{"id":126,"date":"2012-10-16T04:27:23","date_gmt":"2012-10-16T04:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicktailor.com\/?p=126"},"modified":"2022-10-21T11:59:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T11:59:54","slug":"how-to-install-gnome-3-on-ubuntu-12-04-lts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nicktailor.com\/tech-blog\/how-to-install-gnome-3-on-ubuntu-12-04-lts\/","title":{"rendered":"How to install Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to install Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If you are reading this article, chances are that you have tried the\u00a0Unity interface<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Ubuntu<\/strong><\/a>. Although Canonical has done a great job with the development of Unity, some of us still prefer to use\u00a0Gnome<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0as a default GUI. In addition, the Gnome team has also done an excellent job improving Gnome and released this as\u00a0Gnome 3<\/strong><\/a>. Since Gnome 3 comes with both the classic (similar to Gnome 2) and the new Gnome 3 interface, I decided to focus on installing Gnome 3 in this article.<\/p>\n

Installing Gnome 3<\/h2>\n

Before we continue, it is worth mentioning that there is a gnome package in the defaultUbuntu repository for Gnome<\/strong><\/a>, however from what I understood from several articles this version is outdated and does not include all the beauty that is included in the latest Gnome 3 release. So you may want to skip installing the default package from the repository.<\/p>\n

The good news is that installing the latest Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 12.04 is extremely easy. Just copy-paste the following lines for the latest release from the Gnome team into a terminal (type\u00a0Ctrl-Alt T<\/em>\u00a0to open a terminal window):<\/p>\n

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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team\/gnome3\r\nsudo apt-get update\r\nsudo apt-get install gnome-shell<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/pre>\n
Now be sure to reboot your computer and when you are prompted with your login screen you have the following additional options (click on the little Ubuntu icon next to your login name):<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
 <\/p>\n
I recommend using the first option, Gnome. However if you are interested in going back to a familiar environment, feel free to choose one of the two Gnome Classic options. You can log in and log out to try the different versions.<\/p>\n
Gnome 3 Shell Extensions<\/h2>\n
One of the great new features of Gnome 3 is the possibility to add \u201cshell extensions\u201d. These are small user interface elements which can improve the overall user experience.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
To install a shell extension visit the\u00a0Gnome Extensions website<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0with your browser (the default Firefox works fine for this) and install extensions by switching the\u00a0\u201cON\/OFF\u201d<\/em>\u00a0button to\u201cON\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(you can find these buttons on the individual extension pages, in the left upper corner).<\/p>\n
You may also want to consider installing the Gnome Tweak Tool which will give you greater control over your shell extensions and several other Gnome settings. You can install this tool\u00a0directly from the Ubuntu Software Repository<\/strong><\/a>, or by copy-pasting\u00a0the following lines into a terminal:<\/p>\n
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sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
You can now find this tweak tool by searching for\u00a0\u201cAdvanced Settings\u201d<\/em>\u00a0in your applications or in System Tools menu.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
Recommended Shell Extensions<\/h2>\n
Experiment and try out some shell extensions. Personally I recommend to at least try out activating\/installing the following shell extensions:<\/p>\n