[ubuntu-uk] classic interface and ubntu

[Paula Graham]

On 06/09/11 11:48, paul sutton wrote:
> Hi
>
> Is the classic interface using gnome 3? and is this going to remain an
> option, i currently run 11.04 with classic will i still have this option
> if i upgrade to 11.10?
>
> Paul
>
Unity's not half as bad on 11.10 - even in alpha it worked better than 
it did on 11.04. At the current beta stage, the communication deck 
(under the envelope icon) is acting very, very weird but the rest of it 
is working pretty well. I'm not getting the dock jamming or completely 
disappearing, or the desktop freezing and requiring re-logging in etc 
etc. Also the previously godawful alt+tab cycling now works properly - 
unlike 11.04 where you couldn't see WTF was going on or tell the app 
icons apart. The 'put' key combos work properly too. Integration of 
Mozilla stuff still sux a bit but it doesn't seem to be crashing Unity 
as badly as it did on 11.04. Nice job!

I'm still not crazy about the loss of widgets and it's crap lack of 
customisation options in general (bloody 'ell, you can't even create a 
custom launcher in 11.10 without editing a ruddy .desktop file manually 
- that really is inconvenient! OK non-techies don't want to run scripts 
but do you want to chase people who do away?) but at least it works 
overall. Also, it's now very *pretty* - which makes me feel a lot better 
about it and I can finally get proper transparency on the dock with 
compiz manager.

I had to change my way of working on the desktop drastically but memory 
of the pain is now fading.

Most of all, I did Fossbox' first workshop on 're-use with Ubuntu' with 
11.04 a couple of months ago and all the non-techies really loved the 
Unity interface. I thought they'd never work it out as it seems 
ridiculously complicated to me but it turns out if you're not used to 
GNOME classic, it's actually easier to learn because it's like a 
smartphone with an app store. So s'pose that's the proof of the pudding. 
People aren't expecting to be able to customise their desktop experience 
so that's not bothering them either.

My worst problem on Oneiric is that, at the moment, I can't sync 
anything - syncevolution not working properly (and logs not telling me 
anything I can use) and funambol seem to have given up on Linux/TBird 
(plugin for 6 seems to be 'in development' as a community sideline so 
not holding my breath for TBird 7 funambol plugin). Hoping the promised 
duplex integration with Ubuntu One contacts will be finished quick - but 
that still leaves my calendars limping along on ical. Seems a bit 
premature to make TBird default when it can't even sync with my memotoo 
account any more? Why on earth Mozilla didn't use opensync in the first 
place often puzzles me - ah, yes, Windows users . . . well, at least 
we'll get some sort of a choice now - but why sync to Ubuntu One? I use 
Ubuntu One for files, but not for syncing my PIM (cos it doesn't do it 
right and I've no idea how that would work on my maemo phone and I'm not 
faffing around on the cli when there's a perfectly good GUI syncml 
client for it). Why not either make Ubuntu One sync my contacts, cals 
and tasks *properly* like memotoo with GUI clients for main smartphone 
OSs or let me have the choice to use opensync with memotoo which already 
does the job fabulously. Opensync ain't broke so why fix it - when 
contacts first synced with Ubuntu One it broke syncevolution - you now 
get a choice about whether to install couchdb but if you've no choice 
about sync protocols, it's pointless. It's the one thing Evolution does 
perfectly - for everything else, Evolution is horrible. Nevertheless, I 
tried to switch to Evolution so I can have sync - but even 
syncevolution's not working with Evolution. What I want is TBird with 
PROPER opensync. Please? I wouldn't even mind paying UbuntuOne for this 
- given that I pay memotoo AND I pay UbuntuOne already for file sync - 
but it has to really work as this is a crucial aspect of my working 
life. The point of now-defunct scheduleworld and memotoo is that they 
sync anything to anything without fuss. That's how it should be . . . 
the setup with TBird default mail client syncing only to UbuntuOne is 
perilously close to lock-in - and lock-in to something that doesn't 
actually work as well. By all means compete with Memotoo/syncevolution, 
but at least offer something comparable?

I also haven't yet tried setting up remote desktops - so here's hoping 
Unity 2D works with neatx (assuming neatx will ever be maintained) or 
x2go - will test this soon. NX goes to GNOME classic on 11.04, will it 
go to 2D on Oneiric? Is that supported by NX? There was some talk about 
getting x2go into Oneiric but I don't know if this happened - or if that 
will work with 2D?

Anyway, if you're desperate for classic, apparently you can still 
install the package gnome-session-fallback on Oneiric but I think might 
as well either bite the Unity/Gnome 3 bullet and get it over with or 
change to XFCE really. The only reason for fallback I can see would be 
if NX doesn't work with 2D.

Paula

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