Unity 2D Launcher Resize Options?

[Entyrion]

I recently installed 11.04 and Unity 2D (because my old laptop can't run the full 3D version). So far I'm pretty impressed and its growing on me, despite the negative press I'd heard and my own skepticism of change going into the new UI.

One thing that I haven't been able find out is if there is an option to vertically resize the launcher based on the number of active icons. I only have about half a dozen icons pinned to the launcher permanently, so there's a lot of blank "dead space" on the bottom half of the launcher unless I have a zillion other things open simultaneously.

Is there a way to make the Unity 2D launcher automatically shrink upwards to fit the number of pinned icons + active applications? (I've attached a mock up of the sort of feature I'm talking about.) It would be fantastic if there was a way to do this because it would be a much cleaner and more efficient use of my screen space. I've already downloaded the Unity 2D Settings application, but there are only 5 or so things you can edit with that little app. I was hoping for a method with a bit more flexibility.

Also, as a side question, I've heard that Unity 2D is specifically designed NOT to use Compiz, so things like cube desktop and wobbly windows will never be available in this 2D desktop environment. Can someone please confirm this for me? (Sadface for losing out on the eye candy I used to have in 10.10 )

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Krytarik]

There are not too much options to customized Unity as of now, even less for Unity 2D, as you noticed. So, no shrink feature, but in usual Unity the background of the launcher can be set to transparent, so that would be nearly the effect you want.

And yes, no eye candy for Unity 2D, otherwise it would of course miss its purpose.

Did you fully test if you can really not run usual Unity?

If not, try logging in to "Ubuntu" (thus Unity), creating a launcher at the desktop for the command "compiz --replace", and launching it. Make sure before to have Ctrl+Alt+Backspace enabled, to be able to kill the xserver if it doesn't work.

[Entyrion]

Just as a follow up to this thread for the benefit of anyone else who might come across it in the future:

1. Creating the launcher for "compiz --replace" DOES re-enable Compiz within Unity 2D, but it does not activate the 3D version. So while I'm stuck with Unity 2D, I AM able to use Compiz to restore a lot of the eye candy functionality like wobbly windows, cube desktop, and window animations, so thanks for the tip Krytarik

2. Like I said, I am in fact running Unity 2D, so the Unity Plugin menu for Unity 3D in CompizConfig Settings Manager will NOT work. However, after running the launcher above, I CAN use CCSM to modify non-unity Compiz settings to restore most of the eye candy I wanted... Unity 2D is NOT incompatible with Compiz.

3. While I was not able to specifically change the launcher settings to create the effect I originally mentioned in this post, I WAS able to modify a surprising amount of Unity 2D effects that I had otherwise been led to believe were incompatible with Unity 2D (including the transparency feature Krytarik mentioned).

It took a little work, but in the end, here are the features I was able to modify in my Unity 2D setup.

-Transparent Menus
-Wobbly Windows
-"Dodge" focus window animation
-Open/close/min/max windows animations
-Unity 2D transparency effects (change the opacity for the Unity launcher, panel, and places menus)
(This can all be done in the standard CCSM interface. See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1746381 for how I was able to modify the opacity for UI elements in Unity 2D.)

-Cube desktop
(http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/compiz-cube-natty/)

-Toggle the Unity launcher to auto-hide
(http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1747367 and using the tool at http://www.ubuntugeek.com/a-simple-g...-04-natty.html)

-Remove the "workspaces" icon from the launcher
(http://www.ubunturoot.com/2011/02/re...-unity-2d.html note that there are also a bunch of other things you can tweak like icon size and whatnot on this page too.)

For anyone else struggling to customize your Unity 2D interface, don't let anyone tell you that there are no customization options for Unity 2D, it just takes a bit of effort. With the resources above, I was able to replicate virtually all the functionality and eye candy of the official Unity 3D interface in Unity 2D! I'm a noob and I was able to figure it out (although I had to learn CCSM and gconf-editor, etc as I went), so you can too!

[GavinZac]

I'm confused. If your computer can handle all the, well, useless eyecandy like Cube and Wobbly windows, why can't it handle the Unity 3D shell?

I'm using Unity 2D but only because I'm on a fairly old laptop that splutters when it hits a HD youtube video!

[Entyrion]

@GavinZac: Very good question! I most certainly don't know!

All I do know is that when I booted 11.04 in the Unity session for the first time, it notified me that my hardware was insufficient and sent me back to the old Gnome interface.

When I run

/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p

I get the output

OpenGL vendor string:   Tungsten Graphics, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R200 (RV250 4C66) 20090101 x86/MMX/SSE2 TCL DRI2
OpenGL version string:  1.3 Mesa 7.10.2

Not software rendered:    yes
Not blacklisted:          yes
GLX fbconfig:             yes
GLX texture from pixmap:  yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program:        yes
GL fragment program:      no
GL vertex buffer object:  yes
GL framebuffer object:    yes
GL version is 1.4+:       no

Unity supported:          no

So, apparently no Unity 3D for me. Why can it run Compiz and not the fancy-pants Unity? Dunno, I didn't build either of them, nor do I have the experience or technical knowledge to tell you why =P I just wanted to have the same effects I had in 10.10 so I found a bunch of workarounds

[karmila]

@Entyrion: If unity-2d is not a compiz plugin, so how could it can be set up through ccsm? Do you have unity plugin enabled on ccsm?
Also, is there a way to resize unity-2d launcher size? Default size is too big.

[GavinZac]

@Entyrion
Also, is there a way to resize unity-2d launcher size? Default size is to big.

Not yet; unity-2d is not really a finished product yet. A month or so ago it wouldn't even run most of the time for me.

[GavinZac]

@GavinZac: Very good question! I most certainly don't know!

All I do know is that when I booted 11.04 in the Unity session for the first time, it notified me that my hardware was insufficient and sent me back to the old Gnome interface.

So, apparently no Unity 3D for me. Why can it run Compiz and not the fancy-pants Unity? Dunno, I didn't build either of them, nor do I have the experience or technical knowledge to tell you why =P I just wanted to have the same effects I had in 10.10 so I found a bunch of workarounds

Very odd. Perhaps it's because of the kind of obscure 3D card, Unity might not have recognised it despite it being able to run it. I would submit a bug! Because I think the error might be in detection rather than an actual problem with your PC.

First, you could try booting into it again. Surely Ubuntu didn't _force_ you to use Classic? Despite my netbook not being able for 3D at all (it's a struggle to keep Firefox and Netbeans stable while running at the same time), it did boot into Unity at the start.

[Entyrion]

@Entyrion: If unity-2d is not a compiz plugin, so how could it can be set up through ccsm? Do you have unity plugin enabled on ccsm?
Also, is there a way to resize unity-2d launcher size? Default size is too big.

1. CCSM is used to modify all the non-Unity stuff like wobbly windows, animation effects, and cube desktop. CCSM is not able to directly modify any of the values for Unity 2D. Yes, the Unity Plugin is activated in CCSM, but it is non-functional; changing settings in the Unity Plugin menu does nothing whatsoever. The only setting you can change for Unity 2D via CCSM is the opacity of the panel, launcher, and places menus, and even this cannot be done via the Unity Plugin - you need to use the "Opacity, Brightness, and Saturation" menu. (See my thread on how I learned to do this at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1746381)

2. There appears to be a (complicated) way to resize the launcher and the launcher icons, though I haven't tried it myself, at http://www.ubunturoot.com/2011/02/re...-unity-2d.html Might be worth a look if you're REALLY interested in resizing it. Otherwise, no, I have not found any other way to modify it (and I've been looking around quite a bit)!

First, you could try booting into it again. Surely Ubuntu didn't _force_ you to use Classic? Despite my netbook not being able for 3D at all (it's a struggle to keep Firefox and Netbeans stable while running at the same time), it did boot into Unity at the start.

After I installed 11.04 originally and tried to boot into the default Ubuntu (therefore Unity 3D) session, I got an ugly gray pop-up that said something to the effect of "This computer does not have sufficient hardware to operate Unity" and when you click OK, it brought up the standard Gnome2 interface. After I installed Unity 2D, then that became the default fallback every time I booted into the default session since.

I am not aware of any way to try to force Unity 3D to run; running "compiz --replace" reloads compiz, which works perfectly with the exception of the Unity Plugin. When I toggle that box on and off, by windows borders and ui is generally messed up, but nothing like Unity boots up =\

[Entyrion]

Very odd. Perhaps it's because of the kind of obscure 3D card, Unity might not have recognised it despite it being able to run it. I would submit a bug! Because I think the error might be in detection rather than an actual problem with your PC.

Hmm, well Unity 3D requires OpenGL of 1.4+ and I currently only have 1.3. Maybe I should look into trying to update my video card driver in Ubunut? (I thought that was supposed to happen automatically... not quite sure where to begin.)