Unity still drives me crazy

[Gnusboy]

I tried Unity when it was first released (11.04?) and hated it. I had hoped it would be easier and intuitive with 12.04, but I was wrong.
I have to waste loads of time looking for ways to do even simple stuff - like tile the windows - or finding the terminal the first time.
Yeah, I might get used to it someday, but the time it takes is making me crazy!
When I upgraded to 12.04 the other day, everything (that I know of now), transferred into the new version without a problem.
However, Firefox glitched and ate my passwords and logons. I've spent more than 8 hours trying to get that fixed with no success.
Yes, I was using the Firefox support pages - not Ubuntu.
My latest irritation is that when I open new pages in Firefox they do not open to full-page width and have to be resized. I've only been at this little task for 1.5 hours.
I intentionally waited almost a year to upgrade just to avoid these kinds of problems - so much for that.

So, how do I go back to 11.10?

[deadflowr]

Reinstall 11.10 from scratch.(fresh)

From what I understand, downgrades don't work.(method now broken)

If you have anything important, back it up.

[Frogs Hair]

You may want to install the gnome-session-fallback on 12.04. 11.04 has reached end of life and 11.10 will in April.

[TOMBSTONEV2]

I do not understand why unity seems to bug so many people. I used ubuntu on and off since 10.04. Sure unity was different, but with time I have no issues with it.

[The Cog]

11.10 will fall out of support eventually. Instead of just downgrading, perhaps you should try another desktop instead (I have settled on Xubuntu for now)? You can install another desktop onto your existing 12.04 fairly easily with a command similar to this:
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop
and you can try xubuntu, lubuntu, kubuntu. You get an option as you log in to choose which desktop to boot into.

As for your firefox problem, I don't know. My firefox starts up maximised if that's how it was when I last closed it down, but then I don't use unity.

[Wim Sturkenboom]

I do not understand why unity seems to bug so many people. I used ubuntu on and off since 10.04. Sure unity was different, but with time I have no issues with it.I also don't have issues (as in 'bugs') but it bugs me that I have to type a name of an application in the dash to be able to start it (if it's not in the menu bar); they could just as well have a terminal open by default where you can type the name of the application. More useful as well because you might have more feedback when the application crashes.

Just my thoughts; thank God that I mostly use a web browser and an email client and that for the rest of my needs I live in terminals :D

[The Spectre]

it bugs me that I have to type a name of an application in the dash to be able to start it (if it's not in the menu bar)

You don't have to type in the name of the Application that you want to run you can browse through all of the installed Applications...

[Wim Sturkenboom]

You don't have to type in the name of the Application that you want to run you can browse through all of the installed Applications...
Not in my setup; I have 'recent apps', 'recent files' and 'downloads' in my dash. I can't remember that I changed anything regarding applications so yes, I have to type :)

[The Spectre]

Not in my setup; I have 'recent apps', 'recent files' and 'downloads' in my dash. I can't remember that I changed anything regarding applications so yes, I have to type :)

I have Ubuntu 12.04 installed on an old Dell computer that I have and I just checked it out and it also has the ability to browse through all of the installed Applications.

Did you look at the attached Screenshot in my previous post?

[CodyPy1]

If your having trouble out of Unity. Instead of reinstalling your entire system.
Why not just grab a new windows manager?

[Wim Sturkenboom]

Did you look at the attached Screenshot in my previous post?Yes I did ;) But I missed what you 'circled' at the bottom :( OK, learned something again; thanks for that.

Still not convinced that scrolling through a list is the way to go (compared to logically ordered by type as with menus in a none-unity setup) ;)

[ronparent]

I also find unity aggravating. Yes, there are workarounds - I don't use them. Instead I install Mint which is based on Ubuntu! I keep a fresh version of Ubuntu around because this is still the much better forum!

Like Windows 8, unity is designed for the benefit of tablet and phone users - a reasonable solution considering that that is where the market seems to be headed. I do find windows 8 more amenable than Ubuntu with unity to the power desktop user, especially if you employ multiple monitors.

In general I do think that OS's are over influenced by the overwhelming mass of simple-minded user who don't want to have to know anything beyond activating a desktop to get to a tweet account. I personally choose not to use a Mac because I feel hamstrung whenever I've tried to. Anyway, I am getting of topic. There are many great alternatives out there. Including a Mac if you don't want or need to know anything beyond just using your applications as they are presented. And in most cases there is great merit in that!

[vanadium]

For me, Unity is by far the most efficient desktop I ever used, staying out of the way while I work, allowing to summon an application with three to four keystrokes, and allowing a better overview of running tasks than other desktop environments.
Fortunatelly, there is plenty of choice, within Ubuntu and within the entire linux ecossystem. Hence there are few reasons for whining.

[TOMBSTONEV2]

I also don't have issues (as in 'bugs') but it bugs me that I have to type a name of an application in the dash to be able to start it (if it's not in the menu bar); they could just as well have a terminal open by default where you can type the name of the application. More useful as well because you might have more feedback when the application crashes.

Just my thoughts; thank God that I mostly use a web browser and an email client and that for the rest of my needs I live in terminals :D

Long live the terminal! Before I eat I give thanks for the terminal, and for Linux in general. We have to keep the computer gods happy!O:)

[Gnusboy]

Well I thank you all for your suggestions. Trouble is - I don't want to change desktops and have to learn whatever is new.
I WANT Ubuntu to work like it has for the last 3 years!
Why should I be FORCED into using some goofy platform that I neither have the time, nor inclination to learn so I can use it.
I just spent 35 hours - yes, hours - trying to get all the problems I was having with 12.04 figured out and making the changes. Then it was the version of Firefox 17 that d'l with 12.04. That was screwy.
It took an incredible amount of my life trying to figure out the problems attempt the listed fixes and then discover they did not work in my case. I finally had to give up and will live with what I could recover. It put me way behind on my work.
And yes, much of it was me trying to comprehend the instructions. I'm too freaking old to do this stuff.
Ubuntu is becoming like Windows - you have to wait a year or two before installing the new version to avoid all the bugs.
So now that 11.10 will not be supported after April, I'm not sure what I can do.
Ubuntu is not supposed to be idiot proof - but can't it be a little more user friendly?

[Penguinnerd]

I feel your pain.

I loyally used ubuntu (full time) from 6.06 to 10.04. I sensed that the development was moving in a weird direction with the release of 10.10 and decided to wait it out in LTS. I ran 10.04 LTS until last month when I preemptively switched to debian, knowing that support for 10.04 runs out soon.

I do miss gnome 2, but I've found that XFCE is configurable enough to almost make up for the occaisional oddity. That combined with the flexibility and freedom of debian leaves me feeling much more "in control" of my own computer nowadays.

As a fairly advanced user, I should have switched to debian alot sooner. I continue to recommend Xubuntu to users who just need stuff to work.

Edit: There's always MATE. It's a fork of gnome 2. Personally I have doubts about its future, but It's an option nonetheless.

[orb9220]

"Trouble is - I don't want to change desktops and have to learn whatever is new.I WANT Ubuntu to work like it has for the last 3 years!"

Trouble is Mark Shuttleworth doesn't care how Ubuntu users use to do things. He has a vision which unfortunately doesn't include many of us that spent years with ubuntu.

And you don't have to re-learn a new desktop. Check out Mate and install mate. It's the good ole' gnome desktop from the past. Or Cinnamon which I'm using with a lot of the old use & feel with fresher newer feel and growing in a new direction based on users feedback. And not some captain of the ship dictating desktop design & integration.

I switched to Mint 14 Cinnamon and has that Ole' Comfy Shoes feel.
.
.

[zombifier25]

Well I thank you all for your suggestions. Trouble is - I don't want to change desktops and have to learn whatever is new.
I WANT Ubuntu to work like it has for the last 3 years!
Why should I be FORCED into using some goofy platform that I neither have the time, nor inclination to learn so I can use it.
I just spent 35 hours - yes, hours - trying to get all the problems I was having with 12.04 figured out and making the changes. Then it was the version of Firefox 17 that d'l with 12.04. That was screwy.
It took an incredible amount of my life trying to figure out the problems attempt the listed fixes and then discover they did not work in my case. I finally had to give up and will live with what I could recover. It put me way behind on my work.
And yes, much of it was me trying to comprehend the instructions. I'm too freaking old to do this stuff.
Ubuntu is becoming like Windows - you have to wait a year or two before installing the new version to avoid all the bugs.
So now that 11.10 will not be supported after April, I'm not sure what I can do.
Ubuntu is not supposed to be idiot proof - but can't it be a little more user friendly?

So you don't want to use Unity, but you still want to learn it. For what? Linux is about choice, and you can choose to install gnome-classic/MATE/Cinnamon and be happy with it, but you chose to struggle with Unity, only to come back here and complain instead of seeking help.

Do you want people to help with your Unity/Firefox/whatever problems (that only you seem to have), or do you want to keep whining? If the latter, then I shall request that this topic be moved or locked, because this is a support forum, not a complaining forum.

[sammiev]

Trouble is Mark Shuttleworth doesn't care how Ubuntu users use to do things. He has a vision which unfortunately doesn't include many of us that spent years with ubuntu.

And you don't have to re-learn a new desktop. Check out Mate and install mate. It's the good ole' gnome desktop from the past. Or Cinnamon which I'm using with a lot of the old use & feel with fresher newer feel and growing in a new direction based on users feedback. And not some captain of the ship dictating desktop design & integration.

I switched to Mint 14 Cinnamon and has that Ole' Comfy Shoes feel.
.
.

+1 I use many OS and agree with this post.

[pompel9]

It is very easy to open the terminal. Just use this keyboard shortcut: ctrl + alt + t.

As for unity, I can give you my personal opinion. Unity is the reason that I chose Ubuntu. I was leaving windows because of windows 8. I had to read a lot in the beginning, since I was completely new to linux. But I find Ubuntu much easier to use than windows.

And you are never to old to learn something new. All people learn something every day. The myth that older people can't learn, is just that. Older people learn by using past experience. Younger people learn in a different way (can't remember what they called it at the moment).

Just my opinion.

[Gnusboy]

It is very easy to open the terminal. Just use this keyboard shortcut: ctrl + alt + t.

As for unity, I can give you my personal opinion. Unity is the reason that I chose Ubuntu. I was leaving windows because of windows 8. I had to read a lot in the beginning, since I was completely new to linux. But I find Ubuntu much easier to use than windows.

And you are never to old to learn something new. All people learn something every day. The myth that older people can't learn, is just that. Older people learn by using past experience. Younger people learn in a different way (can't remember what they called it at the moment).
Just my opinion.

pompel9

Thanks for the Ol' guy support. I usually do try to learn new things - but frustration is another matter. You hit the ball outta the park when you suggest using ctrl + alt + t
Trying to remember all these "shortcuts" and terminal commands is one of my problems. I'll be trying to do something - and then I have to stop a figure out the proper command and where to find it.
ADHD isn't quite as much fun as it sounds.

[Ralph L]

I too can't stand unity. I just installed Ubuntu 12.04.1, but dropped back to my old desktop that looks like Windows XP, which I still use and I like consistency between the 2 os interfaces. Most of what I did are in threads under my name, so look through them. You can search the forum by user name. If you have questions send me a private message and I will post replies. My complaint with Ubuntu is that I have to make so many changes to get it the way I want it that it takes an inordinate amount of research and time to get it done. I've been looking at Kubuntu, but I can't get the latest version to boot from a live cd on my Compaq Preserio 2100. It ends up with a blank screen. So I don't know if that will go anywhere.

Anyway, good luck.

[pompel9]

If you are having troubles with commands, then I suggest that you do not use the terminal. All you do in the terminal can be done by other easier means.

When you talk about FF and that it does not open full page width, what do you mean exactly? Is it the page that does not fill the entire window?
If it is, then that is easily fixed by using nosquint (it's an addon to FF). Once installed you can easily zoom in and out with the easy accessed + and - buttons. I use it often, since I use my main computer on a TV. And I have to zoom in to make it big enough. It also remembers your settings for each page you visit. So you use it only one time per website.

Hope that helps.

[VanillaMozilla]

Hold on, you want to return to a previous operating system just because you lost your Firefox passwords? Be careful what you ask for. Someone might tell you how to do it.

You really, really, don't want to do that.
1. You don't have to use Unity.
2. Reverting to a previous version won't get you out of Unity.
3. Reverting to a previous version won't solve your Firefox problem.
4. Reverting to a previous version won't solve any problem, actually.

OK, we should be giving you simple solutions and options. I'm sure you just want the simplest way to getting back as close as possible to what you had. (Sure, we can tell you how to spring for something completely different, but that's not what you asked for.)

First the Unity problem
The simplest solution is probably just to use Gnome Classic or Gnome Classic (without effects). That's probably what you were doing before. You choose it when you log in. There's a button for that, that you press before you enter your password. (Note to would-be helpers: remember, 11.10 had Unity as the default, so the OP has been successfully avoiding Unity for months already. Don't require him to rearrange his whole life.)

If you don't have that option, then you need to install gnome-session-fallback. You can install it from Synaptic Package Manager or from the Ubuntu Software Center. If you don't find that package, let us know, and we will provide additional instructions.

OK, other people suggested that you change desktops completely or go to another system entirely. In your case I don't recommend that. You want to keep it simple, and this is the way to do it.


Second the Firefox problem
You lost your passwords, etc. For my information, did you use a custom location for your Firefox profile? Or did you do anything fancy like sharing profiles with another computer? Or did you use the Firefox Sync service or some extension to store your data?

We're not great on Firefox support here. I assume you tried support.mozilla.org and forums.mozillazine.org ?

[forkandles]

Gnusboy,

You like Ubuntu but not Unity. Join the club.

I used Ubuntu 12.04 in Classic mode initially but I have now moved to Xubuntu 12.04 and not regretted it one bit.

I recommend that you give it a try. What do you have to lose?

Dedoimedo and others seem to rate it highly.

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/xubuntu-pangolin.html

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/xubuntu-quetzal.html

http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-xubuntu-12.04

Download Xubuntu 12.04.1 from here:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/precise/release/

[VanillaMozilla]

Other desktops such as LXDE (my own favorite) and XFCE are fine, but you might want to know that any of them will add lots of programs that you don't want and don't need. You're going to wind up with a mixture of desktops, and your menus will have lots of extraneous entries, etc., that you may want to clean up. If you're clever and spend another few days on it, you can avoid some of this. I'm sure there will be other costs too.

If you decide to take the simple way and stick with Gnome Classic (aka fallback), the one thing you need to know about it (if you don't already), is that to move items on the task bars, etc., you need to press the <alt> key and right click or click the mouse. The <alt> key prevents making accidental changes.

[forkandles]

Originally posted by vanadium
For me, Unity is by far the most efficient desktop I ever used, staying out of the way while I work, allowing to summon an application with three to four keystrokes, and allowing a better overview of running tasks than other desktop environments.
Fortunately, there is plenty of choice, within Ubuntu and within the entire linux ecossystem. Hence there are few reasons for whining.

Whilst I personally dislike Unity, vanadium's point about the available choice in Linux should be carved in stone.

Ubuntu 10.04 fans and Gnome 2 fans should try the alpha 5 version of SolusOS 2.
I am looking forward to the final release of SolusOS 2 later this year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SolusOS

[VanillaMozilla]

SolusOS2 may indeed be Gnome 2 as claimed, but I doubt it. It's based on Debian Wheezy. The screen shot looks like Gnome 3 with the Gnome fallback desktop. The OP can get the same thing with a single mouse click, or at worst, by installing a single package. There's no need for a whole new distro.

But if it is Gnome 2 as they say, the OP will once again be faced with major upheaval when Gnome 2 is completely terminated in the near future.

[forkandles]

This release utilises the Gnome Classic Desktop Environment 3.4 (not fallback), which is heavily tweaked to behave and look the same as Gnome 2.

Quote from SolusOS.

SolusOS Alpha 5 details:

http://solusos.com/blog/2012/06/solusos-2-alpha-5-released/

I was simply emphasising the point about the numerous quality choices which are available in Linux OSs. In my opinion this is a particularly good Linux OS and I wish it well. The OP must make up his own mind about which OS he chooses.

[SuperFreak]

Cinnamon DE is very user friendly and has a very shallow learning curve

[Gnusboy]

I too can't stand unity. I just installed Ubuntu 12.04.1, but dropped back to my old desktop that looks like Windows XP, which I still use and I like consistency between the 2 os interfaces. Most of what I did are in threads under my name, so look through them. You can search the forum by user name. If you have questions send me a private message and I will post replies. My complaint with Ubuntu is that I have to make so many changes to get it the way I want it that it takes an inordinate amount of research and time to get it done. I've been looking at Kubuntu, but I can't get the latest version to boot from a live cd on my Compaq Preserio 2100. It ends up with a blank screen. So I don't know if that will go anywhere.

Anyway, good luck.

I guess I wasn't as clear as I could be in my posts - I was using 11.04 and 11.10 under the fallback mode. That's what made it easy for me. I started with Ubuntu 9 something, and upgraded to 12.04 from 11.10 in the Gnome fallback. This worked for me.

My last question on this thread is: will Ubuntu continue to provide the Gnome fallback desktop, or is that going away? If it's available in the future I can live with most of the lingering problems.

[VanillaMozilla]

My last question on this thread is: will Ubuntu continue to provide the Gnome fallback desktop, or is that going away?
The forum demands a reply if I quote the question. I saw a report that the head fallback guy is gone, but that the head Gnome gets it. My crystal ball is cloudy.

[arpanaut]

The forum demands a reply if I quote the question. I saw a report that the head fallback guy is gone, but that the head Gnome gets it. My crystal ball is cloudy.
At least 12.04 is supported until 1217, plenty of time to sort things out.

[aspergerian]

Today's WaPost has on essay (1) about hardware(s) and the advantages of having a desktop PC while also having a tablet and/or other hand held devices. The writer suggests that a one-OS-fits-all devices approach may lead to more OS complexity, not less.

I'm one of the small subgroup with no hand-deld devices, no need for one, thus my retreat from Unity into Xubuntu.


1. It’s a Laptop! It’s a Tablet!
Do-it-all, transformer gizmos are the PC’s best hope against the rise of tablets. Uh-oh.
By Farhad Manjoo|Posted Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013
here (http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/01/ces_2013_do_it_all_transformer_gizmos_are_the_pc_s _best_hope_against_the.html)

[ScottDeagan]

I'm very curious about Elementary OS Luna (they've recently released beta 1). It looks very interesting, the Gala window manager is fast, responsive, and very stable (even in the beta).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLr_rOg8y1o

They've obviously taken a lot of their design cues from OSX.

[FuzzyFeat]

If you are too old for change you are old enough to remember "Life is change, how it differes from the rocks"-Jefferson Airplane.

I too, disliked Unity. Some months later I am comfortable with it. Had the experience of using an older Ubuntu version on another machine and found it clunky. Go figgure.

[toniocus]

I installed 12.04 with Unity 6 months ago in my Laptop, I'm a developer with heavy use of Workspaces lots of applications.

After it I'm desesperately hoping Ubuntu has a standard way of installing
Gnome 2 way of working knowing that Gnome 3 fallback will be discontinued.

I can't imagine saying just one good thing about my experience
working with UNITY.

Are there any polls where users can vote for this kind of things ?

[arpanaut]

Are there any polls where users can vote for this kind of things ?

Ain't gonna matter, Connical and Ubuntu is going to develop according to Mr. Shuttleworth's vision.
Ain't no democratic principles being applied here.
You want your voice heard, get involved in the development process.

We are given an operating system as is, learn to tweak it to your needs, or move on to something else.
Many options are available for many tastes.