Official GNOME Shell Extensions Available In The WebUpd8 GNOME 3 PPA For Ubuntu 11.10

As promised, the latest official GNOME Shell Extensions (version 3.2.0) are now available in the WebUpd8 GNOME 3 PPA for Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot. This PPA is an attempt to have all the stable GNOME 3.2 packages that aren't available in the official Ubuntu 11.10 repositories in a single place. Please note that I did not package this. I'm only uploading these packages to a single PPA.

GNOME Shell Extensions is an official GNOME package that provides additional functionality for GNOME Shell, like a classic menu, restore the power-off entry in the user menu, the user theme extension which allows you to easily switch between GNOME Shell themes and more.

Here is a video I've recorded with most of the extensions above in action:




Unfortunately the Dock extension didn't work in my test, that's why it doesn't show up in the video. I've added a patch which fixes the Dock extension.

Install GNOME Shell Extensions pack in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

Important: an user has reported that using the Alternative Status Menu extension without having a profile picture crashes GNOME Shell. So set a picture (under User Accounts) before installing this extension.


Firstly, add the WebUpd8 GNOME 3 PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update

Below you'll find a description on what each extension does and how to install it:


- Alternative tab extension: use the classic ALT + Tab. Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-alternate-tab

- Alternative Status Menu extension: adds "Power off" and "Hibernate" to the status menu, visible at all time (and not just when pressing the ALT key). Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-alternative-status-menu

- User Theme extension: Lets you load GNOME Shell themes from ~/.themes/THEME_NAME/gnome-shell or /usr/share/THEME_NAME/gnome-shell. This extension is especially useful when used with GNOME Tweak Tool. This way, you can install and switch between GNOME Shell extensions with a click. Install both User Theme extension and GNOME Tweak Tool:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-user-theme gnome-tweak-tool

- Workspace Indicator extension: displays the current workspace and lets you switch between workspaces (wither using its menu or by scrolling). Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-workspace-indicator

- Applications Menu extension: adds an regular (old-style) menu to the top GNOME Shell bar. Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-apps-menu

- Removable Drive Menu extension: adds a removable drive menu to the top GNOME Shell bar (on the right). Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-drive-menu

- SystemMonitor extension: adds two graphs to the GNOME Shell message tray, displaying the RAM and CPU usage. Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-system-monitor

- Places Status Indicator: adds a menu to the top bar in the old Places Menu style. Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-places-menu

- Dock extension: shows a dock-style task switcher. Unfortunately this extension didn't work in my test, I'm not sure why. I've added a patch which fixes the Dock extension.

To customize the dock extension, install dconf-tools (sudo apt-get install dconf-tools), then launch "dconf-editor", navigate to org > gnome > shell > extensions > dock and here you can specify the dock position (left or right), enable or disable autohide, specify the hide effect or set the hide duration.

Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-dock

- Native Window Placement extension: uses a 'natural' (reflects more the position and size of the actual window) algorithm for displaying the thumbnails in the activities overview. Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-native-window-placement

- Xrandr Indicator (Monitor Status Indicator) extension: adds a systems status menu for rotating monitors (overrides what is currently provided by gnome-settings-daemon). Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-xrandr-indicator

- Auto Move Windows extension: this extension can be used to get some applications to always start on a specific workspace. Info on how to use it, HERE. Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-auto-move-windows

- Gajim extension: Gajim integration for GNOME Shell. Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-gajim

- Windows Navigator extension: Allow keyboard selection of windows and workspaces in overlay mode: when you hold the ALT key, a number is assigned to each window (displayed in the top left corner) and you can then press the number to switch to that window. Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-windows-navigator

Or, install them all using the following command (will also install GNOME Tweak Tool) - yeah, there's no meta package yet:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-alternate-tab gnome-shell-extensions-alternative-status-menu gnome-shell-extensions-user-theme gnome-tweak-tool gnome-shell-extensions-workspace-indicator  gnome-shell-extensions-apps-menu gnome-shell-extensions-drive-menu gnome-shell-extensions-system-monitor gnome-shell-extensions-places-menu gnome-shell-extensions-dock gnome-shell-extensions-native-window-placement gnome-shell-extensions-gajim gnome-shell-extensions-xrandr-indicator gnome-shell-extensions-windows-navigator gnome-shell-extensions-auto-move-windows

Once installed, reload GNOME Shell (press ALT + F2 and enter "r" or log out and log back in), then use GNOME Tweak Tool to easily enable/disable extensions or switch between GNOME Shell themes on the fly - there's no need to restart GNOME Shell anymore.