--- title: 'Ubuntu Desktop Weekly Update: August 11, 2017' description: GUADEC The GNOME conference happened last week with good representation from Ubuntu. The spirit was good and the discussions constructive. Decisions were made, details can be read on https://didrocks.fr/2017/08/03/ubuntu–guadec-2017-and-plans-for-gnome-shell-migration/ GNOME Shell We’re preparing to make the changes described above in the […] url: https://canonical.com/blog/ubuntu-desktop-weekly-update-august-11-2017?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Will Cooke](https://canonical.com/blog/author/willcooke "More about Will Cooke") on 11 August 2017 # Ubuntu Desktop Weekly Update: August 11, 2017 Share on:* [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.canonical.com/blog/ubuntu-desktop-weekly-update-august-11-2017 "Share on Facebook") * [Twitter](https://twitter.com/share?text=Ubuntu%20Desktop%20Weekly%20Update%3A%20August%2011%2C%202017&url=https://www.canonical.com/blog/ubuntu-desktop-weekly-update-august-11-2017&hashtags=ubuntu "Share on Twitter") * [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.canonical.com/blog/ubuntu-desktop-weekly-update-august-11-2017&title=Ubuntu%20Desktop%20Weekly%20Update%3A%20August%2011%2C%202017 "Share on LinkedIn") --- --- ## Newsletter signup Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/data-privacy). Sign up ## GUADEC The GNOME conference happened last week with good representation from Ubuntu. The spirit was good and the discussions constructive. Decisions were made, details can be read on [https://didrocks.fr/2017/08/03/ubuntu–guadec-2017-and-plans-for-gnome-shell-migration/](https://didrocks.fr/2017/08/03/ubuntu--guadec-2017-and-plans-for-gnome-shell-migration/) ## GNOME Shell We’re preparing to make the changes described above in the coming weeks, that means that the GNOME Shell Ubuntu session is going to transition to this design in the next few days. Didier will be posting a series of blog posts next week on how this all works as they are landing. The vanilla upstream GNOME session will also emerge from this work. And we’ll link to the posts in next week’s newsletter, but keep an eye on social media for up-to-date information. We’ve resurrected the “power off” option when the power button is pressed.  This will appear in GNOME Control Center 3.25.90. ## Video, Audio, Bluetooth, Networking You might have seen this screenshot earlier in the week: We’re testing some patches to Chromium 60 in Artful to enable video acceleration and we’re seeing roughly a 50% saving in CPU overhead when using VA API.  In the screenshot above playing the video without acceleration is on the left and playing with acceleration is on the right.  The CPU is [Haswell](https://ark.intel.com/products/76621/Intel-Pentium-Processor-3556U-2M-Cache-1_70-GHz).  There are still more bugs to fix, but we’re making progress. In Pulse Audio we’ve dropped some more patches for Android support (from Ubuntu Touch) bringing us more inline with upstream.  This will make maintenance easier and should reduce the chance of bugs cropping up from our patches. Our patches to add enabling and disabling of the Network Connectivity Checker are in review [upstream](https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=785117).  This will eventually add a toggle switch in the privacy settings of Control Center to allow you to turn on/off the connectivity checker.  We should be able to distro-patch these into Ubuntu soon before they appear upstream, and then drop the patches once they are available upstream. We’re including the Rhythmbox “Alternate Toolbar” by default in 17.10, this brings a tidier user interface ## Updates * Updated Chromium stable to 60.0.3112.78, pending validation.  The next Chromium stable update is 60.0.3112.90, already lined up in a PPA.  Updated Chromium beta to 61.0.3163.31, Chromium dev to 62.0.3175.4. * Updating LibreOffice Snap to 5.4.0. * Merged upstream Ghostscript version 9.21 from Debian into Ubuntu. * Synced newest versions from Debian for hplip, cups-bjnp, ippusbxd.  System-config-printer updated to a new snapshot from upstream GIT. * GNOME got a stack of updates to 3.25.90 (evolution, games, font viewer, online accounts, tweak tool, map, log, disk, calculator, cheese, todo) ## In The News * We’re planning a Fit And Finish hackfest in London at the end of August to find and fix all the niggly little bugs and theming issues. If you’ve got skills to offer and would like to get involved please see [Popey’s blog post](https://insights.ubuntu.com/2017/08/08/ubuntu-artful-desktop-fit-and-finish-sprint/). * Softpedia also covers [this topic here](http://news.softpedia.com/news/canonical-needs-your-help-to-finalize-the-unity-to-gnome-shell-transition-517331.shtml). * Linux Action News [discuss](http://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com/117206/linux-action-news-13/) the changes to the default session in 17.10. * 16.04.3 was released last week.  OMG [covers the release here](http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/08/ubuntu-16-04-3-lts-released). * OMG also have articles [on the dock](http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/08/phew-ubuntu-17-10-will-desktop-dock) and the [Rhythmbox plugin](http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/08/rhythmbox-looks-different-ubuntu-17-10) * Softpedia [discuss](http://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-17-10-will-have-an-always-visible-dock-wayland-session-by-default-517294.shtml) Didier’s blog post about the changes coming to the default session #### Related posts --- [estelacarmona](https://canonical.com/blog/author/estelacarmona) 28 August 2026 ### [AI harnesses for telco autonomous networks](https://canonical.com/blog/ai-harnesses-for-telco-autonomous-networks) 5G Article As the telco industry transitions toward Autonomous Networks Level 4, a fundamental architectural challenge has emerged: how do you build a secure, reliable and interoperable AI harness that bridges probabilistic AI reasoning with deterministic, carrier-grade network execution? ... --- [Canonical](https://canonical.com/blog/author/canonical) 25 August 2026 ### [Arduino® VENTUNO™ Q is available for pre-order with Ubuntu pre-installed](https://canonical.com/blog/arduino-ventuno-q-is-available-for-pre-order-with-ubuntu-pre-installed) Canonical announcements Ubuntu tech blog London, UK – August 25, 2026 – Following our initial collaboration announcement in March 2026, Canonical and Arduino (a subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.) are excited to announce that VENTUNO Q is now generally available for pre-order, pre-loaded with Ubuntu. 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