Dumping Unity

The ceaseless grumbling about Ubuntu's new user interface shows no sign of abating and some commentators have even gone so far as to suggest that Unity is responsible for Ubuntu's recent slide from top-spot in the DistroWatch ranking table.

Whilst I've expressed reservations about Unity in the past, the truth is that my experience of Canonical's latest offering has been largely positive: in terms of stability, it's been a rock-solid interface with few (if any) system crashes and it is delightfully responsive on my old DELL Inspiron 1501. However, last weekend I joined the growing band of Ubuntu fanboys that has decided that it's time to dump Unity. Notice that I said that I was dumping Unity - I did not say that I was dumping Natty!

To be honest, despite Unity's dependability, I found it to be one of the dreariest graphical environments that I've ever used (all black boxes & grey panels) and I wasn't really turned-on by the netbook-style interface over which I had little or no control. Suddenly, I felt hemmed in by my GUI; restricted to Canonical's vision of how an OS should look and I haven't felt like that since...

...well, the last time I booted a Windows® machine actually!

However, the real tipping-point came at the weekend. My 1501 is a test machine: I use it to play around with ideas or to evaluate new software before exposing my stable machines to my tinkering whims. Having figured out how to create and manage an encrypted directory using EncFS, I was disappointed to realize that Unity was not going to co-operate and would not allow the Cryptkeeper applet to appear in my system tray. Of course, there's no reason that I couldn't use the command line to gain access to my encrypted directory but, like many ex-Windows users, I'm familiar with point & click and, where it's the simple option, prefer this method to any other.

Fortunately, Ubuntu makes it easy to switch to something more familiar without the hassle of rolling-back the current operating system: simply select your preferred desktop environment at the login screen. I've gone back to Gnome as my desktop of choice and my Cryptkeeper applet does what it's supposed to do. It also means that some (but, by no means, all) of my customisation options are restored: my AWN dock bar has made a welcome return!

So, I've abandoned Unity but stuck with Natty - let's hope that Canonical irons out some of Unity's wrinkles in the next LTS (due in 2012).

Sources & References:

• PC World: Has Unity Knocked Ubuntu Off Its Pedestal?
• DistroWatch: Linux Distributions - Facts and Figures

Unity Launcher

Notwithstanding the Canonical Design Team's protestation that its new Unity Launcher is not a dock bar, it's difficult to resist the temptation of comparing it to alternatives like AWN and Docky.

Perhaps one reason that Canonical is so keen to distance itself from these more established options is that, given such comparisons, Unity does not fare particularly well. Take Avant Window Navigator for instance: in 10.04, AWN can be customised extensively, including the addition of bespoke launchers and the ability to change the application's behaviour and theme. Such system tweaks are mostly absent in Unity, making the Launcher little more than a placeholder for application shortcuts. However, the news is not all bad!

For a start, the Unity Launcher looks fantastic - it really does. The Faenza-like icons are of generous size without being invasive and the slick design means that size and rendering attributes are never compromised, even when a large number of icons are added to the launcher. The Design Team pulls-off this trick by tilting unused icons; a feature it calls, accordion.

Unity's Accordion Feature

Another nice design feature is the ability to allocate shortcuts to icons - yes, that's right; the ability to shortcut shortcuts is a design feature of the Unity Launcher! You can view the assigned shortcut keys by pressing and holding the Super Key (aka, Windows Key) and the appropriate key identifier is superimposed on the icon.

Shortcutting Shortcuts

To activate any particular application, just hit the Super Key together with the appropriate shortcut key.

Perhaps the biggest advantage that Unity can boast over its (non) rivals is the ease with which icons can be added: both drag-and-drop and right-click functionality have been incorporated into the design and this feature may well appeal to a broader audience than the current hardcore Ubuntu users (although I doubt this feature is enough on its own). Reorganising icons is also easy: simply drag-and-drop the desired icon to its new position on the bar. If the icon being relocated stays within the confines of the Launcher, the other icons make room for their companion by opening a gap as the icon is moved either up or down.

Making Space for Relocation

Conversely, if the icon does leave the Launcher's confines, a line appears at the insertion point as the icon moves over it. Simply letting go at the desired place drops the icon into its new position - easy!

A Line in the Launcher

In common with other launchers, Unity highlights active applications but, once more, the ability to customise this feature is limited.

All-in-all, Unity looks great without being terribly exciting: let's hope that, as the concept matures, the developers build in more flexibility.

Quick Dash

One of the recent additions to the GUI in Ubuntu 11.04 is the Unity Dash: it's a Gnome Menu replacement that allows users to search for and launch applications.

You can launch the dash window by clicking the Distributor icon (the Ubuntu logo) on the Unity Panel or hitting the super key (aka the Windows key) on your keyboard.

Activate Unity's dash by hitting the Super Key or clicking the Ubuntu icon.

The first thing to notice is the search function at the top of the panel: this facilitates predictive searching - displaying the results for applications and files as you type. As more data is added to the search string, so the results are refined:

Dash Search Function

The Dash home screen also provides shortcuts to common destinations and it won't take long for users to realize that the default values are media-based applications (such as Internet, photos, email, etc) rather than productivity-based! Clicking an option displays three categories of applications:

1. Most Frequently Used
2. Installed
3. Available for Download

I like this last option; it's a bit like an app-store function that introduces you to a selection of the 35,918 applications available from the Ubuntu Software Centre.

Application Categories in the Dash Workspace

More traditional users and access a Gnome-type menu via the drop-down control to the right of the search box:

A More Traditional approach

So much for function: but what of fashion?

Clearly, Ubuntu is moving towards an Android-type interface and focussing more on social use. Whilst this is not necessarily a bad thing, there are some shortcomings!

Firstly, the Dash is dark and I find it a little depressing. Secondly, configuring Dash is as limited as configuring the Unity-Panel (see links). However, I suspect that as this release of Ubuntu (and the next) will start to rectify these issues and the Ubuntu GUI will once again become the home of eye-candy.

Sources & References
Ask Ubuntu How Can I Configure Unity?
Jorge Castro How I use the Unity Dash - video

Unity Panel - What's Changed?

With the release of Natty Narwhal comes the new Unity Panel as a replacement for the familiar Gnome Panel; but what exactly is the difference between the two?

Well, perhaps the first thing to note is that, whilst Unity Panel looks very similar to Gnome, the Unity Panel can't be customized¹: what you see is what you get - whether you like it or not. The Gnome applets have been replaced by indicators and users can't add, remove or modify these tools in any way. One of the things that I've always loved about Ubuntu is that I can (given my limited talent) customize the interface to my heart's content; but Canonical seems to have decided to implement a one-size-fits-all policy. Of course, if you really must have a customizable panel, one way to avoid the Unity problem (and utilize Gnome in 11.04) is to select Ubuntu Classic from the Sessions options² during start-up.

Whilst I'm not terribly impressed with the lack of flexibility in Unity's indicators, it's not all bad news! A really nice feature is the integration of (maximized) applications' title bars and main menus in the main Unity Panel.

Application Title Bar in Unity Panel

Application Menu in Unity Panel
This is a great space-saving device, especially for laptops and notebooks. Resized (that is, neither maximized nor minimized) applications resort to the usual application Title bar. However, not all applications seem to have been fully integrated and some programs (LibreOffice for instance) retain their menu bar even when maximized.

The Ubuntu Menu has also been removed from the top panel and replaced by Unity's Dash and Launcher (more of which in a later post). In look and feel this is reminiscent of the (now defunct) Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface and, whilst it looks great, I find that it makes navigation less intuitive.

Everything else is pretty much as it was with Gnome-Panel with some minor rearrangement of services³. However, one nice touch is the addition of a shortcut to the default media player in the sound indicator. The interface now includes some basic controls (skip forward/backward & play/pause) in the Unity panel drop-down.

All-in-all the changes are OK and integrate well with the other innovations in 11.04: Natty is well worth a test drive if you have a test machine lying around.

Notes
¹ This is not quite true: Unity Panel's opacity can be modified using the Ubuntu Unity Plugin in the CompizConfig Settings Manager: but that's about it!
² The Sessions options can be found on the bottom panel when your Greeter Window appears and requests your username and password. Use the spin control to select Ubuntu Classic and login in the usual way.
³ For instance, the shortcut to the Ubuntu One Control Panel has been moved from the session indicator to the communication indicator.

(Gnome) About Me

I've been playing around with Natty for a day or so and come across an interesting bug: my personal data disappeared every time I closed the About Me dialog. Starting the application from a terminal didn't provide any error messages or clues, nor did opening the dialog this way allow me to store my data!

It seems that the problem was caused because of my choice of mail client (Thunderbird): as my email configuration files were restored from my existing /home directory (on a separate partition from the root directory), I never bothered to configure the embedded mail client, Evolution - fortunately, the fix turns out to be very simple!

From the Unity Panel, click on the mail icon and select the Set Up Mail... option:

Open the Evolution Setup Wizard

Complete the wizard but make sure that you uncheck the option to make Evolution your default mail client (unless, of course, you want Evolution to be your mail client). Close the wizard and then close Evolution (which opens when the wizard is closed). Now you should be able to add data to your About Me profile.

About Me Data

A Natty Present for Karmic Odyssey's Birthday

The DELL Inspiron 1501 got to test drive the latest Ubuntu release from Canonical - Natty Narwhal. After a rocky start, I think that I'm quite pleased with the new operating system which, in look and feel, is reminiscent of Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

In order to expedite the upgrade I decided on a clean installation. This is faster than an incremental upgrade and means that I'm not troubleshooting plugins and applications no longer supported by the latest operating system. Therein was my first problem: following the installation, I couldn't start my wireless card (again). This problem is not unusual with Broadcom NICs and Ubuntu distros, and I confess that my check to ensure that the appropriate wireless diver had been installed was, at best, cursory! Actually, the wrong driver (the Broadcom STA driver) had been installed during the post-installation update rather than the Broadcom B43 driver and it took me some time to figure out what had gone wrong. Even when I had realized my error, the fix wasn't as straight forward as is usually the case.

In 11.04, you don't install the b43-fwcutter directly, you install 'firmware-b43-installer' package:

"Note: On Ubuntu 11.04 installing the 'firmware-b43-installer' package takes care of the downloading and installation of the b43 driver." Source: Ubuntu Documentation

The easiest way to install the firmware is from Synaptic.

Check the firmware-b43-installer Package via Synaptic

Now that the correct driver is installed, I can connect to my network wirelessly: however, WiFi is no longer enabled automatically during the boot sequence even though the card is enabled in the bios settings and I have to toggle the card on manually (Fn + F2).

There are a number of other differences to get used to in this latest incarnation of Ubuntu:

• Banshee Media Player has replaced Rhythmbox as the default music player. Whilst Rhythmbox can be installed and set as the default player, some of the plugins (notably, rhythmarty) no longer seem to work and that is a deal-breaker. However, the promised support for Zen media players makes the switch a little less painful for me!
• Gnome-panel has been replaced with Unity panel. The new panel has indicators rather than applets and (wholesale) customization is a thing of the past.
• Unity (a task launcher) and Dash (a Menu replacement) complete the visual changes and navigation takes a while to master efficiently. However, they both add nice touches to the user experience.

The Natty Narwhal Desktop with Unity Launcher (LHS) & Unity Panel (top)

The Natty Dash(board) replaces the Main Menu

Some more thoughts and discoveries will follow in due course.

Sources & References:
Ubuntu Wiki Natty Narwhal
Ubuntu Documentation WifiDocsDriverbcm43xx

Very Natty

The new version (11.04 - Natty Narwhal) of Ubuntu was released on April 28th.

"The release of Ubuntu 11.04 has seen the arrival of a new look and feel for Ubuntu. A whizzy, new launcher and dash, and a clever workspace manager are some of the biggest changes. Take a look at what’s new and then feel free to choose between the classic and new desktop experiences at login."

What's new in Ubuntu 11.04? from Canonical Design on Vimeo.

Whilst the user interface is still built on Gnome, Ubuntu has built a new shell over the existing technology and called it Unity; "designed to be easy to use, unique, innovative, and good looking."

The system requirements are undemanding, but, given my previous experiences, I'll decide for myself if 384MB of free RAM is really all you need to run the new system! However, there is little doubt that this release will get a run-out over the next few days on the Inspiron 1501.

Sources & References:
Ubuntu 11.04 What's New?
OMG!Ubuntu! Natty Guide
Ubuntu Wiki Natty Narwhal Release Overview