Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric thread

Originally Posted by tux99

It's the first beta, isn't this thread too early?

It might lead newbies into using it for more then just testing, which is not recommended for betas as they are still relatively buggy.

BTW, I'm moving my PCs gradually to ScientificLinux 6 (a Redhat EL6 clone), since I'm fed up of the constant upgrades. SL6 (just like RHEL6 or Centos6) is a long term distro that gets updates and patches for 7 years.

I have even started my own repo of mostly AV-related packages for RHEL6/SL6/Centos6: http://pkgrepo.linuxtech.net/el6/

I prefer to have a stable base (SL6) with the latest apps on top, rather than having to upgrade the whole distro to get the latest apps.
Also SL6 still comes with Gnome 2 rather than the controversial Gnome 3 or that Ubuntu play-desktop.

Originally Posted by Ericglo

I am using Kubuntu right now. It is graphically pretty. I think it is even better than Ubuntu. My problem is the same as used to have. I dislike trying to navigate through the desktop.I am going to play with it some more, but I think I am going to go back and play with Xubuntu. ONe definite advantage of X is the Ubuntu Software Center. It is much more polished than Muon on K.

Originally Posted by Ericglo

Are you primarily using X? I haven't played with X enough. I think I will shut down and plug that drive in and use it exclusively tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Ericglo

Mac is correct. I meant Xubuntu.

I played with Xubuntu some more and like it, but I think I really like having a taskbar at the bottom to display open programs and folders with the main taskbar on top. I also like having separate menus on top for Applications, Places and System. This seems quicker to navigate than Unity's dock. I could probably live with X's dock if I had to.

I decided to download Gnome on Xubuntu and play around with that. I am not sure if you can do that with the main Ubuntu or not. I did not play with Gnome 3, but instead used the Gnome Classic. I liked it and could probably live with this version as well. It seems a little more limited in modifying the desktop than Ubuntu Classic, but that may be because I did not delve into far enough.

I was talking to my best friend today, who programs in the Unity game engine for iOS and Android. He has a couple of Apple devices and his wife's Mac along with his Windows machine. I asked him if I was being conservative and a luddite for not jumping on the bandwagon. His reply was that he sees some minor things that look or work better and others that seem out of place or are frustrating. He doesn't see any of the new interfaces as better just different, which is how I see them. I guess when someone comes up with truly innovative and superior computing experience then I will be game. For me, Unity and Gnome 3 aren't it. I should add that I just read that KDE is going to have a separate desktop and mobile interface.

The XfApplet Plugin is a plugin for the Xfce 4 Panel which allows one to use applets designed for the Gnome Panel inside the Xfce Panel. You can think of XfApplet as a tiny Gnome Panel that lives inside the Xfce Panel and allows you to show the same applets that the Gnome Panel is capable of showing.
The current stable version of the XfApplet Plugin has the following features:
Most Gnome applets are supported. Basically the only exceptions are the Gnome Systray and Window List applets, which should be considered not very well supported. This should be fixed in the next stable version;The XfApplet properties dialog allows you to choose between all Gnome applets currently installed, just as the Gnome Panel does.The XfApplet context menu shows both the Xfce Panel related items (such as “Move”, “Remove”, “Customize Panel”, etc.) and the Gnome applet ones, which of course will depend on the specific applet being displayed.Applets are displayed correctly in terms of layout, popup menus and other issues no matter the Xfce Panel specific configuration such as position (top, bottom, left or right side and floating) and size.By now you may be wondering: why would someone write XfApplet? The motivations for both starting and maintaining this project can be resumed as follows:
Olivier Fourdan (Xfce project leader) was asked in his interview in FOSDEM 2005 about the possibility of integration between the Gnome Panel applets and the Xfce Panel. His answer stated that (by that time) the Xfce Panel did not support stand alone applets such as the Gnome Panel, but instead one could write a plugin for the Xfce Panel that was capable of showing Gnome applets.Software reusability is very common in FOSS projects, especially in code level. XfApplet allows for reusability in component level by linking against the Bonobo infra-structure and the Xfce Panel libraries. So there's no need to rewrite every single Gnome applet against Xfce libraries; all of them can be used out of the box from within both the Xfce and Gnome panels.Many new Xfce users come from Gnome or at least have a good Gnome experience. The possibility of using Gnome applets inside the Xfce Panel makes the experience of moving from Gnome to Xfce or even using both desktop environments easier.

The KDE team has announced the availability of Plasma Active One. While the GNOME project has decided to rework their entire desktop in order to address tablets and touch screens, the KDE project is taking a different approach. The KDE4 desktop will remain as it is and a branch of KDE is being designed specifically for mobile devices

Plasma Active is compatible with the Plasma Desktop and Plasma Netbook Workspaces. They are all based on the same framework, sharing more than 95% of code. This is a radically different approach to interface commonality across devices. Most other tablet products are either unique to themselves (sharing little or nothing in common with other device interfaces), or attempts to use desktop interfaces on smaller displays. But Plasma-based interfaces are crafted for specific device types, and are able to do so while having nearly all their code and engineering efforts in common

Hmmm. Between this and what Eric said about the panels, it sounds like Xubuntu radically messes with the standard Xfce desktop. For the record, I've been playing around with Mint Xfce.

But, I'm still having motivation issues because I'm concerned about what happens when Xfce eventually is forced to move to GTK3 libraries and if KDE is going to a Metro style interface that rules them out too.

The Qt cross-platform framework for developing applications took a big step last week into being a truly free and community run open source project. Qt, which is owned by Nokia and which forms the base for KDE, is getting a new home. Lars Knoll posted on the Qt Labs blog, "I'm happy to announce that the Qt Project officially went live today. Starting today, development of Qt will be governed as a true open source project." He goes on to report Qt will be open to any and all contributors, "All development will happen in one central location, with access for everyone at the same time. No more separate code flow for `Nokians vs others', and no more time delays! What you see is what we see. Discussions, decisions and roadmapping will all happen in the community, by the community, for the community." The new Qt Project means developers outside of Nokia, such as KDE coders, should be able to get their patches into Qt in a timely manner.