[kwlug-disc] Ubuntu 11.10

[Gary Walsh]

On Sun, 2011-10-16 at 22:08 -0400, Darcy Casselman wrote:
> You should get 4 desktops by default.

No, it definitely only gives one. 

> 
> It's possible to add more:
> 
> Unity: http://askubuntu.com/questions/34572/how-can-i-reduce-or-increase-the-number-of-workspaces-in-unity
> Unity 2D: http://askubuntu.com/questions/21755/how-to-add-multiple-workspaces-in-unity-2d

This is a rather opaque way to do things.  In KDE you just left click on
the pager and bring up the settings dialogue.  One shouldn't have to
search the Internet to find out how to make such a simple change.

> 
> I like Unity (kind of a lot, actually).  But I user interface can be a
> very person thing. So to each their own.
> 
> You can easily install other desktop environments in Ubuntu.   All the
> major derivative distributions have a "desktop" package that you can
> just install.  If you have Ubuntu and you want to try out Kubuntu,
> just run `sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop` on the command line.
> Linus has switched to XFCE, and if you want to join him, install
> xubuntu-desktop.  Or try lubuntu-desktop for LXDE.
> 
> If you want to use Gnome Shell, it's a lot easier in 11.10. Just
> install gnome-shell.
> 
> If you want to go back to the old Gnome panel interface, install
> gnome-session-fallback.
> 
> You can switch between them from the login screen.

I know that I can install multiple desktop environments.  I have been
using Linux for 15 years.  My comments were about the live CD which is
the version that anybody new to Ubuntu is likely to be seeing. I am not
surprised that people like Linus and Eric Raymond have not been happy
with Unity.  Since I am a KDE 4.x user, I will check out Kubuntu which I
have already downloaded. However, it seems unlikely that I will be
persuaded to switch from Mageia, which works well and has a strong
development community behind it.

> 
> Easy!
> 
> Darcy.
> 
> On Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 3:45 PM, Gary Walsh <gwalsh at notw.ca> wrote:
> > Ok, I just booted the Ubuntu 11.10 from the CD on my old Thinkpad T30.
> > It really, really, really sucks!  I wasn't fond of past releases of
> > Ubuntu because of the relative lack of good graphical configuration
> > tools equivalent to Mandriva's Drakconf system and also because I am
> > more used to RPM based distros than Debian based ones.  However, I at
> > least found it reasonably usable.  This release has a really poor
> > interface.  There is an icon labelled workspaces, but it only has one
> > workspace and does not provide any way to add more.  When I try to
> > connect to my wireless router, the Connect button is greyed out even
> > after typing in the password.  I suppose that the Unity interface could
> > be tolerable on a low powered system like the one I am testing it on,
> > but there are better choices in window managers or distros like
> > Jolicloud that I have installed on this laptop.
> > --
> > Gary Walsh <gwalsh at notw.ca>
> >
> >
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