What happened to Ubuntu?

[kitbash]

last time i loaded up ubuntu was almost 10 years ago.
loved it back then, could customize nearly every part of it on a whim. multiple desktop options between kde and gnome, desktop look and feel could be tweaked any way you can think.
apps were easy to find in the repos and most were well thought out to make them all look and feel the way you as the end user wanted them.

flash forward 10 years to 3 days ago, installed the latest ubuntu stable onto my lenovo ideapad320 and wow....its not what i remembered.

seems like it is locked into the gnome desktop, the ubuntu software icon brings me to something like google app store but with what seems to be very limited results.

just seems like either i have been away too long and have blatantly missed the tweakability options.

after 10 years i would have thought it would have been even easier to navigate and customize, not harder.

meh

[missmoondog]

imo, ubuntu has always been bloat city, but yes, over the last 10 years there have been mega changes. that's exactly why i use lubuntu though. not nearly the bloat. as far as tweaking it, i can tweak my lubuntu to how ever i feel with no problems.

[kitbash]

ok i am missing something then, would like to get over to the kde desktop i used to use so i am gonna have to do some reading up on new things

[Frogs Hair]

last time i loaded up ubuntu was almost 10 years ago.
loved it back then, could customize nearly every part of it on a whim. multiple desktop options between kde and gnome, desktop look and feel could be tweaked any way you can think.
apps were easy to find in the repos and most were well thought out to make them all look and feel the way you as the end user wanted them.

flash forward 10 years to 3 days ago, installed the latest ubuntu stable onto my lenovo ideapad320 and wow....its not what i remembered.

seems like it is locked into the gnome desktop, the ubuntu software icon brings me to something like google app store but with what seems to be very limited results.

just seems like either i have been away too long and have blatantly missed the tweakability options.

after 19 years i would have thought it would have been even easier to navigate and customize, not harder.

meh

Suggest you try one of the other flavors , Ubuntu mate is based on the gnome 2 desktop which is what you remember. See the community link on the top of the forum. Mate, Budgie, and Xubuntu all have many different customization options. It's the gnome desktop that has changed.

[kitbash]

installing kubuntu-desktop now, gonna see if that brings any memories back for me lol

[ajgreeny]

installing kubuntu-desktop now, gonna see if that brings any memories back for me lol

I don't think it will do that as KDE has also moved on from what you last saw, probably KDE-3.5.9 0r something like that.
If you really want a version of Ubuntu with that desktop see if you can find a Trinity DE version (based on that older KDE version). I think there used to be a ubuntu based OS available as an iso file you could use to install it, but have not looked for a long time so will search to see if I can find that and will post back here if I find it.

EDIT:
OK, here you are:
https://www.trinitydesktop.org/
https://wiki.trinitydesktop.org/UbuntuInstall

There is apparently no up to date version using the basic Ubuntu system but you can try adding trinity DE to your Ubuntu version using the info at those two sites.

A long time ago I used Kubuntu all the time, but when KDE moved from v3 to v4 I found it unusable for my working practices, so tried Xubuntu instead, fell in love with it and have stuck with it ever since.
Xubuntu might be a good one for you to try as well, it is even better now than it was 10 years ago in my opinion; more configurable but still relatively light compared with Ubuntu

[grahammechanical]

I started using Ubuntu a little over 10 years ago. May I give a brief history lesson?

Ubuntu used the Gnome Desktop environment with Gnome panel as the user interface. Then the Gnome developers switched to Gnome 3 desktop environment and Ubuntu had to go along with that. But the Ubuntu developers rejected Gnome 3 shell as the U.I., and brought out Ubuntu's own U.I. called Unity. It used the same technology as Gnome 3 shell.

Some months ago a decision was taken to drop the Unity U.I., and go fully with Gnome 3 D.E., & Gnome 3 shell U.I. I think that Gnome 3 shell became the default with the release of Ubuntu 18.04.

And that is where we are today. It is called "progress". Also, "keeping up with the times." Like it or not. I can remember in those early days of using Linux/Ubuntu of being confused by the several different ways of modifying the desktop. Apart from the command line being the often recommended method there also seemed two, three or even four graphical user interface utilities to try. It was very confusing. It it better that things have been simplified. Especially to those of us who do not consider using a computer operating system to be a hobby.

Regards.

[SagaciousKJB]

Am I the only person who NEVER liked the default Ubuntu desktop envrionment? Every time they switched it was to something else I disliked.

KDE was my starting point, but I felt it was too heavy on resources, and switched to Xubuntu. XFCE is a nice simple interface, no frills, less resource intensive and a lot more intuitive. If you're not a fan of using the command line, it's also a lot easier to navigate around system settings. Xfce was designed to be mostly mouse driven.

Find one you like, then give out the specific distribution for that one a try. I always just grab Xubuntu now, but you can try out many different envrionments just by installing them. Try "apt-get install xubuntu-desktop" to give xfce a try. lubuntu-desktop would be lxde.

[lisati]

Sometimes I nostalgically reflect on how I liked Ubuntu when I first tried it back in 2007, and miss some of the feel of what it was like back then. Then I remember that things have moved on. (I still use Ubuntu......)

[Tadaen_Sylvermane]

Is why I went with Xubuntu ultimately after much hopping. XFCE gives me the customization while still being very light. Runs on just about every computer I've put on very well including an old Windows Vista era laptop. Can make it modern but still has that old school feel to it that so many are accustomed to. I'd suggest you try it. If you really want the old gnome style, Ubuntu MATE is where to go.