Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Ubuntu

Journal jawtheshark's Journal: Living with Unity 42

Journal by jawtheshark

I know, I haven't been very fond of Unity. As a matter of fact, I still don't really like it and there are improvements that could be made. I still bit the bullet and went with Ubuntu 11.10 on my work laptop? Why? Because yesterday my laptop refused to boot. The harddisk decided to have some mechanical failure somewhere between yesterday and the Monday before: I was sick due to a quite heavy Gastroenteritis last week.

First thing, organize a new hard disk. While I was away running down the electronic stores, I asked a co-worker to burn me the latest Ubuntu 11.10/amd64. The rest of the day, I passed installing the system, and setting everything up for my work environment. As I didn't have a possibility to read the old disk, I started from the assumption that everything was lost. I had a backup at home, so I wasn't all that worried.

Still, I decided to give Unity a shot. First thing first, you do need a good machine to run Unity as conceived by Canconical. This is a Core2Duo P8600 with NVidia graphics (Quadro NVS 160M, according to lspci). I had tried 11.10/Unity on my old latop which is a Turion X2 TL-50 with ATI Xpress 1100, and it's too damned slow for Unity. This is mainly due to the ATI chipset being grandfathered and not getting any decent drivers anymore. Also, I used it with a trackpad. The last thing is important: the longer "mousing ways" strain you when using a trackpad, but at work I use a mouse and there it doesn't bother me all that much.

The second thing, I decided after my initial Unity experience was to give it the "Mac treatment", which means: stop using maximized windows. Maximized windows are simply a pain in Unity. If you don't use them, you'll do fine. Next up is to take care that you never ever, under any circumstances, put something under the "dock" (dash?). If you do that, it will autohide, so if you need it, it will take a few seconds to reappear. That is very annoying. This is, by the way, the same reason that maximized windows suck so much. No dock.

When you adapt yourself to that line of thinking, Unity becomes usable. That said, Unity needs a lot of resolution. One could argue the icons are too large, so you cannot fit everything you might need in it.

Two very positive things on Ubuntu 11.10:

  • The top bar, while being very uncustomizable, is duplicated on your second monitor. So if you need anything from up there, you actually have less mouse movements to do. Remember, you can get your email, IM, RSS by default in there.
  • The backup tool looks nifty. I'm running one now, but from afar it looks a bit like a time machine clone. Very good for the normal user. Yes, I do know how to use rsync, don't worry.

What I like much less is that you "feel" (yes, yes, I know cold hard data is better) slower. I cannot say if it's just the system, or due to Unity. Furthermore, am I not convinced that the current NVidia drivers are top-notch (NVidia is usually quite good on Linux). Just right now Movie Player (that's Totem for you folks, I really need to install VLC), decided that it was going to hijack my second monitor and set it to "mirror" instead of Twinview. How that's even possible, is beyond me. The NVidia XServer Settings applet also manages to kill Unity from time to time. Sure, that's not really Canonicals fault, but it's annoying when it happens. I'd rather use the native monitor section application anyway. I don't think that possible, except if I'd try Nouveau or something.

All in all, I'm not all that negative any more about Unity.

Still, don't even think of trying this on slow machines and especially not on netbooks. Which is odd, as I understood Unity was "born" for that market.

There is one thing I want to say that bothers me: It's this new philosophy of putting applications in PPAs (Personal Package Archives). It is very much a hybrid form between "Windows thinking" and "Linux thinking". The mantra these days is pretty much "Just add this PPA". It's just too close to "Just download and install this exe". I don't like it. I did install two PPAs (indicator-cpufreq and indicator-multiload), but I really do think these belong in the main repository. Sure, these are little things, but I really don't know what exactly I added to my system, now do I? It gets worse. I have an application called "IBM Storage Manager" to work on our SAN. It's a Java application and it "needs" Sun/Oracle Java 6. You want Java from Sun/Oracle? Oh, add this PPA. I will tell you what: unless that PPA is on an official Oracle/Sun site, I tell you: No fucking way in hell.
IBM Storage Managers seems to run on OpenJDK, so for now I don't need to install it. I really should try the BladeCenter management consoles. They are Java-Applet based. That might fail spectacularly too.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Living with Unity More

Living with Unity

Comments Filter:

  • I was like the one guy who kept saying "give it time" when 10.04 was released. I mean, yeah, it was slow, and it was buggy and crashy, and it couldn't be configured at all, but it also had a reasonable work flow. Then they started working on 11.10 and made the dock auto-hide (against their better first choice) and broke a bunch of other stuff that they said would get fixed. Well, some did and some didn't, so about three days after release, I went to Fedora 16 Beta and loved it. GNOME 3 and Unity aren't very

    • Thanks. Will keep in mind when it really goes on my nerves ;-)
      • If you look at the list for the last 7 days on distrowatch [distrowatch.com], mint is #1. fedora is now #2, and opensuse is #3.

        The main stats page [distrowatch.com] doesn't capture the latest move down in the ranking, since it's not fine-grained enough, but it's obvious that people are really p***ed.

        You've got to figure that most people go directly to the site they want to download from, so how many tens of thousands of people are dropping ubuntu every week?

        • One wonders if it simply isn't on purpose. Shuttleworth only sinks money in the project, and it won't ever become profitable. His state goal was that it should be self-sustaining. So, he pisses off all users... They leave, no more users means Canonical folds and Ubuntu disappears, and Mark got rid of his money-bleeding project.

          Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds like a conspiracy theory....

          • Funny you should be thinking the same thing ...

            After all, he has no exit plan any more. None of the hardware companies are going to buy a license, you can't make much off of paid support when it's for the desktop (it's not like servers, where it's worth playing around to get the performance you want - for desktops, it's more lilke "aw, f*ck this sh*t, we're going back to $EVIL_CORPORATE_OVERLORD, at least it works"), and while Amazon uses Ubuntu, they aren't going to buy our Canonical.

            Remember, this i

            • Given the money he has, he could have started his own OEM and do an Apple. I'm pretty sure that would have worked. Sure, the margins are razor-thing, but bring on board a decent designer and make sure the hardware is 100% Linux compatible

              It would have to nice be hardware too, but the Geeks and Nerds would have been all over it. A bit like Nerd Chic.

              Unity pretty much is his exit plan. Sometimes failing is the only way of winning.

              • Half a billion doesn't go all that far when you start using it to buy rides in space, 6-month cruises, etc. And Shuttleworth's design skills are about zero - remember how UGLY all the ubuntu color schemes were (black isn't a color, so that's why Unity isn't some color that looks like a diseased vegetable or a 3-week-old pumpkin).

                You're right, though - since he can't win, the only option is to fail, and slowly bleed the air out of it. Eventually, he'll pull and Oracle or Adobe, and "donate it to a founda

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by gmhowell ( 26755 )

                  Not sure what JtS specifically meant by 'do an Apple'. No reason to think that Shuttleworth could charge a premium of any sort for a Linux box. Not to mention a big old [Citation Needed] for the 40% figure on their laptops and desktops. I'll note that Acer and Asus are having big time trouble getting the price of their ultrabooks under that of the MacBook Air. Sure there are economies of scale, but if Apple were making a 40% margin, surely at the same price, Acer/Asus should be in the 20% range, leaving ple

                  • The profit margins are all over the web - just google for it. It's like when Jobs got Motorola to sell cpus to them for less than 1/4 the industry price [folklore.org]. Apple locked in large amounts of production at cheap volume prices for their iDevices, leaving everyone else to scavenge for surplus manufacturing capacity. Apple's current head honcho got hand-picked for the job in part because of his ability to manage the supply chain.

                    The real problem isn't making linux run on a device - it's getting an OS that can r

                    • Consumers don't know what they want. They are blinded by shiny, and that's it.

                      Do you really want a Redmond/Cupertino only future? You do realize that it'll be us geeks who are going to suffer.

                      competition is good

                      Not if the choice is between a frozen shit and a steaming pile of shit.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by gmhowell ( 26755 )

                      I did Google it. More than once. I read far more news sites than this one. Siting a 28 year old report is irrelevant. Shuttleworth would be in a market of 2012, not the one of 1983 like you cited. This is pretty piss poor form for you. I mean... Wow. This just boggles my mind. Citing a price for a processor from when I was in elementary school as 'evidence' of the profit margin of a computer I could purchase in middle age?

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by gmhowell ( 26755 )

                      Consumers don't know what they want. They are blinded by shiny, and that's it.

                      "Faster horses."

                      So yes, you've got it partially right. Not only are you echoing Henry Ford, but also Steve Jobs.

                      Still not so sure why people can't let go of the "Apple only does shiny" meme. It clearly isn't true, and that sort of mindset will forever relegate Linux to the server room (and Meego to the dustbin of history). People want usable. They want their apps (or tasks). And they mean usable for them, not usable for someone who probably thought Calculus was a fun lark in high school. Sorry, but the aver

                    • Indeed, Apple does much more than shiny. Their products are well thought out. That is /part/ of design. I can only talk about the machines I had or have. The iMac of my wife is just ideal for living room computing. One cable, that's it... Do that with a PC (it must be possible, but you don't see it often). Similar with my first Apple experience. My iBook G3 "Snow white". It's a detail, but closing the lid made spring out the little "hook" to close the lid, about half an inch before real closing. It

                    • Do you really want a Redmond/Cupertino only future? You do realize that it'll be us geeks who are going to suffer.

                      Well, it's better than the Redmond-only past ... and since "desktop linux" will be here some time after the universe experiences heat death ..

                      What does it take to make a great "desktop+mobile" operating system? Who knows - we *still* don't have a good one, and the whole thing is going to be irrelevant 20 years from now, when you just put on your VR glasses (not some fugly "goggles") and int

                    • Call me a naysayer, but the VR thing will never happen. I can think of some porn applications, though :-)
                    • Gee, I only included the early Apple stuff to show that Jobs was doing this even 30 years ago.

                      The very first hit on "apple hardware profit margins" (I *did* ask you to look for it yourself, so you could see I wasn't just cherry-picking results) is Apple makes $208 on every $499 iPad [computerworld.com] ... from last year.

                      The most expensive component on his price list was the 9.7-in. LCD touch-sensitive display, which he tagged at $100. The 16GB of memory and the aluminum case cost about $25 each, said Marshall, while the Ap

                    • We've had VR glasses for decades - just that the resolution and color rendition were off because we were using LCDs. Instead, we're going to "paint" the picture directly on the retina with scanning lasers. Much higher resolution, no LCDs or other "screen" in the way, and when combined with a miniature camera, has all sorts of applications, from people with vision problems to making night driving on an unlit road during the new moon as safe as driving during the day.

                      It's not a question of if, but when.

                    • I know that... However, I doubt it will be the "interface of the future".
                    • Why not? It's cheaper to mass-produce than it is to make display screens. Less raw materials, less rare earths, less eWaste to recycle, uses less energy, better resolution, no flicker, no fingerprints on the display, no worrying about the cat or dog knocking it over and breaking it, completely portable, and you can customize the output to do zoom, enhance, night vision, false color, etc.

                      But the biggie is the first one- it's cheaper. Cheap always wins when it comes to consumer tech. BETA vs VHS all ove

                    • So, we're all going to sit down at a desk, stare in emptyness and work that way? I doubt it... You can't sit together to watch data when you're "on glasses". You're also underestimating bandwidth. How? Wireless? Never gonna cut it. A fat cable? Fiber optics? Too fragile. Then there is how to power them? Never gonna run with batteries, as you'll have even less space in "glasses" for batteries than you currently have in cellphones and smartphones already required you to charge them daily. They'll run

                    • So, we're all going to sit down at a desk, stare in emptyness and work that way? I doubt it...

                      50 years ago - "So we're all going to sit down at a desk, stare at some sort of TV-like thing, and work that way? I doubt it ..."

                      Times and technology change, and change how we do things.

                      You can't sit together to watch data when you're "on glasses".

                      Sure you can. Data is just data, easily shared. Think of it - no more big-screen tv - you all watch the same virtual tv, but it's now 96 inches wide if you want -

                    • We'll talk again in 20 years. I'm not convinced.
                    • Oh, and KMV was just used as an abbreviation for Keyboard, Mouse and Video... Not the expensive devices that are (go figure) extensively used in datacentres.

                    • Oh, and KMV was just used as an abbreviation for Keyboard, Mouse and Video

                      IWell, duh! :-), but even then, why spend $15-$35 on a KVM switch, then the hassles of making sure the keyboard hotkey doesn't conflict with every application, or having to use the hardware a/b switch, when you can span multiple computers, monitors, and operating systems without a switch? About the only argument in favor of a KVM is the "you only need one monotor" one, but that fails, because dual and triple monitors more than pay

                    • 20 years ago (1991), back when many of us were making do with 2 to 4 megs of ram, and if we were lucky, more than 40 megs of storage, if someone had told you that you'd carry around a gig of storage in your pocket, and that if it got left in the wash, you wouldn't have a heart attack, because it's only $5, you'd look at them as if they had grown a 3rd eye.

                      If they had told you that an entire computer, with a terabyte of storage, a flat-panel display, 4 cpu cores, all working at more than 2 gigahertz, and 8

                    • Again, I used it as abbreviation for Keyboard, Mouse and Video... Not about the device. Private users don't have those.

                    • Again, I used it as abbreviation for Keyboard, Mouse and Video... Not about the device. Private users don't have those.

                      I would have to disagree. KVM switches are dirt cheap, and sitting on the shelf at the local el-cheapo computer/electronics store beside the keyboards and mice. Anyone who buys a second computer (media center, file server, etc.) and doesn'tw want to spring for a second monitor (and doesn't know about synergy) can get one. The only time you wouldn't do that is if the machines are in dif

                    • Well, they used to be pricey (and the good ones still aren't cheap). The real good datacentre grade ones are expensive though, any you connect them using Cat5e, not USB.
                    • That's because the data center ones have their own built-in server and ip address, and provide a serial console over IP - a neat trick. Home kit works over usb, so it's a lot simpler (and cheaper) At less than the price of a second wireless keyboard and mouse, it's a no-brainer for some.
                    • They used to be 200€++. I have an Avocent at home, I don't use it anymore, but back then it was cheaper than a new monitor and I didn't have the space in the first place. PS/2 only. The USB ones didn't exist back then, and even now they are more expensive than the PS/2 counterparts.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by gmhowell ( 26755 )

                      If it's like the catch on my MacBook Pro, it is exactly a 'magnetic thing'. I can't remember exactly how it works sitting here, but it's a simple, but clever bit of kit.

                      Real shame about the longevity or your iBook. My brother is still using his G4 iBook.

                    • Yes, as I'm used to my laptops (PC) lasting years with the correct cajoling, it is indeed a shame and has tarnished the Apple image in my mind quite a lot.

                  • I meant exactly what I you thought I meant. With the difference that, if I'd been Mark, I'd have made sure that the price-point would be in the midrange. Somewhere between Apple and the "Dell Seasons Special". Decent specs and -very important- a nice and functional design. Of course he'd need to hire a good designer (Barbie seems to have overseen the word "hire").

                    He could have pulled it off around the 9.xx releases. Ubuntu was hot and good and at that point he should have introduced a laptop line. Thr

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by gmhowell ( 26755 )

                      I read some really good things in the past week regarding design, computer specs, and some other ancillary points of this discussion, but it's close to the end of my shift, so I can't dig up the links right now. Somewhat orthogonal to this post though. Regarding this comment: spot on. I can't speak to the currency (you don't use the euro?) but the other parts have some merit.

                    • You probably mean this [boingboing.net]. Posted by MonTemplar on G+.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by gmhowell ( 26755 )

                      I think that article and some others written in response to it.

  • can't read about unity without hearing the first 20 seconds of this song [youtu.be] in my head over and over. Which isn't a bad thing, brings back memories of some good times but I feel compelled to share. Sound quality at the linked video isn't the best and they got the name wrong. And the unity thing pops up again later - around the 2:40 mark or so. It's awful ironic as these guys just couldn't hold it together. Lot of talent though, glad I caught them live quite a few times when they were doing well (and they still

  • Objective measurement of UI (or UX) doesn't matter. You try to launch program 'foo'. It matters not if Ubuntu takes 3.2 seconds and Mint takes 3.8. What matters is which one feels faster. In the course of a day (month, year, whatever) you will not save enough time to accomplish anything additional. But the frustration born of using something that feels slower will negatively affect your entire working process.

    • Hear, hear...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rk ( 6314 )

        Put a progress bar on a 10 second process, and nobody thinks twice about running it. Make a 5 second process make your application look like it's locked and watch people's blood pressure boil. Managing the user's expectations is more than half the battle.

  • Given that every linux distro flavour has something I don't like BSD on a laptop? A laptop with Broadcom chipsets?

Slashdot Top Deals

If the aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of Western civilization would presumably flunk it. -- Stanley Garn

Close