Posts tagged: unity
Ubuntu 11.10 - August 15th (Unity 4.8.0) by nilarimogard.
A video highlighting some of the changes that have been made to Ubuntu 11.10.
First of all, the warning:
- Installing gnome-shell will most definitely break Unity. There is no workaround, all your configuration files will be switched over to gnome-shell, and going back to Unity is a very difficult task. In fact, if you decide you do want to go ahead and install gnome-shell, the only way you’ll have your previous vanilla install of Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity, is if you re-install.
After you’re done with the necessary decision making step of installing gnome-shell, you can go ahead and get started with the actual installation!
As you are probably already aware, there are multiple ways of installing things in Linux.
The two ways I’d feel comfortable installing gnome-shell with, are either the Graphical User Interface of the Ubuntu software center - or the command line.
I’m going to go over both these ways, and you can pick whichever you’re most comfortable with.
Graphical User Interface - Ubuntu Software Center:
This method should be suitable for people that aren’t much comfortable with the command line interface. If that is you, read through. Otherwise, installing gnome-shell via the command line is right after this part.
Open up the Ubuntu Software Center, click on Edit from the menu, and select Software Sources.
Click add in the Software Sources window. We will add the Gnome 3 PPA to your list of available software sources, so you can click and install it.
Add the following text, and click Add Source, and click close.
ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
A new menu item called Gnome 3 will be added to your software sources list after you add the Gnome 3 PPA.
Now simply run Update Manager and apply all the updates. This will take some time, depending on your internet connection and the server, so go grab a soda and listen to a song or two.
After the update and upgrades are complete, you will need to manually install two packages. You can do so by searching for the following packages in the Ubuntu Software Center (or you can just click them):
- gnome-shell
- gnome-tweak-tool
- This is a tweaking tool that helps you get to a lot of options that aren’t right in front of you while using Gnome 3.
Command Line Interface:
This is my preferred method because it’s way easier and much less time consuming, since you don’t have to navigate menus and point and click much.
- Add the repository:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
- Update, and upgrade:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
- Install gnome-session:
sudo apt-get install gnome-session
- Another upgrade and dist-upgrade:
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get upgrade
- Install gnome-shell:
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
After that, simply log out and select “Gnome” at the GDM Login Screen. You’re all set!
UPDATE: After installing Gnome3, I noticed that my graphics didn’t look like they were supposed to at all! Specifically the window borders, and the scrollbars, etc. Upon some internet searching, I quickly found a simple solution. I just had to install some missing packages and restart Gnome3 to fix everything. I was just missing some theme files.
The following single command will install three theme related packages that will solve problems concerning how windows etc. look in Gnome Shell:
sudo apt-get install gnome-themes-selected gnome-themes-standard gnome-themes-extras
I finally had enough of Unity about a week ago, and have been using classic Gnome (2.xx) without thinking about it.
I also experimented with Enlightenment and Awesome Window Manager. The previous didn’t feel to special to me - so I’ve stopped using it, and the latter requires a lot of configuration to become a fully functional desktop. I’ve been lazy as hell, so that hasn’t happened either.
Even though I really liked Unity at the beginning, and thought it was an innovative approach, a few things have since turned me off. For example, an argument I read somewhere on the internet that really made me think was - “Unity makes the computer look like a toy.”
I realized this was true, the more and more I saw the colorful bright icons that kept popping up every time I moved my mouse cursor to the top left corner of the screen involuntarily. This was annoying, because I didn’t want the damn panel to show up, I was just moving my mouse around for the heck of it out of habit.
Also, Unity can not really be themed. My desktop looked the same every time I logged in. I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I went back to GTK 2.
However, I quickly realized that Unity had broken Emerald. You can’t use Emerald themes in Unity anymore by default, which really blows! I couldn’t theme my desktop to look like it did before anymore!
Therefore, I’ve decided to go ahead and install gnome-shell. I haven’t done this yet, because of the risks it imposed on ruining Unity. My dislike for Unity and sheer boredom, however, have persuaded me on going ahead and taking the risk.
Going to back up all my data now, and install gnome-shell. If all goes well, expect a tutorial and thoughts. Wish me luck!
This article is third in the Unity series! (Go back to find out more about the top panel or the left panel.)
One of the apparent goals of Unity is to provide more freedom and space on your desktop for multitasking. Being on a computer takes a lot of effort, and a lot of it can become mind-boggling, once you have multiple internet tabs open, and are trying to browse through your music library at the same time. Or consider the hypothetical situation where you are writing an article and ‘borrowing’ from Wikipedia:
This picture is just to demonstrate Unity’s abilities, of course. We don’t condone stealing from Wikipedia. It’s also a very trippy coincidence that the Wikipedia article is about Dualism.
All you have to do to achieve that, is drag one window to the top right (just below the top panel) - and let it snap into position. This will be denoted by a transparent orange box simulating the new position. Then do the same for the second window, by dragging it to the top left this time. Voila.
Hint: You can also full-screen windows by dragging the window up to the top pane and letting go after the transparent orange box shows up.
A 26 minute review of Unity by briantwill on youtube.
An overview of the new Ubuntu Desktop, highlighting some main differences and new features.
