With 12.10 are we still stuck with the silly unity interface?

[Nixarter]

As the thread title says, are we still stuck with the silly Unity interface as default, or is there a release with a real gnome-like desktop interface (that is useful for work, and not just screwing around)? And by that I mean one that I don't have to go through dozens of work-arounds just to get a semi-functional interface that has lots of small bugs with things like compiz.

[bellaseem]

I have 12.1 and I can confirm that it comes with unity. However, I find unity to be ok... don't know why you're having trouble with it to be honest... It does take some tweaks using compiz to get it to run faster (I hated it at the beginning because it was so slow...), anyway you can change the interface manually if you want Happy Ubuntuing

[addegsson]

Unity is awesome!

If you want a stock Gnome desktop built on Ubuntu you can try the Ubuntu Gnome Remix:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGNOME/ReleaseNotes/12.10

If you like the old Gnome style you can try Xubuntu, it's even lighter than Gnome 2 on my desktop.

You're not stuck with any interface, this is Linux.

[kurt18947]

There are numerous alternatives to Unity. You can add Xfce or LXDE desktops and select one of those when you log on. There is also MATE, looks like gnome2 but built on gnome3. Or classic Gnome. Or Cinnamon. Lotsa choices. My default is gnome-shell with a few extensions. For an alternative, I prefer Xfce over Xubuntu because I prefer the applications installed with Ubuntu over the defaults installed with Xubuntu. Cinnamon can be installed from the repositories in 13.04, not sure about earlier releases. If it's not in the repositories, it's available via a PPA. However, I'm not sure if any of the alternatives I mentioned work with compiz. Compiz seems to have lost favor and development seems to be maintenance only.

[Mark Phelps]

As the thread title says, are we still stuck with the silly Unity interface as default ...

Problem is, Canonical doesn't see this as being "stuck" with Unity -- that's the desktop they want us all to use by default.

And, while there are alternative desktops, you should consider going over to Mint if you really want to get away from Unity.

I've heard that the Cinnamon desktop will be available with 13.04, but that is still an ALPHA and I would advise strongly against attempting to upgrade to that at this time.

[MadmanRB]

Unity is here to stay, so yes vit will be in 12.10, 13.04, 13.10, 14.04, 14.10, 15.04, etc, etc...

[The Cog]

Moved to recurring discussions.

My preference is for Xfce, but as you have seen in the above posts, there are many alternatives.

[ianp5a]

You will have to give them a chance. It is the first full desktop interface they have ever created. It may take them some time to get all the fixes done. "Work in progress" they called it themselves. The reason some like it and some don't is partly because it is designed for keyboard users.

Another alternative is to install KDE-Desktop via the Software center. You can stick all your favourite programs where you want them.

[vasa1]

As the thread title says, are we still stuck with the silly Unity interface as default, or is there a release with a real gnome-like desktop interface (that is useful for work, and not just screwing around)? And by that I mean one that I don't have to go through dozens of work-arounds just to get a semi-functional interface that has lots of small bugs with things like compiz.

Who says anyone is stuck with anything? Download the distro that feels best for you. End of matter.

[Juniorr]

You can install Gnome if you like, I do that too

My preferred is XFCE but on Ubuntu is just... too ugly, I'd like to be like those ones on openSUSE or Mint, they're the real XFCE... or, that could be some way of installing them but I've never hear of it.

If you'd like to list all DE's avaliable (of course there's more, but the most popular are listed):

http://askubuntu.com/questions/65083...-are-available