[solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

Juln · 2011-05-14 19:30:17

Hi everyone,

I'm a new Arch user, have been using Ubuntu for about two years now and decided this morning to give Arch a try; the install wasn't too bad, the only ultimate problem was GNOME 3... I'm hoping somebody here can tell me if there's a way to install Arch from scratch with GNOME 2 and Compiz instead of GNOME 3? I ended up removing G3 and I'm now using KDE, which is also not what I want, but certainly a million times better than G3.

I had a quick look around, and it's clear that I'm not the only one who hates G3, the old threads on this forum regarding a downgrade are pointing to a lot of empty links, hence my new thread on the matter.

I understand that it's faster to use G3 and so-on, but really it looks like it was built for people who haven't got a clue how to use a PC, and if I wanted that sort of "simplicity" then I would have brought a Mac. I absolutely DESPISE GNOME 3 and I'm really sorry if that has offended anyone.

All I want is the simple, minimal interface that I had with G2, with the cute little foot in the top left corner, my customised menus and the basic window effects; that's it. I don't want Duplo-sized icons, I don't want fancy effects and I don't want the 0.0001 seconds of speed difference or extra security and reliability, because I'd rather my PC burst into flames from some G2 bug than I ever use G3 to do my computing.

Last edited by Juln (2011-05-15 10:05:41)

scenox · 2011-05-14 19:43:03

You also can use GNOME3 Forced Fallback Mode + Compiz

Awebb · 2011-05-14 19:54:27

I recommend you leave gnome behind and use something like compiz standalone + xfce4-panel. This is what I did. I really don't need much of the gnome-project, I realized that all the cool things happened in compiz, nautilus and a terminal. I found thunar to be a capable nautilus replacement. Just use the search engine, you'll find what you need.

triplesquarednine · 2011-05-14 20:07:57

All I want is the simple, minimal interface that I had with G2, with the cute little foot in the top left corner, my customised menus and the basic window effects; that's it. I don't want Duplo-sized icons, I don't want fancy effects and I don't want the 0.0001 seconds of speed difference or extra security and reliability, because I'd rather my PC burst into flames from some G2 bug than I ever use G3 to do my computing.

That's hilarious! lol.

G3 is actually pretty good. If you don't like gnome-shell - then simply don't use it. Compiz works really well in G3 ( i am using the latest version 0.9.5, compiled yesterday from source). you can customize gnome3 menus, much in the same way as Gnome2. However, the menus are fairly slow, when i compare them to my gtk2-menu - which had zero-delay in opening. I've actually removed gnome-panel and replaced it with other tools, as i found gnome-panel to be a bit lame in G3.....you may not mind it though.

anyways, I wouldn't be too worried about running G3 - a lot of people are in a scramble because they aren't interested in the shell. but the shell isn't a requirement. I think the developers would just prefer that everybody uses GS. while there was talk of not having it supported in the future, i doubt that will happen ~ as we all know Canonical will be porting Unity to run on top of the gnome 3 stack. (right now it uses gnome2). So i tend to think we should be able to run fallback, for a long time

it just might take some extra-tweaking, to get it the way you want your desktop to be. I'm now actually liking it better than gnome2, myself. but it did take a bit of adjustment, but "under the hood" - gnome 3 has some nice features and improvements ove G2...

theming isn't too difficult either - so if you don't like fat menus/giant icons... then, you can use a theme that doesn't have that - or edit your theme instead. (i sort of did both). I'm actually working on a nice dark theme, that has gtk2 style window-decorations (narrow/thin), slim menus and some other goodies. Gtk3 - looks really great too!

jordan

Juln · 2011-05-14 20:57:31

Thanks for all the quick responses, I did try to use fallback mode after doing some research, but it still wasn't the way I left things in GNOME 2. For example, I couldn't resize the windows on every corner, I couldn't adjust the colours and themes, I couldn't even change the desktop background for what it's worth! Am I stupid? I must be stupid.

What would be the fastest way to get things looking something like this again with G3? (not my image, just a random Google Images result for GNOME 2) :
MOD EDIT: Please follow image posting rules -- Inxsible

I really don't want to sit around and waste time with G3 if there is some way that I could just install G2 with Arch on a fresh install, and just prevent it from updating? Surely there must be a way...

wonder · 2011-05-14 21:05:07

there is no way to use gnome 2 in arch.

i suggest to take a look at debian/mint/ubuntu

Radioactiveman · 2011-05-14 23:10:52

Juln wrote:

I could just install G2 with Arch on a fresh install, and just prevent it from updating? Surely there must be a way...

It is indeed possible but not recommended.
From a fresh install replace

Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

from core, extra and community in pacman.conf with

Server = http://arm.konnichi.com/2011/04/30/core/os/x86_64/
Server = http://arm.konnichi.com/2011/04/30/extra/os/x86_64/
Server = http://arm.konnichi.com/2011/04/30/community/os/x86_64/

Now you can install gnome 2 but this is not the Arch way ...
Really, no recommendation, especially for new users.

tuhyk · 2011-05-15 05:16:14

Got the same problem, not interested in testing Gnome3 so I finally switched to XFCE a week ago. Very happy with it so far. My current desktop screenshot.

It may not be the answer you are looking for, but possible solution it is.

Last edited by tuhyk (2011-05-15 05:17:13)

Juln · 2011-05-15 10:04:39

Well, I've been playing with KDE since the post that said it was impossible and I should try Ubuntu/Mint/etc....

Here's what I've got now.

I'm quite happy with it in terms of looks, KDE seems highly customisable, I miss the little foot but apparently I can change that in KDE too... not sure I will use the foot though... seems a bit daft to use a GNOME logo in KDE, lol.

There's a lot of clutter and nonsense in KDE but it seems that with enough patience I can get rid of all that, so I'm making a start on that now.

Thanks for all the help. KDE FTW.

Juln · 2011-05-15 10:09:30

Radioactiveman wrote:

Juln wrote:
I could just install G2 with Arch on a fresh install, and just prevent it from updating? Surely there must be a way...
It is indeed possible but not recommended.
From a fresh install replace
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
from core, extra and community in pacman.conf with
Server = http://arm.konnichi.com/2011/04/30/core/os/x86_64/
Server = http://arm.konnichi.com/2011/04/30/extra/os/x86_64/
Server = http://arm.konnichi.com/2011/04/30/community/os/x86_64/
Now you can install gnome 2 but this is not the Arch way ...
Really, no recommendation, especially for new users.

Just to add, I could probably try this on my Ubuntu HTPC... is there any valid reason why this is so unrecommended? I'm guessing it wasn't so long ago where G2 would have been standard... and obviously there will come a time when people don't recommend G3 because G4 may be standard... but what is the actual reason that one should not use G2 anymore?

Thanks.

Allan · 2011-05-15 10:14:22

The packages are probably already not compatible with current packages in Arch. So you have the choice of 1) using gnome2 but not updating or installing new software (including security updates), or 2) not using gnome 2

Arch Linux

#1 2011-05-14 19:30:17

[solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

#2 2011-05-14 19:43:03

Re: [solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

#3 2011-05-14 19:54:27

Re: [solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

#4 2011-05-14 20:07:57

Re: [solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

#5 2011-05-14 20:57:31

Re: [solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

#6 2011-05-14 21:05:07

Re: [solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

#7 2011-05-14 23:10:52

Re: [solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

#8 2011-05-15 05:16:14

Re: [solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

#9 2011-05-15 10:04:39

Re: [solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

#10 2011-05-15 10:09:30

Re: [solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

#11 2011-05-15 10:14:22

Re: [solved] Arch with GNOME 2?

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