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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.

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jahid65 Mar 13, 2020
I can search audio and video meta-data, calendar events, word in a document(even google docs), contacts right from the activities overview. I don't need to remember the application name, document name or audi/video file name. You can also add folders from outside of home folder.
Tuxee Mar 13, 2020
Quoting: Cyba.Cowboy
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!

If you install 20.04 right now (and it already works reliably on my setup) you have most packages already at 3.36.
Cyba.Cowboy Mar 13, 2020
Quoting: TuxeeIf you install 20.04 right now (and it already works reliably on my setup) you have most packages already at 3.36.

Nah, I'm gonna wait for the "official" release, because I'm moving three computers back to Ubuntu from Linux Mint under a "clean" install...
Cyba.Cowboy Mar 13, 2020
Quoting: GuestGNOME is awesome. Clearly the best DE.

I preferred Unity, by a big margin... Not a fan of GNOME.

Tried Cinnamon (via Linux Mint) for a while, but I found the Microsoft Windows-style UI annoying, so I'm reluctantly going back to GNOME... None of the other DEs seem all that different or tweak my interest.


Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 13 March 2020 at 8:41 am UTC
const Mar 13, 2020
This discussion clearly shows that it's awesome to have a choice :)
Nevertheless Mar 13, 2020
Quoting: GuestGNOME is awesome. Clearly the best DE. The only nasty thing is the default themes. It is..... functional, at best. Unless you are using a distro like Ubuntu with their own default themes, you need to definitely install some new gnome shell themes, gtk themes, icons, cursors ASAP.

Gnome IS awesome! Its tech is great. It seems to work well for a lot of people. It feels fast. It's just that its usage concepts make not much sense to me. I really wanted to like it, but I prefer a simple non-dynamic menu. I like to find things where I left them. I like window controls other than just one small close button. I like to close windows with one gesture, and opening the menu with the opposite gesture. I like window lists showing me all open apps on all screens, without having to press a key. Does that make me a dinosaur?
So I'm really, really glad we have a wide variety to choose from!
Cyril Mar 13, 2020
Actually I'm a bit surprised to see a lot of people here using GNOME 3.
jens Mar 13, 2020
  • Supporter
Quoting: CyrilActually I'm a bit surprised to see a lot of people here using GNOME 3.

May I ask why?
jens Mar 13, 2020
  • Supporter
Quoting: GuestGNOME is awesome. Clearly the best DE. The only nasty thing is the default themes. It is..... functional, at best. Unless you are using a distro like Ubuntu with their own default themes, you need to definitely install some new gnome shell themes, gtk themes, icons, cursors ASAP.

Yeah, same thoughts here ;). First thing I do is installing Plata (and before that Adapta) theme and Paper icons. After that Gnome works (and looks) beautiful for me.


Last edited by jens on 13 March 2020 at 5:27 pm UTC
tuubi Mar 13, 2020
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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.
I bet most of these make use of the GenericName, Name, Exec and Comment fields of the freedesktop.org standard .desktop entries. Or the localized versions of these fields where available. At least that's how Xfce's Whisker Menu seems to do it.

Oh and Xfce is obviously the best desktop environment for the best people.
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