Shulou(Shulou.com)06/01 Report--

This article mainly introduces "is GNOME the best desktop environment for Linux". In daily operation, I believe that many people have doubts about whether GNOME is the best desktop environment for Linux. The editor consulted all kinds of materials and sorted out simple and easy-to-use methods of operation. I hope it will be helpful to answer the questions of "is GNOME the best desktop environment for Linux?" Next, please follow the editor to study!

GNOME (The GNU Network Object Model Evironment) is a fully open software based on GPL that makes it easy for users to use and configure computers. GNOME is a friendly environment desktop, its graphics-driven environment is very powerful, has a great advantage for users, it can almost use no character interface to use and configure the machine.

Intelligent and stable

I haven't had any stability problems since I switched to GNOME 3. I have run GNOME 3 on three System76 machines and two Dell Latitude laptops, and it has performed very well on each machine. In short, the experience on GNOME can't be better-it's very stable and never crashes, which is very important.

Although my experience with GNOME 3 has always been stable, I still encounter some crash scenarios when using the beta version of the test. When these crashes are usually caused by the wrong beta driver (rather than the GNOME itself), the recovery feature of GNOME 3 still allows me to recover from the lock. If shell has stopped responding, all I have to do is press ALT+F2, then press R and Enter to restart the session without losing the running application. In fact, even if GNOME Shell is forced to restart, it will not only bring applications back, but will also put them back on the same monitor / workspace as before the restart.

The above case is just to tell you that GNOME is so smart and stable-I really haven't encountered a crash scenario during my use of it. And GNOME's built-in recovery feature allows me to restart the entire session without worrying about losing a running job.

It doesn't affect my experience.

One complaint I've heard about GNOME 3 is that its desktop components are too large and take up too much space on the monitor. But I think GNOME 3 has a cleaner interface than other desktop environments. Most of its desktop components are included in Activities's overview, and there is only a very narrow panel at the top of the screen, allowing the rest of the desktop to be used for any ongoing work. The default layouts for both GNOME 2.x and MATE have two panels, so they take up twice as much space. Although you can customize the environment to use a single panel like MATE. But GNOME 3.x does not use the old two-panel layout, leaving more space for the application.

Since most of the desktop components of GNOME are included in the Activities overview, it will never affect my use. If I want to focus more on something, I can press F11 while using the GNOME terminal to make it fill the entire screen. If I want to access the GNOME interface again, I just need to press the Super key. Of all the desktop environments I've tried (in fact, I've tried all the desktop environments), GNOME is a feature that increases my productivity and leaves more space for my display, which is really important to me.

The switch of the monitor can keep working normally.

For years, I used a laptop with a docking station to connect to a dual monitor, which is the single most frustrating thing about using Linux. I can't count the number of times I lost my homework because my laptop crashed when it was connected to the monitor using a docking station, or the Xorg Server crashed. I was almost used to the chaotic docking station experience on Linux until I switched to GNOEM 3.

So far, GNOME 3 is the only desktop environment I've ever used that is completely reliable for docking stations. When I undock, GNOME switches back to my laptop and moves all applications running on both monitors to a single built-in monitor. GNOME not only handles the docking station without locking, but also intelligently moves the application back to the booted monitor before locking. For me, it was perfect-there was no crash or collapse. Because I use docking stations, GNOME seems to be my best choice.

A great deal of expansion

Some people say that the default interface of GNOME 3 is very limited, and you can't do too much work to customize it. But the default settings are already good for me, and it can't be said that GNOME can't be customized. Its interface can be customized by extension, allowing you to adjust your desktop environment the way you like. These extensions show current weather conditions, add a refresh icon to NetworkManager's wireless network list, insert new menus, and more. Extensions can be obtained through extensions.gnome.org, or they can be managed through GNOME Tweak tools.

But expansion is both an angel and a devil, because different extensions have different degrees of stability and quality. The best extensions can help you do things you can't normally do, while bad extensions can slow down or cause the desktop environment to crash. My advice is to use extensions in moderation (quality is more important than quantity), because too many extensions can lead to stability problems or mixed desktop environments. On average, I try not to install more than three extensions. Because I found that most extensions only slightly enhance the experience of use, not a necessity. My three personal favorite extensions are OpenWeather, TopIcons Plus, and Workspace Indicator. Although Dash to Dock is probably the most popular extension, I don't use it because the default experience of GNOME 3 is enough to meet my needs.

While extensions can make the experience better, in most cases, I don't really need them. The default layout of GNOME 3 not only suits my needs, but any extensions I install only enhance the experience, but are not necessary for me to get the job done.

Dynamic workspace

A dynamic workspace (workspaces) is one of the features that make me inseparable from GNOME 3. The concept is very simple, you can start with a single workspace, and then automatically add more workspaces as needed. You can easily view all the applications running on the workspace by pressing the Super key. This doesn't seem to solve a big problem, but if you're the kind of person who is stacking one window after another, you can use this feature to easily view running content and close unused applications. Hold down the Ctrl+Alt key while pressing the up or down arrows to switch between active workspaces. When you open an application on a workspace, a new blank workspace is automatically created to get started. When you close all applications in the workspace, they are also deleted.

This seems to be very different from the way we've been managing running applications, but if you've tried it, you might like it. I usually run one application in each workspace because I find that switching using the Ctrl+Alt+ up / down arrows is much faster and more efficient than clicking on the application in the panel. If I need to run multiple applications in the workspace, I will paste them on the left and right edges of the monitor.

Another thing about how GNOME 3 handles the workspace is that if multiple monitors are connected to the computer, only one monitor has the workspace enabled by default. This means that when I switch workspaces, only the monitor on the left loops between them, while the monitor on the right remains stationary. This allows me to open a terminal window on the monitor on the right, and when I want to check my messages, I can switch workspaces to use my email client without missing out on what happens in the terminal.

Custom theme

To be honest, the default theme for GNOME 3 is not the prettiest (and certainly not the worst) desktop environment I've ever used. Its simplicity is good, but for people like me who like and embellish the theme, it is very important to customize the visual effects to suit my taste. Fortunately, installing themes in GNOME is easy. To install a new theme, simply download the theme (gnome-look.org is a good download source) and extract the downloaded files to the .themes directory in your home directory. By using the GNOME Tweak tool, you can cycle through installed themes. It allows you to change the appearance of the application as well as the GNOME Shell itself.

There are not many GNOME 3 themes available these days, and Arc and Numix themes occupy almost all the focus. These themes are good, of course, but it would be better to have more choices. Fortunately, since Ubuntu announced that it would switch GNOME to the default desktop environment, the theme community seems to be working overtime, and now there are more topics. My personal favorite theme is Vimix Dark. What's yours?

Although I usually try other desktop environments to keep pace with the development of desktop Linux, I always return to GNOME in the end. GNOME 3.x may not work for everyone, but I suggest giving it a try. The way GNOME handles some problems may seem strange at first, but it's a good desktop environment that allows me to do my work more efficiently than any other graphical user interface I've ever used.

At this point, the study on "is GNOME the best desktop environment for Linux" is over. I hope to be able to solve your doubts. The collocation of theory and practice can better help you learn, go and try it! If you want to continue to learn more related knowledge, please continue to follow the website, the editor will continue to work hard to bring you more practical articles!

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