[TriLUG] Onerous Ocelot

[matt at noway2.thruhere.net]

I tried Unity with the netbook remix 1.5 years ago.  It lasted all of
about 15 minutes before being replaced with the Gnome version.  It has
often been said that Linux is about choices.  Unfortunately, it would
appear that Ubuntu has forgotten this or perhaps they consider themselves
"to big to fail".  The experience you describe is also what has kept me on
Ubuntu Maverick, even though it constantly nags me to upgrade.  For the
most part, I have switched to Slackware (thank the Linux gods for
multi-boot), though I still have Ubuntu on there because my wife likes it.
 At some point, which is approaching, I will have to deal with this
somehow and I have been facing the same questions you are asking.  When I
have left Slackware with KDE running, my wife ususally asks me to "get
that off of there".

Personally, I too like the simplicity and reliability of apt.  The
occasions where it has failed me have been few and far between and I have
been an Ubuntu user since Feisty (version 6 or 7?).  I find that I also
prefer the simplicity Gnome desktop (over KDE) even though it is not as
pretty.  As an experiment, I tried Gentoo with Gnome.  The screen saver
messed me up and I abandoned it but before then it had a lot of the look
and feel of Ubuntu.  Of course, the package manager was different.

My recommendation would be to try one of the other main line
distributions, with a Gnome desktop.  This would give you much of the look
and feel that you are used to, while still providing solid package
management.  From a user (only) standpoint, I doubt if there is a lot of
difference between DEB and RPM based systems, once you get used to the
commands and either would have the major benefits that APT provides.

Out of curiosity, may I ask what it is that you don't like about Debian?

> OK, I installed 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot yesterday.
>
> And I get why unity is the way it is.  Tablets and touch screen devices
> are
> cool.  Looks like if I were navigating with a touch interface this would
> be
> OK.
>
> <RANT opt=ignoreifyoulike>
> However, I have 2 big monitors, a nice ergo keyboard and a good trackball
> attached to my relatively well powered system.
>
> I like running many apps at once.  I like having an applet with the list
> of
> everything I'm running for ease.
>
> I also like the left and right sides of my screen clear... I prefer system
> bars at the top and bottom.
>
> Most of all, one of the things I enjoy about Linux is that many things are
> configurable.  Perhaps it's my crotchety old man status, but it seems that
> Ubuntu has been steadily removing those choices.
>
> </RANT>
> <REQUEST-FOR-HELP>
>
> So, since they've removed the "gnome classic" option from this distro...
> what options can I see... can anyone recommend how to make this work more
> like a desktop?  Or, barring that, what distro I should try?  (I like apt,
> but am not fond of debian pure.)
>
> Or is there a tutorial out there on using the onerous ocelot on a desktop
> without scratching my eyes out?
>
> </REQUEST-FOR-HELP>
>
> Thanks,
> CJK
> --