Regarding Gnome 3 Fallback Session

[craig10x]

I was just curious... is gnome 3 fallback supposed to be permanent?
I thought i read somewhere (i think it was the gnome website) that they have promised to maintain it permanently...

The reason i am asking is because i use a distro that is based on a modified gnome 3 fallback which i love and was wondering if they might have a problem regarding that "down the road" so to speak....

Thanks for any input on this ;)

[Frogs Hair]

12.04 will have it for 5 years and I don't know what is planned for 12.10 and beyond.

[drawkcab]

My understanding is that gnome classic or gnome fallback is going to be available as Ubuntu is dropping support for unity 2d.

[3rdalbum]

My understanding is that gnome classic or gnome fallback is going to be available as Ubuntu is dropping support for unity 2d.

I'm not sure if you've understood properly.

Unity 2D is being dropped because, very shortly, it will be possible to run Unity 3D on non-3D-accelerated hardware due to some new technology. Gnome Fallback still won't be preinstalled on Ubuntu.

Gnome Fallback will be included in Ubuntu - though not preinstalled - for as long as Gnome maintains it. From what I've heard, Gnome has also been waiting for the same new technology as Ubuntu to drop Gnome Fallback. When Gnome Shell can run on non-3D-accelerated hardware, Gnome Fallback will be droppd by Gnome's developers. That's my understanding of it.

They may change their mind, but I expect that 12.10 will have Fallback available, and 13.04 won't.

Unfortunately people will complain that Ubuntu is "trying to force everyone to use Unity" when GNOME makes the decision to stop maintaining Gnome Fallback. Shooting the messenger.

[Senior_Buckethead]

Oh does that mean we have to put up with unity...oh crap.

[zombifier25]

No one is forcing you to put up with anything. There's this thing called KDE. There is also this thing called Xfce. Oh, and if I remembered correctly, there's one called LXDE too. Take a look at them and choose one for your need.

[DoubleClicker]

Really the only issue's are Gnome Panel, and it's applets. Other than that, it's programs that Gnome will continue to support. Even if Gnome drops it, someone will likely maintain it.

[MadmanRB]

I dont think gnome 3 classic will ever truely go by the wayside as there is a lot of hardware that doesnt support gnome shell out there and legacy support will still probably be there.

[forrestcupp]

From what I've heard, Gnome has also been waiting for the same new technology as Ubuntu to drop Gnome Fallback. When Gnome Shell can run on non-3D-accelerated hardware, Gnome Fallback will be droppd by Gnome's developers. That's my understanding of it.

I don't think that's quite right. Even now, we have Gnome Classic, and Gnome Classic (no effects). Regular Gnome Classic is Gnome Fallback with 3D effects. The purpose of it is not for non-3D-accelerated hardware, but for all the people who don't like the new paradigm. Maybe what you heard is that they are combining the two versions of Gnome Classic, like Canonical is doing with Unity.

[craig10x]

I'm currently using Zorin 6, which is ubuntu 12.04 of course and their approach was to use a modified gnome 3 fallback session, utilizing awn (avant window manager) in panel mode (not as a dock) along with a gno menu...which has a windows 7 style slab menu default to help attract newbies from windows but also has many other slab menu styles if one prefers not to have that "look"....

It works great and is an excellent solution for those who love ubuntu but prefer a more conventional desktop environment with it...you have just one lower panel and a slab menu (kind of like mint or kde) and even little "window previews" (like kde) when you point your mouse to a program that you have on your panel...

That's why i was wondering what gnome's future plans is concerning offering the gnome 3 fallback session...It works very smooth and snappy and i wonder what they would do if gnome 3 fallback went away...sure hope it wont! ;)