How the f*** am I supposed to teach my dad how to use unity?

[82_28]

So this is another computer thread. Sorry, if it doesn't interest you, but I need to rant. But Ubuntu fucking got rid of the Gnome GUI and I had just finished getting older family members to use Linux and explain how Gnome simply works and they were liking it. Well, with their latest upgrade they switched to their new GUI called "Unity". Not only do I hate it personally, but I have to now explain to people I've told to switch to Linux how to use it or now disable it. They're all confused after I told them you can trust Linux and Ubuntu. WTF were you thinking Canonical? What?

I have never been pissed at a Linux distro other than SuSE getting into cahoots with MSFT, so I dumped SuSE (who I gladly paid money to buy each and every release in order to support them). But this move to Unity really pisses me off and has made my life much more difficult than necessary. If I don't resolve this soon, very soon, I will be moving to a more trustworthy distro. You don't make UI sea changes on old people who didn't even get how any of this works in the first place. Ugh.

http://erikimh.com/unity-sucks-install- ... ntu-11-04/

[Stephen Morgan]

Have you thought of getting them to use KDE? I don't like it, but it always stays the same. Blame for all this mostly lies with the Gnome project, honestly. Their decision to go ape-shit with Gnome-shell provoked the setting up of Unity. At least Gnome 2.x is still around, so you can choose it at the log-in screen or you could use Mint instead of Ubuntu, as that is still using Gnome 2.

[justdrew]

So this is another computer thread. Sorry, if it doesn't interest you, but I need to rant. But Ubuntu fucking got rid of the Gnome GUI and I had just finished getting older family members to use Linux and explain how Gnome simply works and they were liking it. Well, with their latest upgrade they switched to their new GUI called "Unity". Not only do I hate it personally, but I have to now explain to people I've told to switch to Linux how to use it or now disable it. They're all confused after I told them you can trust Linux and Ubuntu. WTF were you thinking Canonical? What?

I have never been pissed at a Linux distro other than SuSE getting into cahoots with MSFT, so I dumped SuSE (who I gladly paid money to buy each and every release in order to support them). But this move to Unity really pisses me off and has made my life much more difficult than necessary. If I don't resolve this soon, very soon, I will be moving to a more trustworthy distro. You don't make UI sea changes on old people who didn't even get how any of this works in the first place. Ugh.

http://erikimh.com/unity-sucks-install- ... ntu-11-04/

it's not gone, just switch to Ubuntu Classic and the familiar UI is back

unity is about trying to have a unified UI that works on PCs and on slates, phones, etc. M$ is doing the same thing come win8. I'm skeptical, as I don't see the need, personally.

[Seamus OBlimey]

Windows works for numpties.. well it does for me..

I suppose I'd better log out now

[NaturalMystik]

82_28 - your post is stirring a bit of dejavu.

I was recently checking out Unity thinking it might be great for some older non computer folks to use. I played with it on the live disk for a bit and thought there was no way I could teach them to use it. I ended up going with a slightly older Ubuntu - Karmic Koala, and it's been serving the job really well. I find the gnome interface was very intuitive and easy to learn. I can see the place for Unity on tablets and portable devices, but so far I'm not into it for a desktop/laptop.

Barring the recent interface change up, Ubuntu has become a pretty slick OS solution.

[Stephen Morgan]

82_28 - your post is stirring a bit of dejavu.

I was recently checking out Unity thinking it might be great for some older non computer folks to use. I played with it on the live disk for a bit and thought there was no way I could teach them to use it. I ended up going with a slightly older Ubuntu - Karmic Koala, and it's been serving the job really well. I find the gnome interface was very intuitive and easy to learn. I can see the place for Unity on tablets and portable devices, but so far I'm not into it for a desktop/laptop.

Barring the recent interface change up, Ubuntu has become a pretty slick OS solution.

Again I will recommend Linux Mint: Ubuntu based, so you get the software centre and so on, but maintaining the Gnome 2 interface as the default, rather than switching to gnome-shell or unity.

While we're talking about computers, has anyone noticed anything going on with the board? I'm getting a load of "database error" and "max connections"/"general error" messages. And the bit at the bottom of the screen says no users or guests are viewing the forum, whereas it would usually have my name there. And reading the RSS feed a post came up as new which was actually from page 37 of the misogyny thread, which was quite a lot of posts back.

And, while we're talking about computers, how do you get the case open on an external hard drive with no visible screws or other means of fastening? I'm a software guy, damnit.

[Gnomad]

Don't teach him to use Unity.

I switched my desktop to Linux Mint Debian (since I also don't want Unity on my desktop and I also had some bug niggles with the latest Ubuntu). It is almost 100% like Ubuntu, easy install and so on, and it is a rolling release off Debian Unstable, ie. it constantly gets the latest versions of software, and is not released in cycles. All my laptops still have Ubuntu long term support versions, and will do so in the future - I have the Long Term Support version only, and only update when the next LTS comes out.

I chose the Debian version because I like having the latest versions of software, and usually end up compiling at least some applications that do not have the latest version in the repositories. With Debian Testing I don't need to reinstall or upgrade every 6 months, but also there is the possibility of more issues, as the kernel version will change regularly too, as well as drivers and such.

http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php Mint Debian (the other Linux Mint version is based on Ubuntu repositories, so if you just want Ubuntu with no Unity, that will work too! Regular Linux Mint will be Ubuntu package compatible, Mint Debian is not compatible with Ubuntu packages, but regular Debian Testing ie. Squeeze ones.)

You can also just switch the interface back to Gnome, and that is possible in the future too.
http://scottlinux.com/2011/03/05/ubuntu ... sic-gnome/

I tried Unity only briefly, and did not like it. It was not intuitive, and did things completely different to how I am used to doing them. In addition, my desktop (on all machines) has Compiz on top of Gnome 2 - no top or bottom panel from Gnome though, and for a panel I use Avant Window Navigator, which is much like an Apple dock, but a bit different and with some applications running on it (like weather, calendar, clock, notification area etc.) and I have been using this combination for quite some time. Screen corners are configured to launch "View all windows on current workspace", "View all windows from all workspaces", and "View all workspaces together ala Expose". So Unity is quite unlike, and unnecessary, since Compiz with Avant and Gnome runs well enough even on my measly 900 Mhz Celeron laptop.

[Gnomad]

And, while we're talking about computers, how do you get the case open on an external hard drive with no visible screws or other means of fastening? I'm a software guy, damnit.

Is there any kind of a split in the case, a crack or so...
There might be just some clips holding the case together, in which case it may be pried open. Carefully. With something thin and not sharp so you don't cut yourself when it slips

Some consoles like Xbox etc. also feature such casing, which just needs to be pried with the right kind of tool at the right spot.

[Stephen Morgan]

Is there any kind of a split in the case, a crack or so...
There might be just some clips holding the case together, in which case it may be pried open. Carefully. With something thin and not sharp so you don't cut yourself when it slips

Some consoles like Xbox etc. also feature such casing, which just needs to be pried with the right kind of tool at the right spot.

I'll give it a go. Although it rather raises the question of what I'll do if I get it open, as I know nothing about hardware. I just feel like I ought to make some sort of effort before resorting to a professional. Might wait, as I'm also getting some "pre-fail" results on my internal HDD's SMART data, although it's still "PASSED".

On the software front I've abandoned Unity, and Ubuntu altogether. Slackware is much more fun. Also, with Unity running my computer was struggling a bit and the fan was going constantly, could be something to do with the specially patched kernel I had to use under Ubuntu due to an acpi problem, but Slackware runs fine with the huge kernel and runs a good ten degree C cooler, too. I did initially miss the wobbly windows compiz is so famous for, but I've ended up using Ratpoison as my window manager, so everything is done with the keyboard, which is how I like it. No task bars, no window moving or resizing, just like running Gnu Screen, but with the ability to play videos. Also, people are impressed if you do everything from the command line.

So that's my recommendation, don't bother with an X session unless you want to watch videos, and do everything from the command line. Not as pretty as, for example, some of the Plymouth screens available for Ubuntu, and that sort of thing, but much better in general terms.

[Gnomad]

It doesn't feel right if Linux booting doesn't sprout several screenfuls of console output, now does it?

[Stephen Morgan]

It doesn't feel right if Linux booting doesn't sprout several screenfuls of console output, now does it?

Well, exactly. It's comforting, all that scrolling. Slackware reminds me of Slackware c.1999 when I was first using Linux for the first time. Seemed better than Windows 98, despite the fact that the GUI crashed every five minutes. If you used it, that is. Originally used Zipslack, which was much like Wubi on Ubuntu now, avoids the dangerous business of partitioning and so on. Switched to bigslack though, because Zipslack didn't have a proper framebuffer so I couldn't see as much of the scrolling, or the little penguin fellah.

[82_28]

Welp, just upgraded to whatever the fuck it is for Ubuntu. And unity has tweaked itself into usableness. And you know? It ain't bad.

Unity is very much so improved. And given my parents' learning curve I can now go back to them and vouch for it.

Good job Unity crew!

[NaturalMystik]

Nice, I'll have to go back and give it a second look... After spending hours trying to hack my Ubuntu media center's video drivers for DVI output I finally gave up and went back to WinXp... The devil is always in the details...

[Stephen Morgan]

At ;least it's better than gnome-shell. Some big changes coming up in 12.04, it seems. HUD. Locally integrated menus, whatever they may be, rather than the global menu. So on.

[Gnomad]

82_28 just install Linux Mint 12 for your Dad. They take their packages from Ubuntu, and they support both MATE - the Gnome 2 fork so you can keep on using regular, plain vanilla old Gnome 2, and Cinnamon, that converts Gnome 3 to look like Gnome 2. I jumped ship to Mint 11 and Mint 12 after the Unity madness. I am still using Mint 11 in my daily workstation use, but have already installed Mint 12 on another partition, together with Cinnamon, so I can transition smoothly when I need to.

On my laptops, I am still running Ubuntu 10.04, the Long term support version.

http://linuxmint.com/ (current version is Mint 12)

MATE:
http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/2011/12/ ... t-12-mate/

Cinnamon and Mint:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/l ... fork/10056
http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/

Everything your dad might have learned with Ubuntu, will work just the same with Mint.

Edit: ha, just now read that you are beginning to like Unity. Well. I won't even bother, too much hassle changing how I work with the desktop, it is pretty much customized in any case to not resemble any of the ready-made paradigms. Use a different panel and window manager too. Gnome 3 on the other hand has some interesting things, others, not so much. I like what Mint and Cinnamon have done with it, though.

Also tried KDE, and it is a pretty powerful desktop, with the "Activities" that are their own virtual desktop areas that you can completely configure. You could have an Activity for every task you do, for example, one activity for video editing, with everything you use for that set up there, and another one for web browsing, and yet another for writing a novel.
http://maketecheasier.com/use-kde-plasm ... 2010/09/01
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/kdes-deskt ... ard-linux/