Set gnome-shell to start in fallback mode without GUI.

If you run into issues with gnome-shell then gnome-shell should allow you to disable all the plugins and get the gnome-shell. But since gnome-shell is still evolving, you might run into issue where the shell does not come up. What to do in that case. You can set the shell to start in fallback mode, where there are more chances that it will come up.

Alas, but you don’t have a shell or desktop session to do that. Simple, start the gnome-shell and before it is killed, do this:

Screenshot of Gnome3 with awn

Here is another screenshot of my laptop desktop with Gnome 3 and AWN (Avant window Navigator) running. Looks beautiful, isn’t it?

<p>
  By the way, with this setup I have the <a class="zem_slink" title="Old Style and New Style dates" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates" rel="wikipedia">old style</a> menu also just that instead of on the top it is on the bottom just like old RH9 🙂
</p>

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    <a href="http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/17/1943218/Interview-With-GNOME-3-Designer-Jon-McCann">Interview With GNOME 3 Designer Jon McCann</a> (tech.slashdot.org)
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    <a href="http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0115232/Linus-Torvalds-Ditches-GNOME-3-For-Xfce">Linus Torvalds Ditches GNOME 3 For Xfce</a> (linux.slashdot.org)
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Gnome 3 screenshot with conky dock

Just to give you a idea of how beautiful it looks, here’s a screenshot 🙂

[][1]

Related articles

• This ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Ubuntu desktop is gorgeous and simple to achieve (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• [How To] Make A Minimal-looking Narwhal Desktop (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• Gnome Sweet Gnome (casasugar.com)

Gnome 3 shell themes

If you are using gnome-shell and are bored with the same default theme then read on…. 🙂

By default changing the default theme requires that you modify the files yourself or copy few files to the required directories. Well, if this is not in your scheme of things for changing the theme, a very simple task. Now, you can simply do this with gnome shell extensions.

Gnome Tips

Add/Edit GDM Sessions

Each session is a *.desktop file located at /usr/share/xsessions.

GDM appearance

You can change background image, gtk/icon theme by hands (as described at Gnome_2.28_Changes#Configuring_gdm_2.28), or you can use gdm2setup from the AUR.

Tweaking

If your gnome applications seem sluggish and gnome hangs at start-up after killing the previous session, it’s likely you haven’t set your /etc/hosts file correctly and your /etc/hosts file includes:

127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain     localhost      YOURHOSTNAME

Then run “/bin/hostname YOURHOSTNAME” and “/sbin/ifconfig lo up” as root.

New feature in Nautilus – resize icon on desktop.

On Desktop on Gnome using nautilus, now you can resize individual icons. Just right click on the icon to resize and in the menu you will get a resize icon :

[][1]

and then you can resize the icon from the borders:

[][2]

Related articles

• “Where is this icon?” Nautilus script is incredibly nifty (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• Use Nautilus’ Emblems feature to keep your home folder organised (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• Screenshots: Desktop Unity in Natty (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• Add a quick-access shortcuts to the GNOME right-click menu (ghacks.net)

New feature in Gnome/Nautilus

One of the things that I never realized that I am missing in Nautilus until they put the feature in was this. When a file is being copied and there is conflict, there should be option to rename the new file being copied. Also, if the file being copied is image then a small preview/thumbnail would be good.

Yesterday while copying some files, suddenly I noticed that this feature is there now. Pretty useful feature to have. Here’s the screen-shot.