Is there any point in testing if your just going to be ignored?

[blackest_knight]

Unity as it stands is a nightmare when it comes to usability.
it has a number of issues
it's too long to fit on the screen vertically
it cant decide if its a menu or a dock
its hard to identify items on the dock/menu because its trying to squeeze into a narrow column
when you do launch a program it narrows your application so it can stay on screen
The icons themselves are too small to be used with a touch screen.
Some programs are given prime position on the dock even if you don't use them I found most of the applications i use under applications and the ones i couldnt find inaccessible e.g skype.

Lucids netbook scheme largely works favourites allows you to pin your most used applications and the category's are clear large and easy to identify. The negative side to lucids netbook interface is identifying open applications and ones which require attention. Maverick has addressed that with a "Windows E" effect which shows thumbnails of open applications and waggling the dock icon.

It seems to me that the unity interface is a step backwards in its current state and i'd prefer there to be an option to use lucids netbook launcher or gnomeshell perhaps.

after all for years we have had a choice of gnome or kde desktops and a number of others. Why not one more?

Some people seem to think that if you test a release your not supposed to say what you find with it. In fact i was directed here.

I think this thread might not get closed straight away i hope.

Anyone else seeing problems with "unity"?

[Bachstelze]

I don't even know what "unity" is. I must be getting old.

[Khakilang]

I did come across Unity. Play around with it on my old desktop computer. Seem ok to me everything works even the USB wifi adapter. Not the best interface but that can be customize.

[blackest_knight]

I will try to explain
In lucid there is a home screen which is accessed by a small icon in the top left hand corner (like show desktop)
on the left hand side is a menu list with Icons and text the first menu item being favourites and followed by other entries such as graphics or sound.

the majority of the screen is given over to the content of the current category and you can add and remove items from each category as you wish.

launching firefox from either favourites or the internet category results in firefox being opened and covering almost the entire screen other than the top menu bar. on the top menu bar are small icons representing your open applications and clicking on them will allow you to switch tasks.

now the unity interface approaches the same tasks in a different manner
now instead of a menu the interface is more of a dock. which has to scroll vertically,its got too many items on it.

Since each item is now just an icon with no text you have to click on the icon to find out what it does.

Some icons represent a single program like evolution others a raft of applications like applications. A lot of the time the majority of your screen is just backdrop and isn't being used. .

The lack of descriptions for the icons is because this bar is designed to be visible almost continually it's a bit like the bottom panel of the gnome desktop but on the side.

now if i launch firefox and start to browse the web I am now finding most pages are too wide to fit and i have to continually scroll left and right. This is because the launcher is expected to be visible.

It's not needed thou, most of the time if i am writing a letter or reading an ebook or watching a video i do not need to see it.

Remember lucid only shows you the menu when you want it.

So really unity isn't an improvement yet. not everythings bad one of the buttons shows the open applications like windows E does in desktop mode thats better than in Lucid and the network indicator shows realistic signals. It also shows applications which you could install, well some of them anyway.

I think that there is value in continuing the lucid netbook launcher while unity is being developed and its problems addressed.

sort of a netbook classic. It'd just be another option like desktop mode or running kde desktop instead of gnome.

I have already submitted a bug report
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/618824
but a bug report isn't an appropriate place for discussions.

I really like ubuntu and I want it to be successful and yet sometimes you end up thinking just what are they thinking.

I really don't want to see Unity getting slammed when its released in October. The last thing we want to see is ubuntu's equivalent of windows vista. Desktop mode has issues with nautilus the ubuntu-one online storage sync seems to be slowing down opening a folder to as long as a minute or longer, removing the ubuntu-one client restores performance.

naturally you would think posts like this one should be in meercat testing but if the mods close the threads because its not what they want to hear ...

[Delvien]

Unity as it stands is a nightmare when it comes to usability.
it has a number of issues
it's too long to fit on the screen vertically
it cant decide if its a menu or a dock
its hard to identify items on the dock/menu because its trying to squeeze into a narrow column
when you do launch a program it narrows your application so it can stay on screen
The icons themselves are too small to be used with a touch screen.
Some programs are given prime position on the dock even if you don't use them I found most of the applications i use under applications and the ones i couldnt find inaccessible e.g skype.

Lucids netbook scheme largely works favourites allows you to pin your most used applications and the category's are clear large and easy to identify. The negative side to lucids netbook interface is identifying open applications and ones which require attention. Maverick has addressed that with a "Windows E" effect which shows thumbnails of open applications and waggling the dock icon.

It seems to me that the unity interface is a step backwards in its current state and i'd prefer there to be an option to use lucids netbook launcher or gnomeshell perhaps.

after all for years we have had a choice of gnome or kde desktops and a number of others. Why not one more?

Some people seem to think that if you test a release your not supposed to say what you find with it. In fact i was directed here.

I think this thread might not get closed straight away i hope.

Anyone else seeing problems with "unity"?


The questions I have for you are:

1)How are you being ignored?
2)What channel sent you to the forums?
3)The launchpad page has an area for feature requests, have you posted your opinions there?

And last but not least, my comment to you would be. If you don't agree there should be a sub-variant of a desktop environment, then why complain about it? You don't HAVE to use it. You can stay with lucid's netbook edition for a couple upgrades until all the bugs are worked out, and even then, I'm pretty sure in the world of linux, you could disable unity and still use something else.

Heck, you can mimic netbook edition within desktop edition as it stands right now. There are 3-4 apps you install, and enable/disable to your heart's content.

I would have to also say to you that maverick, and unity are still heavily in development and nearing the feature freeze and bug fixing phase. So I'm really not sure what you are expecting

[Paqman]

Anyone else seeing problems with "unity"?

Yep, but it's still got a few wrinkles, that's for sure. However, given that only a month or so ago it was pretty much unusable and now it's generally pretty good shows that there's a lot of work being done.

I'm testing it on Lucid, and it was only recently that it got usable enough that I switched from regularly logging into the old netbook interface to logging into Unity. I haven't tried it on Maverick, but I would imagine you've still got the option of logging into Gnome instead of Unity.

[betrunkenaffe]

Did you mean Maverick? I'm using Lucid (10.04) which was released a few months ago, I don't have anything that you are talking about excepting for the icons for open programs because I didn't want the words and installed a specific applet since I do like the minimized button space. Makes it easy to fit everything on the top bar.

[cariboo]

There is a Unity (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1479298) thread in Maverick Testing & Discussion, from the looks of it, the op just upgraded to alpha3 not knowing what to expect, and was quite surprised.

We say this every release cycle, before upgrading, read the release notes, and check out the testing & discussion sub-forum. There has been some quite severe breakage in the last week or so, and it bit quite a few of the testers.

Remember alpha3 and beta releases do not mean that it is usable by normal users, there are still many bugs that need fixing. If you do want to upgrade before the official release wait for the RC to be released.

BTW, UNE bugs should be reported at https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity

[betrunkenaffe]

I've been inspired to try out Maverick due to this thread...

In a virtual machine :)

Edit: Just ran in my Xubuntu virt machine and the test environment when you boot from cd doesn't have anything different from lucid. Do I have to install it to see Unity?

2nd edit: Just read thread, I'll install PPA on lucid virtual when I get some time.. maybe when I convince wife to let me change to polyphasic sleep :)

[blackest_knight]

The questions I have for you are:

1)How are you being ignored?
2)What channel sent you to the forums?
3)The launchpad page has an area for feature requests, have you posted your opinions there?

And last but not least, my comment to you would be. If you don't agree there should be a sub-variant of a desktop environment, then why complain about it? You don't HAVE to use it. You can stay with lucid's netbook edition for a couple upgrades until all the bugs are worked out, and even then, I'm pretty sure in the world of linux, you could disable unity and still use something else.

Heck, you can mimic netbook edition within desktop edition as it stands right now. There are 3-4 apps you install, and enable/disable to your heart's content.

I would have to also say to you that maverick, and unity are still heavily in development and nearing the feature freeze and bug fixing phase. So I'm really not sure what you are expecting

You can't mimic netbook edition in maverick the applications have been removed the closest thing you can get is the 2d version of netbook interface which is badly broken and appears to run on top of the desktop interface, gnomeshell will not install due to dependency problems.

I raised the issues in maverick testing only to have the thread closed within 24 hours and told to take it here. I've posted everywhere I can.
Apart from Mark shuttleworths blog where there are a number of comments all saying that the bar is a problem as its taking important space away from applications.

I would have thought unity's fundamental issues become glaringly obvious within 5 minutes of starting to try and use the interface.

Things have to be discussed and then things like a ppa repository for the lucid style netbook interface can be established.

yes the feature freeze is rapidly approaching exactly why this is an issue now.

[zekopeko]

The only problem with Unity is that the dock doesn't hide. This makes a number of web pages having to add a horizontal scrolling bar.

On this bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/618824

This isn't how you report bugs. You crammed every single problem in one bug. That is a big no-no. Separate your problems into different bugs. I suggest you change the above bug to "The launcher should hide when there is a maximized window" and explain the problem with web pages, attach some screenshots and I'll mark it as "affects me too".

[KdotJ]

I've been inspired to try out Maverick due to this thread...

In a virtual machine :)

Edit: Just ran in my Xubuntu virt machine and the test environment when you boot from cd doesn't have anything different from lucid. Do I have to install it to see Unity?

2nd edit: Just read thread, I'll install PPA on lucid virtual when I get some time.. maybe when I convince wife to let me change to polyphasic sleep :)

As far as I know, Unity will not work in a VM (Well at least in under VirtualBox). All that happens is that when you boot into Unity, you just get the desktop wallpaper... no panels or anything

[MichealH]

To the OP:

We are a community of people who have all the time in the world for Ubuntu but sometimes we want to have a good time and socialize. We do not hog Launchpad Wiki's and Forums 24/7. Okay I may look at all of these things for 18 hours a day but On IRC for example I idle in #ubuntu and occasionally look at it because I am doing my own things :D Most the time I think a certain group needs to answer a support question because they are brainier than me in that area or they Developed/Leaded that project/App.

You see were not ignoring you, its just maybe the support you are seeking needs special attention. :D

[mcduck]

Keep in mind that the testing is about bug testing. It's not about design aspects or what kind of features there are, only about if the features work as designed.

If you don't like a feature, that's not a bug. So you can't report it as a bug either, only as a feature request. :)

..besides, the developers are rarely seen in these forums, so be it a bug report or a feature request you should do it in Launchpad, not on the user forums.

[blackest_knight]

seriously I raise the issue of unities poor design and the thread gets shutdown within 24 hours which doesn't allow other community members to add their voice.

You see the moderator who decided to close the thread didnt have to, If he felt it it was in the wrong section then he can move the thread to somewhere more appropriate. Maybe I annoyed him by calling it the stupid bar, i didnt know to call it unity (and thats ironic) but I figured it described it perfectly.

Thats why I am so angry Ubuntu is all about the community and not about toeing the party line.

There is something seriously broken with maverick if it can't even run properly in a VM as reported in this thread and else where. So you have to install it on to a system to be able to test it. The VM issue is going to seriously reduce the number of people prepared to test and give feedback.

I don't use empathy and i don't use rhythmbox for example so why force them on to my desktop? everything i do use is now stuck under a broken icon called applications. I'm going to have to put some screen shots up on my website later showing the issues.

First one has to be the poor use of space.
why put up a column of unlabelled buttons next to a blank desktop? thats 90% or so of your screen just wasted.

it could be holding your common applications and allowing descriptions to be used. You could auto hide the descriptions to make the bar narrow when next to an application.

Second point it doesn't fit the vertical resolution of the screen it does not allow all of the bar to be on screen

most of the bars icons are launch buttons for applications and ones we probably don't use very much

There is duplication whats the difference between file manager and files and folders are both needed?

why is there a trash icon on the bar surely thats another part of filemanager , you don't have a desktop to drag files into the trash.

The applications button is painfully broken making you search for the applications you use and it will not always find them either.

When launching an application the bar is still visible this means many webpages have to have a horizontal scroll bar. open office loses space for items on its tool bar. pdf's have to be scaled down to fit the reduced screen width.

The issue of reduced height with wide screen isn't really an issue for most of us but cramping the applications we use is.

The bar is a launcher essentially and It only needs to be seen when launching programs.

I hope you can see i am passionate about ubuntu, it matters to me that it is successful and a joy to use. I would prefer if the windows fanboys wouldnt deride Linux but what really hurts is when i am actually agreeing with them.

Please somebody defend unity tell me why its an improvement over lucid's netbook interface.

And I really don't appreciate being told to use an old version of Ubuntu I,ve been putting in bug reports and work arounds and fixes since Dapper I am not about to see Ubuntu getting its Vista release.

Perhaps I am better off just doing what most people do and just don't use netbook interfaces.

[Regenweald]

Member since 2006 and don't know how to properly submit a bug or use the proper channels ? that's on you guy. Itemize, succinctly report.

[juancarlospaco]

Dont complain, Patch!

[NCLI]

Dont complain, Patch!
Please read the thread before replying,

seriously I raise the issue of unities poor design and the thread gets shutdown within 24 hours which doesn't allow other community members to add their voice.
You were told that design feedback doesn't belong in the testing subforum, which is correct, then told to take your thread here, which you have done.


You see the moderator who decided to close the thread didnt have to, If he felt it it was in the wrong section then he can move the thread to somewhere more appropriate. Maybe I annoyed him by calling it the stupid bar, i didnt know to call it unity (and thats ironic) but I figured it described it perfectly.

Thats why I am so angry Ubuntu is all about the community and not about toeing the party line.
True, but he may have had his reasons.

There is something seriously broken with maverick if it can't even run properly in a VM as reported in this thread and else where. So you have to install it on to a system to be able to test it. The VM issue is going to seriously reduce the number of people prepared to test and give feedback.
Not really, the problem is with Virtualbox.

I don't use empathy and i don't use rhythmbox for example so why force them on to my desktop? everything i do use is now stuck under a broken icon called applications. I'm going to have to put some screen shots up on my website later showing the issues.
Have you tried right-click the icons on the dock? If you do, an ingenious little things called a "menu" appears, in which you can select whether or not that icon should stay in the dock even the application is not running.

First one has to be the poor use of space.
why put up a column of unlabelled buttons next to a blank desktop? thats 90% or so of your screen just wasted.
You get a very nice tooltip if you mouse over an icon, that's hardly unlabeled. I also fail to see how you can see Unity taking up more than 10% of your screen at the very most.

it could be holding your common applications and allowing descriptions to be used. You could auto hide the descriptions to make the bar narrow when next to an application.
But isn't that just what it does!?


Second point it doesn't fit the vertical resolution of the screen it does not allow all of the bar to be on screen
True, but I think the way Canonical is handling that problem is ver easy to work with, and if it really bothers you, you can just remove some of the apps from the dock!


most of the bars icons are launch buttons for applications and ones we probably don't use very much
It has a music player, an instant-messaging client, help, e-mail, filemanager, simple text-editor, terminal, workspace switcher, application launcher, and an experimental filemanager. They all seem besic and useful to me, perhaps except for the extra filemanager, but I think that is temporary.

And again, you can add and remove icons to your hearts content, wht are you complaining about? :-s


why is there a trash icon on the bar surely thats another part of filemanager , you don't have a desktop to drag files into the trash.
Because "Trash" isn't so much a physical location as a state. Besides, almost all DE's have a "Trash" icon, users expect it to be there.


The applications button is painfully broken making you search for the applications you use and it will not always find them either.
It's still in Alpha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Alpha) for christ's sake! Give the developers a chance!


When launching an application the bar is still visible this means many webpages have to have a horizontal scroll bar. open office loses space for items on its tool bar. pdf's have to be scaled down to fit the reduced screen width.
Depending on your screen resolution. Most modern netbooks have a resolution of at least 1024x768, which is plenty for well-designed websites, even with unity.

It is a problem for people with old or very cheap netbooks though, and it is being addressed, though the dock will not be able to hide 'till 11.04.


The issue of reduced height with wide screen isn't really an issue for most of us but cramping the applications we use is.

That doesn't make sense. If you have a widescreen monitor, height should be what you need to conserve, not width.

The bar is a launcher essentially and It only needs to be seen when launching programs.
It is also an application switcher, so no.


I hope you can see i am passionate about ubuntu, it matters to me that it is successful and a joy to use. I would prefer if the windows fanboys wouldnt deride Linux but what really hurts is when i am actually agreeing with them.
I understand your passion, bt you're reacting way too early. Again, this is an Alpha release. It is filled with bugs, and most of them won't be addressed until 10.10 enters Beta testing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Beta).


Please somebody defend unity tell me why its an improvement over lucid's netbook interface.
Well, first of all, it allows you to launch applications without first going back to the home screen. It also replaces UNE's tiny icons for running application with larger, touch-friendly icons. It will also conserve even more vertical screenspace by moving both the application menu and the window buttons to the top panel.


And I really don't appreciate being told to use an old version of Ubuntu I,ve been putting in bug reports and work arounds and fixes since Dapper I am not about to see Ubuntu getting its Vista release.
If people hate Unity, Canonical will bring the old UNE back. Right now it's way too early to tell whether it'll be good or not, so please wait for the beta at least.

[NightwishFan]

Maybe I annoyed him by calling it the stupid bar, i didnt know to call it unity (and thats ironic) but I figured it described it perfectly.

This is enough for me to not take you seriously.

[FuturePilot]

Not really, the problem is with Virtualbox.


More like anything that can't do 3D. Unity relies heavily on Clutter which needs 3D capable hardware.
You could probably get it to work in VirtulBox if you install the guest addons and enable 3D acceleration.

[NCLI]

More like anything that can't do 3D. Unity relies heavily on Clutter which needs 3D capable hardware.
You could probably get it to work in VirtulBox if you install the guest addons and enable 3D acceleration.

True, but I'd still say that is a problem with VirtualBox, and not with Unity.

[FuturePilot]

True, but I'd still say that is a problem with VirtualBox, and not with Unity.

Not just VirtualBox. Any VM that can't provide 3D acceleration. And even some physical hardware cannot provide 3D. It will not work on those pieces of hardware either.

[cariboo]

Here is a link (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9726952&postcount=1) to the op's post in the testing and discussion forum. As you can clearly read, it he doesn't ask for help with anything, it is clearly his opinion and nothing more, that's why the thread was closed.

[NCLI]

Not just VirtualBox. Any VM that can't provide 3D acceleration. And even some physical hardware cannot provide 3D. It will not work on those pieces of hardware either.

And Firefox won't work unless you have an ethernet card.

[Paqman]

Did you mean Maverick? I'm using Lucid (10.04) which was released a few months ago, I don't have anything that you are talking about

No, Lucid. There's a PPA for Unity (https://launchpad.net/~canonical-dx-team/+archive/une) so you can install it alongside the default netbook interface on Lucid. The packages come from Maverick though, so come with all the usual caveats about running code from the development branch.

[blackest_knight]

Here is a link (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9726952&postcount=1) to the op's post in the testing and discussion forum. As you can clearly read, it he doesn't ask for help with anything, it is clearly his opinion and nothing more, that's why the thread was closed.

third line down
"I like the interface in lucid and if anyone can tell me how to get it back to how it was in lucid without doing a reinstall i will be greatful."

you didn't read that line did you?

Ok someone else thought i was complaining about how much space the bar was taking up when its just the bar on screen and no application it wastes the chance to be informative then it takes up space when applications are open.

manufacturers gave us wide screen to save money and by reducing the vertical pixel count we scroll more vertically. narrowing the field of view means we get to scroll horizontally as well as vertically.

anyway i really don't want to repeat and explain the reasons why I don't like unity.

What i really would like is to see lucids netbook remix carried forward as a separate option to unity. would that be so hard to do?

add a ppa call it netbook-remix-classic and give users the option.

Actually has anyone tried lucid with netbook-remix and gnome3-shell together? its really quite nice although naturally you have some redundancy. You keep the sensible grouping of applications from remix making it easy to launch them and switching to activities lets you see each open application if it gets too cramped open a new desktop and move an app to the new desktop.

worth investigating as all it really takes is installing gnome-shell and issuing the command gnome-shell --replace

Was the lucid netbook interface that unpopular?

anyway i am going to stop banging on about it here in forums and see if its possible to build the lucid netbook interface for maverick, I could be the only person who wants it, but thats linux for you each to their own.

If anyone has any interest in interaction design then here are a few references

http://www.thefloatingfrog.co.uk/graphic-design/design-concepts-explained-affordance/ might be of interest its easy reading into one aspect of design.

http://webzone.k3.mah.se/k3jolo/idBookshelf/index.htm

lists a number of texts on interaction design that may be of interest
in fact there is a book called interaction design which is a good introduction to the subject and is the core text in a third year degree course.

[Delvien]

You can't mimic netbook edition in maverick the applications have been removed the closest thing you can get is the 2d version of netbook interface

I was saying this regarding the current netbook edition, not unity.

In other words, I am sure you can still use the old netbook interface with maverick +.

[cariboo]

@blackest_knight, you are the first person that has complained about the Unity interface, I'm not sure if you are using the latest updates, but there have been many changes made under the hood. The panel is customizable you can remove icons and replace them with your favorite programs. At the bottom of the panel there are file and application icons, you can click them to see your most recently used documents, or select an application that isn't in the panel.

If you can't find an application in the menus, there is a search box much like the on in vista and Win 7, where all you have to do is type the first few characters of an application name, and the most likely candidates will show up

Unity didn't even exist until shortly before UDS-M (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-M), and has come a long way, but it isn't finished yet. I would suggest you wait until it is released.

If you really like UNE Lucid better, it is supported for three years, there won't be any changes during that time. Who knows, in three years the UNE interface may be totally different again.

BTW the first person to show off Unity was Mark Shuttleworth, so he is fully behind the effort.

[blackest_knight]

I might be the first on the ubuntu forums and i wasnt the only one.

I was well aware that mark shuttleworth is right behind unity.
he even said there is to be no customisation of unity and its to be locked down.

http://linsux.org/forum/index.php?/topic/7279-unity-panel-in-ubuntu-1010-no-customization-for-you/

ok they are a bunch of haters any way

how about this page
http://www.webupd8.org/2010/06/unity-panel-wont-allow-any-kind-of.html#disqus_thread

plenty of dislike there i think.


http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/383
<quote>
The Ubuntu Netbook interface is popular with Gnome users and we’re fortunate to be working inside an open ecosystem that encourages that level of diversity. As a result, Gnome has offerings for mobile, netbook and desktop form factors. Gnome is in the lucky position of having multiple vendors participating and solving different challenges independently. That makes Gnome stronger. </quote>

might be worth reading through some of the comments on marks blog
they are generally supportive with some diplomatic comments too

http://maketecheasier.com/unity-new-desktop-environment-for-netbook/2010/05/11

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1533072

http://catlingmindswipe.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-ubuntu-netbook-launcher-versus.html

I guess i could go on googling all night but i'm not a lone voice or my names not john the baptist :)

Seriously I am not a lone voice am I ?

[orlox]

Referring to the bug you posted on launchpad:

As someone already said, post small, clear problems, on different bug reports.
If you're reporting a bug, specify a clear way to reproduce it.
If you're reporting a design flaw, put it as a feature request, as it is not a bug.
Finally, and of fundamental importance. Put the bug report on the correct project or package. This will help that the people directly working on the project can see your feedback. The unity page is https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity


Cheers!

[Paqman]

What i really would like is to see lucids netbook remix carried forward as a separate option to unity. would that be so hard to do?

add a ppa call it netbook-remix-classic and give users the option.


Sounds like a good community project. If you really care about this, start assembling some like-minded people, open a PPA and get cracking!

[dsfitzpat]

I wonder if some of the frustration of the OP is due to this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/629692

I upgraded to the beta yesterday, and I can't access most of my installed programs because clicking on the applications button (or trying to use the interface you can access by clicking the Ubuntu logo in the top-left) temporarily breaks the window manager (the behaviour is similar to what happens when (manager) --replace is typed in a terminal).

Fortunately I have access to a terminal so I can run my regular programs (eg Thunderbird) from a terminal, but for me this means unity is 85% broken.
I'm hopeful this will get worked out now that it's in beta, but if it turns out that my hardware (an eeePC 1005ha) just doesn't support the 3D requirements I would be one for going back to the old netbook interface, which worked beautifully, including full compiz effects. (I just figured out that the workspaces icon replaces Expo, but I miss having the super+E shortcut. It could be that I can configure things like this somewhere but at the moment I can't get at any of the preferences or administration areas since the applications button is broken!)

Since netbooks tend to not have the most powerful hardware, I wonder if the requirements of unity are more than most netbooks can support? I didn't think my netbook was already that obsolete but if so I'll end up going back to Lucid.

[dsfitzpat]

Here are a few observations after an hour or two of playing around with the Maverick beta.
1. If you don't like the default 'favourite' programs in the unity launcher, you can define your own in gconf-editor (Desktop --> Unity --> Favourites)
2. I noticed that if I choose the regular Gnome desktop at login, the maximus program is still running: when programs like Firefox are maximized, the Minimize/unmaximize/close buttons are missing. But if you right-click on the panel and choose Add to Panel..., you can select the Window Picker applet, which is what you have in the Lucid Netbook (so that things look a bit closer to how they used to, if you either don't like Unity or can't get it to work at the moment).
3. The netbook-launcher package is gone, but netbook-launcher-efl is still there (the 2D-version). Right now it doesn't seem like you can tweak it much in gconf-editor, but maybe someone will write some new themes in the near future to clean it up a bit. If you run netbook-launcher-efl from the gnome desktop (or probably, if you have it run at startup) what you get is the 2D netbook interface, but with a custom panel up top (a nice bonus if you didn't like the default in Lucid).
3a. Chances are someone will make netbook-launcher available again in a ppa by the time Maverick is released. I'm betting that installing it, and adding it to the start-up programs in gnome will allow you to reproduce what was there in Lucid - so there's probably no need to get too worried just yet.
In short, with 5 minutes of tweaking you can make the full desktop behave like the old netbook interface, or even some sort of hybrid that's even better suited to your preferences. Right now I've got a top panel very similar to the lucid netbook panel (with a couple of extra applets, including a menu) and an auto-hiding Docky down at the bottom. I'll continue to play with it, but I think it works. Hopefully Unity will be able to work on my hardware in the near future and then I'll have the option of playing with that, too.

[FuturePilot]

I wonder if some of the frustration of the OP is due to this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/629692

I upgraded to the beta yesterday, and I can't access most of my installed programs because clicking on the applications button (or trying to use the interface you can access by clicking the Ubuntu logo in the top-left) temporarily breaks the window manager (the behaviour is similar to what happens when (manager) --replace is typed in a terminal).

Fortunately I have access to a terminal so I can run my regular programs (eg Thunderbird) from a terminal, but for me this means unity is 85% broken.
I'm hopeful this will get worked out now that it's in beta, but if it turns out that my hardware (an eeePC 1005ha) just doesn't support the 3D requirements I would be one for going back to the old netbook interface, which worked beautifully, including full compiz effects. (I just figured out that the workspaces icon replaces Expo, but I miss having the super+E shortcut. It could be that I can configure things like this somewhere but at the moment I can't get at any of the preferences or administration areas since the applications button is broken!)

Since netbooks tend to not have the most powerful hardware, I wonder if the requirements of unity are more than most netbooks can support? I didn't think my netbook was already that obsolete but if so I'll end up going back to Lucid.

I don't see anything being ignored in that bug report.


importance: Undecided → Critical
milestone: none → 2010-09-09
status: New → Triaged

[castrojo]

Seriously I am not a lone voice am I ?

Discussion about the design elements of unity should be posted to the Ayatana mailing list: http://launchpad.net/~ayatana

[dsfitzpat]

I definitely didn't mean to suggest that the bug I posted is being ignored! It's clearly being actively (and urgently) worked on. Rather I meant to say that someone upgrading today and experiencing that bug (without looking into whether or not it had been reported) could quickly get frustrated and conclude that Unity is a bad interface as a result.
I remain confident that the developers will get this bug worked out, at which point I look forward to finding out everything that I can do with Unity (and at *that* point I'll decide whether or not I like it!)

[FuturePilot]

I definitely didn't mean to suggest that the bug I posted is being ignored! It's clearly being actively (and urgently) worked on. Rather I meant to say that someone upgrading today and experiencing that bug (without looking into whether or not it had been reported) could quickly get frustrated and conclude that Unity is a bad interface as a result.

Anyone upgrading to 10.10 at this point should definitely keep in mind that it's still in development and should expect breakage. Coming to the conclusion that Unity is a bad interface based on a bug in a development version is just silly.

[dsfitzpat]

I agree completely. And on the good news front, according to the bug report on LP a fix was released a few hours ago - time to give Unity another go!