Gnome 3 and Gnome 2

[Groggster]

I am running Ubuntu 11.04 and I am wondering if I can run Gnome 3 and Gnome 2 side by side (in other words be able to choose at login)? I have heard that the upgrade to Gnome 3 can ruin Unity, but is this true for Gnome 2 (classic) as well?

[Frogs Hair]

You can't run them in the same installation at the same time . Some people are able to do a distribution upgrade to Gnome 3 and reinstall Gnome 2 without any problems others suffer system breakage . There is currently some risk involved . You might just want wait Until the 11.10 release . 11.10 will have Unity running on top of Gnome 3 and that will make trying the Shell much easier. October is not that long to wait . As always make backups before you experiment if you don't want to wait .

[Groggster]

You can't run them in the same installation at the same time . Some people are able to do a distribution upgrade to Gnome 3 and reinstall Gnome 2 without any problems others suffer system breakage . There is currently some risk involved . You might just want wait Until the 11.10 release . 11.10 will have Unity running on top of Gnome 3 and that will make trying the Shell much easier. October is not that long to wait . As always make backups before you experiment if you don't want to wait .

Oh, thats to bad. Now I am not the least bit interested in Unity, but I do want to keep Gnome 2. Is that going to be impossible to do if I upgrade to 11.20?

[MG&TL]

So the 11.10 release will be Unity running on top of Gnome3, rather than Gnome2? That sounds like a programmer's nightmare...looks like I will need to upgrade my linux pc's RAM to run this stuff.

[coffeecat]

So the 11.10 release will be Unity running on top of Gnome3, rather than Gnome2? That sounds like a programmer's nightmare...looks like I will need to upgrade my linux pc's RAM to run this stuff.

Eh? I think you've got part of that the wrong way round. One of the reasons the gnome people started developing gnome 3 was because a lot of the code in gnome 2 was bloated and difficult to maintain. The gnome 3 libraries are a fresh start. Why do you think you'll need more RAM?


Oh, thats to bad. Now I am not the least bit interested in Unity, but I do want to keep Gnome 2. Is that going to be impossible to do if I upgrade to 11.20?

No you won't be able to run gnome 2 in 11.10, but you will be able to use a desktop similar to classic gnome. 11.10 will come with only the Unity 3d and 2d desktops as default, but you can install the gnome-shell package for gnome shell, and the gnome-session-fallback package to give you a gnome panel GUI which will look and behave somewhat like classic gnome but which is built on the gnome3 libraries.

[MARP1961]

Try Gnome 3 Shell for a few days. It is fantastic and it can be 'themed' by adding extensions. The workspaces seem to handle themselves and the 'Overview Screen' (easily accessed by clicking 'Activities' or hitting the Windows Super Key) shows you all your tasks and gives you access to a wonderfully quick search.

Gnome 2 will become obsolete whereas Gnome 3 will improve. The real choice is between Unity and Gnome Shell. Gnome Shell wins for me.