Dash

[stinkeye]

I use Mint Mate. I keep checking back with Ubuntu to see if they have fixed their problems yet so I can use it again. Apparently I'm wasting my time.

You are wasting your time if you don't take the time to learn how to use it.
You can easily turn off search suggestions, online search and uninstall any dash lens you don't find useful.
eg I just have the home, applications and files lens and the home lens only shows recent files
and recent applications.
074.jpg

Want to see what's installed by categories....open the application lens and choose a filter.
Seems fairly simple to me.
073.jpg

[Perfect Storm]

+1 for what stinkeye said.
And for those who want menus after menus or want to keep a collection of some stuff (I do this for my games), I suggest installing 'drawers' for Unity. It's in the software Center (13.04).

[MadmanRB]

The dash is very keyboard oriented, not mouse thus is the primary issue with it.
I do with categories were open by default though reducing a few clicks for newcomers.

It needs more rainbow

[VietCanada]

'Drawers' is a good idea except I have to figure out what each of pre-installed programs is. But it's doable. Just because something is new doesn't mean it's better. 8-tracks were new once. So were the 'Bay City Rollers'. The Bay City Rollers on 8-track. I am very frustrated. It's maybe like buying a new car and finding a joy stick instead of a steering wheel. I can't use a joy stick to drive. None of my friends can either. But the pilots who designed it absolutely love it. They are ecstatic in fact. When I complain I'm told that joy sticks are the future man. Get with it. Every car is going to have a joystick from now on. Move on you ludite. It's very insulting, presumptuous and not even ball park acurate. It is possible to make something new and people don't like it. Especially when new means that things that everyone liked about a thing is now gone with no explanation.

For me the dash is an annoyance. I have yet to see a rational explanation for it. I do see work arounds so clearly others have problems as well. My biggest issue is with seperate X screens. But that is another thread.

I like the look and feel of 13. It's quite nice. I'd love to use it. But too much functionality has been lost or hidden or requires work arounds to regain. If I could use X screens I'd probably have figured out how best to fix the dash to suit me. But I can't and it's integral to how I've used my PC for a decade. Change is change. There is no dictionary on Earth that defines change as better. No thesaurus that lists better as a synonym or antonym of change. Those words have entirely different meanings. Before you tell me that unity is better, the future and I'm a ludite buy a dictionary. Change is not better. It's just change. Users and customers will tell you if it's better or not.

[Tamlynmac]

VietCanada

I really think cortman said it best - use a different distro. If your using Mint and are dissatisfied, try one of the distros listed by cortman. I prefer Xubuntu - personal choice.

IMO learning something new is great, but for many it's more about repetitive production and what best meets/fits their needs. I would suggest that instead of coming here to complain, you simply investigate new Ubuntu releases and accept that they either meet your expectations or not.

I suspect this response you made to cortman is probably accurate.

Apparently I'm wasting my time.

But, I also suspect you've already ascertained that based on the responses to this thread.

Good Luck

Just my $0.02

[VietCanada]

I really think cortman said it best - use a different distro. If your using Mint and are dissatisfied, try one of the distros listed by cortman. I prefer Xubuntu - personal choice.

IMO learning something new is great, but for many it's more about repetitive production and what best meets/fits their needs. I would suggest that instead of coming here to complain, you simply investigate new Ubuntu releases and accept that they either meet your expectations or not.

I suspect this response you made to cortman is probably accurate.

But, I also suspect you've already ascertained that based on the responses to this thread.

Good Luck

Just my $0.02

I appreciate your 2 cents. I appreciate any respectful reply. I am using Mate 13. But I like using the latest and greatest. Mate 14 doesn't have seperate X screens either unfortunately, But Nvidia offers it so somewhere it works. I'm stuck using an old and aging OS because the 'new' ones just aren't as good. I'm in regression hell. LOL

Eventually I'll get no more updates and lose the ability to use the latest and greatest software.

If I don't speak up about an issue that concerns me then who?

[stinkeye]

There will be compromises on the unity desktop because focus has switched to smart phones and tablets
where the greatest opportunity lies.
If you can't make it work for you don't use it.
After all the unity interface is just a compiz plugin.

There are features of unity I really like and others not so much, so I do what I've always done
and change it to suit me.
eg
I prefer using kupfer for launching applications rather than the dash.

If there was a feature of unity that I loathed and couldn't change then I would just use the gnome-fallback session or another desktop.

P.S. Want that old style menu.....

sudo apt-get install classicmenu-indicator

[VietCanada]

There will be compromises on the unity desktop because focus has switched to smart phones and tablets
where the greatest opportunity lies.
If you can't make it work for you don't use it.
After all the unity interface is just a compiz plugin.

There are features of unity I really like and others not so much, so I do what I've always done
and change it to suit me.
eg
I prefer using kupfer for launching applications rather than the dash.

If there was a feature of unity that I loathed and couldn't change then I would just use the gnome-fallback session or another desktop.

P.S. Want that old style menu.....

sudo apt-get install classicmenu-indicator

Thanks for that. I've copied and pasted it into my Ubuntu Usefall Install Info file. Alongside purging Pulse and numerous stuff from the Video thread here. But what I really need is seperate X screens. When that's resolved I can use Ubuntu again. I started a thread about and got some good advise but unfortunately none of it works yet.

I use a PC at home and a laptop at work. I have a phone with it's own OS already installed, I have no use for a pad. I see no value in having the same OS on everything. All the eggs in one basket kind of thing. I'm always dual booting something on my PC. I put what works on my laptop. I don't need an update or upgrade totally f-ing up my job, you know what I mean? Ubuntu 11 would have done that if I had blindly upgraded to it. I connect my laptop to TVs on the job. Losing seperate X screens isn't fatal to my job but it's a lot more work and less efficient if I can't take private notes on my laptop while displaying what I want on the TV. But actually watching a movie while playing a game bugs me more. I've been able to do that on MS and Ubuntu for over 10 years. Then it broke. No explanation. No talk about why or the issues. just gone. I hate that. At least MS and Apple gave warnings that they were going to try to excercise control over what their customers put on their computers. I'd hate to have to go back to that environment just to be able to enjoy the PC I paid for. Any idea what the issue is with seperate X screens?

[Tamlynmac]

VietCanada
If I don't speak up about an issue that concerns me then who?

If your "OK" with receiving responses similar to those in this thread, then I can't envision any reason why you shouldn't. Awareness, only applies to being unaware and for the most part I doubt many responding here are unaware.

If your needs require the newest and most recent releases of everything, one must consider that (at some point) they may be disillusioned. Especially, when said newest doesn't include their preferred options. Or, lacks basic requirements they believe are critical. As your preferred requirements may not coincide with those of the devs/other users.

Good Luck and hope you find a solution that you can live with.

[VietCanada]

If your "OK" with receiving responses similar to those in this thread, then I can't envision any reason why you shouldn't. Awareness, only applies to being unaware and for the most part I doubt many responding here are unaware.

If your needs require the newest and most recent releases of everything, one must consider that (at some point) they may be disillusioned. Especially, when said newest doesn't include their preferred options. Or, lacks basic requirements they believe are critical. As your preferred requirements may not coincide with those of the devs/other users.

Good Luck and hope you find a solution that you can live with.

I've seen a couple newspaper reports that MS is acknowledging the problems with putting out a phone, pad touch screen focussed OS when so many require a PC based OS. They are putting out something called 'Blue' as early as this fall. They're spinning it as improved responsiveness to the market but one suspects the sudden, unexpected and dramatic drop in new PC sales coinciding with the release of MS8 has resulted in presssure for them to fix it.

Hopefully Ubuntu can respond to the world wide criticism of this dated, restaurant cash register approach to an OS. One ignores customers and users at their own peril. How does word processing software do on a touch screen? Especially a monitor on an office desk. I just can't imagine it.