Gnome3 Tweaks & Solutions -- F15 -THESE ARE FOR F15 and may not work with F16

kurtdriver · #1 28th March 2011, 07:03 AM

A lot of the discussion about Gnome 3 is about the defaults. Many people don't seem to understand this, they think for instance, that you can't have minimize or maximize buttons. You can and many other defaults can be changed, too.

Want those buttons? Do

Code:

 
gconftool-2 -s -t string /desktop/gnome/shell/windows/button_layout ":minimize,maximize,close"

Remove from this command any of the three you don't want.

If you want your clock to show the date,

Quote:

Originally Posted by kraekan

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

You can also set these in gnome-tweak-tool which is the repos. This will allow a good number of configuration changes. Any more?

Edit: I put this in this category as I thought it should not be archived, provided other people find tweaks to share, when F15 is released.

vallimar · #2 29th March 2011, 04:31 PM

I mentioned a few tweaks already, including the menu one here:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showpo...6&postcount=19

***bob*** · #3 15th May 2011, 12:47 PM

Okay People, let's use a Guide to help others get the most out of Gnome3. Please highlight your tweak and let's keep the bickering to a minimum, please.

Gnome Shell Extensions: http://intgat.tigress.co.uk/rmy/extensions/index.html - This tweak gives back a lot of the functionality of Gnome2. It puts your favorite apps in the taskbar, returns a regular menu, multiple workspaces and more! Best of all, you still have the Gnome3 experience by moving your cursor to the top left for the Gnome3 applications icons.

Alacarte ("yum install alacarte") : Now you can modify your menu and create launchers. For instance, I enjoy the game Sauerbraten which isn't in yum, but easily installed from source. Okay, it's a PITA to open a terminal every time I want to play and then type "./sauerbraten_unix". So, with Alacarte, I add a launcher to my Games menu, browse to "sauerbraten_unix" and done (suitable icon added). Now, after the Gnome Shell Extension tweak, I add to Favorites and it's on the task bar.

Poweroff & Reboot: Once again, I don't like the hidden options that can only be displayed by using Alt from the sub-menu. Much too lazy for that! So, again using Alacarte and creating launchers, I simply add icons and type in the commands "poweroff" for one and "reboot" for another. Save to Favorites and with the Gnome Shell Extensions, there's handy one-click buttons on my task bar.

Maximize - Minimize-Close Buttons: Where'd they go? I want those good old right-hand top of app buttons back! Well, it's simple. Just install gnome-tweak-tool and you'll find the app under Accessories > Tweak Advanced Settings. Among other neat tweaks, click on Shell, then select "Arrangement of buttons on title bar" - All. Log out, back in and your buttons are back!

Icons On Your Desktop: Hey, I like clutter and want to see my "computer", "trash can" "home" and other icons right there on my desktop! Okay, with the gnome-tweak-tool, click on File Manager and turn on "have file manager handle the desktop". Now the usual icons are back, plus anything you want to add to Desktop will be in plain view!

And from the crew at Gnome3: https://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/CheatSheet The Gnome Shell Cheat Sheet

Okay, that's just a start. Let's see what you can add!

Dictator · #4 15th May 2011, 01:06 PM

one (alternative) addition to power off button.

Code:

sudo yum install gnome-shell-extensions-alternative-status-menu

reboot and tadaaaaaa

Rahul Sundaram's Tip: You don't have to reboot for anything. Press Alt+f2, press r and then enter to restart the shell. Your applications won't be killed and changes in the shell will take effect immediately.

* If u 'sudo' then use user's admin priviledges password ; if u 'su' then use root user's priviledges password ;

DokterW · #5 15th May 2011, 02:04 PM

Search Buttons

Want to change the search buttons 'Wikipedia' and/or 'Google'?

You'll find the files located here: /usr/share/gnome-shell/search_providers/

Similar to the format that Firefox uses, but not so similar you can easily to a 'cp'. Just open google.xml and see to it that the new search button has a similar markup as google.xml.

To make any changes you have to be root, so be careful!

Made any changes to gnome-shell?

1. Press alt+f2

2. Enter the character (without apostrophes) 'r'

3. Press 'Enter'

Access Network Connects

1. Press alt+f2

2. Enter (without apostrophes) 'nm-connection-editor'

3. Press 'Enter'

Get online with Mobile Broadband

1. Press alt+f2

2. Enter (without apostrophes) 'nm-connection-editor'

3. Press 'Enter'

4. Select 'Mobile Broadband' and press 'Add'

5. When asked to save setting, after you've clicked 'Finish', tick the box that says 'Connect automatically'

This should hopefully force a Mobile Broadband connection. If you are having problems getting online with Mobile Broadband.

***Dangermouse*** · #6 15th May 2011, 02:07 PM

I already did some tweaks for G3 here that may be of help
http://www.dnmouse.org/autoten/gnome-3-extra-tips.html

Here is also a good guide to using G3,
http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/CheatSheet
Tip to open up an app in a new workspace, just middle mouse click on it

***Dan*** · #7 15th May 2011, 02:12 PM

Some of the more obvious, and some not so much.

1) Need your icons back on your desktop?

Code:

 yum install gnome-tweak-tool

Then, from that tool, select File Manager, and click it to "On." The trick here is, nautilus doesn't seem to start until you hit the file browser for the first time, so go to Applications, and run startup applications preferences, and add an entry there for nautilus. Just "nautilus" should do it.

2) In the same tool, select "Windows" and you can return roll-up functionality to your windows.

3) To help the real estate issue with the default setup, go to the "Fonts" setting in the same tool, and carefully adjust your text scaling factor. Go easy here! It takes a second for things to work, and you can very easily go way too far before it does.

4) Of course, the clock and calendar tweaks are here too under "Shell."

I'll post this and dig up some more soon, so check back to this post later.

Tired of those clearly unreasonable easements surrounding the titlebar in Adwaita? There's a fix for that! But you're going to have to roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty in a text editor to get it done.

Two ways to do this: In a terminal/GUI mix, or just in a terminal. Pick your poison.

Mixed: Assuming you've already installed nautilus-terminal-open ... right click the desktop (or a browser window if you have not allowed nautilus to handle the desktop as indicated above) and open a terminal. Then ...

Code:

su - (provide root password)

nautilus --no-desktop

Then, using the browser window you just opened, drill down to: /usr/share/themes/Adwaita/metacity-1/ and open metacity-theme-3.xml in an editor.

Then edit the appropriate sections as indicated below.

Quote:

<frame_geometry name="normal" title_scale="medium" rounded_top_left="4" rounded_top_right="4">
<distance name="left_width" value="3" />
<distance name="right_width" value="3" />
<distance name="bottom_height" value="5" />
<distance name="left_titlebar_edge" value="0"/>
<distance name="right_titlebar_edge" value="0"/>
<distance name="title_vertical_pad" value="6"/>
<border name="title_border" left="10" right="10" top="1" bottom="1"/>
<border name="button_border" left="0" right="0" top="1" bottom="3"/>
<aspect_ratio name="button" value="1"/>
</frame_geometry>

And:

Quote:

<draw_ops name="titlebar_fill_focused_alt">
<gradient type="vertical" x="0" y="0" width="width" height="height">
<color value="#0a0a0a" />
<color value="#fdfdfd" />
<color value="#1a1a1a" />



<color value="gtk:bg[NORMAL]"/>
</gradient>
</draw_ops>

Quote:

<draw_ops name="button_fill"> 
<gradient type="vertical" x="0" y="0" width="width" height="height-2">
<color value="#ededed" />
<color value="#adadad" />
<color value="#fefefe" />

</gradient>
</draw_ops>

What you end up with is: Window edges that are easier to grab, a thinner title bar across the top, and a radically changed gradient from the original theme. You can see what I've commented out between the  tags. I've replaced them with my own brand of insanity. What you do with them is entirely up to you. In short, fiddle with it and have fun. It's fedora. If you break it, you get to keep the pieces.

A caveat before you get started, though. If you haven't set up a root GUI account to go in and fix stuff after you break it ... you might want to back up the files before you start, and get comfy in a terminal ... just in case. <..

..>

!

Dictator · #8 15th May 2011, 02:32 PM

thumbs up Dan. i was ready to put the post reply button but u got me with that.

there's an extensive info for the gnome-tweak-tool HERE

***Dangermouse*** · #9 15th May 2011, 07:53 PM

Shameless bump Dan

Couldnt put up with not seeing the workspaces anymore, so have installed avant + awn it has made a massive difference, makes it so more practical for me

and i actually prefer G3 now!

***bob*** · #10 15th May 2011, 08:03 PM

Ah yeah Dave, that's purty! But, since this is a Guide, maybe a bit more info would be important. Here's what Joe User's gonna do:

Quote:

[bob@localhost ~]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost bob]# yum install avant
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
adobe-linux-i386 | 951 B 00:00
google-earth | 951 B 00:00
rpmfusion-free-rawhide | 3.3 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-nonfree-rawhide | 3.3 kB 00:00
Setting up Install Process
No package avant available.
Error: Nothing to do
[root@localhost bob]# yum install awn
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Setting up Install Process
No package awn available.
Error: Nothing to do

Aw shoot! Dave's off doing important stuff. Well, let's give some info here until he returns and does it better:

Quote:

yum install avant-window-navigator awn-extras-applets

That will get things started. Now, test it by opening a terminal and launch it: "avant-window-navigator" should do that.
Then, let's get it into the start-up: Click on the avant-window-navigator icon and play with the many options. Down at the bottom, under General, there's "start Awn automatically". That does it! Reboot and test.

molossus · #11 17th May 2011, 06:58 PM

to get all 3 buttons and not just the close button on gnome shell install:
yum install gnome-tweak-tool

to find this tool type tweak on the search bar
then you can set it to show all 3 buttons and other gnome settings.

***Dangermouse*** · #12 19th May 2011, 10:38 AM

I have wrote a small guide to change the login background (gdm) here

This is how to change the login (gdm) background in G3, some what of a pain but heres how i did it.
The picture you want as background should be in /usr/share/backgrounds
Log into a root terminal

Code:

 su -

Now enter these commands

Code:

su - gdm -s /bin/bash
dbus-launch

and you will get an output similar to below (yours will be different numbers etc..)
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:abstract=/tmp/dbus-ULWxloZAzI,guid=e19ddee8bb144a23eb550ba6000005d4
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID=4347
Now re-enter the output putting export in front of it like below again your output will be different to mine

Code:

 export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:abstract=/tmp/dbus-ULWxloZAzI,guid=e19ddee8bb144a23eb550ba6000005d4
 export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID=4347

Now to actually change the background, substituting the path to your picture

Code:

GSETTINGS_BACKEND=dconf gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri "file:///usr/share/backgrounds/dangermouse/010.jpg"

Now when you restart/logout the login background should of changed..

http://www.dnmouse.org/autoten/gnome...ackground.html

***Dangermouse*** · #13 19th May 2011, 11:44 AM

Difficulty resizing windows

If like me you have diffuculty resizing windows, heres how to make it easier

Code:

 su -
 gedit /usr/share/themes/Adwaita/metacity-1/metacity-theme-3.xml

(or what theme you are using)

now find these lines and change 1,1,2, to 3,3,5or what size suits you best.

<frame_geometry name="normal" title_scale="medium" rounded_top_left="4" rounded_top_right="4">
<distance name="left_width" value="3" />
<distance name="right_width" value="3" />
<distance name="bottom_height" value="5" />
<distance name="left_titlebar_edge" value="0"/>
<distance name="right_titlebar_edge" value="0"/>
<distance name="title_vertical_pad" value="0"/>
<border name="title_border" left="10" right="10" top="1" bottom="1"/>
<border name="button_border" left="0" right="0" top="1" bottom="3"/>
<aspect_ratio name="button" value="1"/>
</frame_geometry>
Now refresh (alt+f2 'r' enter) or restart

Resize the Massive Titlebar gnome 3

This is how to change the size, you may want to play around to get your ideal size

Code:

su -
 sed -i "/title_vertical_pad/s/value=\"[0-9]\{1,2\}\"/value=\"0\"/g"  /usr/share/themes/Adwaita/metacity-1/metacity-theme-3.xml

Now press Alt+F2 then 'r' and enter to refresh or restart comp..

***Dangermouse*** · #14 20th May 2011, 08:49 PM

Heres another very rough guide to change shell themes etc.. (plus themes)

http://www.dnmouse.org/autoten/gnome...ge-themes.html
http://half-left.deviantart.com/

beavenburt · #15 24th May 2011, 10:08 PM

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned in the thread but in fallback mode you can drag desktop items onto the panel to create launchers.