# Unity vs GNOME 3



## nims11 (May 6, 2011)

i installed ubuntu 11.04 yesterday. in first looks i didnt like unity. the layout seemed too restrictive and the i hated the new type of title bar. i then installed GNOME 3 and found it better in first looks. i still havent played much with the settings of these two desktop environments.
i want to know what you guyz think abt these two?


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## ico (May 6, 2011)

Arch + KDE SC 4.6.2

Unity and GNOME 3 both need time to mature just like KDE 4 needed.


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## hellknight (May 6, 2011)

I've installed both Unity (Ubuntu 11.04) and GNOME 3 (Arch).. I feel that GNOME 3 is much. much better than Unity.. I installed Compiz-Fusion settings manager in Unity and it broke it.. had to do a re-install


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## nims11 (May 6, 2011)

ico said:


> Arch + KDE SC 4.6.2
> 
> Unity and GNOME 3 both need time to mature just like KDE 4 needed.



will be downloading KDE tomorrow morning. the download size is pretty big(>500MB). i have a feeling it should be better as said by many. i have used it only at school and i don't have much experience with it.

i agree GNOME 3 is not much mature as there are many small things that can be improved. also it is not as customizable compared to KDE. MINT's next version(11) too will have the version 2 of GNOME instead of 3

EDIT: 500MB was the space taken by KDE after installation


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## Liverpool_fan (May 6, 2011)

I have used Unity with Ubuntu 11.04 and Gnome 3 with Fedora 15 Beta, I have to say Unity feels more polished and intuitive to me, saves a lot of screen space, and if you use it long enough, it's quite slick. Just give it time.

Gnome Shell still needs some love IMO, it workspaces are awesome, but however it should try to save some screen space really, just too much space is wasted by the title top panel, menu, and particularly the huge title bar. 

Both the desktop shells need some fine improvement, but at this point of time Unity holds the edge for me.

P.S.: I am typing this with Unity in Ubuntu 11.04


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## baccilus (May 6, 2011)

@Liverpool: You think Unity saves screen space? Have you used it on a Netbook. It basically kills my Netbook. I have to start horizontal scrolling in order to do any work. I installed Unity on top of Ubuntu 10.10.


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## Liverpool_fan (May 6, 2011)

baccilus said:


> @Liverpool: You think Unity saves screen space? Have you used it on a Netbook. It basically kills my Netbook. I have to start horizontal scrolling in order to do any work. I installed Unity on top of Ubuntu 10.10.



I'm talking of Unity with Compiz in Ubuntu 11.04. I am using it in a desktop though.

See some screenshots - 

When Window is not maximized -
*i.imgur.com/WFJhU.jpg

When Window is maximized -
*i.imgur.com/03NXN.png

Considering there's no separate Ubuntu for netbooks now, you are safe to suppose it's as space saving in Netbooks as well. In any case play around with autohide/intellihide of launcher using CCSM.
And oh don't judge Unity by Ubuntu 10.10, that one sucked.


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## doomgiver (May 6, 2011)

gnome gnom nom nom nom
nuff said.

unity hogs too much screen space. i DONT like that. i want a lean and clean interface.
and i love open/black box


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## Anand_Tux (May 6, 2011)

I like GNOME 3.


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## krishnandu.sarkar (May 7, 2011)

Well, I'm using Unity and I'm liking it 

Didn't installed GNOME 3 yet, will post my experience after installing it.


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## Skud (May 8, 2011)

I prefer Gnome 3 any day.


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## nims11 (May 9, 2011)

Tried KDE, it works great! I had underestimated it a lot. I have made it my default environment. Its more intuitive thn gnome IMO.


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## ico (May 9, 2011)

nims11 said:


> Tried KDE, it works great! I had underestimated it a lot. I have made it my default environment. Its more intuitive thn gnome IMO.


Which distribution? Not many distributions get KDE right.


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## sygeek (May 9, 2011)

Even Ubuntu 10.04 doesn't work smoothly in my old crapware, forget about Gnome3/Unity (XFCE FTW!). Usually use xubuntu to get things done smoothly.


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## doomgiver (May 9, 2011)

you expect ubuntu to run on such old pc's?
stick with lighter distros.

and yeah, try out openbox. it will change the way you use the os


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## nims11 (May 11, 2011)

ico said:


> Which distribution? Not many distributions get KDE right.



ubuntu 11.04. The problem is that i dont have a video card so i had to turn off all the fancy effects. Is there a way to integrate banshee to the panel like in gnome?


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## hellknight (May 11, 2011)

The problem with Unity is that it needs proprietary drivers for working. GNOME 3 on the other hand works fine with the Open Source NVIDIA drivers on my PC. Although, later I installed official proprietary drivers on my system because I need VDPAU.


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## doomgiver (May 11, 2011)

canonical made a big mistake by sticking to unity.
unity is made for freaking netbooks/touchscreens
why did they even include it in a major release like 11.04? gnome 3 is fine, gets the job done. vey bad, canonical


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## Liverpool_fan (May 11, 2011)

hellknight said:


> The problem with Unity is that it needs proprietary drivers for working. GNOME 3 on the other hand works fine with the Open Source NVIDIA drivers on my PC. Although, later I installed official proprietary drivers on my system because I need VDPAU.



Er Unity works with Open Source ATI drivers. I am using it.
Experimental 3D with nouveau (Open Source "nVidia") is not yet supported by Ubuntu yet AFAIK, maybe that's why it didn't work for you.



doomgiver said:


> canonical made a big mistake by sticking to unity.
> unity is made for freaking netbooks/touchscreens
> why did they even include it in a major release like 11.04? gnome 3 is fine, gets the job done. vey bad, canonical


In a year's time it will seem a very good move, and you can quote me for that.


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## hellknight (May 11, 2011)

^ Actually it wasn't working on my system with nouveau drivers.. you're right then my friend


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## doomgiver (May 12, 2011)

Liverpool_fan said:


> In a year's time it will seem a very good move, and you can quote me for that.


lets wait and see


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## Anish (May 12, 2011)

I like the previous gnome in my ubuntu 10... after updating to ubuntu 11/04, i dont like that gui.. can any one tell how to reinstall gnome?


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## Faun (May 12, 2011)

during login select Classic Ubuntu for gnome.


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## Rahim (May 12, 2011)

Honestly GNOME 3 looks more complete DE than Unity. I used GNOME 3 live cd bundled with LFY for it.

OFF-Topic: Some of the live distros does not seem to recognize Left Mouse click single/double tap, i have to use buttons on the touchpad for that


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## Anish (May 12, 2011)

Faun said:


> during login select Classic Ubuntu for gnome.



Yeah.. thanks buddy



Rahim said:


> OFF-Topic: Some of the live distros does not seem to recognize Left Mouse click single/double tap, i have to use buttons on the touchpad for that



Same problem here.


BTW, internet wont work on my ubuntu 11.04 (with unity) Its fine when its 10.04 with gnome and the wireless detection also worked fine.. but in unity, even the wired connection doesnt work...any solutions??


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## ico (May 12, 2011)

nouveau for nVidia is junk compared to AMD Open Source drivers.


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## Liverpool_fan (May 12, 2011)

ico said:


> nouveau for nVidia is junk compared to AMD Open Source drivers.



 
You should consider how much NVIDIA is supporting nouveau (which would be more like hindering it), and how much ATI is supporting the xf86-video-ati, for which it has employed engineers before bashing the nouveau project.


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## ico (May 12, 2011)

I'm bashing nVidia not nouveau. 

just read this part:

"nVidia is junk compared to AMD" (open source support)


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## nims11 (May 17, 2011)

using KDE with ARCH!!
its integration is better than KDE in ubuntu. also i wasnt able to have smooth desktop effects in ubuntu(my PC lacks graphics card) and had to disable them to gain required performance. in ARCH, i faced no such problem and everthing is faster and more responsive even with eye candy enabled.


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## tuxybuzz (Jun 23, 2011)

Anish said:


> Same problem here.



That mouse clicking problem can easily be solved. In most distros in preferences you'll find 'Enable Tap to Click' or some other option like that.
If not you may need to edit synaptic_d.conf file (no details here as it may vary).
But its a fairly small fix. takes 5 mins at most. Google and you'll find the exact procedure.
P.s- I had this problem in Fedora 13 Lxde


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## rchi84 (Jul 6, 2011)

I am yet to find a feature in Unity that could not have been done using Gnome. If the Macbuntu project is anything to go by, Gnome is plenty powerful enough to do whatever Canonical has done with Unity..


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## doomgiver (Jul 6, 2011)

unity should have been limited to netbook users, not forced on to us.
what the hell were they thinking, when they put unity as the default dm???

i dont want a freaking huge bar taking up 50% of my screen real estate.
sometimes, i just want to strangle ubuntu foundation


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## ico (Jul 6, 2011)

doomgiver said:


> i dont want a freaking huge bar *taking up 50% of my screen real estate.*
> sometimes, i just want to strangle ubuntu foundation


This tells me that you haven't used Unity.


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## doomgiver (Jul 6, 2011)

that was a hyperbole
and yes, i have used unity. i didnt like hunting through menus to find root or a folder.

i dont like what they have done with unity. canonical should have stuck with gnome, or at least given a choice DURING INSTALLATION to choose between.

linux is all about choice. look what happened to vista.


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## ico (Jul 6, 2011)

doomgiver said:


> that was a hyperbole
> and yes, i have used unity. *i didnt like hunting through menus to find root or a folder.*


This again tells me you haven't used Unity.

50% screen space comment is kneejerk. You maximize a window or move it over, the bar hides itself. In reality, saves much more space compared to GNOME classic mode.


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## ssk_the_gr8 (Jul 6, 2011)

doomgiver said:


> unity should have been limited to netbook users, not forced on to us.
> what the hell were they thinking, when they put unity as the default dm???
> 
> i dont want a freaking huge bar taking up 50% of my screen real estate.
> sometimes, i just want to strangle ubuntu foundation



what is your screen size?


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## ico (Jul 6, 2011)

rchi84 said:


> I am yet to find a feature in Unity that could not have been done using Gnome. If the Macbuntu project is anything to go by, Gnome is plenty powerful enough to do whatever Canonical has done with Unity..


yup, I don't see any reason why GNOME 3 wouldn't have been sufficient and better.


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## ssk_the_gr8 (Jul 6, 2011)

ico said:


> yup, I don't see any reason why GNOME 3 wouldn't have been sufficient and better.



it's not just abt now, according to shuttleworth there was a difference in the future vsion for gnome 3.. so they made there own shell... now lets wait and see if his descision was good or bad....


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## nims11 (Jul 6, 2011)

i think it was right to include unity instead of GNOME3. GNOME3 is over simplistic and looks bare. It needs to mature just as KDE did from KDE4 onwards. 
Btw canonical will include GNOME in future ubuntus.


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## doomgiver (Jul 6, 2011)

ico said:


> This again tells me you haven't used Unity.
> 
> 50% screen space comment is kneejerk. You maximize a window or move it over, the bar hides itself. In reality, saves much more space compared to GNOME classic mode.






ssk_the_gr8 said:


> what is your screen size?



what are you talking about, it takes up at least 50-60 pixels (even more, im sure) on the left side (1280x800) and im sure it does not hide. i tried it with ubuntu 10.10. didnt use 11.4.


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## ico (Jul 6, 2011)

doomgiver said:


> what are you talking about, it takes up at least 50-60 pixels (even more, im sure) on the left side (1280x800) and im sure it does not hide. i tried it with ubuntu 10.10. didnt use 11.4.


You move a window over to the left. It dodges and hides. You maximize the Window, it hides again.

Refer to LFC_fan's post #7.


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## ssk_the_gr8 (Jul 6, 2011)

doomgiver said:


> what are you talking about, it takes up at least 50-60 pixels (even more, im sure) on the left side (1280x800) and im sure it does not hide. i tried it with ubuntu 10.10. didnt use 11.4.



i use it in 11.*0*4 and it hides.. so the screen space grabbing is not an issue


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## Liverpool_fan (Jul 6, 2011)

doomgiver as I said judge Unity by 11.04 not 10.10. It's not perfect yet, rather not quite good enough yet but it's a work in progress and the basic ideas are good. The Unity in 10.10 on the other hand sucked.
And if you haven't used Unity in 11.04 then you aren't qualified to comment on Unity.


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## doomgiver (Jul 6, 2011)

lets download and try this newfangled thing


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## Tech&ME (Jul 8, 2011)

Yup! Me on the Unity side.

It Auto hides itself and saves space, or rather let's put it this way, it gives more visibility to the open windows! right. 

And I need Windows 7 Aero Cursors on Ubuntu 11.04, can anyone help me ?


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## tuxybuzz (Jul 9, 2011)

Ok let me get a few things straight..
People want an option between Unity and Gnome at install time? Makes no sense to me. AFAIK Ubuntu lets you chose either the Classic/Unity interface after you have installed.
And from what I've gathered Unity is BUILT ON TOP of Gnome only utilising Compiz (starting 11.04). 
I don't like Unity that much but I'am not bent on strangling canonical. They let me use the basic interface which works for me. I do believe Gnome 3 will work out really well but it needs time. Hence I see sense in their decision to not use it in this release and I guess they are shifting to Gnome 3 next release. So sticking with stability is the right thing imo.
Would all this ruckus still be raised if Ubuntu still came in the old Gnome? I don't think so. I think we need to view Unity as an added feature not forced option.


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## Liverpool_fan (Jul 9, 2011)

tuxybuzz said:


> Hence I see sense in their decision to not use it in this release and I guess they are shifting to Gnome 3 next release.


No they are not. It will be Unity based on Gnome 3, rather than Gnome 2 as in 11.04. They are not going to use Gnome Shell.


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## tuxybuzz (Jul 11, 2011)

^^ ok..but in that case i guess user will get the option to use GNOME 3 default as they get GNOME2 right now? I mean the non unity version.


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## Liverpool_fan (Jul 11, 2011)

tuxybuzz said:


> ^^ ok..but in that case i guess user will get the option to use GNOME 3 default as they get GNOME2 right now? I mean the non unity version.



You mean gnome-shell? The user can install it yes. The only default fallback option will be Unity-2D.


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## ssk_the_gr8 (Aug 15, 2011)

i liked unity but it's buggy nature made me shift to gnome shell
the gnome shell on 11.04 was also not stable enough for me..(though it was not as bad as unity.. where i had random logouts and hangs)
so i finally installed 10.04 LTS today.... 
seems much better


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## coderunknown (Aug 15, 2011)

sometimes the unity bar does comes out when you move your mouse left. i need to click here & there only then it slides out. happens mostly while working with OO files.


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## abhijangda (Aug 15, 2011)

Using Fedora 15 with GNOME 3 and really it rocks.


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## d6bmg (Aug 25, 2011)

GNOME 3 is obvious choice for me. Updated my old fedora12 with genome 3 some time ago. It rocks!!


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## Ayuclack (Aug 26, 2011)

Gnome is lot more better then unity!!!


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## aravind (Aug 29, 2011)

I prefer whatever DE takes to my destination with the fewest clicks and looks neat and simple. I think the older GNOME scored much better than UNITY or GNOME 3 in that aspect. KDE, apparently, was too much for my PC.


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## Piyush (Sep 10, 2011)

ok
running unity on 11.04

do I have to shift to gnome 3?
many of voted for the latter
though I have no problems with unity

PS:I haven't seen Gnome 3 in action


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## nims11 (Sep 10, 2011)

^^ never hurts to try. try KDE too.


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## Liverpool_fan (Sep 10, 2011)

Keep note that Gnome 3 in 11.04 will break Unity.


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## Piyush (Sep 11, 2011)

today the search bar in unity was not working
it came back to life after I finished downloading some plugins for opera(though it doesn't make any sense)

anyone else had this experience?


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