{"id":373,"date":"2024-01-16T19:15:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T19:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liverickson.com\/blog\/?p=373"},"modified":"2024-01-16T19:16:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T19:16:34","slug":"extending-ubuntu-via-gnome-shell-extensions-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liverickson.com\/blog\/?p=373","title":{"rendered":"Extending Ubuntu via GNOME Shell Extensions in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Happy 2024, everyone! December ended up being a bit of a blur for me, because I unexpectedly launched MemoryCache<\/a>, made it to the top of the orange website, and have since been exploring new ways to evolve the project ideas that I have related to embedding personal machine learning projects directly into my operating system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ud83d\udcda Read more: Why I’m auto-saving browser documents to augment local AI models and building MemoryCache<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/liverickson.com\/blog\/?p=330<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Before I get into the technical bits that I want to document, the start of a new year feels like a good time to recap my philosophy<\/a> on artificial intelligence: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Proceed with caution<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Local<\/a> is better<\/s> the future<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Since May, I’ve been reflecting on the metaphors of user agents<\/a> and operating systems<\/a>, and the places that machine learning capabilities can be fit into these existing types of software. While I’ve been working in the open source community for almost the entirety of my career, the scope of my roles previously were largely at the application and platform layers. In 2023, I set a goal for myself to broaden that in service of increasing leverage that I have as a technologist. Three of my major 2023 accomplishments were: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    1. Learning how to build the Firefox web browser from source<\/a>, modify an API, and create an extension to build MemoryCache<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Upskill in python<\/a> to fork, run, and tinker with an on-device RAG agent (privateGPT) on my local machine<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Switching from Windows to run Ubuntu as my primary operating system, and learn how to write gnome-shell extensions to customize my local compute environment <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      I grew up in the age where the personal computer (“PC”) was relegated to Windows computers thanks to catchy commercials from Apple. In practice, the “personal computing” market has dramatically shifted from the original visions evolving out of Xerox PARC and the innovation labs of the past into a multi-level mediated… mess. Thankfully, open source operating systems are thriving, and the barrier of entry into an actually personal computing experience that is tailored to your own environment is lower than ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      With that in mind, in December, I started looking at how I could start to extend my Ubuntu desktop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Building a GNOME-shell extension <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      In the past, I’ve tried a few different methods of managing some simple tasks and shortcuts to personalize my desktop, including AutoKey and Firefox extensions, but I was feeling an itch to cut out the additional layers of abstraction and go closer to the source. Eventually, I settled on figuring out how to write extensions for the GNOME Shell, which provides the windowing for some Linux systems, including Ubuntu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      GNOME shell extensions can add menus to the status area of the Ubuntu operating system. Often, applications will use this area to add quick-launch items. This menu bar, at least for how it’s set up on my machine, is always visible, which means that it was a great place to add two-click shortcuts for tasks that I do frequently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Personal IOT with the Elgato Keylight<\/h2>\n\n\n
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      \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

      While my ultimate goal is to build an agent interface against a privateGPT instance on my machine, I started off with a utility that would control my Elgato light. This felt like an easier, smaller-scoped project to learn the basics of an extension, and it would add a significant amount of utility to me, given that I rarely used my key light before building this interface. You can check out the project and source code here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The anatomy of a GNOME shell extension can be broken down into: <\/p>\n\n\n\n