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Nick Otmazgin
Nick Otmazgin

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EaseHub 1.3.0: a compact GNOME menu, with sound and Files right-click actions

EaseHub 1.3.0 is out. It is my free, open-source panel menu for GNOME Shell 45–51 (Wayland and X11). This release replaces the long one-item-per-row list with a compact menu, adds a volume row, and puts EaseHub actions in the Files right-click menu.

EaseHub 1.3.0 collage: compact menu, light and dark appearance, Files Copy, and settings

A menu that fits on the screen

The old menu was about 23 rows. The new compact layout, which is the default, is about 10:

  • a row of power buttons
  • a volume row: mute, down, a slider and up, for the current output device
  • quick-toggle tiles
  • four groups you can open and close
  • a footer

Classic (one row per item) is still there, in Preferences.

The quick toggles are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, Do Not Disturb, Dark Mode, Night Light and Keep Awake (the screen stays on, and the computer does not sleep, while it is on). A tile hides itself when the hardware or service is not there. Tiles update live if Dark Mode, Do Not Disturb or Night Light change somewhere else while the menu is open.

Compact panel menu: power, volume and quick toggles

Every icon-only control has a tooltip with the full name and the current state, for example "Do Not Disturb: Off" or "Volume: 70%".

A tooltip on an icon-only control

The four groups

Apps & Files opens Files, Settings, Extensions, Tweaks and a terminal. Empty Trash tells you how many items are in there and asks first. Clear Recent Files asks first too. The same group has the switch for the Files right-click menu, and a shortcut into its settings.

Apps and Files, including the Files right-click switch

Clipboard & Screenshot opens GNOME's built-in screenshot tool (area, screen, window or screencast), and can clear the clipboard or the primary selection.

Updates & System checks for updates and upgrades packages (APT, DNF, Zypper, Pacman and Flatpak) in your terminal. It asks before an upgrade proceeds. The tour opens that confirm dialog and closes it. On X11 this group also has Reload GNOME Shell.

Confirm before a package upgrade

Sudo Timeout shows the current value (for example "Sudo Timeout (60 min)"), plus Forget Password Now and a custom minutes entry. Sharing one login across all terminals (timestamp_type=global) is optional and off by default.

Sudo Timeout: presets, forget, and a custom value

The footer has the new panel icon (a hub; you can pick another), and Appearance: System (follows your shell theme), Light, or Dark. That choice covers the EaseHub menu and its tooltips, so it stays readable on a light theme and on a dark one.

Light appearance, set from the footer

Dark appearance

There is also a keyboard shortcut to open the menu. None is set until you choose one.

Files, right-click, Scripts ▸ EaseHub

This is off until you turn it on (Preferences → Files, or the switch in Apps & Files). It adds actions under Scripts ▸ EaseHub in Files (Nautilus):

  • Copy: name, full path, path and name, parent folder, path from home (~), a shell-safe quoted path, the file URI
  • Open: terminal here, or your editor
  • Tools: size and type, SHA-256 checksum, make executable

You can keep that grouping, or flatten it. You can rename the menu or any action, hide actions, and turn notifications on or off. It uses your EaseHub terminal. Symbolic links copy the path you clicked, not the target. Broken links, spaces, quotes and non-Latin names are fine. Sizes are real file sizes.

EaseHub only removes files it created. Anything you add yourself under that scripts folder is kept. Turning the option off removes the menu.

Files right-click: Scripts, EaseHub, Copy

Open

Tools

Settings, each tab

Preferences now have a Menu page (show or hide every item, and the sudo timeout options) and a Files page. They reopen on the page you used last. Reset all settings asks first. Settings you already had from 1.2 are kept: items you had hidden stay hidden, and the new items appear.

Settings, General: layout, appearance, icon, shortcut

Settings, Menu

Settings, Files

Settings, About

The two-minute tour

The narrated tour opens the panel menu with every quick toggle (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, Do Not Disturb, Dark Mode, Night Light, Keep Awake), each group, the Files right-click actions, and every Settings tab from top to bottom.

Install or update

Download comfort-control@nickotmazgin-45-51.shell-extension.zip from GitHub Releases, then:

gnome-extensions install --force comfort-control@nickotmazgin-45-51.shell-extension.zip
gnome-extensions enable comfort-control@nickotmazgin
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

On Wayland, log out and back in. On X11, press Alt+F2, type r and press Enter.

Every release is built by GitHub Actions from a signed tag, is immutable, and has a build-provenance attestation. You can check a download yourself:

gh attestation verify comfort-control@nickotmazgin-45-51.shell-extension.zip --repo nickotmazgin/comfort-control-easehub
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Compatibility

Status
GNOME Shell 45–51 Supported
X11 / Xorg Supported and tested (Zorin OS, GNOME 46)
Wayland Supported; reports are welcome
GNOME Shell 42–44 No longer built

Reports from Wayland and from GNOME 47–51 are very welcome in Discussions.

Links

EaseHub is free and MIT licensed. I direct, review, test and sign every release; AI coding assistants helped with parts of this work, and the README credits them. If it saves you time, a ⭐ on GitHub helps other GNOME users find it.

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