Ubuntu

GNOME 3 and Unity

Asked by William Pabon

I have Ubuntu 12.04 with Unity. Is it possbile to install GNOME 3 and have the alternative to choose either desktop at logon? If so, pls advice on how to install GNOME 3. Thanks.

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N1ck 7h0m4d4k15
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lumingzh (flywaterzh) said : 		#1

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell,and it will install gdm and ask you which display manager you want to use,then choose lightdm.
Logout and you will find there is a ubuntu logo on the right side of your user name,then click it,choose gnome and login again.
Gnome shell comes.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

Unity is a shell for Gnome. When you use and have Unity installed you also already have Gnome installed. Unity is not a desktop environment and doesn't replace Gnome.

The gnome-panel package will give the old style look to your OS but it can demonstrate strange behaviour. I recommend you install the xfce4 package and use that. It has the 2 panel look and is Gtk based. If you install Xubuntu you will get this by default and Unity will not even be installed

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William Pabon (williepabon) said : 		#3

Andrew:
I do not want to get rid of Unity. I just want to have the choice to have the menu system of my old OS (10.04) without disrupting anything. I'm OK with Unity. Would like to use the menu system sometimes. If installing the gnome-shell would cause problems on my system, I won't do it. That is why I'm looking for advice. Thanks.

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Best N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux) said : 		#4

Is not necessary to install the WHOLE Gnome-shell package. Too many packages.

You can install only a minimum set of packages that will meet your needs.

    sudo apt-get install gnome-panel

The gnome-panel package will install the desktop environment you want.

You will see (after a reboot) additional entries in you Lightdm login screen.
gnome-classic
gnome-classic (no effects)

See this picture
 http://imagebin.ubuntu-gr.org/1349958632.png

gnome-classic(no effects) is the lightweight one. Uses metacity (and no compiz) and is more - more responsive.

Regards
 NikTh

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William Pabon (williepabon) said : 		#5

Thanks NikTh, that solved my question.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#6

I'd install xfce4 and use the XFCE desktop instead of Gnome, the fallback thing has some weird quirks