ChapterÂ 1.Â Installing GNOME 3 and SDK

GNOME 3 is the latest and greatest version of GNOME since it was released for the first time in 1999. GNOME 3 delivers a breakthrough desktop user experience compared to its previous versions. While providing smooth user interface with fluid animations, it uses a different metaphor of how a modern desktop would work by introducing GNOME Shell as its new user experience (UX). However, the traditional user experience still persists as a fallback whenever the hardware configuration is not supported.

GNOME is known for its simplicity and has been chosen as the default desktop environment in many popular Linux distributions. It is also one of the first free types of software that has user interface guidelines, hence securing itself as usable and user friendly.

During its evolution, the architecture also changed and was extended, making it one of the most advanced freely available desktops in the world. With that, it requires more and more advanced technology to be available in the system to be able to maximize the usage of the hardware and at the same time give users an enjoyable time when using computers.

Before we go any further, a proper installation of GNOME as well as the development environment should be available in our computer. And as a starter, we will talk about the installation in a few popular Linux distributions. Specifically, we will cover these topics in this chapter:

Understanding the system requirements

The basic GNOME 3 architecture that we will cover in this book

Installing GNOME 3 and the SDK on various Linux distributions

So let's get started.