Great Job!

[tdockery97]

Just have to say thank you to the devs for the nice job on Kubuntu 11.04. You have solved many problems that I was having with both Mint 10 KDE and PCLinuxOS. In particular, the conflict with having desktop effects enabled and playing video. In both other distros I had to suspend desktop effects to have smooth running video. Kubuntu plays videos smoothly, and that is even without the proprietary ATI driver installed. I'm just using the open-source lib1-mesa-dri and radeon driver. You've pushed the KDE desktop one step closer to perfection.

[Tanner1294]

Re: Great Job!

Amen to that! I had soooo many problems with any Ubuntu based distro based off of Maverick Meerkat. Nothing worked right! And other distros just don't compare so it kinda ruined my Linux experience for a while. Then the second beta of Kubuntu 11.04 came out and I was back in love with Linux and KDE. EVERYTHING that didn't work for me in 10.10 works in 11.04! And everything works sooo much faster and smoother and makes me glad I don't need Windows ^^

[tdockery97]

Re: Great Job!

I have to amend one of my statements above. Although videos ran smoothly with desktop effects running, if I used full screen upon returning to the desktop there was horrendous tearing. Installation of the proprietary ATI video driver seems to have solved that issue.

[craig10x]

Re: Great Job!

i'm running Kubuntu 11.04 on the live disc as i write this and must say it is really excellent! MUCH nicer the the standard Ubuntu with Unity which i really dislike...

I've always been mostly a gnome guy and run Linux Mint 10 gnome (main edition) which i recently installed and runs great as well..I was using LMDE for a while but got tired of the zillion updates and various breakages and decided rolling was not for me (i want a stable and smooth running system that i don't have to play with a lot...lol)

Anyway, this is tempting...but not sure if i will switch...but i think Kubuntu is the nicest KDE i have tried (i use to use kubuntu 10.10) and this version seems very smooth and polished...nice "eye" candy too

To me, the best distros are Linux Mint Main Edition and KUBUNTU...I use to like regular Ubuntu but i would much sooner work with KDE (kubuntu) or Mint Gnome because of Unity which i would prefer to stay clear of...

[Tanner1294]

Re: Great Job!

The thing that disturbs me about Unity is the fact that it took me FOREVER to find anything I wanted too! Every folder icon whether it be for Applications or my documents looked exactly the same when I opened it and it got to be annoying. And I REALLY wished i could move the Mac OS X dock-ripoff to the bottom of the screen and make it not let windows cover it. All in all I say Unity has failed and is still wayyyyy behind in development. KDE however, is getting rapidly close to perfect.

[craig10x]

Re: Great Job!

Could not have said it better
That is EXACTLY the way i feel about Unity when i tried to work with it...to me, even as a gnome guy i find it FAR EASIER to work with KDE then gnome with unity...

Clem (the guy that runs Linux Mint) is smart enough to AVOID it in his main edition (ubuntu based version)...i think it was a bad move on Ubuntu's part...he has no plans in putting it on his version of ubuntu...

You guys may get me over to this yet
Aside from the Mint Forums, this is my other favorite forum...plenty of friendly and helpful people here too

[Snowhog]

Re: Great Job!

Everyone is aware that you don't have to use the Unity Desktop? Getting rid of Unity is an easy enough matter — simply click the “shut down” icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen, choose “system settings” from the pull down menu, go to “login screen” and the select “Ubuntu classic” as the default session. That's what I did (yes, Ubuntu 11.04 installed here; it replaced Kubuntu Lucid so I could assist my Dad who is using Ubuntu 10.10).

[Teunis]

Re: Great Job!

I am no fan of the Gnome desktop, mainly because it's a fragmented kludge.
But at the same time I realise when so many people like it there must be something to it :P

Kubuntu had a bad spell when they transitioned too early to KDE4.0, something that was only put right about a year later.
So I'd give Unity some time to get things sorted, personally I like the principles but regretfully it's only a front end to Gnome...

[craig10x]

Re: Great Job!

True, Snowhog...for Ubuntu 11.04 but i am pretty sure that i read somewhere that as of Ubuntu 11.10 that won't be offered as an option anymore (the ability to switch off unity and go to classic ubuntu)...

However, Clem (from Linux Mint) clearly stated that although the main edition of mint will continue to be ubuntu base, it will NOT have unity...but as of mint 11 it will have Gnome 3 (without the "shell" and "unity")....which interestingly, ubuntu doesn't have in this edition (i believe ubuntu said they would launch it in their 11.10 version)...

I thought it was pretty (unity) but there was no way to make it smaller, move it to another location, and it seemed rather unintuitive to me...it took a lot longer to figure out how to move around it and even when i did, found it to not be as convenient as say, using KDE kick off or Linux Mint Menu...

By the way, Teunis...if you never have, check out a live dvd of Linux Mint Gnome sometime, While you may still not the look as much as KDE, i think you will find his way of doing up Ubuntu is pretty nice looking...i think it's the nicest rendering of gnome...However for KDE i prefer direct Kubuntu over Mint KDE version of Kubuntu...

[tdockery97]

Re: Great Job!

Hi craig10x. I have to agree with Kubuntu 11.04 over Mint 10 KDE. Mint's version while nice, seems to lack the stability of Kubuntu. It remains to be seen how Mint 11 KDE will do. It's still far in the future. It usually lags behind Mint Main by a couple of months.

[Snowhog]

Re: Great Job!

True, Snowhog...for Ubuntu 11.04 but i am pretty sure that i read somewhere that as of Ubuntu 11.10 that won't be offered as an option anymore (the ability to switch off unity and go to classic ubuntu)...

Read that myself. Looked at the upcoming Gnome 3 (not in 11.04, but hear it will be in 11.10) which is in OpenSuse and Fedora. It looks very nice. While not yet ready for Ubuntu 11.04, there is a ppa that those wishing to give it a go can use. BUT:

The bad news is that, for Ubuntu 11.04 at least, you won’t be able to run Unity and GNOME-Shell side-by-side as the GNOME 3 PPA breaks Unity.

Also note that from now until April 28th the GNOME 3 PPA is to be considered highly unstable and will break your system. With warning issued, the PPA can be found @ launchpad.net/~gnome3-team/+archive/gnome3

[Tanner1294]

Re: Great Job!

I think the reason people enjoy GNOME over KDE is because KDE's always been the big scary desktop. There's so much to it which can become confusing for some people, whereas I love all the options

Unity I think is Ubuntu trying to catch up. In fact, (I JUST thought of this) it's probably just Ubuntu's way of trying to be intuitive in the time until GNOME 3 is released. Think about it, KDE's becoming RAPIDLY an insanely stable and intuitive desktop full of features. Mac OS X Lion is going to be hugely different and have an entirely new app launching mechanism and new window management abilities. Even Microsoft has had rumors leak out in the past month of some (you could say, but I wouldn't considering KDE, GNOME and Mac already have most of the things the rumors talk about) amazing things that will be in "Windows 8".

Ubuntu's lacking. Yes they will ALWAYS have a loyal fan base to sustain the super stable development and work on Ubuntu that makes it the most stable OS you can get for free, but I think they're worried about losing a large chunk of people who don't want a desktop that hasn't changed in 10 years.

[Snowhog]

Re: Great Job!

The look of Gnome 3 is very inticing. It LOOKS very nice; shall I say, almost Plasma-like? It definitely is a huge leap ahead of the standard non-unity desktop that Gnome has used for years.

[Tanner1294]

Re: Great Job!

The look of Gnome 3 is very inticing. It LOOKS very nice; shall I say, almost Plasma-like? It definitely is a huge leap ahead of the standard non-unity desktop that Gnome has used for years.

Exactly my point! It's been TOO long with no differences at all. At times I used to debate occasionally whether or not the GNOME Project was still going on; It seemed dead. It also further supports my "GNOME is like Windows, KDE is like Mac." Microsoft took FOREVER to come out with a new OS and all Windows lovers were stuck with boring old Windows XP with the childish Luna theme. GNOME has been stuck for years.
Apple has released versions of Mac consistently almost every 1 to 2 years. KDE get's a new release (and/or major updates) constantly, so we get stuff faster.

And if anything, I think Ubuntu has something to prove. Suuuuurrrreee they have a great OS, but that's just it, they have a great OS, not a great desktop. They don't make the desktop, they just made the theme. So what should the greatest Linux developers the worlds ever seen do to prove that they really are? Make they OWN desktop for their OWN OS. Makes sense to me.

[Snowhog]

Re: Great Job!

Given that I installed Ubuntu 11.04 (replacing Kubuntu Lucid), I'm actually eagerly awaiting the full availability of Gnome 3, which I will upgrade to. I'm not a Kubuntu (KDE DE) purist - I like Kubuntu, because it's look and feel are familiar to me; nothing more. I understand that the base OS of Ubuntu and Kubuntu (and all *buntu's) is the same, and it's the Desktop Environment (and the libraries used to create it) that is different.