Ubuntu 11.04 getting interesting

[exploder]

I installed Ubuntu Natty this morning to have a look at how things were progressing. I must say, I was very surprised! Once I got the NVidea drivers installed Unity loaded right up and believe it or not it's actually kind of fun to use! It took me a few minutes to get used to the user interface but it looks and works pretty nice. The new NVidea drivers combined with the new kernel are giving me the best image quality I have ever seen out of my GT 220 in Linux.

Flash playback in full screen works perfectly for me, that made my day! I do have an issue with Plymouth not displaying on start up. I installed bootupmanager and Plymouth displays fine on shut down and restart, just start up seems to be affected. Boot time is quick, so this is not that big of a deal right now. So far all multimedia playback is working nicely.

I would be interested in other peoples experiences with Unity and 11.04.

[Rifester]

Exploder, I was testing and reporting bugs (and promised myself that I was going to keep it on my machine until release). It runs o.k. But the more I used Unity the more I found little usability annoyances that I did not like. I have a feeling it will be released with quite a few issues that users will not like. I could be wrong but release date is about a month away. After the conclusion that Unity was not the direction I wanted to follow, I switched to KDE 4.6 (in the event I don't bond with Gnome-Shell) and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised with my experience thus far. Personally, Gnome-Shell just seems to flow a little better to me. It is all very interesting and I can't wait to see the finished products from both camps.

[exploder]

Rifester, thanks for the reply! I am running into some of those usability problems now too. The launcher hides when it feels like it and blocks my apps the rest of the time... Unity 2D just plain sucks...

Edit: Unity seems to loose it's theme sometimes too and reverts to a generic gnome appearance until I log out and back on.

[Rifester]

I got very tired of the hide feature of the launcher and ending up running with launcher on the whole time.... You are not the only one that has had issues with it. I was not a fan of the global menu. I know all of this is in alpha, but I would be any amount of money many of the issues will not be fixed prior to release. I would like it much better if there were some options to theme the dock bar. As it stands now I think it looks very poor )compared to other docks that allow you to change themes and icons).

[exploder]

The glitches in Unity are slowly getting fixed, it is pretty nice looking and fun to use. The problems I see right now is that Plymouth does not work reliably and if you are using the NVidea drivers RAM usage is very high. I believe Canonical can get Unity in decent shape by 11.04's release date, they did a decent job with the netbook re-mix for 10.04 and Unity is behaving pretty decent now. I like the fact that 11.04 offers me the experimental open source NVidea drivers along with the proprietary drivers. Open GL support is essential for the Unity interface to work.

I can see where Unity would be a good choice for mobile devices, combined with touch screen technology it would be very nice, of course the desktop is better off with Unity in it's current form. I think Unity can attract the oem's like Canonical is anticipating provided they can refine it to the degree they are hoping for by the 12.04 release.

The Software Center integration in various parts of the menu is interesting, it definitely lets new uses know there are a large selection of programs available to install. This is an interesting twist on solving new users complaints about not understanding package management. I think the user interface will get better with each new release. In my opinion, the factor that will make or break Unity will be Open GL support.

Edit: Another interesting point, Unity in no way would give a new user the impression they are running a free version of Windows. Too many new users expect Linux to act and run like Windows, Unity solves this because it does not look or act like Windows in any way.

[Kendall]

I'm quite enjoying Unity from what I've used of it thus far. I know I have a tendency to prefer non-traditional desktops, but I really don't understand a lot of the hate that people have been giving it. Different != bad.

[exploder]

Thanks for replying Kendall! I agree with your thoughts on Unity. Unity is different but has a certain cool factor to it.

[Rifester]

Exploder, it has gotten considerably better in the last few weeks. I agree that the software center integration & suggestions are nice. It also asks you after installing a new program if you would like to add it to the launcher (which I think is a nice idea). You can now change the icons on the launcher in the Appearance section which has really helped with the appearance of the launcher. Here is a look at my current Unity desktop:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1697559&highlight=march+screenshot&page=45

I think it is a much improved look! Still get some Compiz crashes and reported system problems, but far less then a week ago.

[exploder]

Rifester, nice screen shots! Does Plymouth work on your system? I have seen the boot splash a few times but it is not consistent, when it does appear it is in the right resolution though.

[Rifester]

I was getting a lot of not very pretty video when Plymouth started. That seems to have been fixed in the last couple of weeks for me. I really like it on my netbook (ant it will probably stay there). I did not care for it as much on my laptop. It has ATI graphics card and seemed to have many more issues. I will test it again on that machine at beta. I also don't understand all of the hate for Unity, Gnome-Shell, etc. There are so many options to choose from!

[exploder]

I don't understand the negative attitude some have for Unity either. I like the originality of Unity myself and it's pretty slick once you get used to it.

[linuxviolin]

I don't understand the negative attitude some have for Unity

Lol! And me, I don't understand the positive attitude some have for Unity...

[waldo]

I don't understand the negative attitude some have for Unity either. I like the originality of Unity myself and it's pretty slick once you get used to it.

So far Unity looks pretty good to me. I think it will be easy for new Linux users to understand, and that appears to be the design plan. I'm sure 11.04 will be an "in transition distro", meaning that it will be still quite rough around the edges. I don't expect it will be ready for your mother-in-law quite yet!

I think I am beginning to understand the negative attitude of some. They are always clamoring for new distros, but they don't actually want any real changes.

[linuxviolin]

So far Unity looks pretty good to me. I think it will be easy for new Linux users to understand, and that appears to be the design plan.

(...)

I think I am beginning to understand the negative attitude of some. They are always clamoring for new distros, but they don't actually want any real changes.

Just one hint. For instance:

Unless you want a highly usable open-source software for tablet, GNOME 3 probably isn't for you. (...) it might be very well suited for PDA-like devices though, (...) The design calls for touchscreen.

Etc... And plus, as there is no valid OS for mobile devices yet, only crap...

This is about GNOME 3 but the same can be said for Unity.

[proxima_centauri]

Just installed Ubuntu 11.04 Beta 1.

I was impressed that the proprietary nvidia drivers were set up upon installation and no further tweaking was necessary. Unity works alright with compiz although I have encountered a few bugs (emerald doesn't work, some plugins crash compiz when enabled). The integration of the file menus of applications works well on the panel, although sometimes it seems to have trouble and all that shows is "file" for some applications until restarted. It's nice how when you maximize windows it puts the window title bar fully into the panel to maximize screen real-estate - and the window snapping works well for non-maximized applications.

I think once the interface has been smoothed out it will provide a very clean and polished interface - very similar to the mac UI on the surface. One thing, I wish there was an expose feature to show all open windows with a button or flick of the mouse (if it exists I could not find it - seemed to be missing from compiz settings).

[linuxviolin]

It's nice how when you maximize windows it puts the window title bar fully into the panel to maximize screen real-estate

This can be interesting for PDA-like devices, tablets... but on our desktops, practically everybody has now a 22, 24 or more screen, so there is no more problem of space.

very similar to the mac UI on the surface.

Quite unfortunately...

[EAM]

I have tried Ubuntu twice, but to be fair, not very extensively. I might try again with this new release since I'd like to know why it is #1 popular. Both times that I installed it, I went and installed Mint right over it. The last time was 10.10 that I put on an old desktop that I just want for entertainment. First, it didn't recongnize my TV, although it did display correctly, nor a different monitor, but again, it did display correctly, then I plugged my external DVD player in and tried to play a movie. I got an error message after trying to actually play it although the display screen came up with the movie loaded. I've ordered a wireless usb card and the reviews mentioned that I will have to tweak Ubuntu. At that point, I just installed Mint 9, which I've got on another PC. Plugged my monitor in, recoginized the monitor, gave me display options, displays great. Next my DVD, played in the movie player, although a slight issue with the screen going black if you touch it (mouse click), but it also came with GNOME player which played flawlessly. Next I borrowed my husband's wireless usb card, plugged it in, set it up and watched a Hulu TV show. I'm not adverse to having to tweak here and there, and I've done with with Mint 9 since my hardware is old, but if Mint works right out of the box, why is Ubuntu more popular? Any insights? If this is off-topic, I apologize. Thanks

[AlbertP]

Ubuntu is more popular because everyone knows Ubuntu, and they can pay advertising, and some more reasons. Mint does not have so much money, it has become popular just because it's a good distro.

[cpatrick08]

read on http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/gnome-3-released-to-be-available-for-ubuntu-11-04-via-ppa/ that gnome 3 & the gnome-shell will be available via a ppa but you cant have unity and gnome-shell at the same time though

[AlbertP]

Is it just /usr/games applications that need some work, or does this also apply to apps in other folders which used to work?