Test Drive: Ubuntu-Gnome 14.04 “Trusty Tahr” on the EEEPC 900

It's almost one month before Ubuntu's spring update time. As soon as first alpha then beta releases are made available I take some time to have a look at them. Since the EEEPC is the oldest computer I actually use the first question I ask myself before every upgrade is: “Will the new release work fine on my old netbook?”. I so downloaded the latest (beta-1) available preview of Ubuntu Gnome edition and prepared my USB disk for a brief evaluation.

Yes, It works!

The short answer is: yes, it works. Ubuntu-Gnome booted in the usual featureless screen

Gnome Shell is as responsive as before, the new versions show some (welcome) differences in the application launcher where smaller icons and a different scroll-bar look are used

and a more rational arrangement of top-bar left-side icons and menu.

last but not least background settings now are working properly.

Extending Gnome Shell

I already said it: extensions are what I like more about Gnome Shell. If I'm actually using Gnome it's only because there are a set of extensions that make it usable, at least from my point of view. I visited Gnome Extensions page and tried to activate the ones I usually have on my desktop. Unfortunately the only that worked has been the Applications Menu.

This is not surprising, when Gnome Shell upgrades most of extensions have to be updated too. I'll have to repeat the test before upgrading next month.