[ubuntu-us-in] So, reviews of Unity?

[macbuntu at comcast.net]

@David, 
First and foremost; remember it is not required to update every 6mo. 

In Oneiricr there will be no gnome2 type fallback, but 

11.10 comes with Unity 3d and Unity 2d by default. That's it. If you want other gnome3 options, you need to install: 

gnome-shell - for gnome shell 
gnome-session-fallback for a classic gnome lookalike 
Check out: http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=403 
to keep up with the ongoing changes. 

There are big changes going on with the user interface right now, some spectacular, some suspect. 
I look upon intermediate releases as experimental and the LTS releases as preferable for those who don't like change, and prefer stability. 
I happen to believe that most of the bugs due to the transition to gnome3 will be worked out by 12.04 and Unity should be that much more well polished. 
Gnome-shell will be much improved so that option will become more palatable, and it will have a gnome-session-fallback. 
Unity 2d is a good option for lesser equipped systems. 

All and all the future looks bright, there will be some serious bumps in the road but I remain positive. 
There have been many improvements to Unity in 11.10 so you should be pleased with the progress. 
Please remember point number one... You don't "have" to upgrade/re-install every release. 

I have had for years multiple installs of Ubuntu so I can test the development releases, yet keep my "production" install safe! 
I enjoy keeping up what the developers and brain-trust @ Canonical have in mind for us. 

Some links: 

Good for low spec hardware, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu/Testing 
For navigating Unity, 
http://castrojo.tumblr.com/post/4795149014/the-power-users-guide-to-unity 

Hope this helps, there are always options, sometimes it's not so obvious. 

Fun times ahead! 

John 

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Ernst" <david.ernst at davidernst.net> 
To: "Ubuntu's Indiana Local Community Team" <ubuntu-us-in at lists.ubuntu.com> 
Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2011 9:45:36 PM 
Subject: [ubuntu-us-in] So, reviews of Unity? 

I'm definitely NOT an early adopter, especially with things like my 
base OS where I pretty much want it to work and not change so that I'm 
not thinking about it. But, prompted in part of Ubuntu 10.10 clinging 
to Firefox 3.x, I upgraded a week or two ago to Ubuntu 11.4, just in 
time to start thinking about how there will be another upgrade 
available in a month or two. 

So, I finally saw Unity. I'd be curious to play with it somewhere 
like a kiosk or something ... basically anything other than my 
workstation. My experience was like this: 

First, I had trouble with the 3d graphics. This is probably something 
to do with my computer, like not having a fancy graphics card. And 
it was true of 10.10 and previous as well. So, I knew to look for a 
version that wasn't trying to impress me with eye candy, and Unity 2D 
did the trick. At least things were working then. And I really don't 
care about eye candy. This might have contributed to some of my other 
problems, though. 

So, the next hurdle was that I LOVE multiple desktops. Completely 
integrated into my computer use, I can't live without them. And, I 
didn't have to... Unity supports them... BUT, I couldn't use the key 
bindings I'm used to. Basically Unity snatches up Alt+F2 to launch 
the dash, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get rid of that. I 
found someone in Ubuntu forums with the exact same preference and 
problem, and no one had a solution for him either. 

So, I switched my bindings to use Super+F[1234], which worked better. 
But, strangely, I still got the dash sometimes after switching 
desktops. I couldn't discern a pattern. Sometimes it showed up, 
sometimes it didn't. I also was not really getting used to the switch 
to Super, although I suppose over time I might have. 

When I wanted to launch an application... the applications I used the 
most were easy to get in the dash. But ones that I run 1-2 times per 
week were not there, and I was amazed at how inefficient it was for me 
to get to them. Take Synaptic, for instance. Fastest way I could see 
was to open the dash, type "synapt", and it finds it... but then I 
still have to move my hand to the mouse to click on it? I'm fine with 
a keyboard or a mouse, but I really don't like switching between the 
two very often. Seems like if they are encouraging a keyboard 
approach I should be able to say "yes, launch the 1st app in those 
search results" from the keyboard. Was there a way I just wasn't 
seeing? Or, was there a way to specify which apps are in the dash? 
And in what order? I sure wasn't seeing it. 

The BIGGEST nuisance, though, was that windows seemed to auto-maximize 
themselves, whether I wanted them to or not. Actually, I liked the 
more efficient use of real-estate, the problem was that with a 
maximized window, the open dash would cover up the left-most 1-2 cm of 
my window. So, say I'm typing an email or some code, and someone 
sends me an IM... the dash opens up, alerting me to the IM with a 
dancing Empathy icon, and ... I can't see what I'm doing!! Being as 
all of the languages I speak (that is, the one I really speak, and the 
few others that I sometimes try to speak) are Left-to-Right languages, 
I don't see how a mixture of auto-maximized windows and 
dash-suddenly-covering-the-left-part-of-the-screen could be a good 
thing. 

I had some spare time tonight and decided I'd try to see if I could 
customize it... maybe if the dash were on the right side, for 
instance, I'd be better with it. After playing with it for just a 
bit, though, and not getting anywhere, I found myself wondering how to 
preserve the things about Unity that I really liked if I switched back 
to Ubuntu "Classic". And I realized that the only thing I really 
liked was the more efficient use of real estate, and that wasn't even 
such a big plus. 

So, I logged in with "Classic" and was immediately happy again. I 
reset my desktop-switcher to Alt+F[1234], and I'm again using my 
computer without thinking much about the window manager. Just the way 
I like it. And I have Firefox 6.x. Odd that they flew from 3.x to 
6.x in one version. *shrug* 

So, I hope that Canonical keeps Classic as an option. If they don't, 
though, I also checked out "awesome" based on a tip from Jeremy 
L. Gaddis from the conversation on this list about Unity back in May. 
Awesome seemed very promising. I was very impressed with its speed 
and keyboard support. But, there would be a learning (and 
configuration) curve, so for now I decided that I'd stick with what I 
knew... a week of running Unity did not leave me in the mood to try to 
train myself to learn ANOTHER new thing. 

So, those are my thoughts. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts about 
how I missed opportunities to be happy with Unity. I'd also just like 
to hear if other people like it or not. And, if anyone has inside 
news about what Canonical's plans are with dropping their Classic 
view, I'd love to hear them. 

David 

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