View Full Version : Ubuntu's Unity
So i have been stalking the ubuntu unity info for the past couple of months and it has come very far in such a short space of time.
I hope if it is still the default they at least fix the tray icon issues (99% of installable apps can't use a tray icon in unity).
The lack of customization is also a big factor in my decision.
So what are everyones thoughts on this?
Lorem-Ipsum
11-04-11, 15:00
It makes me want to put a brick through my screen........ then I realise I don't use Ubuntu any more so I don't have to worry about it. XD
Seriously though I think its an awful idea and Gnome 3 is just as bad.
I had a very brief play of beta 1 yesterday when doing a secure erase. It looks very pretty, but it took literally 5 minutes to work out where the Terminal was (every time I caught my touchpad when trying to select it, it would scroll backwards - the scrolling area seemed massive, so ended up using a mouse). Still some work to go it feels, but at least Ubuntu finally works on SB.
They both seem like they are aimed more at portable devices than desktop use.
I don't like the lack of workspaces, I'm used to X-windows workspaces since before linux existed, and I always thought it was one of the things X had over MS windows (yes I know you could get third party apps to add similar funtionality to windows, but it wasn't built in from the ground up).
I'll probably reserve judgement for 6 months or so though, give them some time for the dust to settle, then have a play.
At the end of the day, 95% of my time on a PC is spent either inside a console window or a browser, so to some extent I could make do with two shortcuts on an empty desktop :P. As such I don't really lose too much sleep over changes like these.
I guess ubuntu is trying to keep an eye on the changing nature of computing, the growth of mobile devices, etc. Even so, I think it would have been wiser to make it a non-default option this first time round, rather than making it an 'enforced beta test' by making it the default window manager.
Lorem-Ipsum
11-04-11, 15:20
Even so, I think it would have been wiser to make it a non-default option this first time round, rather than making it an 'enforced beta test' by making it the default window manager.
Ubuntu seem to have been doing this lately, firstly with GRUB2 (1.95), then beta nvidia drivers for a couple of weeks.
andy what do you mean lack of workspaces? As far as i am aware Unity has workspaces, it even has an icon by default in the launcher you click and it brings 4 workspaces up.
That said i have never, ever seen the need for workspaces, i mean why would you ever use them?
That said i have never, ever seen the need for workspaces, i mean why would you ever use them?
Same reason you'd use multiple monitors, to have multiple applications open and running without needing to minimise/maximise stuff to see them all. It's not a 'need', just a handy way of having more 'screen space' than your monitor allows.
As for them not being there, I think I must be getting mixed up with gnome shell. Haven't had time to try either yet, I've just been reading about them. I'll probably stick 11.04 on a fresh partition when it goes live, I'm not planning on updating my main machine from 10.10 immediately though, normally I'd already be running the alphas/betas.
You don't need workspaces in Unity. It's what's on the Netbook edition of 10.10 and the side dock works very well; never had to minimize anything.
Same reason you'd use multiple monitors, to have multiple applications open and running without needing to minimise/maximise stuff to see them all. It's not a 'need', just a handy way of having more 'screen space' than your monitor allows.
As for them not being there, I think I must be getting mixed up with gnome shell. Haven't had time to try either yet, I've just been reading about them. I'll probably stick 11.04 on a fresh partition when it goes live, I'm not planning on updating my main machine from 10.10 immediately though, normally I'd already be running the alphas/betas.
That's what i don't get, you don't actually "see" them, switching to another workspace is just like max/min windows?
Never been an issue for me i guess i will never get it heh, besides i have my 32" tv hooked up if i'm ever bothered about space.
I'm downloading a daily cd at the moment to test the latest changes, really coming together now :D
That's what i don't get, you don't actually "see" them, switching to another workspace is just like max/min windows?
Never been an issue for me i guess i will never get it heh, besides i have my 32" tv hooked up if i'm ever bothered about space.
I'm downloading a daily cd at the moment to test the latest changes, really coming together now :D
Well, the difference is that you can have a bunch of windows running on one screen, and a bunch on another, and you can switch between them relatively easily - it's just quicker and more convenient than minimising one set of half a dozen applications and maximising another half a dozen.
Looks like Gnome3 does have workspaces anyway, either I imagined it or someone was talking rubbish.
Well, the difference is that you can have a bunch of windows running on one screen, and a bunch on another, and you can switch between them relatively easily - it's just quicker and more convenient than minimising one set of half a dozen applications and maximising another half a dozen.
Looks like Gnome3 does have workspaces anyway, either I imagined it or someone was talking rubbish.
Hmmm i guess i can see your point on that one actually i never thought of it like that heh :D
After installing Ubuntu 11.04, I have to say that Unity is not ready for the desktop, and maybe not even a laptop. It slows me down too much clicking here and there digging through the menus to find the app I want, far slower that a click and moving the mouse through a series of menus. OK, so it seems to have been built for a small touchscreen, so I'm logging in via Gnome and sticking to that until November or 2012.
After installing Ubuntu 11.04, I have to say that Unity is not ready for the desktop, and maybe not even a laptop. It slows me down too much clicking here and there digging through the menus to find the app I want, far slower that a click and moving the mouse through a series of menus. OK, so it seems to have been built for a small touchscreen, so I'm logging in via Gnome and sticking to that until November or 2012.
From what I've seen, Unity seems to be just a heavily modified
Gnome3.. and Ubuntu in general goes out of it's way to hack at
vanilla source and change things that they assume will make it
better/easier for everyone (which mostly isn't the case imho).
It sounds like you'd feel more at home using XFCE instead of
Gnome3, it resembles the original Gnome interface more and
probably won't get changed much any time soon.
For that matter if you prefer a solid distro which doesn't go out
of it's way to modify everything from upstream then you might
like to check out Fedora instead of Ubuntu, they are doing some
great things and the new release is coming out later this month
so it might be worth you checking out the live cd =)
http://fedoraproject.org/
Lorem-Ipsum
01-05-11, 17:36
Archlinux just got gnome3 and gtk3 and its caused a load of breakage. Gnome3 needs to be killed and burned with fire XD
For that matter if you prefer a solid distro which doesn't go outof it's way to modify everything from upstream then you might
like to check out Fedora instead of Ubuntu...
I find Ubuntu to be easiest for a newbie to use and so I'm sticking with - I'm not ready to go back to my old days of writing shell & bash scripts. Ubuntu seems to strike the right balance for me in terms of the installed packages. I tried Debian a couple of days ago and while cleaner, the base install missed a bunch of packages that I had to dig up before I could install linuxtv, it also comes with LibreOffice instead of OpenOffice which I liked. Most of all, I got annoyed downloading all those packages time and again so I'm sticking with one distribution and saving my downloads with AptOnCD.
I think Fedora and Ubuntu are reasonably close in terms of noob friendliness. Fedora's policy on proprietary drivers is a PITA, but Fedoraplus (previously named AutoTEN) is terrific and makes it trivial to install many applications.
Archlinux just got gnome3 and gtk3 and its caused a load of breakage. Gnome3 needs to be killed and burned with fire XD
I ran Arch for about 4 years, pacman is awesome and the build system
was really nice but after awhile I got bored of having to constantly fix
things and hack around problems that should of been sorted by devs
so after playing with a few distros I settled on Fedora, which although
being rpm based, is pretty clean and well designed. What's more it has
a really nice build system like Arch so it enabled me to build packages
quickly without fuss unlike with deb packages..
Added after 5 minutes:
I think Fedora and Ubuntu are reasonably close in terms of noob friendliness. Fedora's policy on proprietary drivers is a PITA, but Fedoraplus (previously named AutoTEN) is terrific and makes it trivial to install many applications.
Well for most of the non-free stuff that I use they are included in
the rpmfusion repo including gfx drivers, but most of the time it's
as simple as adding a repo to yum, install and forget about it =)
For me, ubuntu=win, especially on my netbook. Its a shame it has wireless issues with my netbook though :(
For what i do i didn't really see the point of it but didn't give it much of a chance i suppose
Archlinux just got gnome3 and gtk3 and its caused a load of breakage. Gnome3 needs to be killed and burned with fire XD
Necro! (I'm allowed, because my name is in orange :P ).
Got around to upgrading to 11.04 on my main linux home PC last weekend.
I tried to like unity, but I just couldn't. In fact, I hated it. So, I finally bit the bullet, nuked ubuntu and gave Arch a try, which I've been meaning to do for some time.
Liking arch so far, the Wiki is very useful. I went for gnome (I've never been a fan of KDE, and quite like gnome) - the gnome panel in gnome 3 I found to be better than unity, but still not really my cup of tea; so I've removed the gnome shell and I'm basically running in Gnome-2-esque mode, with compiz as my window manager (I do like mah rotating cube :P).
I just don't see the appeal of the gnome panel/unity approach for users with a large monitor (or, like me, a couple of them) on a proper desktop PC. I don't feel the need for ultra-efficient space usage, I don't really like the launcher systems, and generally find the way they try to present everything in small, 'app' icons very like a smartphone to be patronising and annoying.
Yeah, keyboard shortcuts, I get that; but I don't really need keyboard shortcuts on my full-fat desktop system; If I want to type concise commands I'll do it in a freaking terminal, I'm quite happy with dragging windows around, minimsing, maximising, and generally working with the desktop metaphor I've been used to since I first booted my Atari ST back in about 1986.
:robin:
Anyway, it's made me get around to giving Arch a try, which is a good thing.
Also installed a linux dual-boot for my missus' PC, went for Mint, as I've also been meaning to take a peek at that. Seems decent enough as a gnome-2 alternative to ubuntu.
Unity is nice on my notebook but i also agree it has no place on my 24" monitor and 32" TV, on the next ubuntu i will install gnome3 and make my login default to the gnome fallback mode most likely since it's basically gnome3 panels.
Yeah I guess it was aimed at netbooks, and possibly even tablets, but I'm not convinced that most ubuntu installs are on mobile devices, and I'm a little annoyed that canonical just went straight into unity being the default desktop - I would have thought it was MUCH more sensible to have it as an optional second desktop for a couple of releases before trying to force it into the mainstream.
I wouldn't be surprised if this seriously damaged their share of the linux user base, which would be a shame as Ubuntu has done quite a lot of good for linux by emphasising the user experience and thereby reaching some people who might not have considered linux previously.
And yeah, Gnome 3 but running in fallback mode is exactly what I'm doing right now. I just think that these new 'mobile device' oriented interfaces should be seen as alternatives for standard desktop-metaphor interfaces, rather than a replacement/improvement.
Yeah we all know the standard desktop isn't going anywhere and probably never will, sure tablets and phones are popular but no one does major stuff on their phone and tablets.
Andy since you are using it the gnome3 fallback does it actually use compositing (without adding it in yourself) and work pretty much the same as the old gnome2 panels?
I probably would have stuck with mint since they have said they won't use gnome shell or unity, problem is the latest release has a stupid gnome theme bug that affects my pc :(
Andy since you are using it the gnome3 fallback does it actually use compositing (without adding it in yourself) and work pretty much the same as the old gnome2 panels?
I couldn't honestly say, one of the first things I did was enable compiz, so that's doing all my compositing. I'm just used to compiz' options, and I like the rotating cube, even though I fully accept that it's cheezy as hell :P. But in general I've got things pretty much running how I had it before with ubuntu 10.0, yeah.
I have found though that there are a few features missing from the gnome menus because it's sort of assumed that you're using gnome shell; e.g. there was no way to access a dialogue to specify a screensaver. So I disabled gnome-screensaver, installed xscreensaver and got it to load by default, and got electric-sheep working that way :P.
Some of this might be because I'm also learning how Arch does things at the same time though. You might get different results using gnome-3-fallback from an ubuntu install.
I will probably get gnome-shell installed on my laptop and give it another try in an environment it's more suited too, you never know, it might grow on me; as I said, I didn't object to it quite as violently as I did unity.
I think you're supposed to use gnomes newer control panel, it should list all options like screensaver?
I think you're supposed to use gnomes newer control panel, it should list all options like screensaver?
Hmm I couldn't find that though. I found a couple of control-panel-style dialogs in the menus but there was definitely nothing allowing me to set a screensaver.
You might well be right though, and it's just that the shortcut to the new control panel doesn't exist properly in the barebones gnome-2-style application menu for some reason. I'm still fiddling anyway, yesterday evening I was getting cairo dock installed and tweaked, and then finding and installing the basics I need like openoffice (or libreoffice, that's a bit of a messy story right now, lol) rhythmbox, chromium, blah blah.
Probably as you're using arch you need to find it and install it yourself, the main reason i prefer packaged distros, they do tend to get everything you need.
I never seen this Ubuntu before could anyone show me how is look like when it's installed on the computer?
I never seen this Ubuntu before could anyone show me how is look like when it's installed on the computer?
It's very customisable really. But here's how a 'generic' install of the newest version would look 'out of the box'.
http://static.arstechnica.com/unity-multi-selector.png
Actually to nit pick, that's not out of the box as it wouldn't have the google searchbar :P
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