The Gnome desktop environment also bundles a variety of fun games to help users pass the time. Several fun puzzle games are available, most are simple, short games.
About Gnome Games
If you are using the Gnome desktop you should already have many of these excellent games installed, most of these games should work on other desktops as well.
The Gnome tweak tool can be used to configure additional desktop settings when using the Gnome shell desktop environment. The Gnome tweak tool allows you to control which icons are displayed on the desktop, and you can manage all of your Gnome Shell extensions as well.
Tweak Your Desktop
Fonts and theme settings can also be adjusted using the Gnome tweak tool. Be sure to use the Gnome tweak tool to get your desktop working the way you want.
The Gnome 3 Shell offers several extensions that can be used to expand the functionality of the interface, or just customize things to your liking. Be sure to take advantage of this excellent feature of the new user interface.
Extension Functions
If you are not satisfied with the way things work you can always install one or more extentions as you prefer. You can revert to a traditional applications menu, enhance your current menus, or add a Docky style dock to your desktop using the available extensions.
This time I will be looking at the GCalcTool, also known as the Gnome calculator. As you can already guess, this tool can be used to provide simple to mid-level mathematical calculations with efficiency.
GCalcTool Details
The GCalcTool generally comes installed with the Gnome desktop environment, but it can be used on other distributions as well. The tool also provides far more functionality than the default look appears to offer. Don’t forget to experiment to get the most out of this excellent tool.
The Gnome desktop uses several important components to function, most function in the background. The Gnome session manager is one of those many components. If you are using the Gnome desktop you are most likely using the Gnome session manager as well.
Gnome Session Functions
The Gnome session manager is used to start the Gnome desktop. The session manager is started by the login or display manager and will load a user session when you login to your desktop.
This release brings big changes to Linux Mint so be ready for something different. The DVD version offers users the ability to choose between the new Gnome 3 interface with the Mint Gnome shell extensions, Gnome classic, or the new MATE desktop.
About Mint 12
Linux Mint 12 is extremely user-friendly as always, and offers all the hardware recognition and easy driver setup advantages that new Linux users will enjoy. Novice users may however be frustrated with the customization options temporarily, but that will surely develop further in upcoming releases.
Here is another fantastic icon theme for users to check out, this theme is called Nouve Gnome, a new icon theme for the Gnome desktop. This icon theme will go well with light-colored GTK themes, the icons have beautiful depth and the work with shadows is excellent.
More About Desktop Icons
You can try this icon theme on the Gnome desktop for free today. This icon theme may work on other desktop environments as well however it remains untested on my part.
Here I will have a look at some of the primary components used by the Gnome 3 desktop environment. Because Gnome has such a huge list of software, tools, and packages I will only focus on the core components here. Now you can see all of the fun tools you have been forgetting about.
Gnome 3 Packages
Many aspects of the new Gnome 3 interface are not nearly as modular as previous editions. This means that installing individual parts of the Gnome 3 desktop environment may be difficult. Of course all of the cool Gnome software is still easy to install.
Window Maker is a fast and fun desktop environment that is very easy to use. Though the major change may seem confusing at first there are definitely a few key features that make Window Maker worth trying out, most notably is the speed.
About Window Maker
Window Maker may be out dated but it’s still a shockingly popular choice among old school Linux users. It is very easy to install Window Maker on any Ubuntu system as well.
The new Gnome Shell desktop provides a very unique way of managers workspaces and open windows. The Gnome Shell is designed to make the desktop easier to use for unexperienced users.
Workspace Switcher Details
All open windows and workspaces can be viewed from inside the Gnome Shell activities window. Workspaces will appear in the workspaces panel along the right hand side of the activities window.
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