Downgrade to Nautilus 3.4 from Ubuntu 13.10 / Nautilus 3.8

Question

I just updated to Ubuntu 13.10 and greatly dislike Nautilus 3.8 that comes with it. In Ubuntu 13.04 I used the instructions in this article to get back some of the features from Nautilus 3.4, but unfortunately that doesn't work anymore. I particularly miss dividing up the window with F3 to have two folders show at the same time. The new search function I also find pretty terrible.

I checked out Nemo but I would much prefer downgrading to Nautilus 3.4.

You can still use tabs (Ctrl+T), I prefer this to split screen myself. — John Cottier, Oct 18 '13 at 10:37
Appreciate the comment but in certain cases, for example when comparing the contents of my two external hard drives, I much prefer the split screen. I don't understand why they took out so many features. Will probably start using Nemo instead... — duxk.gh, Oct 18 '13 at 12:22
Another major problem that Nautilus 3.8 introduces is the lack of integration with RabbitVCS. And a file browser without a tree view? Cam'on, let's be serious. — Luís de Sousa, Oct 21 '13 at 20:34
For tree view: You can go to preferences > display > navigate folders in a tree — duxk.gh, Oct 22 '13 at 06:21
Thanks for the tip on the tree view. Why in hell would it be disabled by default? There's another issue brewing up: this version of Nautilus is unable to connect to SSH servers, it fails half of the time and the other half it only shows the first item in the root folder. — Luís de Sousa, Oct 22 '13 at 18:21
It doesn't look good: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2182560 I feel like I'm being forced to change file browser and I'm not happy about it. — Luís de Sousa, Oct 23 '13 at 06:53
Very disappointing. I tried Nemo but am not a big fan. It's just so strange how bad Nautilus has become, they removed a ton of features. It is doubtful we'll see another SolusOS patch since they're ending development. Sad. — duxk.gh, Oct 24 '13 at 08:06

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

I'm going to risk answering this question since I now feel I have collected enough information on this issue. Basically downgrading to Nautilus 3.4 seems not to be an option at this time; it was coded for an earlier version of GTK, thus it wont compile on Ubuntu 13.10. The only practical way is installing a different file browser.

As it happens, Nemo is actually a fork of Nautilus 3.4 that has kept all the features of the latter (adding a few more). I've been using it since yesterday and the interface is almost the same, a seamless transition for the user. Thus installing Nemo is not very far from downgrading to Nautilus 3.4. I haven't done it yet, but it is possible to set Nemo as the default file browser.

All features I used in Nautilus 3.4 seem to function properly in Nemo (e.g. Connect to Server). The only exception at this stage is the integration with RabbitVCS, there's a package available but non functional at the moment. Since RabbitVCS doesn't work on Nautilus 3.8 either, it is not a regression.

Update II: There's no need to install Cinnamon, just install the Nemo package:

sudo apt-get install nemo

Update I: Nemo's appearance can be tweaked into something closer to the default Unity style. Open its css file:

sudo gedit /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-3.0/apps/nemo.css

And then replace all contents with the following:

.nemo-pathbar-button,
NemoPathbarButton {
background-image: -gtk-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom,
color-stop (0, shade(@dark_bg_color, 1.1)),
color-stop (.3, shade(@dark_bg_color, 1.1)),
color-stop (.7, shade(@dark_bg_color, 0.90)),
color-stop (1, shade(@dark_bg_color, 0.80)));
border-color: shade(@dark_bg_color, 0.7);
-NemoPathbarButton-border-radius: 3px;
}

NemoPathbarButton:active {
background-image: -gtk-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom,
color-stop (0, shade(@dark_bg_color, .8)),
color-stop (.3, shade(@dark_bg_color, .9)),
color-stop (1, shade(@dark_bg_color, 1.0)));
border-color: shade(@dark_bg_color, 0.7);
}

NemoPathbarButton:hover {
background-image: -gtk-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom,
color-stop (0, shade(alpha(@dark_bg_color, 1.4), 1.25)),
color-stop (.3, shade(alpha(@dark_bg_color, 1.4), 1.25)),
color-stop (.7, shade(alpha(@dark_bg_color, 1.4), 0.95)),
color-stop (1, shade(alpha(@dark_bg_color, 1.4), 0.85)));
border-color: shade(@dark_bg_color, 0.7);
}

NemoWindow * {
    -GtkPaned-handle-size: 1;
}

NemoDesktopWindow GtkWidget {
    background-color: @transparent;
}

.nemo-canvas-item {
    border-radius: 4px;
}

/* desktop mode */
.nemo-desktop.nemo-canvas-item {
    color: @bg_color;
    text-shadow: 1px 1px alpha (#000000, 0.8);
}

.nemo-desktop.nemo-canvas-item:active {
    background-image: none;
    background-color: alpha (@bg_color, 0.84);

    color: @fg_color;
}

.nemo-desktop.nemo-canvas-item:selected {
    background-image: none;
    background-color: alpha (@selected_bg_color, 0.84);

    color: @selected_fg_color;
}

.nemo-desktop.nemo-canvas-item:active,
.nemo-desktop.nemo-canvas-item:prelight,
.nemo-desktop.nemo-canvas-item:selected {
    text-shadow: none;
}

/* browser window */
NemoTrashBar.info,
NemoXContentBar.info,
NemoSearchBar.info,
NemoQueryEditor.info {
    background-image: -gtk-gradient (linear, left top, left bottom,
                                     from (shade (@cluebar_color, 1.02)),
                                     to (shade (@cluebar_color, 0.98)));
    background-color: @cluebar_color;
    border-bottom-color: shade (@cluebar_color, 0.92);
    border-radius: 0;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 0px 0px 1px 0px;

    box-shadow: inset -1px 0px shade (@cluebar_color, 1.02),
                inset 1px 0px shade (@cluebar_color, 1.02),
                inset 0 1px shade (@cluebar_color, 1.04),
                inset 0 -1px shade (@cluebar_color, 1.01);
}

NemoTrashBar.info:backdrop,
NemoXContentBar.info:backdrop,
NemoSearchBar.info:backdrop,
NemoQueryEditor.info:backdrop {
    background-image: -gtk-gradient (linear, left top, left bottom,
                                     from (shade (@cluebar_color, 1.01)),
                                     to (shade (@cluebar_color, 0.99)));
    background-color: @cluebar_color;
    border-bottom-color: shade (@cluebar_color, 0.92);

    box-shadow: inset -1px 0px shade (@cluebar_color, 1.01),
                inset 1px 0px shade (@cluebar_color, 1.01),
                inset 0 1px shade (@cluebar_color, 1.02),
                inset 0 -1px shade (@cluebar_color, 1.0);
}

NemoSearchBar .entry {
}

.nemo-cluebar-label {
    font: bold;
    text-shadow: 0 1px shade (@cluebar_color, 1.06);
}

.nemo-cluebar-label:backdrop {
    color: mix (@fg_color, @cluebar_color, 0.2);
    text-shadow: 0 1px shade (@cluebar_color, 1.02);
}

#nemo-search-button *:active,
#nemo-search-button *:active:prelight {
    color: @dark_fg_color;
}

NemoFloatingBar {
    background-color: @info_bg_color;
    border-radius: 3px 3px 0 0;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 1px;
    border-color: darker (@info_bg_color);
}

NemoFloatingBar .button {
    -GtkButton-image-spacing: 0;
    -GtkButton-inner-border: 0;
}

/* sidebar */
NemoWindow .sidebar,
NemoWindow .sidebar .view {
    background-color: shade (@bg_color, 0.95);

    /*background-color: @bg_color;*/

    color: @fg_color;
    text-shadow: 0 1px shade (shade (@bg_color, 0.95), 1.04); 
}

NemoWindow .sidebar .frame {
    border-width: 1px 0 0 0;
    border-style: solid;
    border-color: shade (@bg_color, 0.86);
    border-radius: 0;
}

NemoWindow .sidebar:backdrop,
NemoWindow .sidebar .view:backdrop {
    color: mix (@fg_color, shade (@bg_color, 0.95), 0.2);
    text-shadow: 0 1px shade (shade (@bg_color, 0.95), 1.02); 
}

NemoWindow .sidebar row:selected {
    color: @selected_fg_color;
    text-shadow: 0 1px shade (@selected_bg_color, 0.8); 
}

NemoWindow .sidebar row:selected:backdrop {
    background-image: -gtk-gradient (linear, left top, left bottom,
                                     from (shade (shade (@bg_color, 0.95), 0.94)),
                                     to (shade (shade (@bg_color, 0.95), 0.86)));
    border-top-color: shade (shade (@bg_color, 0.95), 0.88);

    color: @fg_color;
    text-shadow: 0 1px shade (shade (@bg_color, 0.95), 0.96); 
}

NemoWindow .pane-separator {
    background-color: shade (shade (@bg_color, 0.95), 0.94);
    border-color: @dark_bg_color;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 0;
    box-shadow: none;
}

NemoWindow .pane-separator:backdrop {
    background-color: shade (shade (@bg_color, 0.95), 0.96);
}

Seems like you're right. I've been using Nemo as well and am pretty happy with it. A tip: you can quite easily make Nemo look like Nautilus to make it fit into Ubuntu a bit better. You just have to edit its css file: sudo gedit /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-3.0/apps/nemo.css and replace everything that's there with this (if you want to edit your answer to include this feel free to!) — duxk.gh, Oct 24 '13 at 19:56
It might be a good idea to include that pastebin in the answer just in case it goes down in the future (if the answer doesn't hit the character limit, that is). — Glutanimate, Oct 24 '13 at 21:08
In my comment above Glutanimate's. There's a link in there to a pastebin that can be used to make Nemo look like Nautilus. — duxk.gh, Oct 25 '13 at 11:08
@LuísdeSousa Did you see this article to get RabbitVCS working? — duxk.gh, Oct 31 '13 at 13:21
Yes duxk, with these patches RabbitVCS functions properly on Nemo. — Luís de Sousa, Jan 30 '14 at 19:39
Just installed a fresh 14.04 and ran into a problem. This guide leaves out an important part: steps 4, 5, and 6 from this answer. — duxk.gh, Apr 19 '14 at 07:53

Downgrade to Nautilus 3.4 from Ubuntu 13.10 / Nautilus 3.8

1 Answers1

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