.

sudo yum localinstall --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm
sudo yum install unrar

7z is also a popular format and it is also available in the repository.

sudo yum install p7zip p7zip-plugins

18. Install Gimp
Fedora does not ship with an image editor. I prefer Gimp and it can be installed by running the following in the terminal:

sudo yum install gimp

19. Install gnome-tweak-tool to customize fonts, themes etc
gnome-tweak-tool can be installed by running the following in the terminal:

sudo yum install gnome-tweak-tool

Run it (press Alt+F2 and type in gnome-tweak-tool) and change the settings. It does not have OK or Apply and simply selecting the options performs the changes. Some changes may require logging out and logging back in.

20. Install skype
Skype is a popular text, voice and video chat tool. You can download and install rpm from this link. If you have 32-bit, installation will be straightforward. However, if you have 64-bit, please read this post.

Please share what you did after installing Fedora 15 in the comments.

[HOWTO] Enable right click and desktop folder in Gnome 3

In Fedora 15, nautilus does not handle the desktop by default, nor can you right click on the desktop to bring up the menu. To enable this, install gnome-tweak-tool by using Add/Remove Software. Then, launch it and click on File Manager and then change “Have File Manager handle the Desktop” to “on”.


The changes take place instantly.

Hope this helps.

[HOWTO] Add Shutdown menu item permanently on Gnome 3

I am using Fedora 15 and in the menu, I just saw the menu item for Suspend and no Shutdown. It is shown when I press Alt, but I wanted to show it at all times. There is a simple fix for this and it involves installing a package.
Open up Add/Remove Software (Applications>System>Add/Remove Software) and then search for “gnome-shell-extensions-alternative-status-menu” and install it. Log out and log back in and you should see the menu item.

[HOWTO] Add support for MP3, AVI and other media formats by installing codecs in Fedora 15

I am running Fedora 15 Desktop and here is how I installed support for MP3, AVI and other media formats. I opened up the terminal and ran the following commands (enter root password when prompted):

su
yum localinstall --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm
yum update

Now, close the terminal and open up media in Totem and it should prompt you to find and install appropriate codecs. The installation is to be done only once for a media format.
Hope this helps.

[HOWTO] Show date on top bar in Gnome 3

I have installed Fedora 15 with Gnome 3. In the top bar, only day and time is shown. If you want the date to be shown as well, open terminal and run the following command:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.clock show-date true

The changes are instant and you should see date right away.

[HOWTO] Add Minimize, Maximize/Restore buttons in Gnome 3

I am using Fedora 15 with Gnome 3. The window title bars have only a Close button as control button. If you want to add other buttons here is what you need to do.

1. Install Configuration Editor

You can skip to step 2 if you have Configuration Editor installed.
Press Super (Windows) key and type Add/Remove and open Add/Remove Software.
Search for gconf-editor and install it. You may need to wait a while if you are using Add/Remove Software for the first time.

2. Use Configuration Editor to change button layout

Launch Configuration Editor.
In the Configuration Editor navigate to desktop>gnome>shell>windows
Find button_layout and enter the following to add Minimize and Maximize buttons:

:minimize,maximize,close

If you want Ubuntu-like control box, enter the following instead:

close,minimize,maximize:

3. Restart Shell or re-login

The changes are not instant. You either need to restart Gnome shell using Alt+F2 > r > ENTER (as reader Elliot pointed out in the comments) or you need to log out and log back in to see the changes.

Hope this helps.