14 DAY TRIAL // The GNOME developers are hard at work these days, preparing to release the fourth snapshot of the highly anticipated GNOME 3.18 desktop environment, due for release on September 23, 2015.
As part of the GNOME 3.17.4 desktop environment unstable release, several of its core components have received more or less important updates, including the GNOME Control Center applications, which was updated on July 22 to version 3.17.3.
According to the raw changelog attached at the end of the article, GNOME Control Center 3.17.3 comes with numerous fixes to the handling of command-line options in the Shell section, and repairs enterprise user logins in the User Accounts section.
Moreover, it adds support for more channels in the speaker test of the Sound section, adds the ability to override the SSH service (SSHD_SERVICE) on Debian-based distributions from the Sharing section, and addresses region and language lists issues in the Region & Language section.
GNOME Control Center 3.17.3 also improves the Power section with proper descriptions for batteries, accessible automatic suspend row, and a patch for a crash that occurred when the up_client_get_devices() function failed. Window decorations are now visible in the calibrator window of the Wacom section.
The Printers and Date & Time sections have received the most attention
There are also numerous improvements to the Printers sections, such as a fix for a crash that occurred after the panel was closed, the addition of a border around the 'No printers detected' text, support for installing a selected printer when activating the row, as well as a fix for a focus chain issue with the new printer dialog.
Furthermore, the setting of page size now works correctly, the search entry is no longer expanded, the same device will no longer be displayed multiple times, and the focus of the new printer dialog is now set correctly in the Printers sections of the GNOME Control Center.
For the Date & Time section, GNOME Control Center 3.17.3 brings the ability to display date buttons in the order used by the locale, especially for Hong Kong English and Chechen, addresses some issues with the accessibility of the minutes and hours spin buttons, and repairs incorrect sensitivity due to missing permissions.
Here's what's new for the Display and Network sections
The Network section has received several improvements in GNOME Control Center 3.17.3, including a fix for the "gear buttons" issues with all Wi-Fi networks, the ability to share Wi-Fi connections only if the user is allowed, and patches for two crashes, one related to the airplane mode, and the other one affecting the Network panel.
Last but not least, support for tiled monitors (mostly 4K ones) has been added in the Display section, which no longer displays the rotation for built-in display on tablet devices. GNOME Control Center 3.17.3 is being distributed as part of GNOME 3.17.4, but you can download the source code right now from Softpedia.