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The GNOME desktop environment levels up in a big way with the GNOME 3.36 "Gresik" release with some massive improvements all over and it's looking awesome.

Another six months of development went into this release and it includes many improvements, performance enhancements, and new features. One such improvement I'm quite happy to see is for NVIDIA users: if you have NVIDIA with Optimus, GNOME now includes an option to launch something with your dedicated GPU which is incredibly handy too.

Some other highlights:

  • A dedicated GNOME Extensions application
  • A 'Do Not Disturb' mode
  • The Lock and Login screens have been merged to flow better
  • GNOME Shell itself had plenty of improvements like App Folders in the Overview being able to be renamed.
  • System dialogues that take a password have a little eye icon, to reveal your entered text for accessibility
  • Initial Setup assistant now lets you adjust some parental controls
  • Plus loads more!

One thing Linux has needed for a while is some good advertisement and it has been happening more recently. With that in mind, the GNOME team worked with Chris Rogers of Freehive to produce a really well done video covering the release:

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How to get it? Well, that depends on your choice of Linux Distribution. Now it's out, they can all work to package it up for their next releases (Ubuntu and others) or into their next set of rolling updates (Arch/Manjaro).

Full release notes for GNOME 3.36 can be found here.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Nevertheless Mar 12, 2020
I can't help it... What I look for in a DE is either just one panel at the bottom or maybe one on the left., because closing windows by simply moving the mouse to the upper right corner while leftclicking is a die hard natural gesture for me.
I also need a window list that lets me see what's running by a simple look.
I don't know if it's possible to tweak Gnome to give me that, but because of those prefereces my DE right now is Cinnamon (and Mint is somewhat naturally a good solution to me ;-)).


Last edited by Nevertheless on 12 March 2020 at 5:30 pm UTC
Linas Mar 12, 2020
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I, for one, welcome our productivity-focused minimalist overlords.
Sil_el_mot Mar 12, 2020
Quoting: HoriToo bad it completely breaks and crashes when using with an NVidia GPU and 4K monitors with scaling.

I have to use mine at either 100% scaling which is unusable, or 1080p which is usable but looks blurry and is very cramped.

From my point of view, this is the worst update yet, regardless of how many improvements it might have got. This bug spoiled it completely for me, and left a very bad taste.

thanks for this.
i just wanted to test gnome (using cinnamon for now) and your comment saved me from that experience.
Luke_Nukem Mar 12, 2020
... Some of the comments here are why I refrain from interacting with large parts of the Linux community.

It's fine to voice criticism, but don't be a twat about it, yeah?
Tuxee Mar 12, 2020
As always. A new Gnome or systemd or whatever release surfaces and some just people just have to flame. If you don't like Gnome - fine. Don't use it. But those comments in the "my KDE is soo much cooler" vein... Come on, grow up. Just a little bit. That said: Grown ups can be productive with pretty much any DE. I was that with Gnome 2, with Unity, even briefly with KDE3 - hell, even with Windows and now with Gnome 3. After all I work with applications - not with the thing to start those applications.
Nezchan Mar 13, 2020
Quoting: Purple Library GuyThe search stuff is fine for things whose name you remember. But, the stuff whose name I remember I mostly don't start from the menu, I start from a launcher--either a launcher I stuck on a taskbar or a launcher I leave sitting on the screen somewhere

If it works anything like the search function on MATE (and I believe it does), you don't have to remember the exact name. I can hit Win then "word processor" and AbiWord, FocusWriter and LibreOffice Writer all come up, and only one of those even has "word" in the name.
Purple Library Guy Mar 13, 2020
Quoting: Nezchan
Quoting: Purple Library GuyThe search stuff is fine for things whose name you remember. But, the stuff whose name I remember I mostly don't start from the menu, I start from a launcher--either a launcher I stuck on a taskbar or a launcher I leave sitting on the screen somewhere

If it works anything like the search function on MATE (and I believe it does), you don't have to remember the exact name. I can hit Win then "word processor" and AbiWord, FocusWriter and LibreOffice Writer all come up, and only one of those even has "word" in the name.
Well, I have to admit that's pretty decent. To be honest, I didn't even know Mate had that function--just goes to show, you don't need to dump the menus to do it.
Cyba.Cowboy Mar 13, 2020
It's too late to put this in the upcoming Ubuntu 20.04 LTS ("Focal Fossa"), right?

Do you reckon they'll provide an update to this version of GNOME in the near future, for users of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS ("Focal Fossa")? Some of that new functionality looks mighty handy...


Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 13 March 2020 at 7:28 am UTC
Luke_Nukem Mar 13, 2020
Quoting: Cyba.CowboyIt's be too late to put this in the upcoming Ubuntu 20.04 LTS ("Focal Fossa"), right?

Do you reckon they'll provide an update to this version of GNOME in the near future, for users of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS ("Focal Fossa")? Some of that new functionality looks mighty handy...

If you install a 20.04 Ubuntu ISO right now, you'll have 3.35.91 or higher (beta release) with 3.36 due in the next week or so. I have 20.04 installed right now, and wow, it's a game changer.
Cyba.Cowboy Mar 13, 2020
Quoting: Luke_NukemIf you install a 20.04 Ubuntu ISO right now, you'll have 3.35.91 or higher (beta release) with 3.36 due in the next week or so. I have 20.04 installed right now, and wow, it's a game changer.

So it looks like we might get GNOME 3.36+ in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS ("Focal Fossa")... Nice!
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