Intro to the Gnome Flashback desktop
Signs of Life
© Lead Image © Barmaliejus, fotolia.com
If you struggle with the appearance and behavior of the Gnome desktop, the classic features of fallback mode offer an alternative in a familiar style. Lamented by many as dead and gone, Gnome 3 fallback is still alive and kicking in Gnome Flashback.
In spring 2011, Gnome 3.0 launched with a new design approach that threw many well-known features overboard and caused bitter opposition. As a concession to long-time fans of the classic desktop, the developers ported its basic components to GTK 3, provided them as an alternative to Gnome Shell, and called it "fallback mode."
Just two years later, in Gnome 3.8, the project replaced fallback mode with "Classic Mode," which comes as a customized Gnome Shell requiring 3D-capable hardware. The modular structure of session management, the notification system, the window manager, and an application level were thus officially laid to rest.
Little impressed by the regular Gnome and its new workflow, a small team led by Latvian developer Alberts Muktupavels soon convened to keep the previous Gnome alive as Gnome Flashback [1]. However, neither users nor developers took notice of it, so the legend was substantially restricted to bug fixes.
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