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PayPalGNOME 40 is out now to showcase the latest Linux desktop environment work from the GNOME Project, which includes a number of feature overhauls and improvements.
Safe to say this is one of their biggest releases, at least since the original redesign of GNOME Shell into what we know it as now. In total, the release incorporates 24571 changes, made by approximately 822 contributors. They also dedicated this release to the team behind the GNOME Asia Summit 2020.
The biggest user-facing change in GNOME 40 will be the new Activities Overview design where you see all your open applications, workspaces and search through installed applications. Workspaces are now arranged horizontally, while the overview and app grid are accessed vertically and there's plenty of keyboard shortcuts, mouse actions and support for touchpad gestures too. Here's some shots of it (click to enlarge):
Pictured - GNOME 40 on Fedora 34
A lot more is new in GNOME 40 including a redesigned Weather application, an improved Settings application, the GNOME web browser has a new tab design and you can configure search suggestions from Google if you want, GNOME Software (their application store) also got revamped with a new look and will tell you where packages come from (be it normal distro packages or Flatpak) and much more. Plenty of style changes throughout too which better matches their overall design.
See the release notes and the special 40 splash page here.
If you want to see it in action and try it right now, Fedora already have a Beta out of Fedora 34 which includes GNOME 40.
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Quoting: damarrinWith every release Gnome becomes more of a MacOS rip off. It's not even in inspiration territory any more, it's all lifted straight from there.
I think doing anything else would violate the two rules of satisfaction:
They are only two things the user hates: change and the way things are.
Sorry, not trying to pick on you, just figured I'd be nice add a little humor. Congrats to the gnome team, sounds like a lot of hard work.
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Quoting: Guesti would like more options in the mouse settings though in regards to acceleration. the default acceleration profile causes my mouse to move way to fast. i would prefer a more "flat" profile. or an option to disable acceleration.
Maybe you know this already, but there's a utility called gnome-tweaks which contains additional settings to those in gnome-control-center, including mouse acceleration. Contrary to gnome-control-center, the gnome-tweaks app contains settings which the casual user is unlikely to touch, and it is therefore usually not installed by default.
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Quoting: KohlyKohlI've tried to use Gnome and I just don't see why anyone would use it. The user experience feels awkward and outdated. The lack of desktop icons by default and the Activities Overview keep me from recommending this to new users.Funny enough, when you get used to the lack of desktop icons, you don't even miss them. Even when I use KDE or (gasp!) Windows, I turn off desktop icons now.
The Gnome workflow is fairly similar to that of tiling window managers like i3. You either like it or you hate it.
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Phone UI got a horizontal workspaces update? Wow let's celebrate like Mac hipsters :P Do you still have to go your mouse pointer to the top left to activate the dock that is put at the bottom now (even bigger distance) in order to be able to click your damn program icon so that you can eventually get it opened like you instantly wanted but you couldn't? :D
Last edited by sudoer on 25 March 2021 at 1:41 am UTC
Last edited by sudoer on 25 March 2021 at 1:41 am UTC
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Quoting: KohlyKohl
Hardly. I just find myself marveling at how far we've come. It's amazing what open source graphics drivers (and the accompanying stack!) can deliver in terms of modern gaming (Freesync, high refresh rate, and high resolution). I can't wait to try my first ray traced game.
Quoting: sudoer
Super + Firefox + EnterFirefox launches in seconds. Why click anything?
Last edited by drlamb on 25 March 2021 at 12:50 pm UTC
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Desktop Icons is a quick fix for that particular oversight.
I'm using an extension called Dash to Panel and it more or less turns Gnome Shell into Cinnamon, albeit without desktop applets. I also had to add User Themes, of course, since it's pretty ugly out of the box. But, if you ever decide to jump ship from Mint, give it a try. I'm really impressed with Pop.
Quoting: RandomizedKirbyTree47I'm not going to use Gnome Shell, but I look forward to seeing gtk4 ports of Gnome apps I do use. And Cinnamon eventually too.
I'm using an extension called Dash to Panel and it more or less turns Gnome Shell into Cinnamon, albeit without desktop applets. I also had to add User Themes, of course, since it's pretty ugly out of the box. But, if you ever decide to jump ship from Mint, give it a try. I'm really impressed with Pop.
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Arehandoro Mar 25, 2021
Quoting: Luke_NukemQuoting: ArehandoroI love it. Also being trying it in fedora 34 and the only thing that I've been missing is Pop_OS! Shell tiling window feature. I wonder how they'll implement it for Gnome 40.
You can install the extension. Though I haven't checked if it works on 40
I had it installed, along with few more, and on 40 they all don't work :(
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Quoting: sudoerPhone UI got a horizontal workspaces update? Wow let's celebrate like Mac hipsters :P Do you still have to go your mouse pointer to the top left to activate the dock that is put at the bottom now (even bigger distance) in order to be able to click your damn program icon so that you can eventually get it opened like you instantly wanted but you couldn't? :D
You mean how in other DEs you still have to move your pointer to the bottom left to activate the start/application menu? Also, that's only if your PC somehow lacks a keyboard; otherwise it's as easy as Super + A to launch the App Grid (i.e. Dash on steroids) or Super + <first few letters of an app name> + Enter to insta-launch an app directly, just like @drlamb said.
Disclaimer: although I do agree that the Dash should be visible by default, or even better configurable as visible or not by default, and although I use Dash-to-Dock, and although I dislike the Gnome devs' mentality in general when it comes to (ignoring) user feedback (queue removed Desktop icons, non-existent file-picker thumbnails, non-configurable vertical workspaces, and the list goes on and on and on and effing on), it still greatly annoys me when people exaggerate about things that are not nearly as bad as they're made out to be.
P.S. - This isn't addressed to you @sudoer; but I just love how the most vocal anti-Gnome Linux users are most usually self-proclaimed neckbeards who supposedly use Emacs and vim and like to do all their stuff by keyboard. It seems very strange to me that all those keyboard warriors prefer to spend their days unproductively huffing and puffing over GUI stuff and mouse distances instead of making use of Gnome's arguably top-notch keyboard navigation support.
Last edited by Nocifer on 26 March 2021 at 12:02 pm UTC
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Interesting, Nocifer - I wasn't aware of Super+A at all. Gnome probably need something like Ubuntu's old shortcut-popup that taught you all this stuff.
That said, just pressing the Super key is decent enough generally. Hit it once, then type what you need. It acts like Krunner in that regard, or the old gnome-do (loved that app!) in that it's basically invisible, but is a very quick keyboard-based way to navigate around. Combined with the PopShell extension for tiling, Gnome could almost compete with i3 for a tiling environment.
Gnome has, with enough extensions, grown on me.
That said, just pressing the Super key is decent enough generally. Hit it once, then type what you need. It acts like Krunner in that regard, or the old gnome-do (loved that app!) in that it's basically invisible, but is a very quick keyboard-based way to navigate around. Combined with the PopShell extension for tiling, Gnome could almost compete with i3 for a tiling environment.
Gnome has, with enough extensions, grown on me.
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wvstolzing Mar 25, 2021
Quoting: ArehandoroI had it installed, along with few more, and on 40 they all don't work :(
There have been important changes to the API; so I expect a lot of breakage:
https://blogs.gnome.org/shell-dev/
& porting extensions needs quite a bit of work:
https://gjs.guide/extensions/upgrading/gnome-shell-40.html
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