Canonical Bringing an Instant-On Ubuntu 251
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by
Soulskill
from the feeling-the-heat-from-chrome-os dept.
from the feeling-the-heat-from-chrome-os dept.
Today at the Ubuntu Developers Summit, Mark Shuttleworth presented a few upcoming Ubuntu projects, including "Light" versions of the operating system for "both netbook and desktop, that are optimized for dual-boot scenarios." Shuttleworth also took the wraps off Unity, a new lightweight interface that will be included in Ubuntu Light and eventually in Ubuntu Netbook Edition as well. "First, we want to move the bottom panel to the left of the screen, and devote that to launching and switching between applications. That frees up vertical space for web content, at the cost of horizontal space, which is cheaper in a widescreen world. ... Second, we'll expand that left-hand launcher panel so that it is touch-friendly. With relatively few applications required for instant-on environments, we can afford to be more generous with the icon size there. ... Third, we will make the top panel smarter." Ars got a chance to try out a prototype of Unity, saying, "Its unique visual style melds beautifully with Ubuntu's new default theme and its underlying interaction model seems compelling and well-suited for small screens."
Re:Uhm? (Score:3, Informative)
This is a joke, right? Instant-on is mentioned about 15 times throughout the article.
Panels left/right much better in widescreen world (Score:4, Informative)
I run with the "launcher" panel on the left and the applicaion panel on the right.
Both are auto-hide. This gives an lot of screen space on widescreen monitors.
The big pain is the few icons that don't translate well to the side panels.
Re:Uhm? (Score:4, Informative)
8th line of the summary:
Second, we'll expand that left-hand launcher panel so that it is touch-friendly. With relatively few applications required for instant-on environments, [...]
Re:This does not address the real problem. (Score:4, Informative)
The problem: vertical space is limited.
Quick hack: put toolbars on the sides.
True fix: get a rotatable monitor!
When I tried that with my laptop, it only worked once.
Re:File management (Score:5, Informative)
From the blog:
The two primary pieces we need to put in place are:
Support for many more applications, and adding / removing applications. Instant-on environments are locked down, while netbook environments should support anybody’s applications, not just those favored in the Launcher.
Support for file management, necessary for an environment that will be the primary working space for the user rather than an occasional web-focused stopover.
Emphasis mine. If this thing is going to fly at all, they'll need file management. It's that simple.
Re:Brilliant! (Score:5, Informative)
One of the nice things I found to hack this together is Tree-Style Tabs for Firefox. Puts the tabs on the left and branches them from the tab that spawned them. That's the best way to organize tabs that I've ever seen.
Re:Unity just for netbooks? Should be default! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Interesting concept (Score:2, Informative)
This is specifically for the netbook version and to save space. It is not for standard Ubuntu. UNE already puts the window decoration up into the top panel. This is just continuing that trend. They're not claiming to be inventing anything new here.
Re:The NextStep Wharf (Score:3, Informative)
To the left of the screen? No, no, no... it's called "the wharf" and it sits at the right of the screen: http://xwinman.org/screenshots/bowman-matt.gif [xwinman.org]
No, the Worf stands in the back at Tactical: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worf [wikipedia.org]
Re:Uhm? (Score:3, Informative)
I don't know about him but mine takes less than 60 seconds from cold boot, 5 seconds from sleep. Of course I'm not dumpster diving for my PCs like Linux users. Burn baby, Burn.
Seriously though about TFA, this is getting as bad as that XKCD comic about Linux and flash! Why not, and this is just a thought, I'm just throwing this out here, instead of worrying about new whiz bang features and which side of the screen a button should be on, how about, and this is just a thought, you actually spend some time on QA and bug fixes so when I update half my fucking hardware doesn't break! How about that?
Hell you can't even buy one of those Dell OEMs Ubuntu netbooks according to the guy I was talking to here on /. and update the thing without sound and wireless shitting itself! How fucked up is that, when you gotta trawl forums even for the fricking machine made for Ubuntu?
Look, nobody is asking for miracles here, just a little QA, okay? Everyone here says Linux is ready for the desktop, but there is no way in hell me or any other retailer can sell the thing if it is gonna break if you dare to turn updates on. Nobody is asking that you support everything on the planet either, just that you make a list that says "This shit WILL WORK period" and then make sure that the parts on that list will work, no matter what. Then you can slowly but surely expand the list, and retailers will have basic configurations that they will know can walk out of their store running your OS and not shit themselves and die if an update comes out.
Because as it is the only ones you are gonna sell Linux to is the "geeks who buy on the Internet and are self supporting and willing to use an alternate OS" and that is a market that frankly just ain't growing, and is probably shrinking when guys like me get tired of hunting for fixes after every update and just switch to a Mac or PC. I have plenty of customers whom the Linux security model would seriously benefit, but I'm not providing free lifetime tech support okay? And I really don't think it is too much to ask to not have to look at the updates notification like a "bork Linux" button.