Classic Look on Ubuntu 11.10 – aka I want my Gnome classic back !
I am not pleased at all with the new Unity and Gnome 3 look+feel Ubuntu has recently published when upgrading/installing Ubuntu 11.10. I find it uncomfortable, not intuitive and I generally don´t like the Look+Feel if you were used to Gnome2 without Unity. (which I disabled as soon as I got it running in 11.04)
Good news, there is a way back:
sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback
Logout, and choose Gnome Classic in the Login Screen.
The most noticable change is when you try to change the panel contents. Right clicking on the panel isn´t working anymore – but don´t panic. Just use ALT+Right Mouse and you can add/remove panel or content to the panel you were used to.
If I wouldn´t have noticed the way back to classic gnome look, I would have really considered leaving Ubuntu at all, though I was a very early user of Ubuntu – since it was released. If I would want a Smartphone Look+Feel on my desktop, I would buy one of those giant XXXL+ Android phones or tablets.
Update:
Well, I finally took the decision to bust Ubuntu. The Gnome 3 thing wasn´t the only reason, but my installed version was always an update from release to release – so it was pretty slow already. I switched to Linux Mint 11 and I will stay with this version for now, because Mint 12 will have gnome 3 too.
For all of those who especially don´t like Nautilus (see my other post on this blog) I found pcmanfm as an alternative – no clue if it works in Gnome 11.10 too. But it looks pretty similiar to Nautilus of gnome 2.x
completely agree with your dissent against Oneiric. Why are they being so patronizing ?
I’d like to add my voice too… Ubuntu Classic made an easy transition for those (including myself) who switched from other OSs for it’s simplicity, can’t say that about Unity… It’s very strange to experience such forceful changes from what suppose to be a community based alternative… Gnome Classic should remain unchanged for at least few more release cycles… PLEASE!
sooooo disapointed too, i really think about leaving ubuntu
as the versions increase it’s more and more difficult to get a real desktop
Unity is the ugliest UI I have ever seen. After 11.04 released with Unity, I began searching for a fallback distro in case Unity ever became permanent. It’s a good thing, because now that Unity is here to stay, the best thing to do is leave Ubuntu. The fallback mode is not truly the classic Ubuntu desktop. The menus are different, the alt-click thing is retarded, and the organization of system settings went out the window. One thing you have probably not noticed is that the new GNOME3 fallback interface uses up nearly twice as much RAM as the GNOME2 interface, while providing absolutely nothing new.
I ditched Ubuntu (which I’ve been a devoted user of since 6.06) for Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). With some tweaking, it provides the familiar layout of classic Ubuntu and has no plans to switch to Unity/Gnome Shell/GNOME3 anytime soon.
Seriously, how can the most popular Linux GUI become such an incomprehensible mess?
i switched to OPENSUSE and I kind of miss UBUNTU, but I ran for the hills when I heard it was going to be 100% unity
opensuse isnt bad at all, and I believe is backed by novell, so is probably more secure
i would never get used to unity, I really tried
xubuntu seems to be the real solution, the bootblage iso display something really nice : a desktop using gnome well integrated
going to switch to xubuntu tonight
I’ve been an Ubuntu user for years, but Unity is totally unacceptable for me.
I guess this move of Canonical will drive away most of core users from Ubuntu.
It drove me for sure away, since I installed Debian since Oneiric has been released.
But now I see I should have stuck to Natty while it’s still supported, since I have many problems with Debian.
The biggest problem is that all software on the stable release of Debian is hopelessly outdated, with no possibility of easy update.
For example, Evolution is so antique, that it couldn’t handle my Evolution files from Ubuntu and messed everything up.
Iceweasel (the equivalent of Firefox in Debian) is very old too, but installing the latest Firefox and setting up all the plugins is a pain.
So now I’m kind of in limbo, not knowing what to do.
Can you really add applications to panels in Gnome3 with Alt+Right click?
I found Gnome3 almost as bad as Unity, even in the fallback mode.
In my opinion Canonical did a huge mistake with forcing on everyone Unity. They probably did this to attract new users, but while this outcome is uncertain, they certainly manage to alienate their most devout users.
It´s a long time ago that I have run Debian, but as far as I remember, there is Debian Unstable, which offers newer packages but is “unstable” in the Debian point of view, which is very strict.
I have read lately that Linux mint will offer a fork of gnome 2 for their latest release, which will contain Gnome 3 but NOT Unity. If they really go this way and offer Gnome 2 but with the latest Ubuntu updates, I will wipe Ubuntu once and for all.
Half the options are gone or so hard to find I give up this stinks!
I to am not happy with the new look. It is a real pain in the butt in firefox when you have 3 or 4 windows open and you have to go back to the side, click on firefox, choose the window you want. It was much easier when you just had to click on the tab at the bottom. I might go back to 10.10 so I can keep all my old settings and keep using ubuntu. It is better than windows.
I found this form because I am looking how to get my nautilus to work as expected, not only icons then I could use windows.
For of all the place, there I could manual change the location and nautilus would follow, or go up one level in the directory tree, ALL GONE.
What are the alternatives?
seems like pcmanfm (sudo apt-get install pcmanfm) is a quite good alternative as it looks nearly like our old nautilus. Though this alternative, I already busted Ubuntu and switched over to Linux Mint 11. And I´ll stay with it and won´t update to 12, which also has this gnome 3 crap.
unity is so stupid, i want my gnome back
I can only say I’m going to switch to some stable version of Linux, ubuntu and fedora with their 6 month cycle changes are driving me insane. there is no point in changing Desktop or even O.S every freaking six month asking me to update/upgrade. and every time I upgrade something wont work. every time I have to west at list one day if not two to make it work correctly.. LINUX Distribution are starting to be worst than Microsoft..
The new look of ubuntu 11.10 is not impressive. I am quite surprised to see the new & difficult look. This is the time for user friendly apps and OS. But with the growing time ubuntu is also growing with its difficulties. Bad experience.
This is a disaster.
Why is soft ware every where being dumbed down? The latest Ubuntu makes every thing I do harder! It attempts to kill control. I need functionality not big fluffy icons! There are lots of things that could have been done to improve access & usability of the old system but it wasn’t bad. This new stuff is a mad run in the opposite direction! Why? whats the thinking? The same is true with the android phone system, the old PDAs had massively better functionality. The android system chucked 30 yrs of programing development & installed a bunch of children’s toys! Their like a Ferrari strapped to a roto tiller, massive horse power no functionality the programs are infantile!
The purpose at every level seems to be make things disappear and require more clicks. For example now to search in synaptic instead of starting to type in box now click search then start typing. Scroll bars require hunting for open close max min are hidden. It is terrible for seniors with eyesight issues. My vision is OK but at 61 this is much harder to do everything.
I have been using Ubuntu since herring and have enjoyed it. I installed 11.10 on my desktop, and the interface SUCKS!!! I am glad I haven’t updated on my laptop yet. If cannonical doesn’t get it together I will be jumping ship, Unity can suck it. I am currently downloading mint to give that a whirl.
Maybe have look at Bodhi Linux? That became my choice and favourite after Ubutu Unity, Fedora and Linux Mint.
Beautiful desktop, and dont listen to those who say its for small and elder computers.
My computer is 3 years old with Pentium D processor and 3 GB Ram.