Canonical Bringing an Instant-On Ubuntu

Today at the Ubuntu Developers Summit, Mark Shuttleworth presented a few upcoming Ubuntu projects, including "Light" versions of the operating system for "both netbook and desktop, that are optimized for dual-boot scenarios." Shuttleworth also took the wraps off Unity, a new lightweight interface that will be included in Ubuntu Light and eventually in Ubuntu Netbook Edition as well. "First, we want to move the bottom panel to the left of the screen, and devote that to launching and switching between applications. That frees up vertical space for web content, at the cost of horizontal space, which is cheaper in a widescreen world. ... Second, we'll expand that left-hand launcher panel so that it is touch-friendly. With relatively few applications required for instant-on environments, we can afford to be more generous with the icon size there. ... Third, we will make the top panel smarter." Ars got a chance to try out a prototype of Unity, saying, "Its unique visual style melds beautifully with Ubuntu's new default theme and its underlying interaction model seems compelling and well-suited for small screens."

Comments

Panels left/right much better in widescreen world

[RichMan]

I run with the "launcher" panel on the left and the applicaion panel on the right.
Both are auto-hide. This gives an lot of screen space on widescreen monitors.

The big pain is the few icons that don't translate well to the side panels.

Re:Uhm?

[DavidR1991]

8th line of the summary:

Second, we'll expand that left-hand launcher panel so that it is touch-friendly. With relatively few applications required for instant-on environments, [...]

Re:This does not address the real problem.

[stickystyle]

The problem: vertical space is limited.

Quick hack: put toolbars on the sides.

True fix: get a rotatable monitor!

When I tried that with my laptop, it only worked once.

Re:File management

[MonsterTrimble]

From the blog:

The two primary pieces we need to put in place are:

Support for many more applications, and adding / removing applications. Instant-on environments are locked down, while netbook environments should support anybody’s applications, not just those favored in the Launcher.

Support for file management, necessary for an environment that will be the primary working space for the user rather than an occasional web-focused stopover.

Emphasis mine. If this thing is going to fly at all, they'll need file management. It's that simple.

Re:Brilliant!

[apoc.famine]

Same here. It started with my netbook, as I tried desperately to maximize vertical space so that I could actually read pdfs and long web pages. From there it trickled into my main machine.

One of the nice things I found to hack this together is Tree-Style Tabs for Firefox. Puts the tabs on the left and branches them from the tab that spawned them. That's the best way to organize tabs that I've ever seen.

Re:Unity just for netbooks? Should be default!

[aBaldrich]

Wait for GNOME 3. Although you won't be able to use GNOME 3 + compiz anytime soon, there are many preview videos of the new GNOME that I find really interesting. (The second one is annotated in some slavic language but it shows many aspects of the menu and other interfaces)