Gordon, Popey probably won't thank me, but the answer may be gnome-session-fallback atop any Ubuntu/Unity, which will give you a Gnome-2-like desktop with all the other benefits of the 12.x releases (of which there are many.
I've already gone to 12.10 on my two main machines - okay, the Beta is still a bit buggy in places, but so much better than 12.04, already. I *can* work in Unity, I know what it's trying to provide, mostly I choose not to use it; mainly because Unity seems to want to make me type more, whereas Gnome menus do 80% of the things I want within 2 clicks and there's the old Gnome search tool for files and ALT-f2 for everything else. Look on the bright side, Mark Spaceshuttle could have copied Windows 8 NOT-Metro, Modern-UI, Tiles-thing for a desktop instead! Overall I still think the Vancouver team book, Unity: Simplify Your Life<http://ubuntu-za.org/sites/default/files/unity-5-10-0-final-pdf.pdf>is the best guide for the Unity doubter, and our Ubuntu and Unity Special Edition is available from the main *Full Circle*<http://fullcirclemagazine.org/ubuntu-11-10-and-unity-special-edition/>site. -- Rgds RC Robin Catling Full Circle Podcast On 2 October 2012 16:06, Alan Pope <alan.p...@canonical.com> wrote: > Hi Gordon, > > On 02/10/12 11:42, Gordon Scott wrote: > >> On 01/10/2012 21:36, Alan Pope wrote: >> >>> On 01/10/12 21:32, Gordon Scott wrote: >>> >>>> Can anyone say if 'upgrading' from 10.04 to 12.04 would result in a >>>> default switch to Unity? >>>> >>> >>> It will. >>> >>> Frankly that is alarming, but also as I suspected, and precisely why I >> have not upgraded. >> >> > What's alarming about upgrading a system and getting new stuff? It happens > in all software "distributions". OS/2 2.x -> OS/2 Warp, Windows XP -> > Windows 7, Android 2.x -> 3.x -> 4.x, Linux Mint 11 -> 12. Some more > dramatic than others, granted. > > Have you any idea how disruptive that change would be if it were >> unexpected? >> >> > How would be unexpected? When you click "upgrade" to go from 10.04 to > 12.04 you are presented with release notes and a clear link to:- > > http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/**features<http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/features> > > Which goes out of its way to detail what's new and funky in the later > release. > > Do you have any idea how badly a change like that can be received? >> >> > I recommend this book:- > > http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/**product/0091816971/<http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0091816971/>- > "Who Moved My Cheese: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and > in Your Life" > > I have already spent many hours trying to work out how to make Unity >> effective for me as my _work_ environment. Unity is already costing me >> time, and I don't yet even have it on my work machine. >> >> > So don't use it. Use something else if it's that much of a bugbear for > you. There's lots of different desktops in the repository. I'm sure one > suits. > > Are there any nasty surprises in the upgrade from 10.04LTS server to >> 12.04LTS server, without the GUI? >> > > Not that I'm aware of. We generally don't go for "nasty surprises" in > Ubuntu, either on the desktop or server. We tend to favour "new features" > and "updated software". > > Hopefully with absolutely no bling at >> least that one should be relatively OK, though any upgrade is always a >> risk and challenge. >> >> > You say "bling" I say "beauty". Let's call the whole thing off. > > Does the upgrade process inform us of fallback, or better still offer it >> as an option? >> > > No. However it's as easy as clicking this link once you've upgraded. > > apt://gnome-session-fallback > > Does it remain comparable to my present desktop, i.e., I don't waste >> hours or days betting back to something with which I can work. >> >> > You want the world to stay the same, but upgrade nonetheless? Should we > have all stayed on GNOME 1.x or perhaps CDE? :) > > The reason I'm on Ubuntu LTS was because I understood that there would >> be steady upgrade process and I hoped that that would minimise many of >> the disruptive changes that have happened in the past .. stupid things >> like a new blingy CD writer that doesn't work properly superseding the >> old drab one that did. >> >> > That's a reasonable set of expectations. Nobody is forcing you to upgrade > right now, are they? I mean, there may be software you need for your work > which isn't available in 10.04, or there may be hardware which is only > supported on a newer kernel? > > But if you're on 10.04 then you've got until April next year before you > need to think about "no more bug fixes and security updates on this > release". Why not sit back and take stock of the changing world around you > and make the step when you're ready? > > At this moment, Unity feels a little like Ubuntu >> threw a grenade into the mix. Yes, I know it's been around a year or >> so, but I ditched it back then as too profound a change. I'm trying to >> prepare for what seems presently to be an inevitable change, but at the >> moment that's feeling a bit of a struggle. I'm still hoping I'll >> mellow. I like Ubuntu, it's always been relatively painless to work >> with in the past. Hopefully it will be again. >> >> > I run 12.04 on my main machine and will probably stick with it for some > time to come. I am enjoying 12.04 much more than any of the previous > releases I've used. Each to their own though. I hope you find a desktop > that suits you. > > Cheers, > -- > Alan Pope > Engineering Manager > > Canonical - Product Strategy > +44 (0) 7973 620 164 > alan.p...@canonical.com > http://ubuntu.com/ > > -- > Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk > Web Interface: > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/**mailman/listinfo/hampshire<https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire> > LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk > ------------------------------**------------------------------**-- >
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