Back in December 2020 I wrote up my personal Must-Have GNOME extensions. It’s been nearly three years, two job changes, and a few Ubuntu upgrades, so I thought I’d take another look.
tl;dr:
What changed
Out
I no longer have these installed.
Sound Switcher Indicator
This used to crash a lot for me, to the point I’d go and look for it in the panel and it was missing. I figured if I don’t realise it’s gone, I probably don’t need it that much. Also, GNOME shell volume control has changed a bit over the last few years. It’s pretty easy to switch device now in the menu.
Snap manager
Uhm.
$ snap list
Command 'snap' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install snapd
’nuff said.
Hue Lights
Interestingly I still have Philps Hue lights all over the place, indeed more of them than I did before. Thing is, at the office I don’t have any. I also have a lady cylinder nearby a lot of the time. I just use the app or shout at the robo-lady on my desk. I don’t miss this extension.
CPU Power Manager
I now have a new laptop which doesn’t appear to overheat and spin the fan up like the last one did. I also have a MacBook Air which is silent, so perfect for recording podcasts on.
In
These are new since I previously blogged about this topic.
Advanced Volume Control
I installed this after Mark talked about developing it on episode 5 of Linux Matters podcast. But I don’t actually use it much anymore. I might remove it, don’t tell him.
ThinkPad Battery Threshold
ThinkPad Battery Threshold is designed for people like me, who keep their laptop plugged in most of the time. It claims to improve battery life by setting the maximum charge value to something less than 100%. Come back to me in a few years to see if this worked out.
Grand Theft Focus
The “Window is ready” notification in GNOME is a crime against humanity. Whoever designed and added the feature should be made to walk over LEGO while barefoot and think very hard about what they’ve done. The Grand Theft Focus extension undoes this idiocy.
Conclusion
So much for ‘must-have’, huh?