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[ThatObviousUser]

So after being lapsed with Linux these past few months I took a look at what's coming down the pipe for Ubuntu... and I'm not liking what I see. Unity as default, really? Blegh. And as if moving the window icons to the left wasn't copping OS X enough, now there's a global menu? Double blech.

Please tell me my skepticism is misplaced, I was getting ready to switch back to Linux in a few weeks. Now, who knows. :/

 

[angelfly]

So after being lapsed with Linux these past few months I took a look at what's coming down the pipe for Ubuntu... and I'm not liking what I see. Unity as default, really? Blegh. And as if moving the window icons to the left wasn't copping OS X enough, now there's a global menu? Double blech.

Please tell me my skepticism is misplaced, I was getting ready to switch back to Linux in a few weeks. Now, who knows. :/

Ubuntu isn't the only distro out there. Try something like Fedora. If you want more of the old Ubuntu theres still Debian testing and unstable.

 

[Vanillalite]

Ubuntu isn't the only distro out there. Try something like Fedora. If you want more of the old Ubuntu theres still Debian testing and unstable.

THIS! Try another distro or just try another desktop environment. Ubuntu is still gonna have the old gnome as a fall back, and there is always Kubuntu or XFCE. Plus you could just try a different distro based off of Ubuntu like Mint or even Bodhi when it goes live at the end of the month. Debian is always a safe fall back as well.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

I'd probably Xubuntu or Mint, but I like using what's most popular because it usually gets the most TLC and dev attention.

 

[cntr]

I wish an alternative client from Linux Skype existed. \: I don't even usually use it to have voice calls!

 

[itxaka]

Oh one other thing that broke for me yesterday actually was BIND on my server...
Yeah I didn't like that one bit. Apparently, the configuration for running a chrooted named daemon had changed. So it couldn't start the daemon as usual because of some error. But the error is not printed when you launch rc.d files. So I tried running it manually, but it didn't say anything at all. It looked as if it started, meaning there was nothing printed out at all, but then when checking with ps aux, it wasn't there.

It was basically a wild guess to check the Arch Wiki page for bind if something had changed. Had to start the named daemon as usual without chrooting, go to the arch wiki and look, saw that it was indeed different, then changed the /etc/rc.d/named-chroot file so it was up to date. After that it worked. But you'd think they would somehow inform you of this. I guess it's not easy to do in a good way though, other than updating the main site. But they didn't even do that...

Normally when config files change pacman advises you and saves the new config file as "name.conf.pacnew" so you can check the differences between them with diff.

Not a great solution but well there is nothing better.

I still don't understand why they don't do alternate files. Like this.

named-chroot is not modified at all, except on new package versions. named-chroot.user contains the user options and is never touched by packages. bind loads the generic file and then the user options file. That way if some major changes are done to packages or configs it will still work and it will still use the end user config.

Basically, modifying a extra file with the variables the program is gonna use instead of editing the main config file which is provided by the package and its subject to change over time.

In my mind it sounds so easy to implement and it only brings easiness of use but there is probably something that Im missing because I can't see how this isn't the default for every program/service out there.

I'd probably Xubuntu or Mint, but I like using what's most popular because it usually gets the most TLC and dev attention.

Mint are gonna be keeping the default gnome panel for future versions so it's a safe bet. And everything debian-based is gonna benefit for the popularity of ubuntu so

 

[ThatObviousUser]

I wish an alternative client from Linux Skype existed. \: I don't even usually use it to have voice calls!

http://planet.gnu.org/gnutelephony/?p=14 ?

Mint are gonna be keeping the default gnome panel for future versions so it's a safe bet. And everything debian-based is gonna benefit for the popularity of ubuntu so

I'll probably give 11.04 a shot for a while and see if I can reasonably customize it enough. The software center is good enough that it's hard to look elsewhere.

 

[peakish]

I haven't tried Unity more than briefly but I think it'll be interesting to see how it'll end up in a year. I'm sure they're making the change for a reason even if it maybe won't be realized for a couple of versions. Then again I said this just a page back about Gnome 3 ...

 

[Vanillalite]

I haven't tried Unity more than briefly but I think it'll be interesting to see how it'll end up in a year. I'm sure they're making the change for a reason even if it maybe won't be realized for a couple of versions. Then again I said this just a page back about Gnome 3 ...

I actually thought I hated Unity and that Gnome Shell looked okay if we were gonna try and switch things up. Now I'm sort of ugh about Gnome Shell, and think if we have to try and switch things up Unity looks ago (both were buggy as fuck when I tried to use them though).

 

[Elfforkusu]

I'd probably Xubuntu or Mint, but I like using what's most popular because it usually gets the most TLC and dev attention.

Xubuntu has been pretty solid for me. Hopefully that'll continue through the madness that 11.04 and 11.10 will bring.

Ubuntu repos + XFCE getting out of my way = hooray

 

[thcsquad]

I'm trying out Unity on my Maverick installation. It's okay, but I didn't like the global menu on OSX and I don't like it now. Great for a netbook, though.

My other gripe with it is that searching for applications is slow. If I want to open up xchat, the fastest way is to click the Ubuntu button in the corner and type 'xchat' (or 'xch' or even 'x'). Problem is, it takes a few seconds to search. This is the dealbreaker. I can deal with the global menu, but if Natty takes this long to search (greatly increasing the time it takes to launch most applications), I might switch WMs or even jump ship to another distro.

 

[cntr]

http://planet.gnu.org/gnutelephony/?p=14 ?

No, I mean, an alternative client for Skype.

 

[Vanillalite]

So Canonical revamped their website in terms of business and sever info. They also added a bunch of PDFs one of the main ones being...

10 reasons to migrate to Ubuntu Desktop

 

[itxaka]

No, I mean, an alternative client for Skype.

Good luck with that. They have been teasing an open source client since at least 2009 and still haven't show anything. They are probably worried that people are gonna get rid of the ads on the program or something :/

 

[Vanillalite]

OmgUbuntu Reader Survey!

They are running a small site survey. I filled it out took like 2 mins, and IMO worth it if you like the site!

 

[Vanillalite]

Anyone know anything about surround sound?

Running stock ubuntu 10.10 and have onboard realtek HD sound...

I have an optical cable going from the back of my comp into my Yamaha receiver with my 5 speakers and my sub. Now default my front left and right speakers work, but I can't seem to get the 5.1 setup to work?

So I went to sound under system then clicked the hardware tab... I have 3 devices aka my web cam, my onboard sound, and my ati card.... clicked my onboard sound...

Now under select settings for this device I have a ton of choices...

Analog Stereo Output works for just left and right but I'm not getting my center channel or my rears. If I move to analog surround 5.1 none of the speakers pick up anything in the test. None of the other options seem like the one to select? Also while the test for analog stereo output only has 2 speakers to test with if I play a song in banshee all 5 speakers get the music through what appears to be prologic II on my amp?

Can anyone help me out with this one?

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

So I'm thinking of trying OpenSuse.

How does it compare to Ubuntu?

 

[itxaka]

Anyone know anything about surround sound?

Running stock ubuntu 10.10 and have onboard realtek HD sound...

I have an optical cable going from the back of my comp into my Yamaha receiver with my 5 speakers and my sub. Now default my front left and right speakers work, but I can't seem to get the 5.1 setup to work?

So I went to sound under system then clicked the hardware tab... I have 3 devices aka my web cam, my onboard sound, and my ati card.... clicked my onboard sound...

Now under select settings for this device I have a ton of choices...

Analog Stereo Output works for just left and right but I'm not getting my center channel or my rears. If I move to analog surround 5.1 none of the speakers pick up anything in the test. None of the other options seem like the one to select? Also while the test for analog stereo output only has 2 speakers to test with if I play a song in banshee all 5 speakers get the music through what appears to be prologic II on my amp?

Can anyone help me out with this one?

No help from me, I have 0 idea about audio at all

 

[Vanillalite]

I figured it out on my own from what I gleaned from my Win 7 time getting stuff working. Ubuntu is and was working perfectly fine before. It's just how the sound is mixed and what certain outputs can and can't do for me.

Got it all hooked up and ready to go in both!

On a side note....

Bodhi Linux goes live with full 1.0 release!

PS:

So I'm thinking of trying OpenSuse.

How does it compare to Ubuntu?

OpenSuse is a KDE distro at it's base.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

OpenSuse is a KDE distro at it's base.

Hmm. I see.

I think I'll try it out.

That being said, what is the best Gnome distro?

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

Wow Ubuntu 11.04 is looking great.

 

[Vanillalite]

Hmm. I see.

I think I'll try it out.

That being said, what is the best Gnome distro?

Fedora would be the biggest Gnome project IMO.... of course this is excluding Ubuntu which is or well was the biggest stock based Gnome distro out there....

I'd also suggest maybe just trying the newest version of Debian that hit about a month ago as well. It'll be sort of Ubuntu. lol

 

[The Technomancer]

Anyone here ever run into issues trying to boot into Ubuntu on a Mac? I'm using rEFIt, my new partiton is blessed, my tables are synced, but every time I select Ubuntu it boots into my Windows 7 partition instead.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

What is Unity exactly?

 

[Vanillalite]

What is Unity exactly?

UI design overlay for Gnome 3 much like Gnome Shell which is Gnome's UI design overlay for Gnome 3.... I'll explain more later as this whole Unity thing seems to confuse the fuck out of people and for good reason...

 

[markot]

Ubuntu beta still on track for 31st?

 

[Myke Greywolf]

What is Unity exactly?

Something that nobody was asking for, but Canonical decided to shove down our throats anyway.

 

[markot]

Someone that nobody was asking for, but Canonical decided to shove down our throats anyway.

Well, not like you dont have other options.

 

[Myke Greywolf]

Well, not like you dont have other options.

Of course, everyone does. But it still boggles my (and many others') mind.

 

[Vanillalite]

Something that nobody was asking for, but Canonical decided to shove down our throats anyway.

I hate this line of thinking. HATE HATE HATE it... I get that some things seem easily idk thought about by a large group, but a big thing for companies is to inovate in ways we haven't thought of before. Now whether the innovation Canonical has thought up is actually good is a different story as is the fact of should they have gone this route when they had another avenue for general innovation in Gnome 3 having Gnome Shell.

Still I hate this idea that because nobody was asking for said idea it just sucks. Companies hire smart R&D people to think beyond what the masses think. That's the whole game of it all.

 

[Myke Greywolf]

Still I hate this idea that because nobody was asking for said idea it just sucks. Companies hire smart R&D people to think beyond what the masses think. That's the whole game of it all.

Don't get the wrong idea, I wouldn't have written what I wrote if I hadn't given it a try first. It's just that, while trying it, I had so many "WTF?" moments that it puzzles me how they could think that this is something that their target audience would consider as a positive change.

Still, maybe it got better from the buggy convoluted mess it was when I installed Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition? I'll give it another shot with 11.04, and then we'll see.

Nothing against innovation here.

 

[GameplayWhore]

Something that nobody was asking for, but Canonical decided to shove down our throats anyway.

It's not really being shoved down your throat when it only takes a couple mouse clicks to change it, eh?

Every distro I install has the exact same interface (after the first half hour or so, of course).

-----

BTW, anybody know a rolling-release distro that isn't terribly unstable but isn't terribly out of date? I just tried Mint Debian (based off Deb Testing), and some prominent packages are nearly a year old. Altogether, I'm basically looking for an up-to-date rolling release which comes with nonfree extras (codecs, flash, video drivers) out of the box. I'm trying gentoo next, though I know it doesn't have the latter feature.

Arch will be after that. I like it when a distro breaks from established package management dogma.


Also: Wow, unetbootin is awesome.

 

[Massa]

Canonical always made bad design decisions with Ubuntu (starting with the innocuous shit color scheme in the original release), Unity takes that to 11.

 

[Vanillalite]

Don't get the wrong idea, I wouldn't have written what I wrote if I hadn't given it a try first. It's just that, while trying it, I had so many "WTF?" moments that it puzzles me how they could think that this is something that their target audience would consider as a positive change.

Still, maybe it got better from the buggy convoluted mess it was when I installed Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition? I'll give it another shot with 11.04, and then we'll see.

Nothing against innovation here.

That's the problem I have though. The idea of pushing for something new should be independent of if it is good or bad. Some might consider me splitting hairs here, but I think it's a big deal.

People should be hating on Unity because they don't like it or it's flawed or it's buggy (buggy was my case when I tried to test out alpha 2). Hate away, and I'll be right there with you at this point. I'm not sold on the idea to begin with, and even if I was I'm not sure it it'll be up to snuff by time this release window closes. Hell they aren't even a "2d" version this go round because of time.

That being said your original quote was...

Something that nobody was asking for, but Canonical decided to shove down our throats anyway.

Your not the only person I've heard say this too, but sounds like your complaining it's something people weren't asking for. Rather than complaining what Canonical is trying to do to take evolve their version of GNU/Linux just isn't working out for you. The idea of hating because it's not what was asked for just doesn't sit well with me because it's like saying if it's not a requested feature we don't want it since the statement says that independent of how good or bad it is. It's rather about putting in non requested features.

Meh... I hate ranting like this but IDK I've never said anything about this until now... needed to get it off my chest....

PS: I have the same line of reasoning with Gnome 3 as well.

 

[angelfly]

I have no problem with Canonical choosing to use Unity but I think it's crazy to think they did so in order to innovate with Ubuntu. They've spent enormous amounts of time heavily modifying gnome and trying to get those changes merged upstream. When it was clear that regardless of how much they tried they weren't going to be able to make Gnome what they wanted they decided to branch off. I think Gnome-Shell is really where they started to realize that Gnome wasn't going to cut it for them since Gnome does what Gnomes wants and doesn't care want Canonical wants for the future of Gnome. I've tried Unity and I don't like it but I understand why they switched. They needed something they control and evolve alongside Ubuntu instead of trying to create that vision with Gnome that's going in a totally different direction.

 

[Massa]

I have no problem with Canonical choosing to use Unity but I think it's crazy to think they did so in order to innovate with Ubuntu. They've spent enormous amounts of time heavily modifying gnome and trying to get those changes merged upstream. When it was clear that regardless of how much they tried they weren't going to be able to make Gnome what they wanted they decided to branch off. I think Gnome-Shell is really where they started to realize that Gnome wasn't going to cut it for them since Gnome does what Gnomes wants and doesn't care want Canonical wants for the future of Gnome. I've tried Unity and I don't like it but I understand why they switched. They needed something they control and evolve alongside Ubuntu instead of trying to create that vision with Gnome that's going in a totally different direction.

That's not really how things went. They never proposed or tried to develop Unity within Gnome, nor have they ever tried to influence the development of Gnome Shell.

What they have done repeatedly in the past, not just with Gnome but other pieces of the stack as well, was purposefully not submit their changes or collaborate with upstream. Debian and kernel developers have been complaining about these practices for years, and Canonical employees have as much as admitted to being asked to not contribute their work upstream when it doesn't interest them.

 

[Vanillalite]

On another note wow April really IS almost here. Fuck'n Gnome 3 releases in like a week for reals. That just seems crazy to me. I still think of all this new stuff as really far off and still in Alpha, and boom April is here. We are less than a month out from Ubuntu 11.04, and only like 2 weeks later Fedora 15. Should be interesting times with the new distros incoming trying to do so much new shit.

I expect a lot of WTF ITT as well just in general around the web because big Linux revamps tend to not go so well until a couple of incremental . releases. Just look at the KDE 4 launch. LOLs

 

[gunther]

Trying gnome3 now and I'm not sure yet. The activities thing seems to be a good idea i really liked so far but the no way to rapidly change apps. If I'm browsing and need to use open-office I have to click activities and select open-office. What happened to using the bars for that?
Also there seems to be no improvements on the looks of the theme's. I really want transparent windows .

 

[Schlep]

For those of you using Ubuntu, I'm looking for a little help on Ubuntu One. My file system drive (SSD) allows me to sync any of the folders. On my storage drive, I can't sync any of those folders. Any ideas?

 

[Vanillalite]

Maybe it's something to do with incorporating with the system files so it only works on that drive? IDK... I just use dropbox...

 

[Schlep]

Maybe it's something to do with incorporating with the system files so it only works on that drive? IDK... I just use dropbox...

I actually use both. Being able to sync individual folders instead of having to use one folder as a Dropbox is the very useful part of U1. Or would be, if I could get it to work, lol.

 

[Schlep]

Finally got the answer after a couple hours of searching, assuming that no change was made between 10.04 and 10.10.

The option to synchronize folders is only available for folders in your $HOME directory. Are the folders you are trying to sync in your $HOME?

Seems like they should remove the text from the contextual menu in nautilus unless you actually can sync that folder.

 

[Vanillalite]

Ubuntu 11.04 has gone beta! Think I'm gonna just wait it out for the release to try it again though.

 

[Vanillalite]

OMGUbuntu's April fools joke is A to the WESOME!

 

[markot]

Hmm, new ubuntu is ok >.>... the bar is kinda... hm.

 

[peakish]

To honour this day a few distributions are merging to "The Canterbury Distribution."

The Canterbury distribution will combine the best of the linux world to another game changer for the good of the users:

Simple as Arch - technologically simple and bleeding edge.
Stable as Debian - highly dependable.
Malleable as Gentoo - you get what you really want.
Live as Grml - readily usable.
Openminded as openSUSE - broad and welcoming for everyone.

Their respective websites redirect to a page like that (eg. http://www.archlinux.org/ ). The joke did fool someone on an Arch Linux mailing list at least I still think that the Arch Linux <-> Arklinux name switch was one of the best.

OMGUbuntu's April fools joke is A to the WESOME!

Haha, yeah nicely done!

 

[itxaka]

Ubuntu 11.04 has gone beta! Think I'm gonna just wait it out for the release to try it again though.

Upgraded yesterday it crapped of course as all the fucking ubuntu upgrades of the last couple of years.

Installed it from zero and there is a nasty bug. If you click on install updates and other components during installation, flashplugin fails to install and it totally kills the installation which means that no grub is installed


Finally got installed. Is better but its still a poor desktop experience.

1) Nouveau is not installed by default so you don't get unity from the start but a mix of gnome panels and unity interface which sucks.
2) Installing nvidia drivers on your own doesn't work. gdm dies
3) When you click the ubuntu button, the launcher only takes a 25% of the screen which makes absolutely no sense. You can make it so it takes all the screen and shows more apps but it won't remember.
4) Ubuntu one program still sucks. I can't believe OMG said it was the best interface ever. That was an april's fools joke for sure.
5) ADD THIS FOLDER TO UBUNTU ONE -> Fucking shut up already. Having that on every folder sucks.
6) I can't really find anything special in unity. It's nothing more than docky + gnome-do in the launcher + MACOSX title bars. It doesn't innovate or does anything different than rearrange the desktop with those utils.
7) Libreoffice is really welcomed! I hated to uninstall openoffice and install libreoffice after the installation
8) Nothing else I can see that grants a new distro. Apps are the same but updated. Nothing else. Once you get past the novelty of the desktop there is nothing that justifies upgrading to this version.

So TLR: Unity is nothing especial, graphics drivers still confuse novelty users but now more, nothing that justifies upgrading if you are ok with 10.10.

EDIT: It sounds kind of harsh but it's not. The interface works, especially for us that normally use docky and gnome-do normally. Its just that is not revolutionary or anything. For me it feels like it's my usual desktop but with docky on the side instead of on the bottom.

 

[Vanillalite]

Upgraded yesterday it crapped of course as all the fucking ubuntu upgrades of the last couple of years.

Installed it from zero and there is a nasty bug. If you click on install updates and other components during installation, flashplugin fails to install and it totally kills the installation which means that no grub is installed


Finally got installed. Is better but its still a poor desktop experience.

1) Nouveau is not installed by default so you don't get unity from the start but a mix of gnome panels and unity interface which sucks.
2) Installing nvidia drivers on your own doesn't work. gdm dies
3) When you click the ubuntu button, the launcher only takes a 25% of the screen which makes absolutely no sense. You can make it so it takes all the screen and shows more apps but it won't remember.
4) Ubuntu one program still sucks. I can't believe OMG said it was the best interface ever. That was an april's fools joke for sure.
5) ADD THIS FOLDER TO UBUNTU ONE -> Fucking shut up already. Having that on every folder sucks.
6) I can't really find anything special in unity. It's nothing more than docky + gnome-do in the launcher + MACOSX title bars. It doesn't innovate or does anything different than rearrange the desktop with those utils.
7) Libreoffice is really welcomed! I hated to uninstall openoffice and install libreoffice after the installation
8) Nothing else I can see that grants a new distro. Apps are the same but updated. Nothing else. Once you get past the novelty of the desktop there is nothing that justifies upgrading to this version.

So TLR: Unity is nothing especial, graphics drivers still confuse novelty users but now more, nothing that justifies upgrading if you are ok with 10.10.

EDIT: It sounds kind of harsh but it's not. The interface works, especially for us that normally use docky and gnome-do normally. Its just that is not revolutionary or anything. For me it feels like it's my usual desktop but with docky on the side instead of on the bottom.

Sounds harsh, but after my Alpha experience (granted it was Alpha 2) I don't think this is unreasonable stuff to have happened. I'll have difference experiences than you though because I'm running a 4xxx ATI card instead of Nvidia.

Also nice about Libre Office as I just installed that shit last week finally. It was sort of a pain to get rid of OO and install LO as LO glitched out on me. Purged and retried and it worked though.

I was never a big fan of OO though, and I know LO is basically OO with a ton of bug fixes so far as a fork. Yet for some reason Libre just seems at 1st glance to be a lot better to me personally. Oh well what do I care. I never use office suites that much anyways, and if I do I just use online stuff like Office or GDocs online.

PS: Funny last night reading the OMGUbuntu article on the beta had me thinking why does this feel like unity and gnome shell both are to an extent just a dock on the side of my screen instead of the bottom? LOL

 

[peakish]

I probably sound way too much like a Canonical apologist at this point, but:

EDIT: It sounds kind of harsh but it's not. The interface works, especially for us that normally use docky and gnome-do normally. Its just that is not revolutionary or anything. For me it feels like it's my usual desktop but with docky on the side instead of on the bottom.

This sounds kinda good and is probably exactly what they're after: A new dock as a standard interface component that they have full control over. I know it's something I've hoped for them to implement since a year back at least.

I still don't know how well everything works, I couldn't get the alpha to boot on my laptop so I'm holding off until an RC is available. I'm expecting it to work... not so well, actually, and for it to take one or two releases to implement needed features and whatnot. But still, I like the idea behind it right now.

If both Unity and GS fails I'll just install XFCE again, that's always lovely.

 

[Vanillalite]

It's the Ubuntu Global Jam this weekend April 1st-3rd. I meade a separate THREAD about it, but nobody outside of Linux-GAF probably cares. I went ahead and posted a separate thread anyways though!

PS: I fully expect me to be meh over 11.04 and more yay over 11.10 as I bet 11.10 just fixes a lot of the shit that is gonna make everyone meh come late April. LOL