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I have installed fedora16 recently. I don't like the Gnome3 that my fedora got shipped with. I want to downgrade it to Gnome2 as i haven't used any other desktop environment before. Any knowledge about how to do it ?

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Have you considered XFCE as an alternative? I switched to it from GNOME 2 when GNOME 3 was released and never looked back. – James McLaughlin Apr 21 '12 at 14:29
I agree with James. Going back to Gnome 2 will only be a temporary solution. In the end its development will be dropped and you will only hear of Gnome3 (or Gnome 4 or Gnome 5). If you haven't used any other desktop environments, I guess it's time to try :) – phunehehe Apr 21 '12 at 14:52
Ok, I will try that. Is it similar to Gnome2 ? – Ganessh Kumar R P Apr 21 '12 at 15:06

3 Answers

up vote 5 down vote

Are you clear on the difference between Gnome3 and the Gnome shell? If you don't like the Gnome shell GUI, and prefer the Gnome2 style with the panels and menu, you can try the Gnome3 classic desktop. It should be an option when you login.

The main thing to know about this is that right-click by itself doesn't work on the panels. You will need to press alt + super when you right-click to change the panels. Also, the menu is a little different, but that shouldn't be a problem.

I use Gnome3 classic with Compiz and AWN, which I like a lot. I've tried XFCE, but find it lacking for my needs.

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There is also a cinnamon alternative, very neat and non disruptive GUI. The underlying technology is forked from Gnome Shell and the layout is very similar to Gnome 2. It doesn't have much tweaks or extensions available like gnome, but it surely serves its purpose. Here are download and install instructions.

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Might be nicer to either say what cinnamon actually is, or give a link that explains it. The link you gave tells nothing about what it is anywhere on the site. Simply saying it's "neat and non disruptive" would describe any one of the available GUI options, depending on the opinion of the user, would it not? Also, you imply that it is not gnome, yet my understanding is that it is a fork of the gnome 3 shell. I can't see much advantage over Gnome3 classic, unless you like the Mint Menu. – Marty Fried Apr 23 '12 at 17:11
I added fact that it is forked from Gnome Shell. Also I don't question Gnome advantages, just pointing out that there is alternative which is simpler, and provides nice experience. – Petar A. Apr 23 '12 at 21:54
up vote 0 down vote

I switched to MATE a few weeks back. It's decent so far, but splitting the MATE and GNOME stuff can be a bit tricky.

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