Universal toolbar

[danielson]

Hi,

I've tried Ubuntu's latest 11.04 but i just didn't like that Universal toolbar always sitting at the top (with no options to hide it). Does Kubuntu have this? If so, does it have options to "autohide" it?

Also, it appears that Kubuntu works well with notebooks.
Is this true? Why would it be so?

Working in Windows 7 Home Ed.

[sithlord48]

Re: Universal toolbar

ubuntu and kubutnu do not share the same gui.. so no it does not have this bar. unless your in netbook mode but you can use regualar desktop mode if you want on your netbook.. if your intrested best thing i can suggest is that you DL and burn the livecd and give it a spin on your machine.

[Snowhog]

Re: Universal toolbar

Burn a Kubuntu 11.04 LiveCD for your CPU type and give it a go. That's what a LiveCD is for - try before you 'buy'. IF it works for you, and you like what you see, then you can prepare to do an installation (replacing your existing OS, or as a second OS (dual-boot), or even as a 'program' within Windows (Wubi install). Lots of ways to go about it.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Universal toolbar

Hi Danielson

I've been fiddling a lot with both Unity and Gnome3 to see if they have particular advantages in terms of netbooks and possibly on cell phones.

Unity does have the top bar that does not go away and the little one on the right which is basically not configurable.

However, as you may have determined you can click the top left button in Unity and see a much larger version of "a menu" which supposedly would expedite use of a finger on a touchpad to get at menu items. Whethere this will actually work or not, I don't know.

Gnome3 has a single drop down menu which reminds one very much of a cell phone menu of applications. Very large icons and all of them are in one big display and you can "slide down them" with the touch pad.

There are just a couple of distros with Gnome3 implementation now, a couple of which have real problems with other things and one which has done a reasonably good job on all fronts. However, the packaging systems for added on applications sometimes do not function well. One of them has problems with things like access to certain music files etc. These will be worked out in the near future, I'm sure but as of now they are a problem for the new user.

However, again, not much in the way of tweaking it.

So, if you are looking for ease of functionality on a netbook then Gnome3 would maybe be a way to go, however, both of the above have problems elsewhere, in terms of a whole host of applictions not working with them.

As far as Kubuntu on a netbook, you can use one of several "menu systems". The supplied menu is in the form of what is going to be a "buzz word" for a while, the "tree and branch", that is the normal menu system like in Windblows.

However, there is a really kewl app called Cairo-Dock which is, in appearance, similar to the Mac "bar" that is at the bottom with the "floaty icons". Just type Cairo Dock into google in images to see the many examples.

The Cairo Dock is, to me, a very easy and customizable option for use with a netbook.

So, now, getting to Kubuntu itself.

The "plasma interface" that has the "folder view" works very well for things like "getting at a document" etc. Your documents might be in "documents" you use the plasma widgets app to put a "folder view" on the desktop and merely change the pathname to the place you like to work, like "documents" you touchpad to the document click it and it opens and you work on it.

The plasma interface is very amenable to use on a netbook.

And Kubuntu "works" so after an install you are good to go on a variety of options using Kubuntu whereas Unity and Gnome3 presently have either structural or application problems(but also some advantages).

woodsmoke