[HOW TO] Install Pop OS Shell on Zorin 16

Tutorials & Guides
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How to Install Pop OS Shell on Zorin 16

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About Pop Shell :

Pop Shell is a keyboard-driven layer for GNOME Shell which allows for quick and sensible navigation and management of windows. The core feature of Pop Shell is the addition of advanced tiling window management — a feature that has been highly-sought within our community. For many — ourselves included — i3wm has become the leading competitor to the GNOME desktop.

Tiling window management in GNOME is virtually nonexistent, which makes the desktop awkward to interact with when your needs exceed that of two windows at a given time. Luckily, GNOME Shell is an extensible desktop with the foundations that make it possible to implement a tiling window manager on top of the desktop.

It works on Zorin 16.

  1. Open Zorin Appearance and select Gnome Layout
    Logout/Login and then proceed with the install otherwise the install will fail.

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  1. Then Install following this guide For Ubuntu-Based Distros: Using Pop Shell on other GNOME Desktops - System76 Support

In order to build Pop Shell from source, we'll first need to install the build dependencies and git to clone the repository:

sudo apt install git node-typescript make

Next we'll clone the repository using this command:

git clone https://github.com/pop-os/shell.git

Now we'll enter the directory for Pop Shell (called "shell") and build the package:

cd shell
make local-install

:warning: If you received an error after make local-install log out/in and try again in the terminal:

cd shell
make local-install

  1. Log out/in or Restart and Turn windows tiling on to use it:

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You can select your desired layout in Zorin Appearance again.
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9 Likes
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That's my thing, too.
I run Zorin OS with zsh and with Cinnamon. Mostly XFCE, too.

Zorin OS has better performance and is put together very well. Cinnamon runs better on Zorin OS (a lot better) than it does on Mint. Having the ability to use Zorin OS as a base to then adapt your own system is what FOSS is all about.

3 Likes
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I've tried it and I like Zorin OS more ...
I've needed only this tiling feature from Pop!_OS.

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Does this work for Zorin 15 ?

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Does the pop shell include the quick launcher in pop os ?

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Yes it does.

2 Likes
10

Thanks that is awesome. One more thing I wanted to ask is is it mapped to the super key ? if not than can it be mapped to the super key ?

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Yes, it is mapped to the super key. Super key + /

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have you tried mapping it to only the super key like in pop 21.04 ?

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No, I've not tried that. Don't know if it's possible.

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Thank you for the trick!

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what is the difference between Pop OS shell and the existing shell in zorin? I haven't tried Pop OS. does it look like Pop OS DE?

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I personally prefer ZorinOS, so I just installed Pop OS shell on ZorinOS to benefit from the windows tiling. The HowTo on the top of this page describes the process of that installation. Some videos of PopOS workflow:

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Is there a way to change the pop shell shortcuts?

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Thanks, but no shortcuts there.

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Since this thread was created, there have been some minor but important changes around the versions provided that may lead to some frustration. Please read this response for instructions on how to install it:

NOTE: This applies to ZorinOS 16.x only!