Mounting OneDrive in Linux

In one of the posts about GNOME 3, I have mentioned that I had installed rclone app. I use it, to mount my OneDrive folder in my Linux home directory. After configuring OneDrive in rclone browser, I have configured the system to mount it, when I logged in. First, I had created a target directory in my home directory:

cd ~
mkdir OneDrive

Then, I have used systemd to create service which mounts my OneDrive folder. Command

systemctl --user edit OneDrive

creates service file in ~/.config/systemd/user/OneDrive.service and I have filled it with my gist:

Then I have enabled OneDrive service to run on login:

systemctl --user enable OneDrive

To run it immediately, You can issue the command:

systemctl --user start OneDrive

Outlook synchronization in GNOME

GNOME 3 has online accounts feature, similar to one in iOS or Android. By adding Your Google account, You will have synchronized:

• mails in Geary mail,
• tasks in Todo and
• appointments in Calendar.

But adding outlook account gives You only synchronization of mails. To have tasks and appointments synchronized, You have to install Evolution plugin for Exchange Web Services by using the command:

sudo dnf install evolution-ews

Then You have to generate a Microsoft App Password, which You can do here. This link should send You to the right place where an App password is generated, if not, from outlook account go to Security (top menu), more security options (bottom of the page) and Create a new app password (middle of the page).

When You have Microsoft App Password, You can add Microsoft Account in GNOME online account settings. Note: to synchronize tasks and appointments, You have to add Microsoft Exchange account using App Password from the second step!

Then add normal Microsoft Account to synchronize emails in Geary app.

How to set themable folder icon in GNOME3

In all systems, be it Windows, OSX or Linux, You can set folder icon in files explorer by selecting an icon in a properties window. But Linux encourages You to change system theme. If You want to use themable icon for a folder, which will change with a theme change, you can use gio command. For instance, if You want to have second documents folder, use the following command:

gio set <folder path> metadata::custom-icon-name "folder-documents"

Post-install Fedora configuration

After installing Fedora, there are a few steps, to adjust the system to yourself. It will make the system unique and better fitted to the user.

Hiding GRUB2 menu

By default, if Fedora is installed alongside Windows, after booting a machine, systems menu is shown. To hide it, You should edit /etc/default/grub file and add the following lines:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=0  # Time (in seconds) of showing systems menu
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=1  # Time (in seconds) of waiting for <shift> key to show systems menu
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true  # Do not show systems menu

After saving the file, You should update GRUB2's configuration by using one of the commands:

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg  # For BIOS systems

or

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg  # For EFI systems

When booting system, You can use <Esc> to access the boot menu or <shift> to show GRUB2's systems menu.

Installing decorations theme and icons theme

Decorations themes and icons themes can be found on gnome look. To use themes stored in the user's home folder, install user themes extension. When using Firefox, the gnome extensions webpage will guide You on how to enable managing GNOME extensions from it. After installing user themes extension, download themes:

• decorations and shell themes to ~/.themes
• icon themes to ~/.icons

Themes can be changes in GNOME Tweaks app, which can be installed with the command:

dnf install gnome-tweaks

After starting the Tweaks app, go to Appearance category and select downloaded themes.

gitg here!

One thing, after moving to Linux, which annoyed me, was missing file explorer context menu option to open the default GNOME git browser - gitg. After learning, that You can extend GNOME Files app with Python scripts by using NautilusPython extension, I have added a simple tool to show gitg option in the context menu.

The extension can be downloaded from gnome-look.org or from GitHub.

GNOME 3

For a while, I've been thinking about a switch to Linux.  I use it in work on a daily basis, but on my own machine, I have Windows. I used Windows because I like playing computer games. But after buying Nintendo Switch, I was playing less and less. After watching YouTube videos about news in Linux evolution (this one is very interesting) and deciding to learn gtkmm, I have installed Ubuntu 19.04.

I have chosen Ubuntu because it is a system used in my work. After spending one day with Ubuntu 19.04 I saw, that it had a strange bug: if I have logged out and tried to log in again, the system would freeze. It was a small annoyance. But I was eager to learn something really new, use distribution used by GNOME developers and I have decided to switch to Fedora!

Fedora was a little more demanding to configure: I had to enable the non-free repository and swaps. Moreover, rclone browser's configure button was not working. It was complaining about missing environment variable. The fix was easy! I have only changed /usr/share/applications/rclone-browser.desktop file to contain

Exec=env TERMINAL=/usr/bin/gnome-terminal /usr/bin/rclone-browser

instead of

Exec=/usr/bin/rclone-browser

Update: The helpful folks at Fedora said, that it is better to define a TERMINAL variable in ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile file (see this bug).

My first two weeks with Fedora have passed and I like my new system. The only thing which I miss from Windows is Legimi app for synchronizing Kindle with Legimi's subscription.