Open Ballot: Has Ubuntu 11.10 fixed the problems with Unity?

Better, but not good enough.

Timothy B. - October 18, 2011 @ 3:43pm

I installed it on my laptop, and I think it's better now, but still not good enough. It looks like as if Canonical uses the non long term distros just for testing purposes, which isn't a good case in my opinion. Either make a 1.5year cycle instead of every 6 months, or a deliver a proper product every 6 months, don't deliver rubbish and deliver something good just once in a while.
If linux (and Ubuntu) wants to be taken seriously, it should 'just work', the average user is not going to file bugs and wait for the fix, they will just reinstall windows, and even in my case, I will try to find a solution, but if not found soon enough, I'll just install another distro which does work.

Nope

SeniorClown (not verified) - October 18, 2011 @ 4:04pm

I have given up on Ubuntu and went back to its roots - Debian. With the testing repos, I have a newer desktop that I ever did with Ubuntu, including Linux Kernel 3.0. I am starting to think that Ubuntu's glory days are past, and something else will end up taking its place.

not really

Brutal (not verified) - October 18, 2011 @ 4:35pm

On my netbook it is still shiny and slow, so I suppose after a short test I'll switch back to the old and fast xfce environment. Unity is sux

I love Jonathan Roberts

Huw - October 18, 2011 @ 4:46pm

I think he's great!

No, so I am using Xubuntu

Chris Cook (not verified) - October 18, 2011 @ 4:56pm

I was hoping they were going to fix it but no. 1 I can't customize the top panel (or whatever its called in unity). 2 I cant work the Unity 'menu' and start applications with just the keyboard, this is important on a netbook where the in-built mouse is hopeless. 3 I don't like the 'software available for download' section. If i want to be told what other software I can install I would use windows.

So I have Xubuntu installed on my netbook and It will go on my desktop when I upgrade that.

Finally Xubuntu worked out of the box on my netbook because it has the Broadcom driver on the CD. Ubuntu doesn't :(

I can live with it.

Rui Gonçalves (not verified) - October 18, 2011 @ 6:43pm

Unity is sleek, sufficiently fast and stable, sure you have to adapt to it.. specially to the darn left bar.

Don't get me wrong I'm not a Unity lover, I personally like xfce for its simplicity, what I don't understand is why people are always peaking with Unity!

Don't Care What Anyone Else Says - I like Unity!

Anonymous Penguin - October 18, 2011 @ 8:08pm

It's a couple of years since I've used Ubuntu and I thought I'd try out Unity to see what all the fuss was about. Personally I love it.I find it very quick, usable and enhances my productivity.
When working on a laptop/netbook I like to avoid the trackpad and use the keyboard as much as possible. Unity has made this much easier in my opinion, without the need for additional software like Gnome Do.
Found in 11.10 that very occasionally the keyboard focus is lost in the Dash but apart from that no real problems yet. All I can say is - it works for me!

Big improvement - slicker and more stable - but a way to go

Pensive Penguin (not verified) - October 18, 2011 @ 9:38pm

My hunch is that all Canonical really needs to do to appease disgruntled Ubuntu users is make Unity more customisable. As a webmail user having a huge 'Check email!' button is particularly pointless (and makes me embarrassed to use my netbook in public.)

I can't upgrade my other machines until the single window version of GIMP comes along, though. Trying to use the multi-window version of GIMP with Unity's global menu is enough to cause breakdowns.

Big improvement but update tool borked GRUB again

Al (not verified) - October 18, 2011 @ 10:02pm

This version of Unity is much better but I still prefer Gnome 2 or Xfce. I have kept my main machine on 10.10, my servers on 10.04 and put my testing machine to 11.10. The upgrade tool did not ask me which disk to write GRUB to (should have been /dev/sdc) and filed to write to /dev/sda leaving the machine unbootable until I fixed it off the live disk. This should not happen - I have to fix most of my machines every time I do a distribution upgrade!!!

I can't see the point on Unity - I did test it on a Zoostorm SL8 tablet & all the hardware was detected out of the box but Unity was unusable as some of the "hover" requirements to get menus do not work on the tablet, the buttons to move windows etc were too small but the main issue was the software launcher was unusable as the on-screen keyboard would not float above it.... In the end I gave up and put Meego tablet dev build on it which worked very well.

As for the future of Ubuntu on the desktop? I have moved to Xubuntu on two machines and am investigating Arch. I'll probably keep using Ubuntu server for the time being.

At least Microsoft are levelling the playing field by making the same mistakes with Windows 8.

Distinctive, working and as ever can be tinkered or swapped out

John Stiles (not verified) - October 19, 2011 @ 12:48am

Just upgraded from LTS to the new shiny. Not sure what all the fuss about a gnome/compiz plug in is all about. Unity is great on my netbook and seems okay on the desktop. It gives me the max desktop space, although the demise of the spinning cube will stop the cooing of others.

My prediction

seatex (not verified) - October 19, 2011 @ 11:20am

Linux Mint will soon be #1, replacing Ubuntu. Why? They get it. They listen to their users. They are keeping support for Gnome 2 in Linux Mint 12 (based on Ubuntu 11.10). They will wait until Gnome 3 develops into something their users want to use, or else they will switch to a Gnome 2 fork called Mate. I switched to Linux Mint Debian Edition, and now prefer it over the Ubuntu-based Linux Mint main edition. With a Debian base, it is faster, more stable and uses less memory than the Ubuntu-based version. And, it is a rolling release - no more upgrading every 6 months to stay current.

Better, but Gnome 2.30 was best

Michael W1 (not verified) - October 19, 2011 @ 2:09pm

Unity 11.10 has improved on 11.04 more than Gnome 3.2 has against Gnome 3. That said, I have tried both and find neither usable. I too am a developer and use Ubuntu 10.04 at work. I need a distro/desktop that suits the way I work, not one that tries to change the way I work by.

Gnome abandoned the greatest desktop Linux has ever had in Gnome 2.30. Ubuntu's greatest mistake was not to pick up Gnome 2.30 development, instead giving us the pure folly that is Unity.

Both could easily prove to be development dead-ends akin to the the fabled Netscape rewrite. Shame really :-(

UBUNTU 11.10 too many bugs for me....

KJLynn (not verified) - October 19, 2011 @ 3:00pm

I installed from scratch 11.10 after deleting my partition from my Toshiba L675D. Did a clean install and had nothing but problems. The mouse would disappear, had to use an external then was able to turn it on. Lost all my navigation bars, had to delete partition and start over. Finally had a fairly clean install. Then could not get the alt-tab function to work, never could. Could not get the unity tab to small icons no matter how many times I configured it. Basically I lost all my functionality of Ubuntu. Finally spent most of a day and reloaded 11.04. Now I am back almost to my starting point. Problem is that I have six months of tweaking to catch up on. Performance wise I felt like I could go make a cappuccino between commands. Really felt like I was in a dream running and going no where.

Has anyone else had this kind of problems? This was my first in a longtime of these type of problems. Feels more like a beta or alpha than the finale product. Very disappointed. Would appreciate any help.

Gnome Shell saved it

Ricardo David (not verified) - October 19, 2011 @ 6:19pm

11.04 was running pretty good on my Lenovo Z460. 11.10 ruin it all. Did a clean install. Very slow responses from mouse, keyboard. Switch to Gnome Shell and everything start coming back to normal.

Will try Fedora 16 with Gnome Shell on my Desktop next month. I hope Canonical get things right on 12.04 LTS.

No

Shimi - October 19, 2011 @ 9:16pm

That *hidden* global menu is the worst part of any desktop I have ever seen. Removing it just makes a frustratingly empty gnome-panel with no way to put anything useful on it.

The rest of interface doesn't improve things at all. Just plain silly. maybe on a tablet or tiny netbook it would make sense, but Unity just gets in my way on my PC. Not going to try Ubuntu again for the next few years.

Opps Forgot Something

The Arnold (not verified) - October 19, 2011 @ 11:06pm

Also, I want to add that the new Multi-Arch setup for 64-bit computer is cool. Installing a 32 bit apps on 64 bit computer sometimes was a pain, but it is real easy with Multi-Arch and the Ubuntu Software Center. For example I have been trying to install BrewTarget on 10.10 64 bit and could not get it to install. In the past I have install 32bit apps like lightscribe with no problems on my 64 bit Ubuntu Systems. With 11.10 all I had to do was go into the Ubuntu Software Center search for Brewtarget and click install and it just worked. Thanks guys for excellent work on your podcast and magazine! If you guys like Homebrew let me know. I could send you some homebrew for the podcast. ;-)

Gnome, KDE, and now Unity - all are unusable

Anonymous Penguinnn (not verified) - October 20, 2011 @ 7:41am

Several years ago (somewhere during the 2.x series) I stopped using Gnome as it became too dumbed down to be efficient. I switched to KDE, which met most of my needs. By the time KDE 3.5.10 arrived, KDE was a *great* desktop, with a number of superb applications.

Then KDE 4.x arrived, slow, clumsy, and far less usable than its predecessor. And as for Unity - I tested out Oneric Ocelot, and Unity is actually worse than KDE 4.x, and that is one hell of a strong statement to make. Any desktop that doesn't even give you one-click access to a list of your installed applications is a joke, completely useless for any serious computer user.

For the moment, I'm running a band-aid solution - KDE 3.5.x on Ubuntu 10.04, courtesy of the Trinity Desktop Project. KDE 3.5.10 continues to be the best desktop and application set I've used on any operating system (except for the short-lived BeOS desktop), and I will continue using it as long as the Trinity Project keeps it alive.

If and when Trinity dies, it will be time to start considering XFCE, Enlightenment, or even Openbox. But KDE and Gnome have lost me for good unless they backtrack rapidly, which is unlikely. Institutional stupidity is hard to eradicate, and clearly both the Gnome and KDE developer communities are now riddled with stupidity in the development process.

As for Unity, if I had a five year old child, I might get her started with it. But it is essentially worthless for any adult with an IQ higher than 60.

I don't know what exactly happened with the Linux community, but from my perspective we are in crisis. The underlying Linux kernels and drivers are better than ever, but all three of the main desktops used on Linux distros (Unity being in that category because it is the default choice on the most popular distro) are now worthless garbage.

-Gnobuddy

I love Unity

grumpy bob (not verified) - October 20, 2011 @ 12:55pm

I've migrated from a tweaked Gnome desktop. I didn't like Unity in 11.04, but I'm finding it rather pleasant to use in 11.10 (on two desktop PCs and one ancient notebook).

Hello, Mr Know-It-All

Pawel (not verified) - October 20, 2011 @ 8:23pm

@Gnobuddy
"from my perspective we are in crisis"

From MY perspective YOU are in a crisis. You have every right not to like the developments in desktop environments, but to say authoritatively that all of them are rubbish as if it's some kind of objective reality (of which only you are aware) sounds rather egocentric. As I said, you have the right to an opinion, but don't forget it's YOUR opinion. What's worse, you might be in the minority, as I don't think many people have such extreme views on all the major desktop environments of this day.
Maybe you're just inflexible and got stuck with a yesterday's reality?

lots of problems

scientist (not verified) - October 21, 2011 @ 1:40am

I had two user accounts before the upgrade. In my primary acct, all I have no launchpad and can do nothing, so I went in using recovery console and tried to restart unity as is suggested.

That got launchpad going for the session, but the console terminal won't go away and sits spewing out errors constantly. I have no access from this account to shutdown or reboot options. If I switch users, everything works except that shutdown and reboot do nothing. I have to unplug my computer to turn it off.

I think it's related to compiz, but haven't figured it out. I'm mid semester and working full time. My main reason for switching was in the hopes my bluetooth keyboard would work again. It worked with every upgrade til 11.04.

Losing my faith in Ubuntu...

Unity is bad news.

mikebravo (not verified) - October 21, 2011 @ 3:28am

I have been looking for a new distro but I keep crawling back to Ubuntu. Unity may be the last straw. Other distributions are starting to look better and better.

Unity...well, not really

andyy.splash - October 21, 2011 @ 5:24pm

I haven't tried 11.10, but had a go on their HTML5 tryout thing. I have used 11.04 for 3 months before i put mint on my computer. Although I wouldn't recommend it, if you try to use it the way Canonical wants you to use it then its ok. But, I got fed up with all the Global Menus and the weird Dock thing (every time i see a Mac, I have to change it's dock so its on the left side. annoying habit)

My solution is Gnome Shell on Arch. I like Arch, like the rolling release, and the control you get.

And Gnome Shell works better than on Fedora 15 or 16. It is uncluttered, and multi-taksing is fine on it. Actually, I prefer having the program dock thing in the Activities overlay, because it makes sense. That's where the apps are, so that's where you could open and close them. It is all integrated. Loving it (apart form after suspend when some stuff tears)

Alt-Tab oddness

Tom Fotherby (not verified) - October 21, 2011 @ 9:35pm

The new Alt-Tab interface in ubuntu 11.10 is driving me mad. Canonical changed Alt-Tab so that it includes apps from all desktops and squashed multiple instances of running apps into one icon in the Alt-Tab switcher. I'm open minded enough to try to adjust to it... but so far it's been a painful muscle memory lobotomy.

I'm finding 11.10 quite a bit slower than 11.04. My mouse seems to lag sometimes, waking from hibernate takes over a minute, and hitting the super key takes a liitle while to respond, the unity bar sometimes fails to slide out when I want it to.

it does look nice though and optimising the vertical screen real estate is the right choice I think.

In summary, yes I think 11.10 is a tiny improvement but still needs slot of love.

Unity won't start following Ubuntu Studio 11.10 "upgrade"

Ubuntu 11.10 Unhappiness (not verified) - October 22, 2011 @ 10:30pm

I simply allowed the upgrade, and Unity or Unity 2d won't start, and the fallback to gnome is not a s good as it was with Ubuntu Studio 11.04.

I love linux but

jim (not verified) - October 23, 2011 @ 8:21am

I love Linux but and I have used Ubuntu for about 4 years as my desktop OS. I dislike Gnome 3 and Unity and KDE is... well not for me. I find myself going back to an OS I hate to get things none. :( and while I'll still use Linux for some programs; I think I'm switching to back to MS :< :< :<

Bad, really bad

Orthich_thrench (not verified) - October 23, 2011 @ 4:16pm

It's terrible and now my family are not bothering to use it, and are heading back to the Windows laptop (which is slow and unstable but they think it's still a better option than unity)

Change only for the sake of change

ZeroFossilFuel (not verified) - October 23, 2011 @ 6:42pm

I was happy with Gnome 2 all the way through 10.10. Over the course of at least one full week, I gave Unity my very best effort to learn and use in 11.04. Hated it. Fortunately we had the option to use "Classic Desktop", albeit buggy at first. It worked.

At that time I also did a fresh install of Xubuntu on my Asus 1018P netbook for side by side comparison. LOVED IT!

When 11.10 came out I upgraded my Ubuntu box and using CD upgraded my netbook to Xubuntu 11.10.

Verdict: I had forgotten just how much I hated Unity but was quickly reminded. I still hate it. It's still a POS. The gnome-session-fallback hack is completely useless. The only way out is to install the full Gnome 3 desktop.

By contrast, the Xubuntu upgrade on my netbook completed with only a couple very minor gotchas. After that I wiped my Ubuntu box and did a clean install of Xubuntu on that machine too. Xubuntu just WORKS. And it allows me to work the way that *I* want to work, not the way Canonical wants me to work.

Canonical appears to be standing their ground and refusing to back down from their obvious blunder. It is nothing more than Canonical trying to differentiate their product from the pack, making changes simply for the sake of making changes with little or no consideration of its user base. There are many other choices out there that users are now educating themselves about. Mint is rapidly gaining market share. By contrast, Ubuntu is LOSING market share. Canonical seems hellbent on burying Ubuntu. My message to Canonical is "You're on the right track!"

Ubuntu rots.
Xubuntu rocks.

Z

Mourned the Loss of Ubuntu

Mourning Penguin (not verified) - October 24, 2011 @ 9:04pm

Today we gather to lay Ubuntu to rest. It was a decent OS for a short period of time (7.04 - 10.04) until it was recently stricken with a festering pox known to all as Unity. Ubuntu would not have wanted to be mourned so please find another distro, like Mint, or stay with Ubuntu 10.04 and refuse updates.

R.I.P. Ubuntu... you will be missed. Unity, ironically, disbanded your users.

Unity did it wrong.

Graham M. Whittenberg (not verified) - October 24, 2011 @ 9:14pm

Gnome 2.30 works very well and application screens can be tailored to something you can use efficiently.

Unity gave us a launch pad that is more like windows after you click on Start. It can not be tailored, you are stuck with what you see. That is just dumb.

Docky is a much better launch pad and it is easy to use and modify to suit the way you want to use it.

Unity has introduced new ways to invoke an application that is very cumbersome compared to the way it is done with Gnome 2.30.

Unity introduced a screen switcher that limits the user to four screens, I routinely use 8 and can switch faster with Gnome 2.30 than I can invoke the Unity screen switcher. I also lose the ability to have multiple applications running on the same screen and be able to select the one I want with a single click.

You have introduced things that your user didn't want and taken away things that they do want. Bad release strategy.

My solution is to stay with ubuntu 10.04 until I find something better than ubuntu that still uses Gnome 2.30 like user interface.

Ubuntu 11.10 did not improved anything, but it may be more stable than 11.04

I have had a good three year run with ubuntu, but they are insisting on Unity and I will not use it. Bye.

If Unity stays, I'm off

Craig100 (not verified) - October 26, 2011 @ 12:09am

I agree with the Unity nay sayers here. It's for NETBOOKS or KIDS! I'm currently on 10.10 and was expecting Ubuntu to go from strength to strength but corporate bollox has got in it's way. I use it for WORK and have done very day for the last 3 years after ditching Windoze. I'm not some kid playing games or just playing about with a laptop in my spare time. If corporations can't take Ubuntu seriously, it's dead!

I'm currently looking for a new distro. Xubuntu is downloading as I type. We'll see how it goes.

It's Unity or me, Canonical!

Thrice is enemy action

Xander Bilmonchuk (not verified) - October 26, 2011 @ 7:29pm

Can I just suggest that the only rational explanation for how horrible Unity and Gnome 3 are is that Microsoft or other terrified proprietary competitors have planted moles on the dev team to destroy this once awesome interface and cause the slow death and abandonment of Ubuntu. Nothing less could explain this unspeakably horrible trainwreck of an "upgrade" to such a previously awesome system. I am being completely serious here- nothing this unbelievably horrible has a benign origin- this is enemy action.

RIP UBUNTU

Dave Scooterlookins (not verified) - October 28, 2011 @ 4:16am

Started using Ubuntu in the 7.x releases and LOVED it right through the 10.x distros. 11.x has been nothing but aggravation and headaches - Unity is unstable; issues with boot hanging at PSoD; shaky Compiz support. UbuntuOne is a piece of junk also (no consistency in updating folders, client for external OS's are way buggy, etc). Since it seems Ubuntu has already jumped the shark, I've already started looking into alternatives. It was fun while it lasted.

I can't figure out my password!

Ubuntu sucks (not verified) - October 28, 2011 @ 10:58pm

I HAVE TO BOOT INTO FRIGGIN RECOVERY MODE JUST TO FIX MY PASSWORD?
WTF?

Looks like the end of Ubuntu

Collymore (not verified) - October 29, 2011 @ 6:51pm

Looks like the end of Ubuntu

Come on, Ubuntu, Unity

Unity Blows (not verified) - October 30, 2011 @ 4:39am

Come on, Ubuntu, Unity blows! You guys got where you are because you didn't act like Micro$oft and now you try to force us to use a dumbed down GUI.

Unity is slow, gobbles RAM like Vista and is very non-intuitive to your base users.

No one other than than 3rd graders would like this GUI.

I´m not a poweruser

Anonymous Penguin#9 (not verified) - October 30, 2011 @ 3:09pm

and I think its qute good, after you have put your favorite programs in the applaunsher you just have to to press the Windowsbutton the programtiles gets a number and then press that number and the program starts. you dont´t have to use the mouse or TouchPad so often, but i´m not a poweruser its god enugh for me :)

Think I'll buy a MAC

Anon (not verified) - October 30, 2011 @ 8:25pm

I used to like Ubuntu but 11.04 was a disaster that took me nearly a day to sort out and 11.10 is worse. Choice has been removed - for whose benefit?

I won't be upgrading again, I will be choose=ing something better.

First dual boot, then goodbye Ubuntu

Glenn M (not verified) - November 1, 2011 @ 5:33pm

Ubuntu peaked with Jaunty, I think. By the time 10.10 hit the market I implemented dual boot (with XP) on the desktops of the senior citizens I support. From the word 'go', they realised that their apps are more important than the OS. Firefox, OpenOffice, Thunderbird etc, etc, is what these folks are busy with, not the desktop environment.

Even so, if the desktop gets in your way, it is a royal pain. When 11.04, Natty, came around, my users stopped booting Ubuntu. Alright. Now we have 11.10 and it is time to get rid of the unnecessary complexity of dual booting. By the time 12.04 arrives Ubuntu will not be there anymore.

unity Stupidty

Jack Bauer (not verified) - November 2, 2011 @ 8:19pm

one word:

Uckinfay Apcray!

Unity Crashes

AnonymousMike (not verified) - November 3, 2011 @ 10:09am

As soon as I try to make buttons smaller using Compiz Unity Crashes

No. It has not!

Andy Turfer (not verified) - November 5, 2011 @ 3:42pm

It has fixed some problems, but introduced new ones. I find that the biggest and most annoying problem (one that some people will dismiss as nothing significant, but one that completely destroys the user-experience for others, like me) is the intermittent laggy window dragging problem. Although window drag lag is one of the symptoms, I'm sure the problem lies somewhere else (perhaps with Compiz, maybe the nVidia driver, or somewhere in Unity - who knows).

I'm moving to another distro, will wait and see if this problem is fixed with 12.04.

Not Quite...

Ocelot Lover (not verified) - November 7, 2011 @ 1:40pm

Unity is much much better, but still not quite good enough - even on small screens. Too fiddly switching between open apps and/desktops.
Gnome Shell on the other hand is far more slick and intuitive (IMHO).
I'm liking 11.10 in general though, and it prompted me to finally switch from Windows entirely.

Ridiculous Unity/Gnome3

Vinod Moti (not verified) - November 8, 2011 @ 5:58pm

This idea of putting a stupid tablet interface (unity/ gnome 3) on a desktop OS is Ridiculous.They didn’t even have the common sense to build in the support for the normal Gnome desktop.

The good, the bad and the ugly

POLRFOZ (not verified) - November 10, 2011 @ 2:06am

Overall I'd say that Ubuntu is by far the most user-friendly of the Linux distros. I installed 11.04 using wubi and it shows up as an "installed application" in Windows XP Media Center 2005 on my dual boot Gateway 7422GX laptop. That's right, an old circa 2005 laptop that I have to admit, Ubuntu runs like a champ on. The upgrade to 11.10 was seamless after downloading and installing over my crappy AT&T dsl connection. Everything worked. Then there were a hoard of other updates ready to install every day for the next several days. Somewhere in that process the Ubuntu drum start up sound stopped working. And I'm now getting some intermittent screen flickering with 11.10. And I just recovered from a wireless issue that I never had with 11.04. The Unity desktop changes are generally good. It's cleaner, more logical in my opinion. The changes to GRUB are good, (I think), until I have a problem I suppose. I want the drum sound back again! It makes people at Starbucks ask me what I'm running on my machine and creates a good segway to tell them how free Linux is compared to their expensive Mac Books! Come on Cannonical, quit fixing things while breaking others! Quality Control!

Ubuntu 11.10 , Simply Put, Just Sucks!

whalerajm (not verified) - November 10, 2011 @ 3:01pm

Miserable experience...back to 10.4.I know this is Open Source, but do they test these new releases at all?