Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ubuntu Gnome Seeking Long Term Support Status

Posted by Unknown on from the release-early-maintain-forever dept.

sfcrazy writes "The Ubuntu Gnome team wants to join the elite club of Ubuntu flavors which enjoy the LTS (Long Term Support) status. Ubuntu 14.04 will be an LTS release making it a good time for the Ubuntu Gnome flavor to be promoted since it will be two more years before the next LTS release."

26 comments

  1. Pah ... gnome sux by Cobratek · · Score: 0

    But I wish them luck.

    --
    DONT TREAD ON ME MOÎΩN ÎABÃ
    1. Re:Pah ... gnome sux by Xicor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      i liked the previous gnome... but the current one tries too hard to be apple and doesnt work very well.

    2. Re:Pah ... gnome sux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      sudo apt-get -y install gnome
      sudo /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-set-defaults -s gnome-classic

      sudo apt-get install indicator-applet-session

          1. Winkey-Alt-Rightclick on the clock in the panel and select "Remove".
              (This deletes ALL the default items in the Panel, by deleting the "Indicator Applet Complete".)
          2. Winkey-Alt-Rightclick on the Panel and select "Add to Panel". Select "Indicator Applet Session"
          3. Winkey-Alt-Rightclick on the Panel and select "Add to Panel". Select "User Menu"
          4. Winkey-Alt-Rightclick on the Panel and select "Add to Panel". Select "Clock"
          5. Winkey-Alt-Rightclick on the Panel and select "Add to Panel". Select "Indicator Applet"

      # sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

        Go to system tools > preferences > compizconfig
        Check "Windows Management" > "Static Application Switcher" (WARNING: "Application Switcher" hangs the machine.)
        Check "Extras" > "Window Previews"

      # Precise:
      # sudo gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface ubuntu-overlay-scrollbars false
      # Raring:
      # sudo gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode normal

      You're welcome! :)

    3. Re:Pah ... gnome sux by MBGMorden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No - the current one tries to be "different". Mac OS is far more traditionally oriented than Gnome 3.

      They didn't just shoot themselves in the foot with that release - they did so with almost the entire userbase screaming "Don't do it!!!!!".

      Oh well. XFCE makes for a perfectly fine replacement.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    4. Re:Pah ... gnome sux by H0p313ss · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I agree that Gnome 3 out of the box is a bit of a train-wreck in terms of usability, but what I discovered is now that gnome-shell has been around for a while there's lots of extensions that make it highly configurable and I have to confess I like what I can do with it.

      But what I can do with it is nothing like the default behavior. :)

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    5. Re:Pah ... gnome sux by Nimey · · Score: 2

      Or MATE for a more GNOME 2.xx look:

      sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://packages.mate-desktop.o... precise main"
      sudo apt-get update
      sudo apt-get --yes --quiet --allow-unauthenticated install mate-archive-keyring
      sudo apt-get update
      # this installs base packages
      sudo apt-get install mate-core
      # this installs more packages
      sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment

      s/precise/saucy/g if you're running 13.10 instead of 12.04.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    6. Re:Pah ... gnome sux by Nimey · · Score: 1

      Dammit slashcode.

      That first line again:
      sudo add-apt-repository "deb http: //packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/ubuntu precise main"

      remove the space between : and // above.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    7. Re:Pah ... gnome sux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I tested the Ubuntu 14.04 Beta1 GNOME peview just after it was released. It has completely left the Window95 model behind now, and surpringly I don't hate it. I never thought I'd say tht given my previous experience with G3, but here we are.

    8. Re: Pah ... gnome sux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only good desktop environment left is KDE. The rest have gone the Apple way and gave turned to shit

    9. Re:Pah ... gnome sux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OR you can just do what everyone else did... Install Linux Mint MATE Edition.

  2. No!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    If you had ever worked on a project with the almighty Ali/amjjawad you would petition no - and I have. You would scream it. He is a dictator who knows nothing about technology. Just look at his ToriOS project: torios.org

    He very recently killed it out of micro-managing incompetence. The man is incompetent and Ubuntu Gnome is lucky to have come together at all.

    1. Re:No!!!!! by willoughby · · Score: 1

      Allright, according to you the guy's a prick. So how does that extrapolate to saying no to an LTS release of Ubuntu Gnome?

    2. Re:No!!!!! by wjcofkc · · Score: 1

      Sounds like a good old fashioned grudge to me. I have worked with him. While I will admit to helping him get started on his ToriOS project, I take no credit for that website. He's not a bad guy, he's a my way or the highway kinda guy. Which is too bad because his grasp of technology really is limited. While I, along with others, left that project out of differences (gee, did I help kill it?), he really is too nice a guy to get mad at. Unless you're Mr. Grudge up there ( I can guess who that is). Best of luck to him.

      --
      Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
  3. at'least you have other distros. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ubuntu 13.10 64 bit full Hard Disk install, unity sometimes runs slow and sometimes fast on an amd phenom ii x6@2700mhz, 8gb ram, 1gb amd 6570 dual video with amd proprietary drivers, 512gb ram, system. In virtual box under windows 7, unity is horrible even with 2 cores, 2048mb ram dedicated to the guest. I uninstalled compiz and unity would not show up, unity definitely build on top of compiz. So instead I installed the gnome-session-fallback and gnome 3 and both run fast and responsive and this is in virtual box. I think canonical removed some 2d api or something in previous versions if i remember.

    Opensuse kde is fast both on full hd install and virtualbox, kwin better performance than compiz.

    Windows 8.1, got sick of it and not just mentally but it physically makes me nauseas, I can't use it.

  4. 2 years 3 months by duckintheface · · Score: 1

    Since LTS distributions are supported for 5 years, why would Gnome only be supported for 2 years?

    --
    "He took a duck in the face at 250 knots." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
    1. Re:2 years 3 months by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because 27 months is better than the standard 18 months, and is just enough to overlap with 16.04, which one might assume will be the next LTS.

      Not 5 years because Ubuntu GNOME is young, and upstream GNOME haven't committed to maintaining 3.10 for five years.

  5. GNOME 3 SLOW AS HELL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The current GNOME 3 is slow as hell. All this crap running in the background like "tracker", "prelink" and so on makes it a pain to use. Also all audio and video gets out of sync when playing back because of the ressources that gnome-shell requires.

    This all doesn't happen when I use XFCE or GNOME2

  6. unity and gnome suks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    we want cde and kde lts

  7. I want Ubuntu 8.04 back. by X10 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why does Canonical keep fixing things that aren't broken, things that everybody's happy with? Ubuntu doesn't want to be Apple, nor does it want to be Windows. Ubuntu wants to be Ubuntu.

    --
    no, I don't have a sig
    1. Re:I want Ubuntu 8.04 back. by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 3, Insightful

      1) There are a lot of detractors of Gnome 3. Everyone is not happy with it.

      2) What you don't grasp is what I admire about Canonical/Shuttleworth. What kept Linux (or Ubuntu) from dominating the desktop was an inferior GUI experience to Apple/Windows (and unequal driver support). You could chose Gnome or KDE, both too flawed and two unmotivated to compete for the general (dumb) consumer market, give up and go with some form of LXDE(?), or do what Canonical did. Canonical wanted to go after what it saw was the future, and instead of unsuccessfully negotiating with Gnome & KDE designer councils to implement what Canonical wanted, Canonical took its future into its own hands. Computing hardware was moving to tablets, phones & gear, not desktops, and they wanted a GUI that could bridge both worlds. That's why they went to Unity, and given the problems producing a compositor competitive with DirectX, they went to Wayland, then Mir.

      3) Every megalomanic in Unixland operates like a bloodthirsty Bolshevik, and thinks Canonical owes them a living for failure or half a loaf.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
    2. Re:I want Ubuntu 8.04 back. by pmontra · · Score: 2

      I admire both Canonical and the Gnome team because they made bold decisions and innovated the desktop. Unfortunately they moved into directions far away from how I like to use my desktop. At least I hope Canonical succeeds in giving us a device that can be both a phone and a computer. My dream is a 100 g (3.5 oz) device with the same computing power of a quad core i7. Many years to go.

      Disclaimer: I'm using better and worse in a subjective way in this post. I'm not deluding myself by thinking that everybody must agree with me.

      I started using Gnome as my primary DE in 2009 coming from XP (Vista being the alternative, ugh). Gnome 2 was vastly superior to XP. More beautiful and less clicks to perform any given task. So we might argue about what's better, Gnome or OSX, but in my experience both of them are better that XP and 7 (*). I won't even start talking about Windows 8. All my friends hate it but they decided they won't downgrade to Windows 7 (too complex to do) or switch to Linux, which is a know unknown to them even if most of them are using only Openoffice and Firefox/Chrome on Windows and very little else, no games.

      (*) Actually I never liked Mac's top menu (since 1984) and the dock (it's distracting). I'd say that parts of Windows GUI are better than OSX (the windows and start menus) and parts are worse (pretty much everything else).

      Given a choice I'd take a configurable OSX, to get rid of everything I don't like so you won't be surprised if I liked Gnome 2. I configured it with only a bottom panel and I added the Compiz cube to manage virtual desktops. The visual 3D effect while switching helps me remember where I am in desktop-land. I've been happy with that arrangement since then.

      I occasionally had to use a Mac and I kept disliking the main ideas behind its GUI. I also occasionally had to use Win 7 and I didn't find it any better than XP. It has the same odd dynamics of waiting until a pendrive registers in the system (how can Linux make it happen instantaneously?), having to negotiate that maze the control panel became along the years, or having to install drivers to make hardware work (**)

      (**) If the hardware is very new maybe there is no Linux driver, game over. But otherwise it's plug and play. My webcam, scanner, network printer, camera and smarphone (as USB drives) worked without me having to do anything. Why not on Windows?

      I used Gnome 3 and KDE recently on a new PC because I run into some bugs with my Gnome Classic desktop (which - btw - is GTK3, not 2). I ruled out Unity because of the top panel and the launcher. Too bad because the HUD and lenses are useful but it's all or nothing. I tweaked the Gnome shell with extensions until it looked almost like my old desktop. It was not as good as that and before I even started to tweak the theme (the default is ugly black) it started freezing from time to time. So I gave a chance to KDE.

      KDE was a good surprise at the beginning. It's very easy to make it behave like my old desktop, however it lacks polish and usability. All the DE have a Redmondian sense of aesthetics and interactions that makes me feel odd at using it. At least it seems that they tried to clone and perfect Windows 7, not 8, and they succeeded. However they perpetrated those same Windows's original sins of hiding external drives in the tray icon bars, too many clicks to do anything, etc. It's a good DE if you come from Windows but it tastes bad if you come from Gnome or (I think) OSX.

      I eventually found fixes and workarounds for the bugs I was experiencing with Gnome Classic so I'm back to it. That's a clean and simple desktop and it suits my needs.

      To recap, my hierarchy is Gnome 2 > Gnome 3 > OSX/Unity > KDE > Windows 7/XP > Windows 8 with the OSX/Unity not being usable by me because of insisting on the top menu and dock/launcher.

    3. Re:I want Ubuntu 8.04 back. by diebels · · Score: 1

      I haven't managed to like running gnome3 or unity on non touch screens computers, and the classic session does not seem very classic. Gnome2 is still alive and well though (not broken just yet), I have it running here with some useful compiz effects. Just install gnome-session-flashback and some extras for compiz; compizconfig-settings-manager, compiz-gnome, compiz-plugins-extra, and you're good to go.

  8. In other news by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 1

    ...I want a pony, Canonical. Pay up!

    Its pretty freaking obvious that Canonical's GUI strategy (Unity/Mir) does not involve depending on Gnome. Since neither Shuttleworth is the richest man on earth, or Canonical isn't making a huge profit, why should they be investing salaries into an ancillary GUI, which isn't even that popular within the industry?

    I hope Canonical decides to include Gnome into the 14.04 LTS, but only if the company thinks they can afford to invest resources towards it.

    --
    There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
  9. MATE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And here I thought MATE was the Gnome LTS version...

  10. Right Tool Right Job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For a development environment, I much prefer Gnome 3 since it does a great job of just staying out of the way. When working on any single window (face it, you're only actively interacting with one window at a time), you have the bar up top and nothing else, unless you want them. Most quick controls such as next track in your media player, are at most 2 clicks away and often integrated into the top bar.

    The only downside to Gnome 3 is there are still some issues with the Gnome 3 compositor and OpenGL windows. I get a lot of crashes and lockups when trying to play games in Gnome3... so much so that I've moved over to KDE, which is a lot more stable. I've even configured KDE to look and feel a bit more like Gnome3.