Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever • Hacker News Board

Re: Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever

#21

Post by dman » Sun, Apr 03, 2011, 2:29 PM UTC

hasenj wrote: post #16

Completely disagree. I've been using Unity for a while now, it's pretty awesome and much much better than anything (classical) gnome could ever be. This article sounds like "I've just used OS X for the first time and there's no start menu, instead it has a weird thing that's like a dock or something." So, no more gnome-panel applets. What's the big deal? Most of them were useless and ugly anyway. And yes, there is a…

One thing that threw me off in Unity was the lack of a hierarchical menu for launching applications. Is there someway to create a button that shows the hierarchical menu? btw this isnt a criticism of unity, just me trying to pick the brains of a power unity user.

Re: Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever

#22

Post by davidw » Sun, Apr 03, 2011, 2:30 PM UTC

Can anyone using the beta tell me whether:

* I can still do focus-follows-mouse if I hack around with the settings?

* If it has a 'workspace manager' thing that lets you have multiple workspaces?

Without those, no way, no how. Other stuff I can probably get used to.

Re: Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever

#23

Post by owaislone » Sun, Apr 03, 2011, 2:31 PM UTC

csulok wrote: post #14

ch0wn wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I like change. I would even like Unity and I don't feel it's too much focused on on touch screen devices. After all, there are a lot of useful shortcuts. However, the article is right that Unity in its current state is far from being an improvement. It crashes very frequently and lacks important configuration options. When those issues are fixed, I'll certainly use it.

people said the same thing when they realized unity lacks stability, config options and key features (like supporting drag & drop files between windows), but they never came. I don't think canonical considers it a high priority, if it's not there now, it won't be there at all for this release of ubuntu

Use CCSM to config; or use the command "about:config" in alt-f2 dialog.

Missing drag-and-drop between windows? What are you talking about?

Re: Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever

#24

Post by dman » Sun, Apr 03, 2011, 2:31 PM UTC

nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #18

yaix wrote: post #9

apt-get remove unity; apt-get install gnome Done. What's the problem?

You don't even need to do that much. Just select the classic desktop at login time.

At least on alpha3, selecting the classic desktop results in broken themes. Gnome suddenly reverts to looking completely unskinned and like it did 10 years ago.

Re: Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever

#25

Post by dman » Sun, Apr 03, 2011, 2:33 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #22

Can anyone using the beta tell me whether: * I can still do focus-follows-mouse if I hack around with the settings? * If it has a 'workspace manager' thing that lets you have multiple workspaces? Without those, no way, no how. Other stuff I can probably get used to.

Multiple workspaces - yes it does have multiple workspaces and devilspie continues to work in Natty. Dont know about focus follows mouse.

Re: Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever

#26

Post by dman » Sun, Apr 03, 2011, 2:34 PM UTC

One thing I wish for is that they would show the Unity panel if I move the mouse past the left edge of the screen.

Re: Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever

#27

Post by rbanffy » Sun, Apr 03, 2011, 2:35 PM UTC

windsurfer wrote: post #4

This seems pretty typical of Ubuntu releases, frankly. Anyone remember the Firefox 3 fiasco? Luckily, if you don't like it, you've got lots of choice, the current version will be supported for another 12 months, and the next version will be out in 6 months. It's not a big deal.

If you don't like it, you can always ask your money back ;-)

Now, seriously, one can run Natty with standard Gnome for as long as it takes for Unity to get refined to one's taste. This is a non-issue. And, weren't that enough, like you pointed out, the next release is six months away.

Re: Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever

#28

Post by owaislone » Sun, Apr 03, 2011, 2:36 PM UTC

chuhnk wrote: post #3

Yes I agree with this writeup. Having tested the unity desktop I was thoroughly disappointed. I felt as though the interface was dumbed down and all of the advanced features or navigation that I once had control of were now gone. It will perhaps as they gear more towards a touch based interface and even netbooks but as a main desktop manager it really does fail quite badly.

"Interface was dumbed down.."

That is a good thing. I use my computer to use websites, write code, watch videos; Those things should be more visible not the OS chrome. OS UI should be as minimal and simple as possible.

Re: Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever

#29

Post by rbanffy » Sun, Apr 03, 2011, 2:39 PM UTC

dman wrote: post #24

nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't even need to do that much. Just select the classic desktop at login time.

At least on alpha3, selecting the classic desktop results in broken themes. Gnome suddenly reverts to looking completely unskinned and like it did 10 years ago.

I never noticed how fast my GPU was until I crashed the theme engine by accidentally xkilling the bottom panel.

And I don't think it looks that bad.

Re: Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever

#30

Post by motters » Sun, Apr 03, 2011, 2:41 PM UTC

I've been using the 11.04 beta for a day or so, and it seems ok to me. Sure, it's not exactly the same as Gnome 2.x, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's worse. I never used panel applets much anyway, and like the keyboard shortcuts and the universal menu bar. So far I havn't found anything which I thought was really irritating or stopping me from working.