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Questions tagged [gnome]

This is a very general tag that should only be used for questions referring to GNOME in general and not a specific component. GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) is a collection of GTK-based software that provides the desktop environment GNOME Shell.

GNOME Shell is a GTK-based desktop environment, and it's one of the most well-known desktop environments available.

screenshot showing a graphical desktop with GNOME Shell Screenshot showing GNOME Shell 44 (released in March 2023).

Use of the tag

Use it when asking about the the GNOME desktop environment as a whole, how to run non-native gnome applications in GNOME, general configuration and behavior change.

If you want to ask about or some other GNOME application, use that as a tag instead.

Key Features

  • Automatic workspace management

    At any given moment, it only keeps open as many workspaces as you have active windows on, plus an extra empty one to start more windows. When you remove all the windows from a workspace, that workspace will be removed until you need it again.

  • Extensions

    GNOME Shell and its functionality and interface can be extended or modified through the use of extensions. For more information on how to install these extensions, see How to install GNOME Shell extensions.

  • Messaging Tray

    GNOME Shell provides a uniform interface for messages, notifications, and alerts. It allows the user to stay focused on the primary task and have controllable information display. It also provides a lightweight interface to background operations.

System requirements

Minimum

  • Processor - 1 GHz (x86)
  • Memory - 1.5 MB
  • Hard drive capacity - 7 GB
  • Video card - VGA @ 640x480

Recommended

  • Processor - better than 1 GHz (x86)
  • Memory - 1.5 GB
  • Hard drive capacity - 10 GB
  • Video card - VGA @ 1024x768

How to install

Click this link to install the gnome-shellInstall GNOME Shell package, find it in the Ubuntu Software Center/Software app, or type sudo apt-get install gnome-shell in a terminal. There are more instructions at How do I install and use the latest version of GNOME?

Sources

11510 questions
309
votes
2 answers

How do I check my version of GNOME-Shell?

There's got to be some simple way I'm missing, but for the life of me I can't find it. How do I check my version of GNOME-Shell?
thimoteus
  • 3,535
244
votes
12 answers

How to revert to GNOME Classic Desktop?

I'm used to GNOME Classic and personally don't want to change to anything else, but it seems there is no more GNOME Classic in the Oneiric release. After apt-get installed gnome-session and all, though there comes back the GNOME Classic option in…
Lenik
  • 10,608
204
votes
2 answers

"Parsing filters unsupported" error during extraction of RAR file

I have received an .rar which I wish to unpack as it contains something rather important to me that I need to really have now. However even though I can view the contents of the .rar archive in the Archive Manager, I am unable to extract it due to…
user364819
188
votes
7 answers

Dual monitor workspaces in Ubuntu 18.04

Dual monitor setup on Ubuntu 18.04; when I hit activities only the left monitor switches workspaces while the right monitor just keeps whatever is on its screen. Is there a way to make the workspace span both monitors so that when I switch from one…
Alex
  • 2,025
184
votes
11 answers

How can I restart GNOME Shell, after it freezes or becomes unresponsive?

Sometimes, my GNOME Shell freezes. I can see (hear) background processes working (playing music), but I can't do anything in GNOME. No Alt+F2 followed by R and Enter. I can switch to console using: Ctrl+Alt+F1, login as the same user and…
jk_
  • 1,949
169
votes
12 answers

How do I install and use the latest version of GNOME?

I followed the instructions for compiling GNOME Shell and it did compile with a few errors here and there but it didn't run. I installed GNOME Shell using sudo apt-get install gnome-shell but I got version 2.31.x, while the latest is 2.91.5 or…
Martin Zeltin
  • 5,393
152
votes
1 answer

Difference between vim-gtk and vim-gnome

How are the packages vim-gtk and vim-gnome different from each other? I've tried both and the resulting Gvim feels the same (to me). If there is no difference, why are both packages maintained?
Owais Lone
  • 7,523
151
votes
8 answers

How do I set a shortcut to screenshot a selected area?

In gnome's screen shot program, the quick keys PrtScn captures the entire screen and alt+PrtScn captures the active window. Is there a way to script or set up the third capture option of a selected area? Update: I don't seem to have this key already…
Rick
  • 2,957
141
votes
23 answers

How can I specify the default save directory for gnome-screenshot?

Are there any sort of configuration options for specifying the default save location for gnome-screenshot, or is this hard-coded into the source code? It used to be ~/Desktop, which seems to have changed to ~/Pictures (in 12.04). The only possible…
trent
  • 2,384
131
votes
13 answers

How to set Monday as the first day of the week in GNOME 2 Calendar applet?

What is the recommended way to change the first day of the week to Monday (instead of Sunday, as in the screenshot below)? I couldn't find anything related in Clock Preferences, nor in System -> Preferences, or System -> Administration. This…
Jonik
  • 7,448
123
votes
9 answers

How do I reset GNOME to the defaults?

I was playing around with some settings, and now I need to reset GNOME to it's defaults - how do I do that?
jrg
  • 61,707
111
votes
8 answers

How do I manage applications on startup in GNOME 3?

I had a nice GUI for changing startup applications (after logging in) on GNOME 2. How can I start that application on GNOME 3? Where can I download it? What is the package name? What command is used to launch it? I have Pidgin still launching on…
Riki137
  • 3,651
110
votes
7 answers

Assistive technology not found AWTError

$ java -jar aprof-plot.jar Exception in thread "main" java.awt.AWTError: Assistive Technology not found: org.GNOME.Accessibility.AtkWrapper at java.awt.Toolkit.loadAssistiveTechnologies(Toolkit.java:807) at…
Shiwangi Singh
  • 1,101
109
votes
2 answers

How to bring back minimize and maximize buttons in Gnome 3

I have recently installed Ubuntu Gnome which has the latest version of Gnome 3 running on it, and I have noticed that on windows there are no minimize buttons, and no maximize buttons, although I can see that you do get the options if you do a…
user364819
92
votes
9 answers

Ubuntu 18.04 gnome-shell high CPU usage

I installed 18.04 from 17.04 (passing briefly through 17.10, didn't test it and jumped to 18.04) and I am experiencing a high cpu usage on gnome-shell, it takes almost all available CPU time: $ top top - 06:23:01 up 40 min, 3 users, load average:…
Leandro
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