Make Gnome 3.0 Usable (Fedora 20)

basic-system.md

Basic System

This set of documents explains how I make a "usable" developer system using Fedora under various desktop environments. This was all tested with Fedora 20.

• Update all packages
• Fix dumb GTK+ 3 Scrollbar behavior:

# http://askubuntu.com/questions/295988/how-to-fix-gtk3-scrollbar-behavior
# https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=683885
# Add to .config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini:
[Settings]
gtk-primary-button-warps-slider = 0

• Clipboard Manager (CopyQ)
• chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh
• dotfiles (https://github.com/abatkin/dotfiles.git)
• Chrome
• Flash
• Liberation Mono for Powerline (font) https://github.com/Lokaltog/powerline-fonts.git

Repositories

yum localinstall --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

NVidia

This guide is quite good: http://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/2014/fedora-20-nvidia-guide/

Infinality (nicer font rendering)

yum --nogpgcheck localinstall http://www.infinality.net/fedora/linux/infinality-repo-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
yum install freetype-infinality fontconfig-infinality

Microsoft Fonts

yum --nogpgcheck localinstall https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/mscorefonts2/rpms/msttcore-fonts-installer-2.6-1.noarch.rpm

Packages

• konsole
• vim-{enhanced,X11}
• git
• zsh
• perl
• ruby
• gcc{,-c++}
• quodlibet
• thunderbird
• pidgin
• ctags
• font-manager
• launchy

Firefox Addons

• adblock
• flashblock
• web developer toolbar
• firebug
• FireGestures
• Pocket

gnome3-usable.md

Gnome 3.0 Specific Tasks

• Useful Settings:

# Alt+Drag to move Windows:
# http://superuser.com/questions/297913/gnome3-change-window-drag-shortcut
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences mouse-button-modifier "'<Alt>'"

# Alt+Middle to resize windows:
# http://askubuntu.com/questions/231195/how-to-enable-altright-click-to-resize-window
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences resize-with-right-button true

# Always show Logout button
gsettings set org.gnome.shell always-show-log-out true

# Disable screensaver lock
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.screensaver lock-enabled false

# Disable Windows key doing whatever it does (need for Launchy's Win+Space to work)
gsettings set org.gnome.mutter overlay-key ''

Extra Packages

• gnome-shell-extension-alternate-tab
• nodoka-metacity-theme
• gnome-tweak-tool

Additional Installation

• Liberation Mono for Powerline (font) https://github.com/Lokaltog/powerline-fonts.git
• Frippery http://intgat.tigress.co.uk/rmy/extensions/index.html - Note, this is configured through gnome-tweak-tool, but it won't appear there until you log out and back in again

Extra Tasks

• Fix Alt+Tab (gnome-shell-extension-alternate-tab)
• Add application buttons to toolbar (Frippery)
• Add window switcher to toolbar (Frippery)
• Map hotkeys for terminal, browser (Settings)
• Virtual Desktops (4, horizontal) (Frippery)
• Make titlebars less gigantic (Nodoka Theme)
• Better titlebar colors so I can tell which window is active (Nodoka Theme)

Unsolved Problems

• Tray icons
  • There is a probably an addon somewhere for this
• Turn off focus stealing prevention
  • This may be impossible without an addon (See https://ask.fedoraproject.org/en/question/42107/gnome-3-and-focusing-new-konsole-windows-is-broken/)
• Get rid of screensaver drag-to-unlock
  • Can't figure this out
• Get rid of top bar or make it more usable
• Some applications don't use the Window Manager theme for titlebar (titlebars are still gigantic, little distinguishing features between active/background windows, inconsistency)
  • Related to this? http://blogs.gnome.org/mclasen/2014/01/13/client-side-decorations-continued/

top bar more usable: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/584/taskbar/
tray icons: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/495/topicons/