CHAPTER 3

Working with GNOME

IN THIS CHAPTER

Foundations and the X   Server

Using   GNOME:  A   Primer

References

Imagine a world of black screens with white text or dark green screens with

light green text. You may or may not remember it, but that used to be the
primary interface for users to access computers. Computing has moved on
significantly and has adopted the graphical user interface (GUI) as standard
on most desktop and workstation platforms. Not only that, but GUIs have
gradually changed and evolved over time. This chapter starts with low-level
information about what lies underneath the GUI and builds up to a description
of the GNOME desktop and how to use it.

Foundations and the X Server

Ubuntu uses the X Window System, the graphical networking interface found
on many Linux distributions that provides the foundation for a wide range of
graphical tools and window managers. More commonly known as just X, it
can also be referred to as X11R7 and X11 (as found on macOS). Coming
from the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology, X has gone
through several versions, each of which has extended and enhanced the
technology. The open source implementation is managed by the X.Org
foundation, whose board includes several key figures from the open source
world. On September 15, 2017, X11 turned 30 years old, which is a very long
time for any software to remain usable and be in active development. Ubuntu
will eventually move away from X, to Wayland, but that work is not yet
complete as of the release of Ubuntu 18.04. To learn more about Wayland, see
https://wayland.freedesktop.org.