My partner Pablinux comes covering week by week the news from the main desks. However, as some of them will be seen in the long term, We are going to review what we can expect from GNOME 46, the version that will include, among others, Fedora 40 and Ubuntu 24.04.
To answer the title question in one line. There will be few spectacular new features and no new applications. But they do promise notable improvements in usability.
What can we expect from GNOME 46?
At the base of the desktop are GTK 4.13 and libadwaita 1.4.2. GTK 4.12 is a library of tools for creating graphical user interfaces, libadwaita provides a set of widgets so that applications have a consistent look and adapt to devices.
The first thing that jumps out when we log in is that The desktop background was modified with rounded edges. But, don't worry, if you don't like it, new ones have also been added. However, distributions add their own.
The second novelty has to do with notifications that from now on are not displayed in chronological order but grouped by applications, although this could be postponed for GNOME 47. Also, to make it easier to find things, search results are displayed in groups of six, ideal when we only provide a couple of letters as search parameters.
For the screenshot tool in video format, the possibility of using the graphics card will be added. On the other hand, we can customize our keyboard with the dconf xkb-model command.
Nautilus
Perhaps where the changes most appreciated by users are found is in the file manager Nautilus. Some improvements are:
- Faster switching between list and grid views.
- Faster when opening the properties of multiple files at the same time.
Search
Trying to find a file when you have many files and folders can be torture. GNOME 46 fixes this with a new search feature that gives users greater control and flexibility.. This allows:
- Find a specific folder faster.
- Easily find files anywhere on the system.
- Eliminate the need for a manual search.
The search options are:
- Search in current folder: The name is descriptive enough and suffice it to say that it eliminates the current search function.
- Global Search: EIt's a new function that is accessed through a button built into the left tab and instantly scans the entire system to find what we are looking for. Through the global search settings you establish which folders are included in this search. Parameters are configured in a control panel that the user can access from the search tab and the settings application.
Date and Time
From the file properties, users will determine how complete the date and time information of a file's creation is.
Other changes
A big improvement is that when we scroll through a folder window, The movement is more fluid and, in case we change views, GNOME now remembers the position we were in. On the other hand, searches can be done in the file preferences window.
Settings app
- The new System section includes information about date and time, region, users, and About. In previous versions each one had its own section.
- The applications section shows the default applications by default.
- Ability to configure secondary click and improvements in the mouse options section.
- Remote login options are now in the system section.
Software Center
The software center interface has been updated to accommodate new versions of the graphics libraries. However, from the users' point of view the most important thing that We will be able to easily identify verified applications from the Flathub store.
GNOME 46 will be officially released on March 20