Ubuntu 11.10 review. Oneiric Ocelot – beautiful, but deadly
Canonical’s reshaping of Ubuntu is complete, but does 11.10 live up to the hype? Russell Barnes takes a look at the 15th iteration, Oneiric Ocelot, probably the only distro to be loved and loathed in near equal measure…
In Linux User issue 105’s beta review, we talked about how 11.10 appeared to be working hard to make good on plans laid out in the previous release. Where 11.04 was rough around the edges, with what was clearly a work-in-progress Launcher and Dash among other things, much more elegant solutions could be found.
It’s no secret that elegance and form are all very important factors for Canonical’s design team, but 11.04’s implementation smacked so heavily of form over function (a complaint arguably true of both ‘next-generation’ desktop experiences including GNOME Shell and Canonical’s Unity) that a positive reception would have been hard to wish for.
The ‘new’ Dash in 11.10 is strikingly beautiful with highly refined frosted glass effects and hi-res icons, but has made significant strides to address as many of 11.04’s misgivings as possible in the time allowed – it seems function finally got a look in. This is largely thanks to Lenses, which can be used to pivot the content you’re looking for within Dash, and Filters, which dynamically change depending on the type of content you’re looking for.
The Dash itself is much more useful as a result, but (as is the case when you abandon drop-down menus as Canonical has done here) there’s still a fundamental flaw no measure of tweaking and iteration can truly remedy: it’s still too difficult and time consuming to find what you’re looking for (especially if you don’t know what it’s called).
The core problem with this kind of icon-led design is that, by its very nature, it doesn’t cater for a brief bout of forgetfulness that stress or tiredness can so easily induce. This being the case, the simple act of finding your preferred ISO burner, for example, can be an annoying chore that requires more key presses and brainwork than should ever be necessary. You could type ‘ISO’ or ‘DVD” into the dash and might get the result you’re looking for. There’s also a good chance you wont.
That’s not to say Ubuntu’s developers weren’t mindful of these difficulties – Lenses and Filters can resolve differences in programs, files and folders down to the megabyte. More tellingly perhaps, they’ve also added a System Settings launcher shortcut which is otherwise completely buried in the application window.
The problem is that, while these are usable fixes to Ubuntu 11.04’s myriad issues, they’re not really solutions to the greater problem. We just can’t help but think that Unity, as a desktop environment, still has much evolution to endure before it can be considered any kind of revolution in desktop computing. Is it right to block legacy legacy desktop experiences in this way? Not to our mind.
For us the inability to use the desktop (to say, drag a terminal onto the desktop itself) is also something of a deal-breaker. We’re certainly not adverse to development, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of common sense or courtesy to the user.
Though there are many other updates and changes to Ubuntu 11.10 like vastly improved indicator applets, updated packages and the fast-acting and fashionable LightDM, Canonical’s design team have wisely focused much of their attention on a trinity of features unique to Ubuntu and that neatly encapsulate the key selling points of the distro. If there’s one thing Ubuntu does well it’s marketing, after all.
Besides the Dash, Ubuntu One and the Software Center make up this trinity, and have been on the receiving end of a good majority of the development work that’s taken place over the last six months.
Though many of the updates to the Software Center are purely aesthetic, it is arguably easier to find popular and specialised software alike. This is the age of the App Store, so its only fitting that the Software Center gets a makeover to incorporate app reviews and proprietary pay options.
The real story about the Software Center facelift, though, is that Synaptic Package Manager, which has been a mainstay of Ubuntu for some years now, is no longer installed by default in Ubuntu 11.10. It joins PiTiVi and Evolution as another package to fall off the defaults list, but will surely be missed more than the video editor and email client, which have been overshadowed by OpenShot and Thunderbird respectively over the last year. How you feel about these changes will ultimately boil down to your usage habits, but suffice it to say they each remain available in Ubuntu’s repositories.
Ubuntu One, as you may be aware, is Canonical’s cloud storage solution that syncs files and folders across multiple distro installs. The functionality of this service has grown recently to include music purchases (via the Ubuntu One Music store) and streaming services to iPhone and Android smartphones. Canonical has added another much-vaunted feather to its cap with the introduction of a Windows client too, which should go some way to tempt users of Dropbox and its many competitors, not least since the free storage quota has been raised to 5GB (more than double of some of its contemporaries) and it’s now possible to sync installed applications between desktops too.
VERDICT
In terms of design Ubuntu is really challenging Apple. In terms of compatibility and reach it’s certainly got Microsoft’s attention and where the open source ecosystem is concerned, it’s the most recognised brand alongside Tux himself. Does Canonical play entirely by the rules? No, and this is a very important problem for the project and there are many reasons why open source enthusiasts could (and perhaps should) steer well clear. But – and it’s a very big but – there’s no escaping the fact that Ubuntu is the most highly developed and refined open source operating system in the world today. The conflicts here make scoring pretty much moot – either you’re already enjoying it, or you’ve sworn never to grace Canonical’s mirrors again.
Read our interview with Canonical’s Gerry Carr about the launch of Ubuntu 11.10
Check out the latest posts from Linux User & Developer
Related Ubuntu articles
5 reasons to be excited about Ubuntu 12.04
Ubuntu 12.04 – Jane Silber talks Unity, community and ‘continuous computing’
Five problems with Ubuntu 12.04 – part 1
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- Backup and restore is almost a one-click affair
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- The Ubuntu One service has grown dramatically in the last six months
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- The Software Center, now firmly part of the App Store generation
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- Shotwell provides a solid tradeoff between accessibility and power
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- Music plays a more central role and Banshee 2.2.0 is bang-up-to-date
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- Thunderbird is a very welcome switch from Evolution
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- LibreOffice is legendary and welcome in any distro
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- The new Dash offers a new Music Lens and Filters
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- Finding apps is easier, but (by design) it’s not ‘one click’ easy
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I have read this review in Swedish:
http://pavel.frimix.se/2011/10/13/ubuntu-11-10-oneiric-ozelot-ar-har-2/
Use Google translate to read. But I agree with that author. I have always used Ubuntu since 7.04
Unity are not for me. I have shifted to Pardus 2011.2, very stabile and a more “classical” look.
I wish Ubuntu good luck.
I just don’t understand why I can’t have normal folder hierarchy with launcher. And even more so when thinking of tablet etc. with no real keyboard. Are they expecting mobile users to type search strings to find applications?
Inability to relocate the top panel is irksome. I prefer it at the bottom and to have only one panel but this doesn’t appear possible. Vertical icons at the left are too large and annoying. Liked them better and smaller in a bottom panel. Also, the old weather applet that included radar apparently disappeared along with applets. It was useful with radar. KDE wx applet does not include it. Small stuff, maybe, but small things can be deal killers. I agree with other issues raised in the article. Is this OS for a desktop or a hand-held device?
“ither you’re already enjoying it, or you’ve sworn never to grace Canonical’s mirrors again.”
Overstatement. If someone does not like it and when things mature he/she might like it. Just like me, I switched back to Unity now in 11.10.
Update–found items/functions I thought were missing. Nothing like trial and error. 11.10 looking a bit better now. Some launches are a slow, otherwise a promising distro. Very streamlined installation.
i’m staying with ubuntu 10.10 until they pull their head out. i have 11.10 on a live disc; and i realize this does not offer every option aaailable; but, i think they missed the boat on this one. i use synaptic, now i have to load it to use it. my graphics card is not recognized; how about backloading. i’ve had problems with every release of ubuntu,,,and so have all of you. exciting; yes. frustrating; yes. works evertime, hardly. get it right before you release it. checking out another distro.
What has replaced the calendar from Evolution. What a glaring mistake, removing features. I thought lightning was supposed to be integrated by default in to Thunderbird. This is a worse release in respect of basic functionality. I would have thought Canonical would have picked up on this with so many people wanting to sync their Google calendars in to their desktop. Gedit default application for calendar in preferences… WTF? Please Canonical make the desktop more consistent. Example being the menus in Libre Office not being in the top panel and overlay scroll bars not default for all application.
A good attempt but clearly this is a Beta test for 12.04 LTS. Please make that a good one and at least a little more consistent.
I liked the old gnome. I have really tried to get along with Unity. But I cannot. 11.10 is no better than 11.04.
I have been coding and hacking since early DOS days, so it is not that I cannot understand what has to be done to get from A to B, its that the whole logic of the Unity is wrong headed.
I saw a puzzle in a magazine today: Find all the names of these flowers in the array of 20×20 letters. It reminded me of searching through Unity’s array of icons. Unity is a puzzle. I think of it as a time wasting game. And everything moves around. The eyes must look around the real estate that is the screen, read a lot of pictures and their labels, ah yes there it is, now where is the friggin mouse pointer… do some keyboard shortcuts then some mouse then keyboard then mouse.
When 11.04 hit me I quickly found Xfce, not the whole Xbuntu desktop, just the minimum. Purged Unity, Compiz, and some other stuff. It’s nearly the same as Gnome2, faster.
I compared gnome-system-monitor with Xfce 11.04 and on the other partition 11.10 Unity. With Xfce this i7 desktop at idle was about 3% with one thread, the other seven zero. On Unity the graphs showed all cores busy 7% to 40%. I checked the sample times were about the same.
So for me Unity (and the very similar Gnome-shell) is a fizzer.
Well, I think I’ll stick with 10.04LTS for now. Everything works well, so why upgrade. Besides, I still want the old Gnome look, not Unity. If 12.04 LTS doesn’t suit me when it comes out, I’m looking to Mint or Lubuntu.
I just installed 11.10 and It feels ok… so far with my limited testing. If you haven’t tried it yet, try Unity once more in 11.10. This is coming from a initial skeptic of unity. I’m not sure if I will stay with it or move to XFCE. But Gnome shell is out of the question for me I believe so far. (Perhaps fallback is ok?)
I wish unity would add a faster way in dash to look up app categories so one doesn’t have to type everything or click the show all button all the time. I mean for example have a button so you can find Graphics Apps ,Sound Apps. (I know they have a few for media apps I believe but all the categories would be nice)
Also a way to do your own favorite apps on dash would be nice.
We also need a new Icon theme in Ubuntu. sorry we just do.
Great review! Good luck everyone.
I didn’t like Unity in 11.04 however I’ll give it one more chance in 11.10. I still prefer KDE.
Here is a guide with some tips and tricks:
http://www.my-guides.net/en/guides/linux/230-ubuntu-1110-oneiric-ocelot-post-installation-guide
If one installed Ubuntu Natty, then one has to move to Ubuntu Oneric simply cause things have improved in it.
I think you forgot to mention 1 important point : Canonical Ltd ‘s founder Mark Shuttleworth had said (after the release of Natty) that the Unity bar cannot be moved since it has to be near the Dash button (which was on top panel). now that it has been moved to the Unity bar itself, the whole bar can be customized to appear on any side of the screen using the Unity settings dashboard – ConfizConfig (though it has to be installed separately).
I just wish there wouldn’t reduce the customization options. Simple things like theme change would allow the window buttons (close, minimize, maximize) to go back to the right top side….not available anymore :-/
I didn’t know what to think of the Unity interface when 11.04 was released, but I decided to really give it a fair trial, knowing all the time that I could go back to gnome classic at any time, and to be honest, although Unity felt annoying for the first week or so, the more I used it the more I grew to like it.
And now with the release of 11.10, I can really appreciate the achievement which is Unity! Just yesterday I was helping my wife use her laptop which has Ubuntu 10.04 installed on it, and It was then that I realized just how quick and efficient the Unity interface really is.Press super, type a a letter or 2 or 3… Press Enter and you can open just about any program on your computer in under two seconds. I can not go back to clicking and searching drop down menus again! If you are a fan of Gnome-Do, than it won’t take long to get used to using Unity’s Dash. I suspect that Canonical will continue to refine and add customization to Unity, and within a year or two, I predict that Unity (and maybe even Gnome Shell) will be the most used (and even liked!) desktop environment on Linux
Awesome! Excellent design and selective package build. With the new transparent ‘dash’ on (pressing ) the system becomes slow; even typing application takes time, defying the ease of using keyboard to open an application. This is more evident when you drag and drop the icon to the launcher. The other noticeable bug is the mouse pointer freeze. Keeping 32 size icons in the launcher reduces the space occupied and look better. All the system tools could be put in one place; except the CCSM, Nvidia-settings like thing which are specific to the user. Overall, its a very matured distro release challenging any other in the market, both commercial and open!!! Keep it up.
I have used Linux from time to time. Got Windows 7 at the moment. Tryed out Ubuntu 11.10 some days.
But I am happy I have not replaced Windows 7 with it..
Unity are a mistake. I had some hope Linux will get more than 1 % of the market. But with Unity they will remain small.
I don’t see what is so wrong with Unity. It’s smoother and better then it was (it’s been a long trip since 10.10 UNE). The thing about unity is that you should master the keyboard shortcuts. these shortcuts will enhance your experience and, in turn, your productivity. the point of the design of Unity is to offer a productive UI to work in, to reduce mouse usage when navigating through it. In a world where technology changes we can not be narrow minded and we have to move with it. The one thing I can complain about is longer boot times on my netbook. it seems like all of the added things are just longer to load or might be caused by systemd that I believe is integrated in Linux 3.0. (this also happened with Fedora 15 boot times vs the Fedora 14 the shorter boot time). So other then slow booting on a, underpowered pc know as a, netbook. But hey guys they are improving it and we all know that 12.04 will be the biggest step in the Unity desktop. so just wait for the LTS.
My comments a simple one – Starting with 10.4 and moving to 11.1 (once found the classic version) I was pretty happy and convinced to give up windows!
Just tried this and forget it – off to get Windows 7.
Using all my screen real estate for big buttons is a waste of my time and more importantly my response time!
Couldn’t even get to a terminal window What is that about anyway!
Who in the industry (all pc’s phones etc….decided that giant icons are the “RIGHT” thing to do! Toy blocks were put away sometime after kindergarten! The ‘dumbing’ down of the operating system and wasting my time by destroying effectiveness is counter to the concept of the pc making people more productive.
At least give people the option so it’s not a major productivity loss. It’s not tough to log out and “play” with the new version when you have time. Don’t force me to be unproductive!
I used Ubuntu for years but have vowed never to touch it again as long as that crap unity is still there. First off I had my system running beautifully and set just the way I wanted it after lots of work, until the update to 11.04 totally messed up everything to the point where I had an unusable OS.. So I installed a fresh copy of 11.04, I almost threw up at the sight of unity, but luckily they has “Classic Mode” with Gnome.. but barley anything worked because of stuff that was conflicting with Unity.
Unity is a joke, I might use it on a netbook, not on a desktop. Bring back Gnome!!!!!
I’ve been using Ubuntu for years. Well ever since edgy eft, anyway. For years, I was always happy to try the new version at least until 11.04 came out. After mucking around with unity for a couple of weeks, I gave up on it and switched to the classic gnome. I have been playing with oneiric for a couple of days now and have found it to be about as bad as 11.04. What I really don’t like about it, is its lack of easy customization. I have two monitors both above 22 inches, and I don’t need a huge dock on the left side of the screen or a tool bar going across both of them. This is no longer a distro for a desk top based computer. it looks like it would work well on a small screen netbook or perhaps something with a touch screen. currently I plan on playing with it for a couple more days, at least until i choose another distro
Whilst not incredibly impressed with the much longer boot time of 11.10, I have found the souped up Unity interface perfect for my three year old netbook, on which it has been running since beta 2. On my desktop machine i’ve ditched Unity in favour of Gnome shell, which i think is prectical for the everyday user, beautifully uncluttered and a joy to use.
Ubu 11.10 has convinced me to ditch Win 7 completely, so thumbs up from me
I just hate those “I’m moving to distro XYZ that no-one else uses and it’s soooo hard core and and…”…it leads nowhere. Been there done that. And this customization thing…no-one customizes Windows and no-one customizes OS X. I don’t mind. I just want to set the background image.
I didn’t like Unity when it was introduced, but it worked great in 11.04 after some updates. And in 11.10 it’s even better. There are still some annoying bugs on certain hardware. But the concept is there.
If Canonical concentrates on bug fixing from now on, 12.04 LTS is going to be AWESOME.
Been in IT since 1975 and seen a lot of gimmicks come and go. I installed Ubuntu 11.04 and switched quickly to Gnome classic. I deemed Unity to be of the same stupid change as moving the “X” etc to close windows from top right to top left. No logic, no reason just cheer stupid. Now with 11.10 it is even worse – Gnome needs to be installed manually and it does not even work to in its previous glory after that.
Unity lacks a lot but the main problem is that it clutters the screen with a lot of nonsens – editing pictures you need a clean desktop with only the editing software. The old Gnome was excellent sorting applications into groups, allowing for hiding bars and also putting one, two or more bars where you wanted them (I want one bar at the bottom, hiding and pop up).
If Unity in its current shape stays in 12.04 I will have to switch to something else – probably PCLinuxOS that seems to have a efficient look and feel.
And not only that – they have once more changed the login and forced a guest account to be active without even a password – security is rather important and guest should certainly not be activated by default – no questions asked during installation.
In my opinion Ubuntu will loose a lot of old users (myself started with version 6) unless they accomodate a desktop for people like me who choose Ubuntu for the Gnome efficiency and configurabilitiy – face it – the users choose the OS of their liking, in my opinion Ubuntu have lost their way.
Well, I have had it with Ubuntu. I dont like Unity, it is hardly configurable (or not at all). So I went back to Gnome 2 which turned out to be unstable and keeps forgetting its setting. Then I tried Gnome3 which did not work at all.
I am no newby, have worked with computers for over 40 years but I have now spend more than three days trying to adapt Ubuntu to my needs and it did not work out.
As a programmer I need Linux to get some work done. Not spending my time trying to figure out how this damn desktop works.
I just downloaded Suse and this is farewell to Ubuntu.
Well, I maintain around 12 machines for family and all of them will be moving off of Ubuntu. I left the choice to those that use them and they all have said “can I have the old desktop back”. These users range from “just click this button” to “power user”.
They gave Unity a try, but there is so much wrong for the normal user to get teir head around.
So that’s 12 installs… no, 14 including mine that are now gone. Not sure what I’ll use next.
Strong dislike of earlier Unity/Gnome3 iterations is giving way to acceptance three days after upgrading to Ubuntu 11.10. Unity needs work as noted in the forums, but the more I use Gnome-3 the more I actually like it and so switched from Classic, which remains an option against a fall off the wagon.
Departing from traditional, sometimes cluttered GUIs can be like moving to another city and making all the wrong turns. Eventually we learn the territory and settle in. Not many issues to list here. Others have done that well. Surely there’s a way to shrink those huge menu screen icons. Also, adapting a few trusted Gnome-2 applets, particularly the Weather-WITH-Radar applet would be great. There have been occasional freeze-ups of unknown origin. A few applications take longer to load. Still, overall responsiveness seems improved. It’s too early to go all out and say Gnome-3 “rocks” but in time it should. Nice work.
Well, the upgrade was smooth from 11.04 to 11.10, rebooted and tried to login. After repeated attempts of trying to login, I had to eventually create another user to even use the machine.
At least in 11.04 I could allocate permissions to users, add myself to to root group for USB devices, and the list goes on. It won’t even shutdown or restart. So, another failed upgrade.
I’m going to re-install 11.04, at least it worked, the way I needed it to. The only real difference I can see is that a lot of system tools have disappeared and docky is now installed.
Thanks for 11.10, but no thanks.
Okay, I have been an occasional user of Linux for a number of years. Occasional insofar as I make my living with MS Office. That said I have been using Ubuntu for a couple of years now and was becoming quite enamored with it; that is until Unity.
I have little to say about it that’s nice. I have wrecked my current installation trying to turn Unity off and will reinstall with another distribution of Linux.
I despise paternalistic systems that assume a room temperature IQ among users. Likewise I am not a fan of command prompt tools. Unity seems to have taken Linux from extreme to the other.
It is the Microsoft Bob of Linux distros. It is worse than the Office 2007 (which is saying something).
If this is where Linux is headed, it is bad, very very bad.
I like Unity. I do not understand the obsession with gnome 2. From reading the comments, I don’t see any real reason not to use Unity. Give it a chance…
I too have used various flavors of Linux over the years an fell in love with Ubuntu/Mint fairly early on in it’s history. In fact, I’m still dual-booting Helena along with Win7 today.
I’ve also given 11.04 and now 11.10 my best shot but sadly I have to say that I won’t be doing any permanent upgrade any time soon. Way too many issues and tweaking with both of these releases. And Unity is another problem altogether. Unsightly and odd, to say the least.
That being said, I’ll still bide my time and see what the LTS version turns out like before jumping ship for good. Meanwhile, Windows 7 has become my new OS of choice. It just works!
I’ve used Ubuntu since version 7.04.. Currently I’m using 10.04, and this will be the last Ubuntu release I will ever use.. Unity sucks! Same thing with Gnome 3.. Horrible workflow… Too much bloat.. It’s aesthetics over function.. Next distro I will use will be Debian with Fluxbox as the window manager..
Still on Ubuntu 10.10. After reading the reviews of 11.04, it seemed to be a good time to take a “time-out”; the upgrade cycle is too quick. It seemed that each time I upgraded, there were a bunch of minor tweaks to get things fully working again.
But, I am having some emerging nagging questions concerning the trend with each release of Ubuntu. Though it is LINUX based, I almost get the impression that users are being “guided” into a “closed” Canonical “world”. Just speculation on my part.
In the meantime, I will be reading reviews to see if we will go onto to the next upgrade.
All those unhappy with Unity and Gnome 3 can still stay with the Ubu base by opting for Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio….
Why the need to jump-ship completely?
It’s amazing to me that no one seems to mention that Ubuntu just doesn’t work anymore. Nothing Vista ever did came anywhere close to the phenomenal ways I saw 11.04 with Unity crash. I tried 11.10 for a few days. Unity is less buggy but painfully slow. And the first thing I tried to do, set up a Samba share, did not work. Over and over, it did not work. What took me 30 seconds to do in Mint Debian proved to be actually impossible in Oneiric, at least without resorting to manual command-line setup. At one point, I tried installing some kind of Samba configuration utility that simply would not launch. No error, no explanation, just clicked on its icon and nothing happened. I thought we were done with that.
Oneiric Ocelot is to Ubuntu what Vista is to Windows. 11.10 is inferior to 10.10 for those who actually use it to work with. Listen you writers of Ubuntu, working people don’t have time to learn a different system and how to make it work the way they know. We want improvements, not changes for the worse. There are hundreds of thousands of people who know and like the older versions and actually use them in a practical way. If a hundred thousand people have to spend 5 hours adjusting for the changes in 11.10 only to have to settle for what they see as inferior or go back to an older version, that’s 500,000 man hours of wasted time! It seems like Ubuntu is being written and put together by people as a hobby just to see what they can do without considering that the changes they make are useless inferior changes that don’t help people who need a good operating system. Instead of getting rid of good parts of 10.10 why not offer an easy choice? I used to recommend Ubuntu to everyone. Now I wouldn’t recommend 11.04 and 11.10 to anyone.
Something that is universal to the IT industry is change. PCs are being slowly replaced by tablets. For those who have yet to see the Windows 8 Developer’s Preview, your in for quite a shock when you first encounter the Metro User Interface. IPv6 has replaced IPv4 and for Ubuntu, Unity has replaced Gnome. IT changes. If you’re in the industry, this is your only constant.
While I first encountered some issues with 11.4, those were resolved in a few patches and I’ve had no issues since. 11.10 has worked without issue after the upgrade. While this is great, the majority of the community appears to hate this distro.
The big advantage the open source platform provides is options. If this many people dislike Ubuntu, move on to something else like Fedora, Mint or simply sit at 10.10.
I’ve been familiar with Ubuntu for 6 months now, so I am more of fan rather than Linux geek. I like the visuals in 11.04 and 11.10 but I need to say I pay more attention to performance and speed. And there Oneiric fails big time! I’m using notebook with Intel Celeron 1.86 Ghz and 1 GB RAM and LTS works just fine but with Unity this system became incredibly slow and heavy. It is sad that even Windows 7 Home is snappier and more responsive on my ‘puter. And it’s quite a big difference in speed. If I needed additional useless fireworks and idiot-proof, non-customizable interface I would stay with Windows in the first place.
Sorry but this distro is no longer for me. Goodbye.
Every year or so I install the current release of Ubuntu, and every time I spend hours fixing all sorts of things just to get a working system. I was hoping things would be better this time. It seems that Ubuntu is a distro for people who like to spend days fiddling around fixing and configuring things. I get paid to work with Linux, and I can’t seem to figure out why Ubuntu is so popular. I have tried to install Ubuntu on laptops, workstations, rackmount servers, always the same result. Sigh. Really wanted to like it once again, but 11.10 is more of the same. Very puzzling indeed. Maybe it is more forgiving to users who aren’t full-time Linux admins?
I don’t like the new layout. I can’t find the programs easily. It’s very annoying and bad thing is that there no option for “classic view” of Ubuntu.
I’ve been using Ubuntu since 7**, for most of that time as my only OS, and have experimented with most of the common Unix and BSD distros. Liked Ubuntu because it was configurable and provided a lot of choices. I updated every six months until problems started with 10.10, when for me dropbox broke, so I reverted to 10.04LTS and started to dual boot with Win 7 (in classic mode). I loaded 11.04, hated Unity and found nothing there better than in 10.04. Reinstalled 10.04, but have more or less migrated full time to Win7 now.
Have given 11.10 a good try, but only on Vbox – it’s simply not safe to allow it onto my “real” computers. Gnome 3 is horrendous, and the desktop (on a 22” monitor) is a confusing shambles. Window themes are drab and as for the left-sided buttons…
If I actually liked all the bells and whistles I would use KDE, not Gnome, in the first place. All is not entirely lost though. After a lot of experimentation and a couple of reinstalls I have found something that, at a pinch, would work for me. Especially if Win8 abolishes classic mode.
Firstly, download Synaptic. Then, using Synaptic, install Gnome shell and GDM. After that remove anything that says “unity”, “compiz” or “gtk3”, and install everything you can find that is labelled “gtk2” (especially the theme engines and themes). Bring in the range of metacity stuff and gnome extra themes. Reboot and select “Gnome classic no effects”. Now, with no more than 30 minutes fiddling, it is possible to arrive at a workable Gnome desktop with a bottom panel including a menu, using the Clearlooks theme with window buttons on the “right” side. Only slight annoyance is having to do alt+right click to configure the panel. Oh, and it takes three times as long to load as does Win7.
Alternatively, do what I do – use Win7 on your desktop, download VirtualBox, and when you have some spare time play with Ubuntu 11.10. That’s all it’s fit for.
Now, I understand that Ubuntu is “for nothing” and no-one is forced to use it, but it is a shame to see what was a very good OS heading off at a tangent and actually restricting user choice. The developers, both in Gnome and Ubuntu, need to understand the difference between progress and change for the sake of change.
I tried Ubuntu 11.10 on my Dell Vostro 1000 laptop and on a Dell Dimension 3000. If you’re familiar with Ubuntu, you can find what you’re looking for without too much trouble. That said I couldn’t find a way to shut down from the desktop without first logging out. Then because of a bug the shutdown didn’t work when clicked on the login screen. I had to shut down with the power button. NOT GOOD!! I also don’t like the bar at the top with no ability to move it to the bototom.
after upgrade ubuntu 11.04 to 11.10 through terminal i am not able to see the panel and taskbar or the menu on panel like applications,places or dashbord
The ability to find and simply start my applications is for me key, and much more important than the design (which I like). I have tried getting along with Unity now for a couple of months, but I give up. I am aware that this is probably the way to go for new desktops, but simply finding an application is too challenging for me. I wish ubuntu good luck and say farewell. I am finding a different Linux
I tried 11.10 on my HP Pro-book but being a mobile user battery life is very important , I am sure all of us pay more for laptops with longer battery life. On 11.04 I got 6.1 hours compared to the 3 hours on 11.10.
I see battery life as part of performance on a laptop or mobile computer.. I moved back to Ubuntu 11.04 and hope that the battery life issue will be sorted out when they release 12.04 LTS.
Like many here my first reaction to upgrading from 11.04 to 11.10 was not good … nor were my second and third reactions. Unity falls way short on performance, intuitiveness and flexibility. Why does it stop you doing everything you would wish an interface to do, like being easily moved around the screen, with the ability to add and remove icons on the dock.. etc etc.
Then I remembered Cairo Dock – or rather GlxDock as it is now called. An hour or so of installation and customisation, turning off Unity, and I now have a slickly running machine that looks, feels and behaves as elegantly as a Mac. It allows me to be in charge, unlike Unity. And even allows me to switch between desktops…
I now love 11.10…. but when i want to be reminded how dire things can be I just chose the start-up option to run Unity again :)
it crashed a few times also got frozen a few more. some issues to face now is the icon and window interface is not totally reliable, it also displays improperly intermittently. the banshee player doesn’t work as desired as well. other than that and that it’s not yet compatible with dome graphics drivers, it works better than the previous versions.
I’ve stuck to 10.10. Giving Ubuntu one more release to fix Unity. Dropbox works fine, so does all the hardware (Asus Eeepc 1000).
Perhaps I’ve become the Linux equivalent of the XP user and Unity is like Vista?
Used the old Ubuntu as a dual boot on Vista machine.
Loved it.
The new desk top confused me a bunch
Used Wubi to down load the new version and have just had all sorts of issues.
Took Ubuntu off and am back to Vista.
Maybe the Ubuntu 12.xx versions will work for me and I will go back to Ubuntu as my primary setup.
I have a MacBook Pro with Ubuntu 10.10 working perfectly.
I updated to Ubuntu 11.10… worse decision ever!
First, I had to get a mouse. My touchpad was disabled. After a few command lines, It works again.
My wireless card stop working too… not surprise here. Again, after searching and searching… fixed.
Now I am working on the applets which I was using. They are all gone and the panel applets doesn’t show, even when I try to combine using the ALT + Click, ALT + Logo + Click, etc.
I wish in the future these updates have some consideration with the users.
I don’t find right to be ‘touching’ places in the configuration and mess things up like this.
I’ve used Ubuntu for years and years (especially the portable version for troubleshooting on various computers), but the aggravation of having to search for programs in buried menus has ended this long-term relationship. I will try Mint, if that’s equally aggravating, then back to Debian. The eye-candy is pointless if you can’t easily get stuff done.
I am new to Ubuntu 11.10 but I have used version 8.x and 9.x. The addition of the unity bar is nice; however, I also agree that the dash or search options need to be much smaller. I have found a solution that will work nicely to resolve this.
After loading a fresh copy of Ubuntu and performing the necessary updates follow these steps and you can replace unity in about 30 minutes with one to restarts and that problem will go away.
1) Update
2) Install Compiz Configuration Settings Manager (CCSM)
3) Configure Unity to autohide
4) Install GLX Cairo
5) Place Cairo in the startup menus via the cairo configuration option
6) Reboot
7) Drag icons to Cairo bar
8) Customize Cairo
9) Continue customizing or adding additional menu’s to cairo
10) When done adding menu’s in cairo, set them to autohide
Okay so it sounds easy right? It is, but it can make your life easier and renove the frustration of Unity/Dash search.
I have configured 5 desktops in about 5 hours to remedy the unsightly unity dash bar. Both 32 and 64 bit editions will work with Cairo
Now for Gnome 3 – I haven’t taken that route yet but I will soon and who knows I might like gnome 3 better.
Nonetheless replacing unity is not that hard to perform.
Note that I am also running 12.04 Beta 1 64 Bit edition on a Dell Latitude D620 and I am not having any further problems now that I have installed and configured the Broadcom Wireless Adapter without any network connection whatsoever. Yes it can be done, but it is challenging and I am always up for a challenge :)
Goodbye Microsnot
The best solution for fixing the large Icon issue is to install another GUI like Cairo with Open GL or Gnome 3 – Cairo is one of the easiest items to configure and works out of the box with 11.10 and 12.04. In addition when logging in click on the gear icon and either choose Unity (if you like the dash) or Cairo. In addition make sure that Compiz Configuration Settings Manager (CCSM) is installed as this will allow you to “Hide” the unity panel dash bar if you are booting with Unity. Either way you have quicj access to menu’s much like Windows or MAC OS X.
I’ve experimented with Linux since about Redhat 6.4. Every year or so I’ll grab a handful of recent top distros and take them for a spin, but I’ve never been what you’d call a Linux user – I always hit an insurmountable wall, where all available fixes don’t work or the only solution I find is hundreds of people asking for a solution.
I’ve been warming to Ubuntu for years – it seems like the easiest distribution, with basic operations like installing, uninstalling and updating actually easy enough to expect an end-user to complete. I recently grabbed a copy of 11.10 to run some software from a flashdrive… It was alien, but I was determined to stick with it. I poked around. I looked for guides. I had a simple task any OS should be able to do: repartition a disk. I had just done it in 11.04 with GNOME without looking it up or asking anything. It was as easy as it should be.
After about 15 minutes in Unity… I managed to find a way to open the terminal! I didn’t FIND the terminal, but I found a place where I could ask for one and get it… whew! I found some guides to switch back to GNOME and tried them. No. 1 failed. No. 2 failed. No. 3 failed. Ok, so I’m stuck in here… and how do I repartition? Another 20 minutes go by and I’m locked into this Fisher-Price tech demo that makes an OLPC look feature-rich. Well… I can write a letter! Oh, and there’s Firefox! Not helping.
In the end, I did find a solution for my problem however: Linux Mint. It’s clear Ubuntu has gone from reaching out to users with easy to use software, and become an abstract, high-concept playground for radical UI redesigns. Great… if you’re in a lab, fiddling with new concepts. In the real world where there’s work to be done, it’s a complete roadblock. Seeya, Canonical. Wouldn’t wanna be ya.
unity….not a fan. having the BACK button just a mere pixels away from the slideout menu bar is annoying! and ocelot oneiric keeps locking up my browser over and over.
Yes, it has been a rough ride during the transition. During this period I used Xubuntu.
HOWEVER, after installing and using Raring Ringtail (13.04) for a couple of days with everything I need, I’m impressed. Raring is a home run. Fast, beautiful, quiet and cool (on my notebook) and still didn’t crash or had apps misbehaving. At all.
I don’t mind Unity. There are a few nuisances, like all the trouble of adding a custom app/script to the Unity bar (it involves creating a .desktop shortcut and putting it under ./.local/share/applications), but fortunately that’s a one time job. There is also the lack of “Open terminal here” shortcuts in the Files program.
But overall it’s great. I’m very satisfied.