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
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- "Investors started offloading shares on Wednesday in response to an X post about the debt load of CoreWeave Inc..."
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part V - Keeping Linux Under Users' Control, Not Microsoft's (NSA) Control, Leads to Weaponisation of Cops (Killing the Messengers)
- Transatlantic lawfare
- UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Says Microsoft is Still Abusive
- Today, ahead of the latest fake 'results' [...] Microsoft cheats the system everywhere it can
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- GPL Was Right (About Hoarding, Now Automated With Plagiarism Blenders)
- Some time next year the UK's High Court might listen to arguments related to this
- Microsoft Allegedly Asks Many Workers to Leave at the End of This Year (or Get the Boot), It's Called Voluntary Exit Program a.k.a. Voluntary Early Retirement Program (or VEP) Even for People Far Too Young to Retire
- "Everyone at Microsoft knows what those acronyms mean."
- The Torvalds-led Slopfest as a Reminder to Pursue Software Freedom, Not Plagiarism Endorsed (for Money) by 'Linux' Foundation
- What's happening this month moreover proves that he is not in control of important decisions in his project
- Why We Never Got Back to IPFS
- Practically speaking, we could get back to IPFS any time
- Red Hat Silent Layoffs: October 1 Bluewashing, Then Leaving IBM Altogether
- It's said that weeks from now there will be another "round" (of "RAs")
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- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC logs for Friday, October 16, 2026
- TeamBlind Accused of Censorship, Maybe Surveillance in the Future
- It's expensive to protect whistleblowers and to resist censorship of what whistleblowers try to expose
- Another Friday 'Litter' of IBM Workers, Discarded and Sometimes Replaced to Cut Costs
- The little that IBM earns is spent buying companies to pretend there's "growth" and headcount stability
- Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Carrie, Games, and Slop
- Links for the day
- Links 16/10/2026: Election Interference by Slop; White House Backs Russia, Not Ukraine
- Links for the day
- The Register MS Has New 'Article' That Has "AI" 20 Times. "SPONSORED POST" As Usual.
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- Links for the day
- Deplatforming People You Disagree With Is a Losing Strategy
- Trying to deplatform people you don't agree with is oppressive and petty
- Microsoft Cannot Pay Salaries
- Microsoft is deep in debt
- IBM "support that is USA based will migrate over 4 years to Indian based just because it lowers costs substantially."
- IBM is not capable of growing, so it tries to find ways to shave off costs
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- Links for the day
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- Microsoft deflecting?
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- Keep it simple, stupid (KISS)
- Wikileaks Still Matters
- The world needs more sites like these
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- His staff is constantly on strike and engaged in various industrial actions
- We Don't Do Slop
- People tend to appreciate genuine work, not fakes
- On Lying With Confidence
- LLMs are hype
- Market Share of Windows in the United Kingdom is Shockingly Low
- Microsoft's losses are very profound
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 15, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, October 15, 2026
- Microsoft Can Barely Afford to Colonise Africa Any Longer (Too Much Debt)
- "Before the announcement, former Microsoft employees publicly described staff being placed on performance improvement plans or offered “voluntary” exits."
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part IV - Harassment Registered With the Police Before Projection Attempts Made From America
- The thing one gets subjected to for opposing back doors in Linux
- Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Dogs, Slop, and Blogging
- Links for the day
- The Fate of "Alicante Mafia" at the EPO Yet to Be Determined
- It'll be interesting to hear what they say about the secret meeting regarding the future of Campinos
- Gemini Links 15/10/2026: Medical Difficulty, Science Fiction, and Playstation 3 Dies
- Links for the day
- Links 15/10/2026: Cuts to Public Health and Misuse of License Plate Data for Social Control
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- Links 15/10/2026: ALPRs Are Mass Surveillance, GAFAM Front Group ('New' EFF) Asks the Wisconsin Supreme Court to End Warrantless ALPR Searches
- Links for the day
- IBM RAs: "It's on Me"
- IBM has no respect for the workers and it tries to hide the layoffs
- Gemini Links 15/10/2026: Literature, Funerals, and Devices
- Links for the day
- The Efforts to Criminalise Opposition to a Ponzi Scheme Sold as "Super Intelligence" (Plagiarism Engines, Disinformation Generators)
- Cops are becoming combatants for slop bros, i.e. they use power to promote a Ponzi scheme
- Clownflare Sees Most Requests in Africa Coming From Android (Linux)
- Android is the dominant platform
- IBM's "RA Season" is Nearly Upon Us, But Tens of Thousands Are Already Marked for Removal With PIPs (as "Low Performers")
- IBM is a dying company
- Microsoft Has Confirmed It Had a Plan to Cut Azure (or Azure Costs) by 20%
- So basically... yes! Microsoft did have a plan to slash Azure.
- No Noticeable Libera Chat Exodus After Code of Censorship (CoC) Scandal Earlier This Month
- Libera Chat pissed off some people by unmasking the CoC's real purpose
- Red Hat Silent Layoffs Seem to Carry on Throughout This Month
- How much longer will these silent layoffs (e.g. PIPs) carry on for?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 14, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, October 14, 2026
