PCFormat Forum Archive

ubuntu.com wrote:The release of Ubuntu 11.04 has seen the arrival of a new look and feel for Ubuntu. A whizzy, new launcher and dash, and a clever workspace manager are some of the biggest changes. Take a look at what’s new and then feel free to choose between the classic and new desktop experiences at login.

ars technica wrote:Although many of the changes introduced in Unity represent tangible usability improvements, there are some parts of the environment—particularly the application lens—that still have some rough edges. Some users might also be put off by Unity's lack of configurability. The position of the dock is one of several key aspects that can't be customized. Users who prefer a more traditional environment or want to wait for Unity to mature further before making the switch can simply choose the "Classic" Ubuntu desktop in the system login interface.

Unity requires support for hardware-accelerated rendering, which might not work consistently across all hardware. The classic environment is also used as a fallback for users with unsupported hardware. A "2D" version of Unity, built with Qt, that doesn't require compositing is under active development and could serve as the fallback in future versions of Ubuntu. The 2D version is shipping today in the Ubuntu ARM netbook port, but not on the regular Ubuntu CD.

Spoiler: (show)

ryanrich wrote:Unity on a smaller device like a netbook.

newstechnica.com wrote:Design is at the centre of Shuttleworth’s roadmap for Unity. “I woke up one day and thought, ‘Gosh, I’d really like to make using my universal general-purpose computer that I can do ANYTHING with feel like I’m using a locked-down three-year-old half-smart phone through the clunky mechanism some l33t h@xx0r used to jailbreak it, I can’t think of a better user experience.’ We’re not quite there yet, but this gets Unity a lot of the way.”

JollyJamma wrote:I know Linux auto looks for drivers and installs them.