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wilsonsamm
September 8th, 2011, 09:15 AM
I have been using Ubuntu for a couple of days since spending some time distro-hopping. I quite like Ubuntu. I come from Gentoo myself, and I thought it was very easy to set up.

I don't much like what I assume to be Unity. Can I use gnome's shell, or even better, gnome-2?
Failing that, perhaps I'll turn to Xfce in search of something like the olden way.

wilsonsamm
September 8th, 2011, 09:45 AM
Oh, I see. I've just logged in to "Ubuntu Classic session" or something like that. I am now in Gnome 2.32.something, so that's nice and comfortable. How long will this be supported?

haqking
September 8th, 2011, 09:48 AM
Oh, I see. I've just logged in to "Ubuntu Classic session" or something like that. I am now in Gnome 2.32.something, so that's nice and comfortable. How long will this be supported?


What version of Ubuntu are you using, i presume 11.04 or above if you have Unity.

As for support the LTS versions are the long term support versions, currently 10.04 being the LTS version, the next one will be 12.04 coming out in April next year.

Unity will be the thing of the future with Ubuntu though you can choose to run other DE if you choose.

Alwimo
September 8th, 2011, 10:03 AM
Oh, I see. I've just logged in to "Ubuntu Classic session" or something like that. I am now in Gnome 2.32.something, so that's nice and comfortable. How long will this be supported?
11.04 will be supported until October 2012.

There are regular releases and there are long-term support (LTS) versions. Regular releases have 18 months of support. LTS versions have 3 years of support for the desktop and 5 years on the server.

LTS versions are every fourth version: 6.06, 8.04, 10.04 and the next will be 12.04.

3Miro
September 8th, 2011, 03:25 PM
Software selection on ubuntu is not as "flexible" as it is in Gentoo.

If you want Gnome 2, you can use 10.04 until April 2013 or 11.04 (current version with Classic Desktop) until October 2012. However, none of the software for those versions would be "officially" updated (i.e. you will not see Firefox 4 for 10.04). You can get unofficial ppa for Firefox, but those are less stable (think of them as Ubuntu's layman).

If you want Gnome-shell, you can wait until 11.10 (in couple of months). Then you will have Unity by default, but you will be able to add Gnome-shell form the repository. You will also have Gnome session fallback, which is a lot like Gnome 2.

You always have the option of XFCE (11.04 and newer come with XFCE 4.8, older versions have XFCE 4.6). I personally use Gentoo + XFCE 4.8.

grahammechanical
September 8th, 2011, 06:28 PM
With Ubuntu 11.04 whether you are logging in to Ubuntu (Unity 3D) or Ubuntu classic you are using Gnome 2.

From 11.10 onwards Ubuntu will be using Gnome 3. This is because the Gnome people have switched development from Gnome 2 to Gnome 3. I am using 11.10 beta 1 right now and we are up to Gnome version 3.1.91 at the moment.

Canonical will not be offering Gnome shell with Ubuntu 11.10 but Unity 3D with Unity 2D as fall back for less powerful graphic adapters. In my opinion there is a similarity between what the Gnome people are offering with the Gnome 3 shell and what Canonical are offering with Unity.

So, the tradition desktop look is on the way out unless someone wants to keep developing it somehow.

Regards.

P.S. 11.04 recovery mode low resolution fail safe is not Ubuntu Classic but Ubuntu 2D. So, I guess that the Classic look is on the way out.

Frogs Hair
September 8th, 2011, 09:45 PM
There is a Gnome 2 fork named "Mate" , but when and if it will be available for Ubuntu is unknown . I plan to see where Unity + Gnome 3 goes and I may even try the shell .

3Miro
September 8th, 2011, 10:18 PM
Canonical will not be offering Gnome shell with Ubuntu 11.10 ...

Not really true. Gnome-shell is available in the Software Center for 11.10. Last time I checked it was very buggy, but this was during one of the Alphas. GS is not installed by default, but it certainly is available via the official repository.

Gnome-shell is optionally included in 11.10 and anyone wants to use it, then they can.