V.T. Eric Layton Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 I'm not saying it's bad or not properly functioning; it's just weird looking. I spent last night and today putting together a new system for my brother. I installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS because he wanted to go back to that after having run Linux Mint for the last couple years. I hadn't seen the new Unity Ubuntu desktop up close and personal until today. WOW! It's definitely funky compared to Gnome. Anywho, I s'pose brother will get used to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted September 4, 2014 Author Share Posted September 4, 2014 (edited) This ain't yer grampa's Ubuntu. Nyuh-uh. Edited September 4, 2014 by V.T. Eric Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReleaseRoderick Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 What a sensible chappie young Bro is. Yea-yuh-uh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reynaldo Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 why 'buntu bro when you can go all the way with Elementary Os freya.. look it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted September 4, 2014 Author Share Posted September 4, 2014 (edited) I don't want to confuse my brother. I force converted him to Linux a few years ago with the threat that I would refuse to work on his computers anymore if they were running Windows. Note: in my brother's case, it was not Windows' fault that the OS was constantly broken. Brother was/is not good with backups, maintenance, anti-virus updates, etc. As a result, every three months or so, brother's computer would become unusable. That last time, I just wiped his Windows and installed Ubuntu. His choices were minimal at that point. Edited September 4, 2014 by V.T. Eric Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Mint and Ubuntu are really two sides of the same coin so your brother won't have many problems if he enjoys the Unity interface. I'm sticking with Mint because I like the old school look and feel of Cinnamon. If I need a lightweight distro I use Linux Mint 17 Xfce, or Linux Mint with MATE if I have a lower powered graphics solution but a good CPU and memory combo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted September 5, 2014 Author Share Posted September 5, 2014 He had been running Mint with Mate because it looked like his first experience with Ubuntu way back when (Gnome 2). I think he's going to freak when he sees Unity. I don't like it; this just after a couple hours of updating and playing with it. Myeh... you never know, though. Maybe he'll get to like it. One never knows... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Well if he doesn't like it you can just install Cinnamon and keep running Ubuntu. Or go with Xfce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Well, FWIW, I was also one of those "haters" of the Unity interface. So much so, that I was actively considering a new distro when the ungodly horrors of 11.04 were unleashed on the unwitting masses. But before support for my 10.04 LTS expired, I installed 12.04 on a test machine and forced myself to give it a whirl. Somehow, it grew on me very quickly, and I learned to see the wisdom(?) in their seemingly weird design choices. Now, it is my preferred desktop, by a wide margin; so much so that I now look to customize my UbuntuStudio and Lubuntu machines to resemble Unity as much as I can make them appear to be! Go figure... So maybe he'll take to Unity like I did? If he does not, I assume you know you can install a new desktop environment package and purge the 'unity-desktop' environment. But did you know you can simply install an extension to make Unity look exactly like good, old, familiar Gnome2? Simply type in terminal: sudo apt-get install gnome-session-flashback Once he's determined he likes it, you can purge the Unity desktop with sudo apt-get purge unity-desktop Or not... It's nice to have the option to tinker with; perhaps he'll dig it at a later time, like I did. Here's a tutorial from OMGUbuntu, for your reference: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2014/04/ubuntu-14-04-classic-gnome-flashback-session FYI, the lack of a 2d version of Unity for lower specced computers was the inspiration for me to remix Lubuntu's Openbox/LXDE desktop into a Unity-looking distro, offering a Unity style experience to those who want it, but their hardware won't allow it. Conversely, if your hardware runs Unity, but it's kinda slow & laggy, my Lubuntu remix would probably BLAZE on that system. Depending on your brother's hardware, may I pimp my own offering by the suggestion? http://sourceforge.net/projects/pangaealubuntu/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 One place I found a Unity look and feel to be really nice was on a netbook, where vertical space is lacking. Having the control buttons down the side is very useful. Unfortunately most netbooks find Ubuntu rather heavyweight. Probably Hedon's respin of Lubuntu would be ideal in this case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhbell Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 One place I found a Unity look and feel to be really nice was on a netbook, where vertical space is lacking. Having the control buttons down the side is very useful. Unfortunately most netbooks find Ubuntu rather heavyweight. Probably Hedon's respin of Lubuntu would be ideal in this case. Might take a Look at Peach IOS http://www.peachosi.com/ Mel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reynaldo Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 everyone loves elementary OS, give it a try Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 Nah... I don't play with different distros these days. I just run Slack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 I hear ya. I've never been much of a distro hopper myself. When my favorite died or changed irrevocably (like Mandriva) I switched. Right now Linux Mint in its LTS setup just works for me and I have a choice of 3 different desktops out of the box to suit whatever hardware I'm dealing with. If I want to satisfy my inner geek I can play with Debian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhbell Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Mint cinnamon has been my primary OS ever since it first came out, but I still like to try other distro's when I get bored. LoL! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturnian Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 I have a few different distros installed across a few different computers, but I don't see myself as being a distro-hopper -- I mainly just stay with the same handful of distros, and every now and then I'll download something and take a look at a live session. Debian and Arch are my main distros; from the Debian family, I do like Ubuntu and Kubuntu, as I like having access to the Ubuntu repos. And I like having something around for used computers -- something that's quick and easy to install and based on Debian Stable. I used to go with MEPIS for this, but now I'm using CrunchBang instead. I've kinda lost interest in Linux Mint, but I'm glad it's still out there. That would still be the first distro I'd mention to someone new to Linux. As for Ubuntu with Unity, I'd call it "different" but I don't think I'd use the word "weird" to descibe it! It's still one of the better distros out there, in my book, and I'm comfortable using Unity. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 I've run 'em all. I have slots on my shop system, as I said. I just haven't had the motivation to play around with anything lately. Maybe I'll poke around in the new Debian (systemd) when it comes out or kick the tires on Arch, which I haven't run in a couple years now. That'll all have to wait till it gets a bit cooler in Florida. It's too hot/muggy to sit out in that shop right now, even at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturnian Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 I wonder if I'll ever get around to running Slackware. And I wonder if I'll get to a point where I run only one distro. I can't imagine myself ever having only one Linux installation, even if I end up using only one distro, but you never know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 I've gotten a bit burned out over the last few years, Saturnian. Nowadays, I just turn the main system on once a day and check emails, visit a couple forums, and then I'm outta' here. I spend a lot less time on the computer than I did just a couple years ago. I'm just happy to have an operating system that works and doesn't give me gray hair. At one time, I had 18 distributions on my main system. I was a learning back then. I wanted a taste of all of them. I've had my taste. I like Slackware the best, as Bruno once predicted I would. I guess he was a pretty good judge of character. These days, the only time I deal with MS Windows issues or other Linuxes it's usually for other folks having problems. This, by the way, is also a contributing factor as to why I stepped down from the Staff here at Scot's to just become a regular ol' member once again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 In my choice of distro I have to remember it's not all about me - OK OK it's probably 80% about me. But I do need to have a distro my wife is comfortable with, and one I can install and maintain for anyone who is an XP refugee. That means I need an LTS distro and something that isn't all that different in appearance from the older Windows relases. Boring but necessary. That's why I use Linux Mint right now. It's based on Ubuntu mostly and has the Debian apt packaging system. So I don't need anything new if I want to play with pure Debian. I started out with Ubuntu and used it until it got into Unity. I used Mandriva/Mageia for a while in its Gnome flavor, but that got buggy and it's mainly KDE based now. So it was on to Linux Mint. If it ever gets to be 100% about me, it'll be Arch Linux. No doubt in my mind. That's the most fun I've had with a pure operating system. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wamukota Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I used to like KDE 3.5 but when the 4.0 appeared and was not 100% fit yet, I looked around and started to like XFCE as my prefrences are for a 'naked' desktop. Once Canonical released their Unity, I was sold. For me it just works. I tried Mate and Cinnamon but they don't 'speak' to me. KDE 4.x is totally out of the question now as too complex, too much glitter. The only DE I would like to try in the future is Openbox, as it has even less on the desktop, but until that time, it is Unity for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturnian Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I tried Mate and Cinnamon but they don't 'speak' to me. I've run Cinnamon here, and liked it. But I didn't like it as much as Unity, or even as much as GNOME Shell. I haven't even bothered to try MATE because I don't miss the old GNOME one bit. I didn't like GNOME when I first tried it, back in the day. It took me awhile, but I finally got used to it. But it remained my least favorite environment until GNOME 3 came out. So that's why I have no interest in MATE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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