What has GNOME shell got to do with Unity?

[jasoncruz98]

I am totally new to Linux, and what I know is basically that Ubuntu 11.10 is running on Unity desktop environment. I haven't installed Ubuntu 11.10, although I already have Ubuntu 9.10 installed on my USB. I already know what is GNOME.

I see many people talking about installing GNOME shell in Oneiric Ocelot. Now what I need to know is what is GNOME shell? Is GNOME shell a desktop environment or a window manager? What does it do?

What I plan to do is install Compiz Fusion on Ubuntu 11.10, so does GNOME shell affect that? And what I see on the web is that GNOME shell has different extensions.

I am really confused. What is a shell, what does a shell do and what is a GNOME shell extension? If someone would care to explain to me what is all this about and what GNOME shell does for me that Unity desktop environment doesn't have, I really appreciate it.

[haqking]

I am totally new to Linux, and what I know is basically that Ubuntu 11.10 is running on Unity desktop environment. I haven't installed Ubuntu 11.10, although I already have Ubuntu 9.10 installed on my USB. I already know what is GNOME.

I see many people talking about installing GNOME shell in Oneiric Ocelot. Now what I need to know is what is GNOME shell? Is GNOME shell a desktop environment or a window manager? What does it do?

What I plan to do is install Compiz Fusion on Ubuntu 11.10, so does GNOME shell affect that? And what I see on the web is that GNOME shell has different extensions.

I am really confused. What is a shell, what does a shell do and what is a GNOME shell extension? If someone would care to explain to me what is all this about and what GNOME shell does for me that Unity desktop environment doesn't have, I really appreciate it.

Gnome shell is just that, it is a shell.

11.10 runs Gnome 3 DE which by default has a Unity shell running on it.

Alot of ranters dislike Unity and complain not understanding they can change the shell to say Gnome Shell or session fallback.

You can also change your DE to say XFCE, KDE, LXDE, Fluxbox etc. all of which are totally seperate to Gnome and its shells.

Read ths stickies at the top here http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=331

There also many recurring discussions covering the merits of each here http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=302

[3Miro]

On 9.10 you have Gnome 2, which has been discontinued. 11.10 comes with Gnome 3, which is mostly under the hood changes.

On top of Gnome 3, you can have either Unity (which is just compiz + some plugins to create a different user interface) or Gnome-shell (a very different interface that comes by default on other Gnome 3 versions) or you can have Gnome-fallback which is basically Gnome 2 interface ported to Gnome 3.

You can also consider other desktop environments like Xfce (very similar to gnome 2), KDE or LXDE.