How to give Garuda Gnome the Dr460nized treatment?

Issues & Assistance GNOME
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Hey gang! My first post on the forum! :clinking_glasses:

I tend to write long-winded, so apologies in advance, and please just use the thread’s title as my tl;dr should you want to skip the wall of text below. :slight_smile:

Also, I did do a search in Issues and Assistance first to see if a similar thread already existed. I didn’t see one, but I am garbage with search engines so apologies if I just missed it!

I’ll try my best to keep this at least “brief-ish”, but I’ll give a little backstory:

I’m about 5yrs into my Linux journey, and about 1yr into my adventures with Arch-based distros (I came up on Ubuntu). Historically, my favorite DE has always been KDE (past attempts with Gnome have just completely bounced off me), so when it came time to try out Garuda on my main gaming PC, Dr460nized seemed like a match made in heaven for me. I already used Beautyline icons, transparencies, forced blur, Wobbly Windows, Exploding Windows, and Dark mode in my homemade theme on the Steam Deck and before that, in a previous Ubuntu Studio install on my main laptop (now running EndeavorOS KDE with a stately, but totally bland white motif for better visibility out in the sun). Dr460nized remains currently installed on the gaming PC to this day. What can I say, I dig it! :slight_smile:

But change is in the air. So, on one of my backup laptops, I decided I’d give Gnome another try by way of Fedora 38 (Gnome 44.4), and I’ve gotta admit, the bug is REALLY starting to bite this time. I’m finally starting to see why so many people really love it, and even feel like it could potentially even usurp KDE as my “DE of choice” someday…maybe. Anyway, in addition to very seriously considering replacing Endeavor OS KDE on the main laptop with Fedora 38 Gnome (because the Fedora bug is also starting to bite), and just trying out a different distro on the backup laptop, I’m also thinking about replacing Dr460nized on the gaming PC with Garuda Gnome. You know, stick with Garuda (and by extension, Arch), but replace KDE with Gnome…

…so I downloaded the ISO, and just did a trial run by way of a USB stick…and it was an even blander-looking Gnome than the vanilla version that comes with Fedora. Almost completely unrecognizable as Garuda relative to the slick glory that is Dr460nized! But much much worse is that unlike the Gnome that Fedora gives me, it doesn’t even seem to be customizable in Garuda! Many of the extensions wouldn’t even install (Dash to Dock was the only one I could get to go), and it didn’t even give me any options at all to change icons and themes, just options for “light or dark theme”, and wallpaper options. No options for icons or cursors or color schemes or anything like that. So I was just stuck with flat opaque grays and semi-bland papyrus icons.

Over the river and through the woods to the point I FINALLY get: will there be more customization options available in Gnome once it’s actually installed on my machine? And from there, what is the quickest and easiest way in terms of customization options to get me to as close of a Dr460nized look as possible, but in the more modern paradigm of Gnome?..or is the dreary gray papyrus default look really all that’s available in the way of eye candy for Garuda Gnome?

If the former is the case, I may well still take the plunge of switching from Dr460onized to Gnome, and would GREATLY appreciate any customization guidance to nail that look. If it’s the latter, though, and this is all Garuda Gnome has to offer aesthetically, then f*** it, I’ll just stick with Dr460nized, and maybe just put some other Gnome-facing distro on some other backup device.

But I thought I’d just ask first so that I didn’t waste the time of backing everything up, and installing Gnome over Dr460nized, just to say, “yuck” and turn around and reinstall Dr460nized again! :rofl:

Anyway, lemme know, please! And thanks so much, everyone!!! :heart:

Cheers! :clinking_glasses:

-J

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Hello, welcome to the Garuda forums! :wave:

GNOME customisation is really something else and gnome-tweaks is essential. Do you have it? iirc you need it to change cursors and icons.

I’m not a GNOME user but these should be what you’re looking for (the links are to preview before you install):

Sweet GTK3/4 theme

Install with sudo pacman -S sweet-gtk-theme-dark (omit -dark for light version). (Chaotic-AUR)
There is also the sweet-kvantum-theme-git for the Qt side of things on the AUR but I’ve never tried it - just been installing manually (lol)

edit: sweet-theme-full-git should get both light and dark versions for you. Thanks SGS! :smiley:

Beautyline icons

Install with sudo pacman -S beautyline. (Chaotic-AUR)

Hope this helps. If it doesn’t cover all bases, please share :slight_smile:

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There’s a reason, and if you’d done a reasonable forum search before making that long-winded post you’d have discovered why that is so. Think of the time you’d have saved. :smiley:

Oh, and welcome to Garuda. :smiley:

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Gnome customisation is notoriously subpar compared to KDE etc because Gnome intentionally try to force their own stylisation for the sake of supporting their consistent brand/image/ego (see Libadwaita). Beyond GTK Themes such as the one lum1nuss showed, there isn’t a whole lot that can be done easily without suffering pain of trying to use Gnome Extensions.

P.s. Welcome :slight_smile:

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Welcome! I attempted something like this a long while ago. Major showstoppers: the already mentioned own style, being less themable, no blur, the extensions providing customisation often break. Bummer :frowning:

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And that is a helpful reply…how?

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Thank you soooo much! This is very helpful! Gets me pointed down the right road! :slight_smile: :clinking_glasses:

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Thank you so much for the reply! Yeah, nothing beats KDE for customization, so I didn’t expect I’d get to the exact same level of customization out of Gnome. But I figured that if I could at least get close enough to matching the general look of Dr460nized, but with the more modernized Gnome motif, it might be worth it to me.

Another reply on this thread gave me the general theme name (which I did not already know), as well as the icon theme name (which I did already know), and then also pointed out what should’ve been super obvious to me but wasn’t (that I could just pacman them in terminal), it gives me a place to start. :slight_smile: - I’ve been so used to getting themes in KDE through KDE’s “get new themes” GUI method that the easiest of all potential solutions (just use terminal) just sailed right under the radar. :rofl:

Now the question is do I want to take the time on the gamble of getting results in Gnome, or just stick with what I already know I love in KDE? I’ll probably spend the next couple days pondering that one. :slight_smile:

But again, thank you! :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the reply! You know, in my very limited exposure with Gnome by way of Fedora, most of the extensions have worked well. The only one that hasn’t worked properly is “blur my shell” - resulting in an untenable “all or nothing”.

I’ll spend a couple days thinking about whether I want to wipe Dr460nized for Gnome on the chance that I can get it looking pretty, or else just leave well enough alone and be happy with the amazingness that Dr460nized offers! :slight_smile:

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sweet-theme-full-git ?

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There are several videos on youtube to customize gnome to look like mac. albeit they are mostly for ubuntu, I don’t suppose translating them to arch would be much different. Given the way gnome extensions work would still be same and the only thing changing is installing software with pacman instead of apt, and you can change the icons and theme they use with the one mentioned above.

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This definitely sounds like a thing to try! I’m at the office right now, but when I get a chance to do so, I will give this a try and report back! :slight_smile:

Thank you soooo much!!! :clinking_glasses:

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I’m gonna try SGS’s suggestion first, but then will dig into those.

The thing is, on the USB live session, it seemed to give me no customization options at all other than light vs dark and wallpaper choices (at least in any GUI medium, which is why I’ll be interested to try my luck "going the CLI route).

Perhaps the options will widen if / once I actually install Garuda Gnome on my device.

I only have limited exposure to Gnome, but on Fedora 38, I have managed to make some decent customizations to it through the Gnome extensions website. Apart from Dash to Dock, those didn’t work on the live USB…but again, perhaps that is simply because it was live USB rather than an actual installation?

Maybe? :slight_smile:

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Just something probably worth mentioning RE Gnome Extensions - a lot of them are probably/potentially about to break with Gnome 45…

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Hmm. That might be some food for thought, then. Maybe I should at least wait to see what happens with extensions in Gnome 45 on Fedora before I take the plunge on it in Garuda.

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How much time did it take you to write out that tl;dr first post? :slight_smile:

And I did welcome you. :wink:

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The “welcome” you refer to reads as a backhanded compliment after the first part. And besides, you still haven’t answered my question about the utility of ANY of your output. Isn’t it remarkable that literally everyone else here [besides yourself] was able to comprehend my post sufficiently as to engage with it productively?

Look, I’m not gonna get into a “public urination contest” here. Barring something truly substantive out of you, this will be my last time engaging. If you wish to just waste that much more of all of our lives as to troll even further, then I shall simply cede the floor and grant you the right of the last word.

tl;dr: You got anything good for me and the group, I’m all ears, broheim. Otherwise, have a nice life and enjoy your journey with Garuda.

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Update to all (skip to the bottom for the tl;dr)

Here’s what I think I’ve decided I’m going to do here:

So, my main laptop (with Endeavor OS) is currently out of commission, needing a motherboard replacement. The good news is that it’s a Dell Latitude 7480, meaning that aftermarket replacement mobos are relatively abundant and for relatively cheap. I paid $55.00 (US) for the one that’s in the mail at this moment. There’s also a video out there that gives you the step by step replacement process, which means that if I just pause the video for a few minutes every few seconds, I know I will succeed in replacing the board. The bad news is that the reason I know that I’ll be able to do this is because I’ve already had to do this once before on this same laptop. I’m guessing it’s because I’m putting too much strain on it by carrying it around in an overcrowded backpack - which I shall also rectify.

Anyway, once the main laptop is up and running again, I’ll plan to replace Endeavor OS (KDE) with Fedora 38 (Gnome), and then on the backup laptop that has been running Fedora, I’ll install Garuda Gnome and try all the tricks that have been suggested here in order to sufficiently beautiful it. IF THAT IS SUCCESSFUL (to my liking), then I’ll replace Dr460nized on the gaming PC with Garuda Gnome and find some other distro for the backup. And if not, then I’ll just stick with Dr460nized on it indefinitely. And in the meanwhile, obviously, I’ll just leave things as they are on the big rig with Dr460nized. :slight_smile:

Lastly, those who have contributed positively to this conversation despite my long-windedness - THANK YOU! I -DO- write long-winded. And for the curious [who are able to read and understand Rebus puzzles], my profile picture should offer a decent explanation of why I do. Quite simply: I’m autistic. I’m on the spectrum. This is just how my brain works all the time. The tl;dr s and “short versions” are just my concessions to neurotypical readers. Anyway, thanks for sifting through the mountain of words this quadragenarian neurodivergent just throws at everybody! You’ve given me some VERY good pointers!

Cheers! :clinking_glasses:

tl;dr: I’ve decided that I’m going to stick with Dr460nized on the gaming PC for now, and install Garuda Gnome on a backup laptop to play around with and attempt to beautify to my liking. If that’s successful, I’ll replace Dr460nized at a later time. If not. I’ll just stick with Dr460nized. Also, apologies on the long-winded: I’m autistic and this is just how my brain always works! :clinking_glasses:

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Another tl:dr? Am I wrecking your headspace?
:rofl:

If your topic question about a customized/dragonized GNOME ISO has been answered, please MARK the post that you feel best answered your question. I would suggest you consider @dr460nf1r3 's post, as he pretty much runs the show. Truly. His circus, his monkeys.

There. The second paragraph is about as dry and humorless as I can be. Informative, yes. But no fun at all. I’m 71. All I have time left for is humor. You can twist my tail, too, and I won’t mind. @mandog & I frequently take out the mickey on each other, but we recover just in time to start in again. And that slab-faced moron is even older than me. :wink:

If you want to be that way, that’s cool. If not, take it to PM. Now please mark the solution, per forum rules. That allows the answer to be indexed for various search engines.

LOL Just saw this. I’ve been hanging around Linux forums since there were Linux forums, and if I had to guess, I’d say most of us that stay in it are somewhere on the scale. :smiley:

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Miserable old bugger :wink:

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