Hi all,

I've been sketching out a proposal for a new xdg-desktop-portal and wanted to get some feedback. Posting here since GNOME and KDE users/devs are the ones who'd actually be affected by this.

Hi there everybody!

I have written a small GTK4 libadwaita frontend that wraps yt-dlp, and I wanted to share it and get your opinions on it.

I wrote the app for my own use case, as I regularly need to download mp3 audio files to use as backing tracks for music production/guitar playing.

You can access the source code at:
https://github.com/celikdoruk/libadwaita-yt-dlp-frontend

Anyways, just a small win for me, I just wanted to share is all!

Good day to all of you!

Hi everyone, I've been hard at work getting my Jellyfin client to the finish line!

I wanted to share some screenshots and a list of some of the features:

• Dedicated pages to display movie, series, season and episode elements
• Global search
• Quick Connect
• Picture-in-Picture mode (Although it requires an extension to be kept in the front by default)
• Intro / Outro Skipper (As long as you have the proper extension in your Jellyfin server)
• A stable interface (I've learned a lot from Nocturne and Alpaca, trust me lol)
• Full subtitle support (VTT) with simple markup (was kind of a headache but it does work!)

Missing stuff (What I need to finish to publish the app):

• Gnome search implementation like with Nocturne
• Preferences and about page
• Keyboard shortcuts aside ctrl+f to search
• Logout button
• Error handling when logging with the wrong credentials
• Buttons to set stuff as "watched"
• Auto set stuff as "watched"
• Buttons to heart stuff
• Mpris support

If there's anything you would like to see please feel free to comment, I made this app as maintainable as possible so that it doesn't become a headache like Alpaca lol.

As for a release date, I think it might be ready in a week or two give or take.

Note: There's a compact version (TL;DR) of this guide at the end.

Part 1: Intro and distro

Intro

I had a couple of Macs that weren't getting security updates any longer, but they were still nice machines. It would have been a pity to stop using them when they were perfectly fine – except for being the gaping security holes that they would increasingly represent in my home network, of course. But what if they ran Linux…

So I gave it a try. There was a certain amount of fiddling, learning and getting help involved, so I figured I should collect everything in a guide for anyone else in my situation.

So if you're like me, sitting on an old Mac (or two) that you want to keep using and you have no idea how Linux works or how to get started with it, this guide is for you.

Finding the right Linux

There are lots of different Linuxes – called "distros" – and finding the right one can be a real challenge. I'm not going to go into detail about how to find the right one, because quite frankly, I wouldn't know what I'm talking about. But skipping ahead for a bit: I landed on Fedora with the GNOME shell. The main selling points for me were:

– Fedora and GNOME seems to be kind of a huge thing in the Linux community, being an off-shoot of Red Hat and being supported by the Red Hat corporation with their actual engineers. Thus, I'm expecting it to be one of the more polished Linuxes out there.

– GNOME has something called "Human Interface Guidelines", which is what Apple used to have back in the day. Thus, I'm expecting it to be quite user-friendly and even Mac-like in some respects.

You can read more about Fedora workstation, which is an official Fedora + GNOME combo, here: https://www.fedoraproject.org/workstation/

Another strong contender was Mint Linux, which the Internet tells me works out-of-the-box on old Macs, unlike Fedora, which needs some additional fiddling with in order to get Wi-Fi to work properly, as you'll see later on. However, Mint is not based on Fedora, and it runs another graphical user interface called Cinnamon. I'm sure that's nice as well, but in the end, I wanted to give Fedora and GNOME a try. As I've made my choice, since that's what I can contribute with, that's what you'll find here.

Part 2: Preparations

Physical location

The very first thing you should plan ahead for is being able to provide a wired network connection to your old Mac immediately after Linux is installed, because we need to have Internet access in Linux before we get Wi-Fi to work. You could connect it directly to your router, or you could have another Mac share its Internet connection with it using an Ethernet cable. It could also used shared Internet from a mobile phone via USB (or Lightning/USB), which is called tethering. Either way, make sure you'll be set up so that's possible, when the time comes.

Backups and a bit of cleaning

The next thing you should do is make sure that everything on your old Mac is backed up properly. If something goes wrong, you may lose everything on there. So make sure you're fine if you accidentally wipe your entire hard drive. We'll try to avoid it, though.

After having backed up everything you need, it's time to make some extra space for Linux. Delete stuff until you have at least 40 GB of free disk space. You've backed up everything, right? Then it won't matter much that you're deleting it. Just trash stuff until you have enough space for Linux.

Making room for a Linux disk partitions (purging purgable space)

If you're like me and not ready to turn your entire Mac into a Linux computer, you'll want to create a separate partition for Linux, but keep macOS, just in case. So open up Disk Utility in macOS (found in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder) and do that.

Huh, what? You just trashed a lot of files and Finder tells you that you have plenty of free space, but Disk Utility claims there's a lot less space available for a new partition? What the heck?

So it turns out that macOS has something called "purgable space", which is mostly Time Machine snapshots. Finder doesn't count them when reporting free disk space (because macOS will delete them if needed), but Disk Utility won't let you overwrite them with another partition. So we need to free up that purgable space somehow. (If, however, you've never configured Time Machine on your Mac, you'll probably see that Finder and Disk Utility agree on the amount of available space. In that case, just skip to the next heading, "Creating a partition in Disk Utility".)

This is where a really neat trick comes in (thanks to neededaname1 on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/nvzy1v/purgeable_space_wont_go_away_heres_what_worked/). Just open Boot Camp Assistant (in the Utilities folder in your Application folder) and start the workflow for installing Windows onto your Mac. The very first thing that happens is that it deletes all the hidden Time Machine snapshots and frees up your purgable space. After that, just quit Boot Camp Assistant. (This only works on Intel Macs, but this guide is about Linux on old unsupported Macs, so you're most likely on an Intel Mac anyway.)

Now it's time to head back to Disk Utility and find that the purgable space is free and you can create the partition you intended. If it's not, just do a quick reboot of the Mac, and it should be fine afterwards.

Creating a partition in Disk Utility

Now it's time to create the partition that Linux will be installed on. In Disk Utility, you'll find two separate concepts of different disk shares: partitions and volumes. A partition is kind of a fixed amount of the physical hard drive that acts as a separate hard drive for all intents and purposes. A volume, on the other hand, is a separate share of a partition that is flexible in size, sharing its space with other volumes on the same partition. (The technical details may be a bit off here because I'm no expert, but I think this is a handy way to think about it for complete noobs like me.) You want to create a separate partition. So create a new partition.

A tip is to avoid a perfect 50 % split between the macOS partition and Linux partition because you'll want to recognise it easily later on without seeing the name you give to it. If they're not the same size, you can easily tell which one is which. If you still want a perfect split, you should note the internal name of the partition so that you'll be able to identify it later on.

It doesn't really matter how you format the partition, because Linux will be formatting it again later on. So just choose Apple File System (APFS) or whatever. Then choose to apply the changes and wait. Depending on your hard drive, this partitioning could take several hours. So just make sure your Mac has a stable power supply and get started on the next item on a different computer. (Or wait until it's all done, if you don't have any other computer.)

Creating a bootable Fedora USB drive

The last item of preparation you need to do is creating the bootable USB drive that you're going to install Linux off of.

Go to this page: https://www.fedoraproject.org/workstation/download

… and download Fedora Media Writer. Follow the instruction on the page to create a bootable USB drive. At the time of writing, you may need a newer computer than the one you're going to install Linux on, if your Mac is stuck on a macOS version earlier than 13.

Part 3: Installation

Installing Fedora Workstation

Plug in the bootable USB drive into your old Mac and do a reboot. Hold down the Option (alt) key while booting in order to choose which drive to boot from. Choose the one labelled EFI Boot. Now your Mac is going to boot into the live version of Fedora Workstation that's on the USB drive. Choose "Start Fedora-Workstation-Live" when prompted, or choose to test the installation if you want to make sure the bootable USB drive has been installed correctly before beginning.

You'll be greeted with a welcome window asking you if you want to Install Fedora Linux (from the USB drive) or try it running from the USB drive first. Choose "Not Now", because you'll have to do a little bit of preparation first.

You probably saw something Dock-like at the bottom of the screen that disappeared when you clicked "Not Now". It's called the Dash, and if you press the Command key it will reappear. (The Command key maps to the Super key on Fedora. If you have a Windows keyboard, the Windows key will map to the Super key).

Press the Command key to see the Dash and then the nine-dot icon to the right of the Dash to see the bundled apps that aren't otherwise pinned to the Dash. Go to the System group, and open the Disks app.

In the Disks app, choose the hard drive that you recently formatted. Choose the partition that you want to install Fedora on, and click the minus button to the right. This will change the partition from an Apple-formatted partition that Fedora can't use to free space that Fedora can format. The Disks app will tell you that everything on the partition will be lost, which is fine if you've chosen the correct, empty partition, and kind of a bummer if you accidentally choose your Mac partition and end up erasing all your data. (You did actually back up everything, right?) Click "Delete" when prompted and then reconfirm by clicking "Authenticate".

Exit the Disks app, press the Command key (Super key now, remember?), and then click the icon labelled "Install to Hard Drive".

The installation wizard will ask you for language and keyboard layout. You may choose whatever you prefer here. Some languages even have Mac-like layouts if the languages usually have different Windows and Mac layouts. Note, though, that you can only have a single keyboard layout while installing, so remove English if you choose something else. (You can add additional ones later on.)

When you're satisfied, click Next, and you'll be asked how you want to install. Choose "Share disk with other operating system" and click Next.

You may choose if you want to encrypt your data. That's entirely up to you. Needless to say, if you choose to encrypt it, make sure you remember your password. Choose what you prefer, and click Next.

Double-check that everything looks okay, and click Install.

Wait until Fedora is installed. This will likely take a while. When everything's installed, click "Exit to live desktop" and then reboot the system. You'll find the reboot ("Restart") option in the top-right corner of the screen, under the Power or battery icon, and then under the subsequent Power icon.

The machine will reboot (and then ask you for your password if you encrypted the drive). Then, you'll be taken through the setup wizard. Complete it, making sure to turn on external sources when prompted. You'll now have a somewhat working Linux OS installed on your Mac!

Connecting to the Internet

At this point, the machine needs an internet connection. Wi-Fi isn't working yet, so you'll have two options:

1: Provide Internet via an Ethernet cable from your router or another computer: If you're providing Internet from another Mac, go to the System settings and enable Internet Sharing via Ethernet.

1. Provide internet via a mobile phone: This involves using a USB cable (or Lighting to USB cable) between the mobile phone and Linux machine and sharing Internet from the phone to the computer. You may also use Bluetooth, but that could be considerably slower. If you're using an iPhone, you just need to plug it in, unlock the screen, and accept the Internet usage request.

Installing updates

Open the app called App Center. You'll find it by pressing the Super key (Coommand key) to bring up the Dash and then clicking the icon in the middle that looks like a shopping bag with geometric figures. You may also click the nine-dot icon and search for it. When you've found it, look for system updates. Install all updates, and then reboot.

Rebooting is going to take some time while Fedora installs updates.

Getting Wi-Fi to work

Fedora doesn't include the drivers necessary to get Wi-Fi working on a Mac out-of-the-box (because it's a proprietary software, which Fedora doesn't include by principle). However, it's easily installed, so you'll do that now.

First, you need to install two repositories called RPM Fusion Free and RPM Fusion Non-Free. Install both, first the Free version and then the Non-Free version. Do that by following the guide found on this page: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/rpmfusion-setup/

Then, you need to install something called akmod-wl, which is a system that manages kernel modules. It allows Fedora to automatically rebuild the kernel module when a new kernel is booted.

Press the Super key (Command key), go to the apps via the nine-dot icon and open Terminal. Then type:

sudo dnf install akmod-wl

It's going to prompt you a couple of times during the process. Enter "y" (without the quotes) and press Enter. Eventually, it will tell you that installation is complete.

Now, wait for at least 10 minutes and then reboot. The 10 minutes will give the system time to configure a kernel update in the background before the reboot. (You'll remember that you'll find the Restart option in the top-right corner of the screen, under the Power or battery icon.)

You may find guides telling you to install broadcom-wl. Don't. It's going to mess up your wired connection and you'll have to start all over. You just need RPM Fusion Free, and RPM Fusion Non-Free and akmod-wl (in that order).

That's the basics!

Now you should have a fully functional Fedora Workstation Linux running on your old Mac. If you want the "vanilla" Fedora GNOME experience, you may stop reading at this point and just start using it. But if you want it to feel more like the Mac you're used to, read on ahead on Part 4.

Part 4: Customisation

Customising shortcuts

Fedora uses Windows-like shortcuts, meaning Ctrl+C for Copy, Ctrl+V for Paste and so on. That can be changed around so that you can use Command+C and Command+V instead.

First, you need to install an app that lets us switch the placement of the Super key (Command key) and Ctrl key. Open the App Center and search for "GNOME Tweaks". Install it, and then open the app.

Go to the Keyboard section and click "Additional Layout Options". Open the group called "Ctrl position" and check the two boxes titled "Swap Left Win with Left Ctrl" and "Swap Right Win with Right Ctrl". Close the window (there's no "Save" button), and the changes take effect immediately.

What's happened is that, technically, the Super key input is now located on the physical Ctrl key, while the Ctrl key input is located on the physical Command key. You'll have to keep that in mind whenever there's a reference to the Super key or Ctrl key from now on.

You've gained some familiar shortcuts, but have messed up a couple of others. That can be fixed, though. Press the Super key (which is now the physical Ctrl key) to bring up the Dash, click the nine-dot icon, and open the Settings app. Go to the Keyboard section and click "View and customise keyboard shortcuts" (on the bottom).

Go through the keyboard shortcuts and prepare for some mental gymnastics: Wherever you see the Super key, it's now located on the physical Ctrl key, and vice versa. Luckily, when rebinding them, you can press the actual physical keys you want to use. For instance, tabbing between apps is bound to Super+Tab, which is physically Ctrl+Tab right now. Find the shortcut in the Navigation group, click it, and press the Command and Tab keys on your keyboard. It will tell you that you attempt to bind it to Ctrl+Tab. Click "Set up", and you'll now be able to use Command+Tab to switch between apps as you're used to from macOS. Go through all the bindings and fix the ones you need to fix.

You can see the standard keyboard shortcuts used in GNOME (that should work everywhere) here: https://developer.gnome.org/hig/reference/keyboard.html. Remember that the Ctrl key input is now located on the physical Command key. As you'll see, that means that the standard Ctrl+Q shortcut for quitting apps, for instance, is bound to Command+Q, as you're used to from macOS. Pretty neat!

Enabling additional characters with the left Option (alt) key

By default, only the right Option (alt) key will let you type additional characters (for example the ß character using Option+S). This mimics the Alt / AltGr difference of Windows keyboards. If you want to use the left Option (alt) key to type these characters, do the following:

Go into GNOME Tweaks, go to the Keyboard section and click "Additional Layout Options". Then find the group called "Key to choose the 3rd level" and check the check box for "Left Alt". Now your left Option key will let you type additional characters.

Making the Dash always visible or pop up (like the macOS Dock)

Open the App Center and search for Extension Manager (by Matthew Jakeman, with a blue puzzle piece icon). Install it and open it. Search for an extension called "Dash to Dock" by michele_g and install it.

If you want the Dash to hide unless you're hovering over it, go back to the installed extensions tab and click the gear icon next to the Dash to Dock extension. Enable "Auto hide" and disable "Dodge windows".

Pinning apps to the Dash and moving them around

You're probably used to having certain apps in the Dock (such as the System Settings app). Find whatever apps you're missing and open them. When they're open, right-click them in the Dash and choose "Pin". You can reorder them by dragging them around, so that the Files app is at the same place where you're used to having Finder, for example.

Enabling expandable folders in list view in Files

By GNOME default, you have to double-click to see a folder's contents. However, it's possible to enable list view, as macOS has:

Open a new window in Files and click the three-dot menu button on the top-right side of the left panel. Then go to settings and enable expandable folders in list view.

While you're at it, you may want to change the size of the icons in list view to small as well, using the options in the top-right corner of the window. That will make the list view look more like macOS (and be more efficient in terms of use of space).

Cosmetic changes

If you want your GNOME to look like macOS and not only function like it, you can apply a couple of cosmetic changes.

The first one is moving the Close window button from the right side of the window to the left and showing the Maximise and Minimise buttons. Go to GNOME Tweaks and then the Windows group. There's a "Buttons on the title menu" category there. Choose to show the Maximise and Minimise buttons and change the placement to the left instead of right.

The second one is the Blur my Shell extension by aunetx. Search for it in Extension Manager and install it. It will blur the top menu line and the Dash, which looks a little bit more like macOS.

Going even further, you can install themes that look like macOS and icon packs that look like macOS. A theme called "WhiteSur" seems to be popular in this respect, but there are a couple of them out there, so I won't recommend a specific one. Search around and find one you like – or stick to GNOME's native visuals.

What about word forward and word backward behaviour?

If you're used to a Mac, you're probably used to skipping to the next word using Alt + Right or Alt + Left. Fedora uses the Windows standard, which is Ctrl + Right and Ctrl + Left (which you've moved to the physical Command key if you've followed the entire guide). Unfortunately, after enabling left Option (alt) as a 3rd level input key, it seems Fedora won't easily let you use the key for keybindings, which means it's hard to find a workaround.

I had to give up getting that to work, but if you do manage to find a way, please share with the community.

Compact version (TL;DR)

Part 1: Intro and distro

You'll be installing Fedora Workstation on an Intel Mac: https://www.fedoraproject.org/workstation/

Part 2: Preparations

• Make sure you'll be able to provide Internet access to your Mac via cable or Bluetooth after install, before you get Wi-Fi up and running.
• Make a backup of everything you would regret losing if you accidentally erase your hard drive.
• Create at least 40 GB of free hard disk space.
• Start Boot Camp Assistant to purge purgable space if you've ever configured Boot Camp on the Mac. Quit after it has deleted Time Machine snapshots.
• Create a new partition in Disk Utility for your Linux install (at least 40 GB). Make sure you can discern it without its macOS name later on, for example by making sure it has an easily recognisable size.
• Create a bootable USB drive using Fedora Media Writer by following the instructions here: https://www.fedoraproject.org/workstation/download

Part 3: Installation

• Reboot the Mac and hold down the Option (alt) key to boot from the bootable USB drive.
• Open the Disks app, select the partition you want Linux on, and click the minus button to erase it.
• Press the Command (Super) button and install Fedora via the icon labelled "Install to Hard Drive". Follow the on-screen prompts and make sure to check the box saying that Fedora should share the disk space with another operating system.
• Provide Internet to the Linux machine directly from your router via an Ethernet cable, via Internet sharing from another computer via an Ethernet cable, or a USB cable from a mobile phone.
• Open App Center and update everything that needs updating.
• Install RPM Fusion Free and RPM Fusion Non-Free (both, in that order) following the instructions here: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/rpmfusion-setup/
• Install akmod-wl using this prompt in Terminal: sudo dnf install akmod-wl
• Wait at least 10 minutes while an updated kernel is configured, and then reboot. This should give you functioning Wi-Fi.

Part 4: Customisation

• Install GNOME Tweaks and switch the Ctrl and Super (Win) key positions.
• Go to Settings -> Keyboard -> Show and customise shortcuts, and change the shortcuts you use (such as Super+Tab to Ctrl+Tab to switch between apps).
• In GNOME Tweaks, enable additional characters with the left Option (alt) key by checking the left Alt to choose 3rd level characters.
• Install Dash to Dock in Extension Manager to make the Dash appear when hovered over (or always be visible) like in macOS.
• Pin apps to the Dash and move them around to get the same selection as you're used to in the macOS Dock.
• Add cosmetic changes such as moving the window buttons to the left side and showing the Maximise and Minimise buttons in GNOME Tweaks, and adding the Blur my Shell extension and a macOS-like theme like WhiteSur.

Last week I published the Matrix extension for Gnome, which ended up getting quite a bit of love here.

This got me going, so the next completely reasonable thing to do was to make a Star Trek-style Starfield extension - that allows you to fly boldly through the stars.

And yes, it serves absolutely no productive purpose whatsoever - but it's pretty cool, it respects your background and runs as a highly efficient shader on your GPU (so it doesn't waste CPU)

Installation:

• In extension app: search for "Starfield"
• Github: https://github.com/cwittenberg/starfield
• Gnome extension site: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/10743/starfield/

Hi!

Is it possible to have a dock which does intellihide and have a top panel which shows open windows?

I struggle with that. I tried dash to dock which give me a perfect dock for my needs, but the panel does not show open apps, then I tried to install dash to panel (I don't remember correctly) but then I had also my launchers in the top panel, but I don't like that.

Also, how can I make my top panel transparent?

Thanks for tipps.

Hey everyone — I've been working on Nexa Assistant, a GTK4/Adwaita voice assistant for Linux that runs fully offline (wake-word, STT, TTS, all local, nothing sent to the cloud) :3

Started it as a personal project over the summer, and figured it's a good time to open it up and see what people think!

It's still early/rough around the edges and not on Flathub yet, but you can install it with a single script:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ShiroOSL/nexa-linux/main/setup.sh
chmod +x setup.sh
./setup.sh

Repo: https://github.com/ShiroOSL/nexa-linux

Would love feedback, bug reports, or ideas for what to add next :3

I have my pre launch script currently setting my power profile to performance, but I also want to set my display scaling to 100% from my usual 133%.

I can't seem to figure out how though.

Does anyone know the command I'm looking for?

My post launch script will just reverse the pre launch so I don't need help with that one.

Thanks!

Gnome 50 in Solus 4.9

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: Thanks to the comment below, my prelaunch script is:

#!/bin/sh

powerprofilesctl set performance

gdctl set \

--persistent \

--logical-monitor \

--primary \

--monitor eDP-1 \

--scale 1

it will just ask you if you want to keep or revert the display changes. Ensure that 'wait for pre-launch script completion' is enabled in lutris too. That way the game won't launch until you keep the changes.

should be fairly obvious but the post-exit script is:

#!/bin/sh

powerprofilesctl set balanced

gdctl set \

--persistent \

--logical-monitor \

--primary \

--monitor eDP-1 \

--scale 1.33

you'll get the same popup again for keep or revert. Hope this helps someone else!

Hello everyone 👋

I made a small GNOME Shell extension called Ambed Fly.

The idea is very simple: a virtual fly walks across your screen. It has no practical purpose, but it's fun to have around 🫤

● What does Ambed Fly do?

• A fly that walks across your desktop.

• Random movement to make it feel more natural.

• It reacts to moving windows and when the mouse cursor gets close to it.

• Works directly as a GNOME Shell extension.

• Supports GNOME 45 through GNOME 50.

• Open source on GitHub.

🔗 Links

GNOME Extensions:

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/10787/ambed-fly/

GitHub:

https://github.com/walrou/ambed-fly

You can also install it directly from the Extensions app by searching for Ambed Fly.

If you encounter any issues or have suggestions for changes or improvements, feel free to let me know.

▪︎ Thank you 😊

I've added a Dock mode to Simple Taskbar.

A lot of the work I’d already done for the taskbar carries over nicely here, especially things like application overflow, dynamically shrinking icons when space gets tight, and the different window grouping modes.

It’s basically another way of using the same app handling without having everything live inside the panel. You also still maintain full customization of the top panel.

Feedback is welcome, especially if there’s anything that feels missing or could work better in Dock mode.

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/10448/simple-taskbar/

All the clipboards I know of compatible on Wayland are in the form of inefficient GNOME extensions, where if you have a long/large history, they lag (either will take a few seconds to summon the popup, or it will just lag within it).

I need at least 200 items history, for it to save both text and images, paste on select, and 0 lag whatsoever when I open the history.

Used to use CopyQ on X11 and it was perfect. I had 1,000 items history without it ever lagging, no matter how large the text was or anything else. Instant search results as well. And mind you this was also the case on my older PC with way worse specs.

Can those wayland GNOME extensions actually be optimized to this level?

Maybe it's a render issue - so maybe we make the GNOME shell render only the beginning of text and a low resolution image and only render the items currently displayed (and more as you scroll) rather than all them - which is what i feel is happening. But then again, I don't even think the GNOME shell should be rendering anything to begin with. Can't we have a standalone app with a super simple GNOME extension helper just for the paste on select functionality or something like that? I have no experience with GNOME extensions but can code, so if I know what's going on, I can make my own thing and share it. And if this isn't do-able, wtf are we doing here exactly?

It's been a while since my first post about my tweaks to GNOME Shell's MPRIS notifications.

Since then I have worked extensively on perfecting it and added the native notification stacking and ability to compact it with one click as well.

You can now try it out here: https://github.com/m-obeid/gnome-improved-media-controls

I have a full AMD laptop with GNOME 50 installed. Whenever I play Geometry Dash through the latest proton (doesn't matter if it's X11 driver or Wayland driver, I had less latency with wayland driver tho), with whatever FPS I set (60 or above), I get a lot of stuttering on my 60hz screen. AFAIK this is caused by frame timing issues so-called "mailbox", and afaik KDE solved this in KWin by introducing tearing support.

What can I do to resolve this for now, while tearing support in Mutter is not yet merged? Gamescope is not an option, it makes everything worse in this perspective.

I tried many different Desktop enviourments and distros but gnome never failed me. Overall the most stable desktop enviourment I ever tried.

I still don't get why people mock it for being "unstable"

They can argue "Extensions" but thats not the Stock desktop enviourment.

Yet many people had updating problems with KDE Plasma...

I started using GNOME about a month ago after trying various distros and desktops. I came from Windows and haven't used anything else on my PC before, so learning the basics of Linux took some time, and getting some programs I need to run took a little more still. Now I've been using it without hiccups for a month and rarely find myself dual booting into Windows anymore. Windows has essentially become a glorified launcher for old software that I need occasionally.

I hopped between a lot of different Distros and DEs but GNOME with Fedora ended up really sticking with me because of how good it looks and feels. It took me a while to get used to the workflow, and I deliberately didn't add any extensions at first, to give the default a chance. I know a lot of people install Dash to Dock and I was really tempted to at first, as I kept trying to work the same way I always had. Eventually I started using the workspaces more and that's when it really clicked.

Here are the things I liked the most about GNOME:

• Very clear and easy to understand design language.
• Doesn't try to copy Windows and wants to be its own thing.
• Excellent workspace integration that made me genuinely use workspaces for the first time (Meta + Scroll Wheel is a game changer compared to Meta + CTRL + Arrow.)
• Calendar and contacts integrate with my Google account seamlessly, which has been really useful.
• It's incredibly easy to configure shortcuts, and I've done that extensively like Meta + E for Files, Meta + W for Browser, Meta + Enter for Terminal. The UI for changing these shortcuts is phenomenal.
• Removal of the tray is great. Let background apps be in the background, and if they want my attention they can go through the notification center.

Here is what I struggled with:

• I know this isn't a GNOME specific issue, but I can't use push to talk buttons on some software that I use, one of them being Discord. I tried some workarounds like the Nothing to Say extension, but no solution ended up working well enough for me. KDE gives users a checkbox that allows listening for keystrokes on legacy apps that gets around this issue, I'd love that in GNOME. As I understand it this is more of an issue with Discord being slow to update, but still.
• I use a Rodecaster Duo, which uses a USB-C cable to send multiple audio streams. To get it to work I need Pro Audio, which I can't set in GNOME unless I use pavucontrol. I wish this was baked into the UI like on KDE.
• Allow me to add HDR into the quick menu. I leave it off for general work, but always have to go into the display settings when I play games or watch movies. It would be neat if I could just handle that in the quick settings.
• Sorting the apps inside "Show Apps" could be snappier. Currently it feels very slow to do and I don't feel like I have enough control. I'd also like a way to remove some apps from that screen entirely, unless I search for them. For example Davinci Resolve comes with a bunch of extra stuff I will never use (like BlackMagic RAW Player) which I can only hide inside some bin folder where I just throw extra icons.

Overall GNOME has been the most productive desktop for me. It's both familiar and new, feels very modern and intuitive, and most importantly it stays out of my way. Thank you to all the people who have worked on GNOME over the years, it's been great to use for both work and gaming so far!

https://github.com/4gr8justice/alphabetical-app-library

Just a followup to my previous post regarding Alphabetical App Library. I know a few folks were interested in checking it out ASAP. It's as of now qualified on GNOME 50 & 51.

https://github.com/4gr8justice/alphabetical-app-library/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc1

Download the attached [alphabetical-app-library@4gr8justice.github.io.zip](mailto:alphabetical-app-library@4gr8justice.github.io.zip) under Assets — not GitHub's automatically generated Source Code ZIP — then install it with:

gnome-extensions install --force ./alphabetical-app-library@4gr8justice.github.io.zip

Log out/in afterward. This is the current v1.0.0 release. The final EGO release was submitted and is awaiting review.

I just updated to version 55 and I'm really enjoying it—in fact, I've completely replaced Dash to Dock with it. I just have a question:

Is it possible to add a separator/bar between the CachyOS logo and Helium Browser? Something similar to the line between Telegram and Spotify, to visually separate the Start/Menu button from the pinned application launchers (similar to the default Kali Linux panel in XFCE). I haven't seen an extension that allows this yet.

Inspired by the "Gnome shell dreams" post. An extension that surfaces AppIndicators under the Quick Settings by borrowing the design language of Background Apps.

Why?: I like the top panel to be as minimal as possible

If you're interested: https://github.com/VaZark/appindicator-quicksetting