A Beginner’s Guide to the GNOME Desktop
Of all the desktops available for the Linux operating system, GNOME has managed to become one of the most efficient, stable, and reliable while remaining incredibly user-friendly. In fact, most users, regardless of experience, can quickly pick up GNOME with little or no effort.
With that said, users who are new to both Linux and GNOME will have a better understanding of the ins and outs of the desktop, which makes Linux not only simple, but fun.
Here we will discuss the latest release of GNOME – 3.26. This will be the regular version (as opposed to the GNOME version in Ubuntu 17.10, which has a similar look and feel to the defunct Ubuntu Unity desktop). To get this vanilla GNOME, we decided to demo it on a Fedora 27 workstation . While Fedora is not a common distribution for new users, it is one of the surest ways to get the latest desktop experience.
So, without further ado, let’s talk about GNOME.
Review of
One of the most important pieces of the GNOME puzzle is the overview of the action. Actions is where you access application launchers, minimized applications, search, and virtual desktops. To go to an overview of activities, you can do one of the following:
- Click the “Actions” button in the upper left corner.
- Move your cursor to the upper left corner
- Press the Super (Windows) key on your keyboard.
Dash
The Action Overview actually contains several key components of the GNOME desktop. If you look at the left edge of the Actions window, you will see a strip of icons. This bar is called The Dash. Dash contains so-called “favorites” – launchers for applications you use frequently. By default, you will find launchers (top to bottom) for Firefox (web browser), Evolution (email / calendar), Rhythmbox (music player), GNOME Photos (photo viewer), Files (file manager), and GNOME software ( app store). Click any of these icons to launch the corresponding application.
If Dash has application launchers that you don’t need, right-click the appropriate launcher and select Remove from Favorites (see below).
App overview
But what if you want to add a favorite to Dash? It’s simple, you need to open the Application overview. To access this tool, click on the grid icon at the bottom of the dash. When the app overview opens, you can browse the list of installed apps to find what you’re looking for. With one click, you can launch this application or add it to Dash.
To add an app to Dash, find the app in question (in the app overview), right-click the app’s icon, and select Add to Favorites.
After you add an app launcher to your favorites, it will be automatically added to Dash, where you can launch the app without opening the app overview.
Search
The GNOME search tool is very powerful. It can not only search for installed applications in the Application Overview, but it can also search for applications not yet installed in the GNOME software, as well as search for files. To illustrate this, I created a file (using the LibreOffice office suite) called lifehacker.odt. If I open Dash and type life, I see my newly created file, as well as its associated applications (installed or not – see below).
Click on the entry you are looking for and it will open.
Calendar and notifications
Click the clock icon in the middle of the top bar to open the built-in calendar and notifications. If a notification is available (for example, pending updates as shown below), click on it so you can act on it.
Speaking of calendars, if you want to sync your GNOME calendar with your Google calendar, the process is simple. Open Dash and search for “internet”, then click the entry for “Online Accounts.” In the window that appears (below), click Google, and then go through the add account wizard.
After adding an account, you can define which features should be enabled.
At this point, your Google account will start syncing with your GNOME desktop. If you open the Evolution collaboration software suite, you will see that your Google email and calendar are ready to use.
Application menu
The last area to get familiar with is the application menus and buttons. On GNOME, you will find that many applications are in the top bar, not the applications themselves. For example, open Evolution. A new drop-down menu will appear on the top bar next to the Applications button. Click on it to access the supported entries for the application.
Not every application uses this menu system, and some use it more than others.
Once you open the app, you can notice the drastic lack of buttons in the title bar. To access the actions typically associated with these buttons (close, collapse, expand, expand), right-click on the toolbar and select the action you want from the pop-up menu.
And now you are familiar with GNOME. This is an incredibly easy-to-use desktop for any user. To learn more about this desktop environment, be sure to check out the official GNOME documentation .