Linux Mint 12 review: wrap up…getting used to gnome again.

Linux Mint 12 review: wrap up…getting used to gnome again.

I am happy with the polish that the Mint developers did polishing Linux Mint 12. I enjoy having my menu back. I have found myself slowly transitioning away from the menu-bar, as I get more used to using gnome 3. Although I have noticed that tabs in the menu bar, are not universal throughout all of the work spaces. So If I have fire-fox on one work space and chrome on the other, only one tab will show up per workspace.

Mint menu expanded.

The far Left side of the mint menu directly relates to the gnome 3 Dash bar automatically.

Notice the favorite bar on the right side.

I like the fact that there are many ways you can  choose to get to your applications.

If you need to get to your clean desktop use the show desktop button, which is directly next to the menu button.

I was slightly disappointed that the only way to search with only the keyboard, is to use the gnome shell method. Gnome shell does not seem to base their search results on how often I use a program, but the program I am looking for always shows up somewhere in the list within the first three key-strokes.

USER TIP:

Use the “super” key(aka windows key) to initiate the “activities Overview” (dark) portal.

I was expecting to want to throw gnome 3 out of a window, by the end of day 2. But I am already feeling like a gnome shell ellite user after just 3 days. I think if you approach Linux Mint 12’s new interface w/ an open-mind you will be very happy, and be able to stay on topic.

I added the canary-yellow background. The default was plain white.

I found out that there is no longer any sarcastic ascii art animals to welcome you to the Linux terminal mode. Although I do get the same Humor from the AWN(avant window navigator) dock, through the animal farm applet.

PRO TIP:

After you initiate search, you can click one of two search tabs at the bottom of the window. These search tabs when clicked or “return”, will automatically launch a new tab in your web-browser to either Google or Wikipedia. Also if you ever need to exit the dark portal, all you need to do is to hit the “esc” key.

Below I have included a couple of youtube video’s about gnome 3.

 

FEWER INTERRUPTIONS:

messaging with gnome 3.

 

Working with Windows.

Linux Mint 12 review: pt. 3 (A) 10 things 2 do after fresh install.

I would like to start this post with the first things that I do after a clean install.

1~update video drivers
2~initial update
3~Disable auto-run
4~ set up any necessary User accounts/permissions.
5~change the default Wallpaper.
6~Install DropBox to sync my documents.
7~ modify mouse settings.
8~set nautilus to open folders w/ a single click
9~ set the power/screen settings.
10~ modify my  Firefox && chrome web-browsers to suit my needs.

One of the greatest things about Linux mint, is that you don’t have to install your codecs to be able to play your media manually after installation. 

CODEC:  ” co der- dec oder” a piece of software that is installed to decode your media files. Fore example MP3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec 

1)update to the newest stable video drivers since I have an Nvidia graphics accelerator card. Nvidia Geforce 210. Cheapest card I could get that was slim enough to fit, a gigabyte of video memory, and HDMI/VGA/DVI.

Searching for available drivers…

I always choose to activate the recommended driver version.

2) initial update. This takes the longest, but is the most crucial.

Your update time may vary, based on your Connection speed to the Internet.

If you are really curious  about what files Linux Mint is downloading, click the Right arrow to open up this dialogue.

The first window of the update manager.

Taking a peek at where the real work getting done in Linux Mint 12 I hope you enjoy this Blog post, and be sure to check out part B…