Ubuntu 11.10 and the Unity Desktop

The Unit desktop is radically different, and not intuitively obvious. It feels like I am in a different, an unfamiliar, world. I can understand why some people hate, and others love it.  After a lot of experimenting, I got used to it. With this install, I tried something different, and it worked.

I already have three Linux distros installed on my HP mini netbook. I neither have a need, or space, to install a fourth distribution. Playing with a distro in the live mode is great for getting a feel of it, but I wanted to really test Ubuntu and the Unity desktop. I booted to the live mode from my MultiSystem USB stick. My goal was to install Ubuntu onto an 8 gigabyte USB thumbdrive that I was no longer using.

I did not feel like using an Ethernet cable to the router. Ubuntu detected that I needed the Broadcom STA Wireless driver. When I click the hardware icon, the driver was installed, and I had an Internet connection. This means the Live/CD package must already contain the driver.

As a precaution, I had previously removed the existing partition from the USB thumbdrive. The install script detected the internal hard drive as /dev/sda, the USB stick as /dev/sdb, and the USB thumbdrive aas /dev/sdc. This is important, as the script detected that /dev/sdb was mounted, and asked if I wanted to unmount it.  Unmounting the USB stick would kill the install and the live desktop, so I clicked the No icon. After configuring /dev/sdc, the install proceeded without a problem. It took awhile, as I decided to install the updates, and enable the third party repository as part of the install.

On reboot, booted from the USB thumbdrive. The thumbdrive is not the fastest drive, but it booted successfully. I was pleasantly surprised. when it started the WiFi connection. I not only did not have to install the driver, I did not need to enter the password. Ubuntu still prompted to install the driver. Since it was working, I just opened the dialog box, and closed it without installing the driver again.

I checked the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file, and it correctly listed all the internal hard disk Linux distributions. Since I use Super Grub2 for emergency booting, I really don’t need to boot from those partitions from the USB thumbdrive. The solution was to remove the execute permission from the 30_os-prober script, and generate a new grub.cfg file.

To make the above change, I needed a terminal emulator application. I clicked on the Dash button in the Launcher panel, selected More Apps, and then clicked on the Systems filter. No terminal emulator installed, but one was in the suggested installs. Considering the rather limited number of graphical system management tools available in Ubuntu, I found this rather interesting.

The Unity desktop is, itself, an interesting experience. The following screen snapshot shows the default desktop:

The menu bar on the left-side of the screen is the application Launcher.  Active applications have an arrow on the left side. If the application does not appear on the screen, then it is just minimized. As the following snapshot shows, the window controls are on the right, and not on the left:

This arrangement makes sense, when you maximize the window, as shown below:

The windows controls disappear, as they are now part of the top menu bar. You just need to move the mouse over the window title, and the window controls appear. With a maximized window, just move the mouse pointer to the left edge, and the Launcher menu reappears. While it seems a bit confusing, it does maximize window real estate by eliminating the standard window header.

Since Banshee only plays MP3 files, I installed Rhythmbox. Since it is not one of the suggested installs in the Dash menu, I clicked on the Ubuntu Software Center icon in the Launcher menu. I finally have access to the entire Ubuntu repository. I like the way it groups add-ons to a package on the same screen, as shown below:

This feature saves a lot of time. What is missing is a way to easily configure other software repositories. I installed Google Chrome from Google’s site. For Ubuntu, you need to ignore Google’s instructions, and download the .deb package. Then open a Terminal window, and run the following commands:

cd Downloads
dpkg -i <Google Chrome Version>.dev

Where <Google Chrome Version> is the actual version downloaded. While the install script adds Google to the list of repositories, I am not sure if Ubuntu will detect updates.

My biggest problem with Debian, and the derivatives that I have tested, is the lack of system management tools. The graphical user management tool is next to worthless, and there is no tool for managing groups. After years of moving to Upstart, there is still no tool to manage services. openSUSE’s YaST is still the best graphical system tool that I have used. With Ubuntu, it is all command line.

For those who do not care about what happens under-the-hood, it is a matter of choice of desktops. Ubuntu’s Unity desktop represents a major change in desktops, while Linux Mint’s Gnome3 is more familiar to those used to traditional desktops. For those looking to gain system administration skills, or who want to look under-the-hood, the choice is between openSUSE and Fedora. I prefer openSUSE.