[ubuntu-studio-devel] Graphics Categories

[Len Ovens]

On Sun, 10 May 2015, lukefromdc at hushmail.com wrote:

> One fix for menu item position bugs is to manually set them up in
> the layout file for the MAIN menu, but this would require a package
> that replaces, provides, and conflicts with the normal menu package.
>
> I've done exactly this kind of editing in my own systems at need, but
> never bothered to pack it up as a debian package due to that overwrite
> mess.

That is exactly what we do now. Well ours does not conflict with the 
system menu... there is a spec for overriding the system menu in whole or 
in part. Our menu package works on xubuntu and KDE... but not stock xfce 
who refuse a bug fix. Or lxde who use the broken gnome menu spec. whisker 
works fine with things. The gnome3 classic menu does not do sub menus but 
dumps them in all together in one level higher creating anew the mess we 
are trying to avoid. The stock gnome menu file has one line at the top 
that should be at the bottom... unfortunately the one on freedesktop site 
is the same even though the text indicates it should work as if it was on 
the bottom. That is the user should be able to override the whole system 
menu. Kde keeps the logout menu item outside of the overridable area which 
is reasonable.

Using xubuntu still seems the best thing (what we do now basically) with 
the least amount of fuss. KDE (like kxstudio) apparently has a bug just 
now that places some of the dialog boxes split down the middle of a two 
screen system rather than in the middle of one of the monitors.

(warning... rant)
Unity... is another ball game. I am beginning to think Unity is so much 
about the "desktop experience" that it does not matter that it breaks 
whatever software that was the reason for having a computer in the first 
place. Personally, I have a computer for what I can do with the apps, if 
the desktop doesn't run the apps I want to use, the desktop is broken. 
(end rant)

Anyway, Unity doesn't do menus, they have a better plan... if you know the 
name of the application or it has a good set of categories, a simple 
search will find it. I personally had trouble finding search terms (out 
side of just listing all apps) that would find applications I knew I had. 
The new user would have pages and pages of apps (like on android) to 
search through if they wanted to find out what they had. For us on unity a 
replacement menu would be a must. I suspect it could be done with the 
indicator spec as they use it. I probably need to dl ubuntu vanilla again 
to play with.

Looks wise we could take xubuntu (core or full) and just drop our 
menu/backdrop in plus applications and it would look the same as we have. 
There are almost no differences over the menu file and artwork. Kubuntu we 
might want a darker theme, but other wise the same thing. Lubuntu would 
require a small menu tweak... but I am waiting for the new DE based on qt 
to show up. It may end up being a winner too.



--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net