Links 25/01/2014: GNOME Desktop/Shell/Alternatives Roundup
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-01-25 20:51:32 UTC
- Modified: 2014-01-25 20:51:32 UTC
Summary: News about GNOME desktop and desktops that are derived from it
GNOME Desktop/Shell
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Most Linux distros bundle GNOME desktop environment (DE) with even minor version numbers (3.8.x, 3.10.x). Like Fedora was released with GNOME 3.10.3. The version 3.11.2 was available in November but it was not bundled .The reason behind it is that GNOME takes a different approach to their software releases. The odd minor versions (3.9, 3.11) of GNOME are development versions of the subsequent even versions (3.10, 3.12). So the .11 version is roughly an alpha version of the .12 branch.
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For a while it looked like Ubuntu 14.04 would stick to a GNOME 3.8 world, for the GNOME packages it ships in Ubuntu Linux as newer packages are partially held back by Ubuntu dependencies for their Unity desktop. Previously blocking the GNOME 3.10 update in Ubuntu was the GNOME Control Center, which ended up being forked by Canonical until their own Ubuntu System Settings can be developed.
Alternatives
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Surely users must be ready for a change from the default Gnome Shell theme by now. I have sampled some of the available Gnome Shell themes on Fedora 20 and now you can see them for yourself. A new shell theme will not change your entire desktop, but it will provide a new look for the activities overview window, and the Gnome indicator applet panel.
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I get a lot of queries regarding the difference(s) between the MATE and Cinnamon desktop environments. And of course such queries tend to come from those new to Linux and Free Software.
For the benefit of those class of users, this very brief article summarizes the key difference between these two desktop environments. Nothing technical, just basic stuff that will help those users to better understand what their options are. And because a picture is worth more than a thousand words, there are a couple of galleries to complete the picture.
Applications
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GNOME has finally updated the look and feel of their text editor, gedit. The app has been redesigned to match the newer GNOME 3 interface guidelines.
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The GNOME Project has also announced today that a new development release of the Epiphany 3.12 web browser for the upcoming GNOME 3.12 desktop environment is now available for download and testing.
Epiphany 3.11.3 adds HTTPS (secure HTTP) support for both the DuckDuckGo and Google search engines, improves the looks of the location bar and the downloads bar, improves filename suggestion for downloads, and cleans up the style of the about: pages.
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Dconf 0.19.3 introduces various improvements in the test coverage area, adds a proper DCONF_ERROR error domain, suppress the GLib deprecation warnings during the build process, correctly handles writability changes in GSettings, displays warnings about missing files only once per source, and it will link to -ldl only if it is required.
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The GNOME Project has released the fourth development release towards the Eye of GNOME 3.12 application, which will be the default image viewer for the highly anticipated GNOME 3.12 desktop environment.
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GVFS 1.19.4 introduces pull support for gPhoto2 and implements truncate and seek support for output streams for the DAV (Distributed Authoring and Versioning) protocol.
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The GNOME Project has announced a new development version towards GNOME PackageKit 3.12, a graphical user interface (GUI) for the powerful PackageKit software, which will be used in the upcoming GNOME 3.12 desktop environment.
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The GNOME development team behind the Glib project, a library used in the GNOME desktop environment, has announced the immediate availability for download of Glib 2.39.3, which introduces lots of fixes.
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Dubbed Spoilers, the third development version of the upcoming GNOME Documents 3.12 software, the main document viewer of the GNOME 3.12 desktop environment, has been made available for testing.
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The GNOME Project has announced that a second development release towards the upcoming GNOME Weather 3.12 application that will be available in the GNOME 3.12 desktop environment is available for testing.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- An Illusion and Cult Worship of Magnitude (Ubiquity as "Victory")
- GNU has been around for over 40 years and it'll likely continue to exist for another 40 (in some form)
- Wall Street Does Not Care About Microsoft's Impending (August) Layoffs, It Believes Lies From Microsoft, Whose Debt Grows Rapidly
- If Microsoft is doing so well and swimming in money, why so many cuts (about 29,000 layoffs so far this year)?
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- Sabotaging Linux on Behalf of Microsoft With UEFI 'Secure' Boot (De Facto Remote 'Kill Switch'), Then Defaming, Stalking and Harassing Critics of 'Secure' Boot for 12 Years, Then SLAPPing Their Spouses and Them
- The sorts of stubborn lunatics we've been dealing with
- Moving on in Techrights, Geeks Gonna Geek
- In the coming weeks we plan to focus (as we explained last week) on patents, GNU/Linux issues, and the occasional philosophical essays
- Slopwatch: Google News Has Lost the Plot
- Almost the majority of articles returned for "Linux" are fakes
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- Links for the day
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- The probability of bankruptcy of any business is more than 0%
- theregister.com: The Voice of Microsoft US?
- It basically sold out
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- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 31/07/2025: Fake Money and Gemini Diaries
- Links for the day
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- Google has become a misinformation company
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 30, 2025
- IRC logs for Wednesday, July 30, 2025
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- don't look for the "L" word
- Wayland Considered Harmful (to GNU/Linux Adoption)
- it's not limited to games
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- We believe it'll be a "feather in the cap" if we can help change laws in the UK to better protect investigative reporters
- Slopwatch Makes the Web Better
- Remember what happened to BetaNews?
- Slopwatch: Google News is Pumping in Lots of Web Traffic Into Fake Sites That Say "Linux"
- somewhere between 30% and 40% of today's "news" about "Linux", as seen by Google News, is LLM slop
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- Links for the day
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- Links for the day
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- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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- Links 30/07/2025: Tea Class Action and Google Killing the Web With Slop
- Links for the day
- Last Month Our IRC Community Turned 17
- Funnily enough we never missed a single day when it comes to logging
- "The Unix Kernel"
- Linux was inspired by MINIX
- The Register Relays Microsoft Marketing, Dubs That Marketing "Research"
- Hours ago they did a "Microsoft sez" piece
- Dealing With Sociopaths, Liars, and Cranks
- A dysfunctional society such as this would never develop
- Not Owning Mobile Phones
- It's not about resistance; it's common sense
- Google 'Search' is Fast Becoming No Better Than Social Control Media Infested With Bots
- Google emerged almost 30 years ago as a company looking to organise the Web and direct people towards informative pages. That Google is dead.
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- This is the direction we want for GNU/Linux, not some IBM sales strategy
- Gemini Links 30/07/2025: Two Sides of Me and "Hooked on Cosmic Voyage"
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Will Continue Resorting to Crimes in Order to Keep GNU/Linux Usage Down
- It is a real problem and we'll revisit it later this week
- GAFAM 'Revolving Doors' at The Register and a "Bribe Price List"
- "an analyst at Microsoft"
- Microsoft Rapidly Shrinking (No, It's Not About Efficiency, It's About Unbearable Debt)
- We'll soon see how much debt grew in the past quarter
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 29, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, July 29, 2025
- Corruption is the Standard Operating Procedure at the European Patent Office (EPO)
- The EPO is a dictatorship that stains Europe
- Local Staff Committee Munich (LSCMN) at the European Patent Office (EPO) Requests an Urgent Meeting to Avoid Abolishing the Office
- This is dictatorship led by the most corrupt
- Slopwatch: Fake 'Linux' 'Articles' and Spamfarms/Slopfarms
- at least 5 fake articles in one day
- Gemini Links 29/07/2025: Wayland Unfit for Use and LLM Slop Faking One's Language Skills With Robot Communications
- Links for the day
- Before the OSI Was Bribed and Hijacked by Microsoft via GitHub and Compromised Management...
- The OSI isn't even remotely "woke"
- Nailing the "Hey Hi" (AI) Hype Bubble
- So-called "hey hi" as they define it now is all about large companies or regimes remotely controlling the processes running on your machine and even your very own behaviour on your machine, which is in effect no longer your machine but some remotely controlled apparatus
- The OSI Has Been Silent for Over 3 Weeks, It Has a Severe Trust Issue After Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary GitHub
- OSI took a lot of money from Microsoft to become a Microsoft lobbyist
- "Four decades; Four freedoms; For all users" Now as a T-shirt
- That's shown along the sidebar
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- It's very troubling and a symptom of a broken society/system when particular laws or rules are applied and enforced against some people but not against others
- Links 29/07/2025: Bad Climate and "Fair Software Licensing" Blasts Microsoft
- Links for the day
- Links 29/07/2025: Data Brokers Gone Wrong/Rogue and "Copyright Thicket"
- Links for the day
- Slopwatch: Linuxconfig.org, Linuxsecurity.com, Fagioli, The Register
- Today's "Slopwatch" isn't the first article about LLM slop
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- Correcting mistakes is a colossal challenge
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- Being in "Activism" is never easy; but it does positive things for society
- Yes, Microsoft is the Problem
- "I am no MS shill."
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- This issue isn't limited to computing, some dub it "globalism"
- Another Failed Use Case for Chatbots (LLM): Legal Advice and Analysis
- They're just some self-discrediting toy that costs way too much to operate
- Links 29/07/2025: More Pushbacks Against Slop and More Praises of Tom Lehrer
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 29/07/2025: Purple Yarrow and Understanding Op Amps
- Links for the day
- This Monday WebProNews Absolutely Flooded the Web With Fake (LLM Slop) 'Articles' About "Linux", Google News Promoted Them as Legitimate
- All of the following are fake articles attributed to pseudonyms or authors that don't exist; the images are also slop. Why does Google promote these?
- Linuxiac is Not a Slopfarm, But at Least Some of Its Articles Are Machine-Generated Fakes
- what we said about it was correct
- Expect More Microsoft Layoffs
- "Are more job cuts coming?"
- Microsoft Behaving Like It's Running Out of Money to Pay Salaries
- Does that seem like the behaviour expected from a company which claims it is "worth" trillions?
- LWN Downtime Due to Linode, Not LLM Bots
- "I’ve received an email letting me know that there is a potential for data loss."
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 28, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, July 28, 2025
