Debian Stretch (Gnome et al.) on my laptop
Tags debian stretch, gnome3
EDIT 2015-08-04: Window resizing issue fixed.
EDIT 2015-11-01: Add more install tips. Modal dialog issue fixed.
EDIT 2016-01-17:
EDIT 2016-03-30: Nautilus (Gnome Files) settings.
EDIT 2016-04-21: Hint for terminal alternative to Gnome openweather extension.
EDIT 2016-07-12: Touchpad changes (synaptics/libinput). Gnome-photos still lacks functionality. gnome-system-tools dropped by upstream.
EDIT 2016-07-19: gnome-shell-extension-top-icons-plus (newly packaged)
See also the the Jessie issues.
Current bugs:
Install:
Uninstall:
You might've got accustomed to some of the following packages over the years. Don't worry if they get uninstalled now.
So now I have systemd installed. This means I can uninstall:
With pm-utils gone, the following uninstall automatically:
If you have installed systemd-cron also these go/have gone:
gnome-system-tools to manage e.g. user-accounts is dropped by upstream and not used anymore by upstream Gnome (see this RFA bug). Instead its functionality has been added to gnome-control-center.
Touchpad changes:
It's still kind of work in progress, but it seems the xinput driver (libinput) will replace the synaptics driver (xserver-xort-input-synaptics). This may bring a better touchpad recognition (e.g. better palm detection to prevent accidentally using the keyboard - although that may just be disabled in your old synaptics installation, check with:synclient | grep PalmDetect). But for some people it caused more problems. See this thread at debian-devel.
Configure:
Wishlist:
Yay, gets installed automatically now:
EDIT 2015-11-01: Add more install tips. Modal dialog issue fixed.
EDIT 2016-01-17:
EDIT 2016-03-30: Nautilus (Gnome Files) settings.
EDIT 2016-04-21: Hint for terminal alternative to Gnome openweather extension.
EDIT 2016-07-12: Touchpad changes (synaptics/libinput). Gnome-photos still lacks functionality. gnome-system-tools dropped by upstream.
EDIT 2016-07-19: gnome-shell-extension-top-icons-plus (newly packaged)
See also the the Jessie issues.
Current bugs:
- Fixed: Window resizing
Gnome 3.16 came with an issue where the mouse pointer doesn't change to "resize" look on all borders of every app. (Only some apps and some parts of the borders are affected).
The resizing seems to work anyway, just click with your normally looking pointer on any border and resize the window.
See https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=746598
This should be fixed in mutter 3.17.3:
Code:commit 12771a555a9954ba9f002b7e422385cf2e904e86 Author: Jasper St. Pierre <jstpierre@mecheye.net> Date: 2015-06-23 22:23:45 (GMT) theme: Make sure to clear the entirety of buttons properly
- Fixed: Windows modal to parent
See http://superuser.com/questions/92511...zeable-windows
Some windows are sticked to their parents, and don't allow to resize/move the parent, which is behind the current window. (E.g. "Edit Contact" with parent icedove's "Address Book").
Fix with (or set manually in the GUI dconf, or Gnome Tweak Tool (Windows - Attached Modal Dialogs):
Code:gsettings set org.gnome.shell.overrides attach-modal-dialogs false
Install:
- Monitor hard disk health status
Code:ii gsmartcontrol 0.8.7-1.1+b2 graphical user interface for smartctl ii smart-notifier 0.28-5 graphical hard disk health status notifier ii smartmontools 6.3+svn4002-2+b3 control and monitor storage systems using S.M.A.R.T.
- Packaged gnome shell extensions
Code:ii gnome-shell-extensions 3.18.1-1 Extensions to extend functionality of GNOME Shell ii gnome-shell-extension-suspend-button 0~git20150615-2 Gnome-shell extension to modify the suspend/shutdown buttons ii gnome-shell-extension-weather 0~20151023.git34aa242-1 weather extension for GNOME Shell ii gnome-shell-extension-top-icons-plus 15-1 GNOME Shell extension to move system tray icons to top bar
You can click on the "Weather data providey by ..." field to open the provider's website. ioforecast opens with your configured place's weather forecast. openweather does not open the saved https link, changing it to http gets you to its starting page.
In the meantime I'm using the following command for weather forecast in a terminal (requires terminal size of min. 125x41; put the following command in e.g. /usr/local/bin/weather, the city name is optional):
Code:curl wttr.in/YOURCITYNAME
- gnome-shell-extension-top-icons-plus
Shows tray icons on top, or: see the Pidgin icon again and realize that there are new messages. - shotwell (replaced by gnome-photos, which still lacks a lot of functionality.)
- systemd-cron to provide cron daemon & anacron functionality (replaces them but continues to execute the /etc/cron*/ and crontab jobs)
Uninstall:
You might've got accustomed to some of the following packages over the years. Don't worry if they get uninstalled now.
So now I have systemd installed. This means I can uninstall:
- pm-utils
- acpi-support
- acpi-support-base
With pm-utils gone, the following uninstall automatically:
- ethtool
- hdparm
- libx86-1
- radeontool
- vbetool
If you have installed systemd-cron also these go/have gone:
- anacron:amd64
- cron:amd64
- powermgmt-base
- rsyslog:amd64
gnome-system-tools to manage e.g. user-accounts is dropped by upstream and not used anymore by upstream Gnome (see this RFA bug). Instead its functionality has been added to gnome-control-center.
- gnome-system-tools
Touchpad changes:
It's still kind of work in progress, but it seems the xinput driver (libinput) will replace the synaptics driver (xserver-xort-input-synaptics). This may bring a better touchpad recognition (e.g. better palm detection to prevent accidentally using the keyboard - although that may just be disabled in your old synaptics installation, check with:synclient | grep PalmDetect). But for some people it caused more problems. See this thread at debian-devel.
Configure:
- Tweak Tool - Extensions
Also available via https://extensions.gnome.org/local/, but you need to Allow it in the browser to run!
Local extensions are saved to ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/- Openweather
- Removable drive menu (drives aren't remounted after a few seconds with this, contrary to removing them in "Files" or just unmounting them.)
- Suspend button (gives a shutdown, a standby and a lock button)
- Settings - Privacy - Purge Trash & Temporary Files - On, Purge After 30 days
- (In case it is not already doneCode:
sudo update-alternatives --set editor /usr/bin/emacs24 sudo update-alternatives --set gnome-www-browser /usr/bin/iceweasel sudo update-alternatives --set x-www-browser /usr/bin/iceweasel
- Enjoy the benefits of Freedesktop standardization (and hope that all Desktop environments keep/return to use it).
Set the default paths that some programs use for files in $HOME/.config/user-dirs.dirs:Code:# This file is written by xdg-user-dirs-update # If you want to change or add directories, just edit the line you're # interested in. All local changes will be retained on the next run # Format is XDG_xxx_DIR="$HOME/yyy", where yyy is a shell-escaped # homedir-relative path, or XDG_xxx_DIR="/yyy", where /yyy is an # absolute path. No other format is supported. # XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop" XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads" XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/" XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/Public" XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/" XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/" XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/" XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/"
- Check /etc/xdg/autostart/ and remove everything you don't need/want to run automatically when a user logs in (but e.g. removing tracker-* here will lead to recurring error messages when using Gnome):Code:
cd /etc/xdg/autostart/ ls -l sudo rm evolution-alarm-notify.desktop
- In nautilus (Gnome Files) ask what to do with scripts (e.g. execute), instead of diplaying them with gedit:Code:
dconf write /org/gnome/nautilus/preferences/executable-text-activation "'ask'"
- General Nautilus (Gnome Files) preferences, imho much better suited for users with mouse and keyboard instead of a touchpad:
Code:dconf write /org/gnome/nautilus/preferences/always-use-location-entry true dconf write /org/gnome/nautilus/preferences/default-folder-viewer "'list-view'" dconf write /org/gnome/nautilus/preferences/sort-directories-first true
- Always have keyboard numlock on:Code:
dconf write /org/gnome/settings-daemon/peripherals/keyboard/numlock-state "'on'" dconf write /org/gnome/settings-daemon/peripherals/keyboard/remember-numlock-state true
- Highlight the current location of the pointer when the Control key is pressed and released:Code:
dconf write /org/gnome/settings-daemon/peripherals/mouse/locate-pointer true
- Reconfigure debconf to use the Gnome InterfaceCode:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure debconf
Wishlist:
- Use the same name for a program and the process. Respect that there are alternatives. So don't call the process "nautilus" just "Files" in the UI (as it was a few versions ago, which is quite confusing), or "evince" just (something like) "Document Viewer". Now it seems no name is shown altogether, not even some "About" dialog. This is at least not so misleading anymore, but still makes it harder to figure some stuff out (kill the process, find some info on the web, ...).
- xrandr settings depending on connected video devices should be remembered.
(Stopped working with Gnome 2 for Linux after 2.6.32, so perhaps not a Gnome issue.)
Status: Works for the user, but not the login prompt. - bluetooth on/off setting should be remembered
Status: works, but disabling it removes the complete bluetooth entry from the system menu (to reenable e.g. use Settings - Bluetooth - On). - Handle "vertically half-maximized" windows like unmaximized ones: Once a window is (half-)maximized it should still be possible to resize and move it (without bringing it back to its previous un(-half-)maximized size first).
- Moving windows to the bottom of the screen should "horizontically half-maximize" them.
- Don't disable every extension if Gnome crashes. It's bad enough that the crash happens. But it's just annoying to have to remember first which ones were enabled and then to manually reenable them (and the extensions were always innocent!). You could suggest to me to disable them, but don't just do it - unless you don't want users to use extensions at all. Reported as Debian bug #782084.
Yay, gets installed automatically now:
- Pulled in by gnome/gnome-core:
Code:ii dconf-editor 3.18.1-1 simple configuration storage system - graphical editor ii gnome-tweak-tool 3.18.0-1 tool to adjust advanced configuration settings for GNOME
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