Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use?

#21

Post by kevincox » Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 12:08 PM UTC

I'm currently using 4 extensions.

system-monitor (https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/120/system-monitor/). It is nice to see my CPU and memory usage at a glance with some history. I don't look too often but it can be good for understanding how builds are progressing, check that my software is utilizing parallelism well and see when things are in an infinite loop gobbling RAM.

Clipboard History (https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/4839/clipboard-histor...)

I can't live without a clipboard manager, this seems to do a decent job.

Bing Wallpaper (https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1262/bing-wallpaper-c...)

I don't see my wallpaper often but when I open the menu or log in it is nice to have a new beautiful picture.

AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support (https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/615/appindicator-supp...)

I like icons in my toolbar.

Re: Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use?

#22

Post by lbhdc » Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 2:54 PM UTC

I use a bunch.

Caffine (disable sleep), Clipboard Indicator, Night Theme Switcher (I like manually controlling dark/light theme), Open Weather, Window Is Ready Notification Remover, Launch New Instance, Window List (gnome2 style bottom bar)

Re: Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use?

#23

Post by l72 » Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 3:01 PM UTC

pedrovhb wrote: post #20

Clipboard history, Pop! Shell, and workspace scroller (scroll across the top bar to quickly go through workspaces), on NixOS. I also set up dconf options so I always have 10 workspaces, not just one more than the number currently being used, which is a pretty bad default imo. Muscle memory works much better when you can quickly go to the workspace you associate with some program of your workflow, say, Win+8 for a mus…

I worked this way for many years, having 8 workspaces in a 2x4 grid for a long time where each workspace was "dedicated" to something. However, I have grown to really like gnome shell's dynamic workspaces.

I find that I have to multi-task on a lot of different things throughout the day, and often am getting interrupted before completing tasks. Each task gets its own workspace, and everything tied to that task (terminal, emacs, browser window with task specific tabs) is isolated there. When I complete the task, all windows are closed and that workspace goes away.

If I realize I need to work on another task, I create a new workspace, and drag the email message or a terminal with a short description of what I need to do. I go back and finish my other task first, but now there is a whole workspace set up for my next task. I find this can be a useful reminder of what tasks I am currently working on and what I still need to do.

Currently on my personal laptop, I have a workspace open with an email that I need to respond to. Another open with a browser window to the Google Play store since I need to update my personal apps before the targetSdk deadline on the 31st. Another open with emacs + a few browser tabs with documentation for a personal project. Another with a browser window for the county business license website, since I need to renew that this weekend.

I usually end up with 4-12 workspaces at any given time.

Re: Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use?

#24

Post by yndoendo » Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 3:13 PM UTC

Arch Linux Updates Indicator, Bluetooth Quick Connect, Blur my Shell, Burn My Windows, Caffeine, Clipboard Indicator, Desk Changer, Espresso, GSConnect, Night Theme Switcher, Pomodoro, supergfxctl-gex, Tray Icons: Reloaded.

Burn My Windows is great for visually seeing the Crash to Desktop on a heavily modded game.

Re: Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use?

#25

Post by Proven » Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 3:25 PM UTC

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use?

#26

Post by cbarrick » Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 3:34 PM UTC

kevinherron wrote: post #19

Looks like Dash to Dock is the only extension I have installed. The rest of the changes were done through Gnome Tweak or Accessibility settings.

I'm a fan of Dash to Panel.

I'm surprised more people aren't mentioning these two extensions.

Re: Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use?

#27

Post by khimaros » Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 3:45 PM UTC

smart-auto-move for remembering and restoring window positions across restart (disclaimer: i'm the author): https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/4736/smart-auto-move/

Customized-Workspaces for customizing dash shortcuts and isolating apps across workspaces: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1583/worksets/

Re: Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use?

#28

Post by throwaway751 » Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 4:13 PM UTC

Dash to Dock. Freon. GTK Title Bar. Netspeed.

Re: Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use?

#29

Post by dabber » Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 4:29 PM UTC

Workspace Matrix to organize virtual desktops in a grid. https://github.com/mzur/gnome-shell-wsmatrix

gTile for tiling window manager type functionality https://github.com/gTile/gTile

Vitals for quick view of system monitoring information https://github.com/corecoding/Vitals

Extension Manager via Flatpak for managing extensions https://github.com/mjakeman/extension-manager

Re: Ask HN: What GNOME Shell extensions do you use?

#30

Post by a_bored_husky » Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 4:39 PM UTC

Vitals: A glimpse into your computer's temperature, voltage, fan speed, memory usage and CPU load https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1460/vitals/

GSConnect: Implementation of KDE Connect for Gnome https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1319/gsconnect/

Impatience: Speed up the gnome-shell animation speed https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/277/impatience/

Focus changer: Change focus between windows in all directions using your keyboard https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/4627/focus-changer

Clipboard Indicator: Clipboard Manager extension for Gnome-Shell https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/779/clipboard-indicat...