[sf-lug] Ubuntu 11.04

[Bobbie Sellers]

On 04/29/2011 08:29 PM, Eric W. Rasmussen wrote:
> First, let me state that when it comes time to reinstall Linux, Ubuntu 
> will not be a choice.  I am at a point now that I am considering 
> redoing everything just to get this monster off my machine. This is 
> definitely one of those times when a spare computer comes in handy.  I 
> had read some good things about 11.04 and it was asking me to upgrade, 
> so I said, "Sure.  What could possibly go wrong"? I am reminded of 
> Windows Me and Vista.  It's that bad, or maybe worse.
>
> When it first loaded I expected all of my GUI customizations to be 
> destroyed, but they weren't.  This made me worry because I was under 
> the impression that Unity was an independent GUI.  The fact that it 
> held on to my gnome/nautilus settings meant that there were going to 
> be compatibility issues.  I was not wrong.
>
> I'm going to start with their pride and joy... that trainwreck of a 
> launchbar. The thing is huge and unwieldy.  What makes it all worse is 
> that the main menu is scrapped, so if you want a program that is not 
> in the launch bar, you have to go and search it out in a full screen 
> jungle. What they are trying to do here is be more like OSX, but they 
> fail when it comes to going directly to a folder in "Places"... cuz it 
> ain't there anymore!!!!  Well, that's not true, exactly.  Just like 
> OSX and "Finder", if you have a program open it tries to display the 
> menu in the header toolbar.  So you basically have to minimize all 
> open windows and then... AND GET THIS.... Mouseover on the toolbar to 
> see the places link!!!  It's hidden unless you know that it is there.  
> Otherwise, you are forced to click your way through your /home 
> directory, or worse, open /home and backup to get into /root . No more 
> quick shortcuts to /var/www/ !!!!
>
> You know how you can have minimized windows in the taskbar?  Not 
> anymore.  You have to click on the launchbar, just like OSX.  Oh, 
> sure... the behemoth disappears when a program is in full screen mode 
> (after a while), but what good is that when you have to switch quickly 
> through programs?
>
> Workspaces has been eternally screwed.  One thing that they did was 
> disable the drag option.  You know... you want to throw a window over 
> to another desktop.  But you can't because Unity now tries to resize 
> it like in Win7.  Which I think is a really great feature when you are 
> dealing with an OS that doesn't have multiple desktop functionality.  
> I used to also enjoy my custom keystroke to show all desktops at 
> once.  Really handy when I want to minimize everything so that people 
> don't eavesdrop on my work when I get up for a cup of coffee.
>
> I really liked having my Shutoff Button on the left top.  Now I can't 
> move it at all from the top right.  In fact, any widget that you 
> wanted to load in the top bar is gone.  So my systems monitor graph 
> that I use to watch resources has to be accessed through the 
> applications jungle.  Is there something up there that is useless to 
> you? Like the Broadcast/Chat program? It's there forever now.
>
> Good luck reconfiguring it so that it all works.  Even if you do 
> figure out how to change the size of the Launchbar, the Desktop 
> Effects program isn't even set as default and it can't be accessed in 
> the Menu Jungle.
>
> I have also noticed that it is sucking battery power a little more 
> than before.  I've lost about 20 minutes of a 4.5 hour battery.
>
> So, anyway.  I had to go back to Login Screen settings and set it back 
> to Ubuntu Classic.  It has taken away some of the things that I really 
> liked about it and I am seriously thinking of switching to another 
> Distro.  Any recommendations?  I'm a student of Linux with moderate 
> skills.
>
> Thanks for hearing my rant.  Ubuntu 11.04 is junk.
>
> ewr
     Well I recommend Mandriva 2010.2 and it sounds like you might be 
more comfortable with
Gnome 2.3 rather than the nearly done KDE 4.4.x.

     If you want everything spend some cash for the PowerPacked ISO and 
download it.  If you
want to try the Mandriva Free Linux ask for a copy and I will bring it 
along to the next meeting.
If you would rather download it to try out in a relatively short period 
of time the Mandriva One
(live)CD is a good way to go.  It has an install mode as well.

     I managed to find the correct point on the PWP Mandriva install to 
force the installation of
all the graphic systems that Mandriva works with, available, at that 
time.  So I was able to
try out Gnome 2.3 over a period of several weeks until returning to the 
nearly finished
  KDE for one or two particular reasons.

     later
     Bobbie Sellers