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
- IBM Behaves Like a Company Looking for Loose Change Between Sofa Cushions
- Chasing laid-off workers for dollars and even pennies, making excuses and devising loopholes (such as PIPs) to flout severance obligations
- EPO Union Leaders in Rijswijk Explain Where EPO Strikes Stand and How to Prepare for Next Week's
- We have some revelations to share in a few days
- Microsoft's "AI CEO" (Slop Propagandist) is Projecting, Many Microsoft "Jobs to be Replaced With All-Indian Low-Paid Staff in 12 Months"
- Windows is perishing
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- GNU/Linux Adoption is Higher in Richer Countries
- Is it because freedom is actually expensive - something that only privileged people can pursue?
- Links 20/02/2026: Windows TCO Versus Deutsche Bahn, Europe Seeks More Independent Digital Future
- Links for the day
- IBM, Red Hat and Fedora: Don't Say "Master", It Offends People. Also IBM, Red Hat and Fedora: "Master Podman".
- The hypocrisy at Red Hat and Fedora shows no boundaries
- IBM Layoffs Aren't Just in IBM 'Proper'
- Who is still using Lotus after the HCL move?
- The Register MS Gets Paid by Gartner to Promote a Ponzi Scheme for Gartner, Microsoft, and Others
- The credibility of that site will suffer because it tries to sell a major scam to its audience
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 19, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, February 19, 2026
- Gemini Links 19/02/2026: "Towards a Gemini Famicom Resource" and Dumping Microsoft
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Found Another Bailout Opportunity: Killing People
- Good thing that Nadella is not racist!
- No "Smart Mobs" (Social Control Media) in BRIC?
- It looks like the "Social" "Media" sites tracked by statCounter see little from (or of) BRIC, and moreover it is declining fast
- The Few Slopfarms We Saw Today
- The sentiment has changed a lot
- Links 19/02/2026: Protecting Framework Laptop 13, Hardware Drive Shortages
- Links for the day
- In Africa's Second-Largest Nation, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Opera 10 Times Bigger Than Firefox (and GNU/Linux Now at 5%)
- This will become an accessibility problem
- Links 19/02/2026: "A.I.pocalypse" Inevitable and "Butlers to LLMs"
- Links for the day
- An Inherently Royal (Monarchs') Legal System Where Size Matters (Big Capital Eats the Small)
- This reinforces the notion that justice is only for those who can afford it
- These Statistics Should Keep Microsoft Shareholders Awake at Night
- Windows is, in general (all versions collectively), declining over time
- Economic Failure and Other Harsh Realities Have Nothing to Do With Slop 'Innovation'
- Advanced propaganda, not advanced 'AI' [...] They attack workers while insulting their intelligence
- Spaniards Shutting Down MElon's Digital Weapon of "Smart Mobs"
- Are the Spanish people already acting based on gut feeling and shunning/shutting out the provocation vector?
- Bitcoin: government engagement contradictions
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Richard Stallman in the United States - Part II - "Haters Gonna Hate"
- we shall carry on with this series at the right pace
- Typical! Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Tells Victims of Fraud to Wait 10 Weeks
- justice delayed is justice denied
- statCounter: Only One in 350 Iranians Would Use Microsoft for Web Search
- Microsoft is trying to fake "demand"
- Slides Shown a Week Ago by the EPO's Staff Committee Ahead of the Second Very Large Strike
- This coming weekend we'll drop a 'bombshell' of sorts
- EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part II - Illegal Drug Addicts Mobbing the Wrong People, This Will Definitely Backfire
- This year may well be the last year of Team Campinos. Nobody will hire them after that.
- Mass Layoffs (But Silent Layoffs) Still Happening in IBM, You Need Only Look Closely (There Are NDAs, PIPs, 'Early Retirement' Sweeteners and IBM - Like Microsoft - Skirts the WARN Act)
- the layoffs are definitely happening
- Very Little Slop
- We are not finding much slop anymore
- Links 19/02/2026: Illegal Kangaroo Court for Patents Attracts Aggressive Firms, Public Domain Review Grows
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 19/02/2026: Taxing the Rich, Raspberry Pi 4 Tinkering
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 18, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, February 18, 2026
- Links 18/02/2026: DMCA Weakened, Anna’s Archive Still Thriving
- Links for the day
- Links 18/02/2026: Gig 'Economy' Condemned, Microsoft Insulting/Stressing People With False Slop Predictions
- Links for the day
- Twitter Falling to 1% in Africa's Largest Nation (Algeria)
- About 15 years ago the regime in Egypt got toppled (and others had been too) partly because of social control media such as Twitter
- "How Many Friends Do You Have?"
- "Do bots count?" "Friends in Facebook?" "Does a girlfriend chatbot count as a friend?"
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Responds to Crises Only After It's Way Too Late
- The SRA does not do its job. The new chief's job is face-saving PR in the media.
- The Techrights Team Makes the Platform Faster
- The infrastructure is already fast
- Mozilla Firefox Died in Afghanistan
- Mozilla has been a complete disaster
- Gemini Links 18/02/2026: Astronomy and Texinfo
- Links for the day
- Are IBM CEO and IBM CFO Ready for Financial Audit That Topples the Shares by 50% in One Day?
- The same "chefs" that cooked up Kyndryl Holdings Inc are still in charge of the IBM kitchen
- France Does Not Need Digital Weapons Disguised as Social and as Media
- French people lost interest in Social Control 'Media' (or Networks)
- "Senior AI Reporter" at Slop Technica/Ars Sloppica Has Written Nothing in Nearly a Week, Did Conde Nast Suspend Him for Fake Articles With Fake Quotes?
- Slop Technica/Ars Sloppica is having a serious credibility issue right now
- Linux Foundation Puts Slop Images, Not Just Slop Text, in Linux.com
- More of the same then
- The Register MS Paid-for 'Articles' (Ads) Seem to be LLM Slop Again
- If it's true that The Register MS is resorting to these marketing tactics, will they later delete the evidence (as they did months ago)?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 17, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, February 17, 2026
