Unity

[DaveS]

Been using Unity since 11.04 was released and on the whole, apart form some REALLY anoying bugs, I quite like it. But I have to say, its really easy to make my Gnome 2* desktop look and behave much like Unity, but not possible to make mt Unity desktop look and feel like Gnome 2*. To put that another way, Unity forces change on me. Maybe not a bad thing. Unsure so far.
It all looks so much like it was put together with a touchscreen tablet in mind. U-Pad anyone?

[bobthebob1234]

It works great on my touchscreen notebook, but I am unconvinced it is going to be nice on my dual screen computer

[PCNetSpec]

I don't know about "be" nice, but 11.04 is supposed to finally "play" nice with dual monitor setups... Twinview is supposed to actually work properly, and with Compiz.

[SpecialStuff]

Well after really enjoying Gnome 3 and Shell on OpenSuse 11.4, I installed Ubuntu and Unity a few days ago to give it a proper shot. I wasn't sure at first. I still think Gnome 3 is a more elegant environment, especially for a desktop, but Unity is very quick and makes sense in much the same way, and I really began to enjoy playing with it. However, the problem I've had with Ubuntu and Unity isn't so much the new sexy interface but the awful bugs that prevent you using it. Some have carried over from Maverick, and there's some painful new ones.

After an update a couple of days ago (I spied a Jockey update that I think could be the culprit), it now just hangs every boot. I can get into it if I go via the recovery mode, but then I have to reconfigure the xserver every time and the startx. And even then it doesn't always start properly, often giving me a default Gnome desktop or a blank desktop with nothing. I don't have anything especially exciting. Just an Nvidia 9800GT. There's a related bug filed on Launchpad (well a couple by the looks of things), but they've not assigned them to be fixed yet.

Looks like it's back to OpenSuse and Gnome 3 for me, possibly until Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, where I imagine they might have fixed it all up a bit and gotten it working.

[fiorghael]

The biggest bug for me is the "minimise and kill" in Ubuntu 11.04. I like the Unity interface but it's still too fragile.

I wouldn't try and sell it to a potential Windows refugee at the moment as Windows-minimising means your file is still there, while Natty Narwhal-minimising (at least on my Compaq netbook) means you kill it.

Even better, you don't get the option to save it before you kill by merely trying to minimise it. It might just be my netbook setup, but I'm thinking we've got a bug worth sorting out before too many Windows users cut 11.04 isos.

There are other bugs, but none so infuriating.

[RedWillow]

The biggest bug for me is the "minimise and kill" in Ubuntu 11.04. I like the Unity interface but it's still too fragile.

I'm curious about this "bug". I've not heard of it. Do you mean that when you minimise the window of a running application, it closes rather than minimising to the dock. I've installed Natty to four different machines, and have tested Natty since before alpha1 and I haven't seen this. I've also followed the Natty testing forum in Ubuntuforums through the whole of the testing cycle and I don't recall this being mentioned - although I might have missed it.

When I minimise an application in Natty, the launcher icon shows an arrow on the left which signifies an open process. If I click on the launcher icon again the window is restored together with any file I was working on still open. It's quite reliable on my setups.

[shaddack]

An annoyance for me is that the application windows are maximised whenever I start an application. I don't want that! I change the size of the windows but the applications does not seem to "remember" my settings. Is there a general setting for this in Unity somewhere?

[RedWillow]

There's a 70% or 80% cutoff rule - or something thereabouts. I can't remember the exact figure. Let's say it's 75%. Any window you close which is unmaximised to a greater size than 75% of maximised will open maximised next time around. Anything less will be remembered and open unmaximised. I don't think there's any way to change the cutoff setting.

On a large monitor you simply have to experiment until you find the largest size that will be remembered. On a very small screen you'll probably want most things maximised anyway. I believe they've set the default to be the best compromise for all sizes of screens. Perhaps in 11.10 we'll be able to fine-tune this setting.

[shaddack]

Ok, thanks. That's an explanation. I have installed it on my latop which has a resolution of 1280x800 on 13" screen. The resolution and screen size is big enough so that I don't want my applications to be maximized but I guess I have to live with it...

[nordle]

I used KDE 2 onwards, up until 3.5.8
KDE4 did not appeal, not sure why, maybe it was too busy. Tried Gnome and while it had a more streamlined look compared to KDE, it was just as slow (from 1.4 onwards).
November 2007 and XFCE 4.4.1, made the switch. Fast, efficient, easily customized. Basic, but not too basic. Been happily using XFCE since.

Having read a lot about Unity, having used SLED and not liked its menu system, having not liked (and still dont) KDE 4. I was expecting to hate Unity.

Been using it via Ubuntu 11.04 in a VM and I have to say (after reading the docs!) I like it
Yes its slowing me down now, but I can see that once up to speed, I could gain some benefit from its features, layout and shortcuts.

Maybe I've spent so long with a basic desktop, the prettier and shinier interface has caught my attention, but while the whole world is moving over to Mint, I'm considering moving from XFCE to Gnome3 + Unity.

Who cares... no one, just my 2p worth.

[Marrea]

When I minimise an application in Natty, the launcher icon shows an arrow on the left which signifies an open process. If I click on the launcher icon again the window is restored together with any file I was working on still open. It's quite reliable on my setups.

Same here. That's exactly what happens on my Natty.

I really like Unity, even though I can only use 2D not 3D as my (admittedly somewhat long in the tooth) nvidia FX 5200 appears to have been blacklisted.

I like the interface. It's fresh and different - albeit very Mac like, but I see no problem with that. However I am the sort of person who adapts to changes on computers fairly quickly. For instance I love the much hated Windows ribbon. It required a short learning curve to discover where everything was but now I wouldn't want to go back to the old menu system.

[Marrea]

Who cares... no one, just my 2p worth.

Of course we care.

Well I do anyway. I have always set great store by your opinions.

[nordle]

Who cares... no one, just my 2p worth.

Of course we care.

Well I do anyway. I have always set great store by your opinions.

And yet you appear to still be alive and show signs of sanity

As for MS Ribbon, not a fan, don't like any of it. Had it forced upon us at work 2 years ago. I still find it a frustrating barrier between me and what I need to achieve.
I also am not a fan of the new tables in Excel. Formula that reference them are now a mile long and impossible to read if you get beyond 4 nested formula. You can't Share a workbook with a linked table, you have to convert them to ranges. Very irritating as they lose any live data connections. BUT old Excel 2003 files still work as expected, so the functionality is there, but MS have stopped it working in .xlsx/m files.
Under WinXP, when opening files through Explorer, it doesn't display the file, instead minimises it and leaves Explorer with the focus, so I have to hunt through the open window list to find the thing I just chose to open. Also, tabbing between workbooks, something has happened, the tab order is changed. Instead of having file A, then opening file B and Alt+Tab back to file A, it tabs to Outlook or something else first.

But I am aware that the average 7 year old is an expert in using the ribbon based versions of Office, and right now I sound like the guy who bemoaned the arrival of Windows 3.1 over Dos 6.22.
So, just to add some balance. I do like the 1048576 row limit and the ability to sort data by colour......mmm, that's about it.

A teeny weeny bit OT. But I feel better

[GeordieJedi]

Unity.............Me no likey !

I know everyone and their wife has been slagging off Unity and Gnome 3
but I just wanted a quick vent and add my two penner's-worth.

So, I know it's only a first release, and it's likely to get better as time goes on,
however I've found it really buggy. I had to do a hard reset twice whilst using it
on my laptop (not even RSEIUB would help !)

* The bar on the left is annoying.
(Personal preference)

* Global menus
I don't want to travel to the top of the screen to change something about the window
I was just already in !
(Hey, I'm not totally against them, I remember them from my Amiga days)
It just seems a waste of time and mouse/trackpad movement.

* Very buggy
(Again, I know this will improve with time).

* Doesn't play nicely with Gnome 3

* I don't want to have to search/hover over the sidebar (with 1 pixel accuracy)
to try and get the running app/window that I was after.


It seems that the devs have been spending far to much time with the marketing dept.

E.G. "The next paradigm is going to be mobile, you have to make everything moblie !"

(I realise FOSS doesn't really have a marketing dept, in the sense of
Miscrosoft of Apple.
but you get what I mean).

Differentation and segmentation have their place.
I want a Desktop Enviroment (DE) for my desktop and laptop.
I'd use a netbook orientated DE on (surprise......... a netbook)

Gnome 3 and Unity look like stunning tablet/netbook DE's
They don't seem at home on my desktop/laptop.

I thought Ubuntu had this all worked out. It was called UNR Ubuntu Netbook Remix.
If you have a netbook (or a tablet?) this was great. Why not keep
doing that?

As for Gnome 3, all I'd like it if they can make it work and act exactly like Gnome 2
I'd be a happy bloke

(I mean, it's not too much to ask, is it ? He he he).

[ollie]

I've tried Unity a number of times, I've got my desktop upgraded but my laptop has been re-installed with 10.10, and I find it a step back into the 1990's or like using Fisher Price toys. It doesn't work properly with Compiz, I've got hardly any 3D effects happening (with an nVidia GTX460M 1.5GB Memory) and you can't even enable "rotate cube" because it doesn't work with Unity. The top left of my screen is a jumbled mess of overlapping menus that don't display all the words. I've got menus that want me to install new software every time I open a new category. I can't choose which programs to open until after they are displayed in the menu when I click "Show all". I've got to slide a mouse all over the desktop to select anything because the menus fill the screen with massive icons instead of being small, quickly accessed icons in a list. My "Task Bar" has become a massive list of icons with no words telling me which one is the actual one belonging to the 7 word documents I've got open editing. Instead of resizing icons it becomes a big scrolly thing I can't use because it keeps auto hiding!

If I wanted a touch interface I'd use my HTC Desire Android phone or my iPad (work supplied) or buy a $2000 touch monitor. I'm using a desktop or laptop/notebook, I want an interface that is designed for grown ups using computers for work not playing 99 cent touch games.

It's actually turned me off computers because every time I use Unity it's seems broken or in an alpha stage. I get enough of that in my day job with Windows 7, which is starting to feel easier and less broken than Ubuntu.

I'm seriously considering a career change and only using computers for photo editing and general business functions like emails, word processing and surfing the Internet.