Gnome 3 Beta - Shiny Shiny Shiny

Following an article in this month's Linux Format magazine, I've been taking a look at the freshly mown beuaty that is Gnome 3 Beta.

It's pretty easy to install and use it, in parallel with the current Gnome 2.30.2, without causing any major impact.

In essence, I opened a terminal window ( using [Alt] + [F2] -> xterm ), and then ran the commands: -

hayd@dmhw500:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/testing
hayd@dmhw500:~$ sudo apt-get update
hayd@dmhw500:~$ sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
hayd@dmhw500:~$ gnome-shell --replace

This automagically switches into the new GUI, where the new Activities uber menu expands and contracts to fill the left-hand side of the screen, on-demand. This happens in a number of ways: -

-    Hitting the [Windows] key, if you have one
-    Moving the mouse pointer to the top-left corner of the screen
-    Hitting  the[Alt] and [F1] keys simulteanously

All of your applications, folders, documents etc. appear in Activities, and you can find apps etc. merely by typing their name in the Find... field. Once located, an application can be launched by dragging it onto a virtual desktop.

It's also possible to add and remove virtual desktops using the + and - icons on the screen.

There's far more to it, but doing is better than telling.

Once you're bored with it, you can simply kill the gnome-shell by hitting [CTRL] + [C] in the still open terminal window.

I have had a few hang-ups, one of which forced me to reboot using [CTRL] + [ALT] + [DELETE] so I'd strongly recommend caution.

Remember, your mileage may vary.