Gnome 3.8 - three questions

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#1

I have just migrated from my old machine with Debian 6 to a brand new box with OpenSuse 12.3 and Gnome 3.8. Three things puzzle me:

  1. There is a desktop folder in the home directory, but its contents do not appear on the ‘desktop’. What is the purpose of this folder, and how do I save files ‘to the desktop’ as in the traditional desktop metaphor? Is there a ‘desktop’ in Gnome 3?
  2. The file manager (“Files”) often (but not always) opens in full screen mode, and does not offer a maximise/unmaxinise/minimise option when you right-click the titlebar. Other applications do not have this problem. The consequence is that this tool is a p.i.a to use because it takes over the screen and the rest of the apps can only be actioned by first exiting the file manager, or moving it to another workspace. Is this a bug?
  3. I have had a number of Gnome freezes when I have opened a terminal as root, launched nautilus, and then clicked the Activities area. The screen completely freezes and my only exit strategy is a complete power-down/up. I assume this is another bug? Can anythiong be done to prevent it or otherwise recover without a restart?

Oh yes, Shotwell seems very buggy, with regular freezes, so I have replaced it with Digikam which at least seems stable.

Otherwise I find Opensuse very slick and smart to use, and I am getting used to the way Gnome 3.8 works.

#2

I don’t use GNOME3 myself (although I have it installed), but I think I can help you anyway.

Run “gnome-tweak-tool” and enable “Have file manager handle the desktop” under “Desktop”.

  1. The file manager (“Files”) often (but not always) opens in full screen mode, and does not offer a maximise/unmaxinise/minimise option when you right-click the titlebar. Other applications do not have this problem. The consequence is that this tool is a p.i.a to use because it takes over the screen and the rest of the apps can only be actioned by first exiting the file manager, or moving it to another workspace. Is this a bug?

Hm, I don’t see that here. “Files” starts as a normal window and does have those right-click options.
As I said, I don’t use GNOME3 regularly, but I just tried and it was ok.

Try to double-click on the title bar to leave full screen mode.
Maybe enable the Minimize/Maximize buttons in “gnome-tweak-tool” (Shell->“Arrangement of buttons on the titlebar”).

  1. I have had a number of Gnome freezes when I have opened a terminal as root, launched nautilus, and then clicked the Activities area. The screen completely freezes and my only exit strategy is a complete power-down/up. I assume this is another bug? Can anythiong be done to prevent it or otherwise recover without a restart?.

Sounds like this:
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=819891
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=802680
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=814626

#3

On 2013-09-27 12:16, haughtonomous wrote:
>
> I have just migrated from my old machine with Debian 6 to a brand new
> box with OpenSuse 12.3 and Gnome 3.8. Three things puzzle me:

Have you run “yast online update” yet? If not, do so.

About Gnome: I found Gnome 3 so different than 2, that I use XFCE now
instead.

> Oh yes, Shotwell seems very buggy, with regular freezes, so I have
> replaced it with Digikam which at least seems stable.

There is a shotwell version upgrade. You have to add repository “OBS:
Gnome: Apps” in


http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/GNOME:/Apps/openSUSE_12.3/

The version here (0.14.1-71) at least works for me. The original is buggy.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

#4

haughtonomous wrote:
>
> I have just migrated from my old machine with Debian 6 to a brand new
> box with OpenSuse 12.3 and Gnome 3.8. Three things puzzle me:
>
> 1. There is a desktop folder in the home directory, but its contents do
> not appear on the ‘desktop’. What is the purpose of this folder, and how
> do I save files ‘to the desktop’ as in the traditional desktop
> metaphor? Is there a ‘desktop’ in Gnome 3?
> 2. The file manager (“Files”) often (but not always) opens in full
> screen mode, and does not offer a maximise/unmaxinise/minimise option
> when you right-click the titlebar. Other applications do not have this
> problem. The consequence is that this tool is a p.i.a to use because it
> takes over the screen and the rest of the apps can only be actioned by
> first exiting the file manager, or moving it to another workspace. Is
> this a bug?
> 3. I have had a number of Gnome freezes when I have opened a terminal as
> root, launched nautilus, and then clicked the Activities area. The
> screen completely freezes and my only exit strategy is a complete
> power-down/up. I assume this is another bug? Can anythiong be done to
> prevent it or otherwise recover without a restart?
>
> Oh yes, Shotwell seems very buggy, with regular freezes, so I have
> replaced it with Digikam which at least seems stable.
>
> Otherwise I find Opensuse very slick and smart to use, and I am getting
> used to the way Gnome 3.8 works.
>
>

3.8 is not an official release from openSUSE. Currently, 3.6 is
officially supported.

To configure stuff on GNOME 3.x desktop you need
tweak tool (gnome-tweak-tool),
control center (gnome-control-center),
dconf-editor (sudo zypper in dconf-editor)

To un-maximize/restore click on top(just below top panel) of Nautilus
and drag it down.

explore extensions.gnome.org to enhance your desktop experience.

–
GNOME 3.6.2
openSUSE Release 12.3 (Dartmouth) 64-bit
Kernel Linux 3.7.10-1.16-desktop

#5

Maybe I am mistaken about that - I downloaded opensuse 12.3 from the opensuse site.

#6

Maybe I am mistaken about that - I downloaded opensuse 12.3 from the opensuse site.

I am not famiIiar with yast yet - I am used to apt. How do I install these?

#7

Find yast in the menu then find software management search for the apps wanted install.