Guest post by “One of the benefits of the direction that’s been taken with the next release of Ubuntu is that there is no longer a need for a separate netbook edition. The introduction of the new shell for Ubuntu means that we have a user interface that works equally well whatever the form factor of the PC. And the underlying technology works on a range of architectures including those common in netbook, notebooks, desktops or whatever you choose to run it on. Hence the need for a separate version for netbooks is removed“
The UI of the new Ubuntu is the one from the current Netbook Edition, not the one from the Desktop Edition. So it’s really the Desktop Edition that is being removed. Not a problem though, since the Unity UI is being scaled up.
That’s true.
It’s crap for both.
Cracked me up. Well said.
*takes a bow*
With the release of Unity and the re-integration of the Netbook Remix, it would appear that Ubuntu has finally caught up to Kubuntu. At least in so far as the user experience is concerned, in that Kubuntu has had plasma-desktop, plasma-netbook, plasma-phone, etc for providing custom UIs for different form factors for a couple releases now.
O_o
This is a step _backward_ if anything, when you compare the two (not that Kubuntu is the best KDE experience, but I digress).
KDE has multiple plasma interfaces/containers, each designed to suit the particular display size/use case.
Ubuntu has… Unity.
Yeah… I don’t think saying anything more would make much of a difference. You can do the research into what these things do and do not do yourself/yourselves.
I have replaced desktop machines with netbooks, as they are pretty nimble running Linux. The interface is a bit of a problem.
I had been a long time KDE3 user, and still use some of the KDE3 software via the Trinity project. KDE3 has a relatively small memory footprint by today’s standards, and more importantly, it lets you customize individual programs to run without title bars, or window borders. That worked well, when combined with a hiding task bar, to maximize the usable screen real estate.
For desktop work now, I tend to use XFCE. It takes about 5 MB less RAM than KDE3, while offering most of the KDE features I was interested in. The one exception is the inability to remove title bars and borders. However, LXDE has that ability with the ALT-SPACE-D command. Hence, I tend to use LXDE when traveling, and XFCE when powering and external monitor.
Which brings me to the netbook/Unity interfaces. These let you see a lot of information in a small space, but I prefer hiding that information to gain the extra space on a netbook screen. I don’t have much experience with the Unity interface, but the netbook interface isn’t that great with larger screens.
I ordered a netbook from System76 that came with Ubuntu Lucid’s netbook desktop. I’m still running Lucid, but it now runs XFCE. In the unlikely event that I ever take it on the road, I will add LXDE. The netbook interface isn’t coming back.
Unity is awful. This is the most unproductive UI on linux. But because the standard gnome environment also available on netbook editation, this is not too big problem for me. But IMHO the Unity based ubuntu is not a too good idea.
I think it’s important to cut Canonical some slack here. No-one considers the unity interface on Karmic to be usable; it’s buggy and slow. I will check it out when Oneiric rolls around. Remember, even at version 4.6 KDE is facing issues with many of its plasma widgets not working properly. At 4.0 KDE was horrible. It wasn’t that great at 4.3 when I tried it. Now it’s a good desktop for those who don’t mind the system load.
What is Ubuntu smoking? Unity is godawful. It’s ugly and doesn’t suit desktop screen resolutions. It’s the most annoying UI I’ve used in awhile.
Bye, Ubuntu. It was fun for a little while.
Actually I’d say Canonical has been fried since the day they were “born” and I’m amazed the FOSS community has heaped so much praise on the stoners. Example: You call yourselves “Linux for humans” and talk up how easy it is for noobs while making it so bleeding edge the CDs have stigmata WTH? Since when is trying to fix the constantly breaking bleeding edge noob friendly?
This is just one bad move from a company that has made bad movies since inception.
I have worked with two of Ubuntu’s LTS releases, Hardy and Lucid, and both have been stable from the beginning. They also benefit from long-term support. The other releases are a different story. If you upgrade the system within a month of release you likely will have problems. That has been true especially for Kubuntu users, because KDE has had enormous difficulties, and the Ubuntu/Debian team hasn’t made it a high priority to fix them they way Fedora and Suse have.