6 ms·

First stable release of Ubuntu Unity 20.04

31 points by reddotX 6y ago

p4bl0 6y ago
Maybe it's just me but I can't find a single link from that Twitter account to an explanation of what is "Ubuntu Unity Remix". My first guess is that it's an Ubuntu fork with the Unity interface instead of the Gnome Shell. But the logo and icons on the Twitter page + the "Remix" inside the name suggest it may be an multimedia editing oriented distro?
- reddotX 6y ago
  it's just Ubuntu 20.04 with Unity7 https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-unity-remix-20-04/15968 https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-unity-remix-20-04/1596...
- mikegioia 6y ago
  I agree, and they have no homepage or anything either. Unity was (is) a desktop environment alternative to Gnome. It used to be the default in 16.x but Gnome became the default in 18.x. Remix is (I think) an updated, forked version of Unity that is now being maintained and advanced with the latest versions of Ubuntu. This is particularly exciting for me and other Unity lovers because I pretty much only use Unity as my DE. I have been manually installing it as a replacement for Gnome and this update is very exciting. I think Unity is a lot better.
  - severino 6y ago
    Can you please elaborate a bit more on this "now being maintained and advanced with the latest versions of Ubuntu"? I mean, is it really different from the Unity version you can still find and install from the 20.04 official package repository? The problem I see with this is that you have to trust a binary distribution (not just the package, but the entire OS) bundled by a not well-known team. For me, it would be great if Unity could be maintained and developed just like any other desktop environment (i.e. XFCE) which is completely open source and you can get from your command line just apt'ing it in vanilla Ubuntu.
- rlpb 6y ago
  An Ubuntu "remix" was previously defined in the trademark policy: https://web.archive.org/web/20070429002528/http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/trademarkpolicy https://web.archive.org/web/20070429002528/http://www.ubuntu... I'm not sure about the current legal status of such use of the trademark, but I hope this explains what is usually meant by "Remix" in the context of Ubuntu. "We recognise and encourage the concept of a “remix.” Remixes are derived versions of Ubuntu, and it is intended that any software and hardware certifications will apply to a Remix. Therefore the changes from official Ubuntu product must be minimal to be permitted to use the Trademarks. These changes can include configuration changes through the existing Ubuntu configuration management tools, changes to artwork and graphical themes. and some variance in package selection. In general, a Remix can have applications from the Ubuntu archives added, or default applications removed, but removing or changing any infrastructure components (e.g., shared libraries or desktop components) will result in changes too large for the resulting product to be called by a Trademark. Note that if the nature of the product's divergence from Ubuntu changes, the Remix naming and Trademark use may no longer apply." "Therefore, if you are creating a derivative of Ubuntu, you may use the Trademarks in association with the software product provided: [some conditions]"
CSDude 6y ago
When Unity was introduced I did not like it at all and now it defaults to Gnome 3, which also feels weird to me. I'm not sure but it feels like it all started with moving from Start Menu to Windows 8 and very large tiles, which was marketed for tablets and touch screens, and seems like Unity and Gnome followed. I never liked this trend and today go with Xfce or LXDE, where I found more practical and feels like a computere, or I am just old fashioned.
- holtalanm 6y ago
  when I used to use linux as a desktop environment, I preferred LXDE or even just Busybox. So, you're not alone. Another decent one is Ubuntu Mate.
  - majewsky 6y ago
    I think you mean Openbox. Busybox has nothing to do with GUI.
    - holtalanm 6y ago
      I stand corrected. Been a while. heh
- jorams 6y ago
  Your timeline is incorrect. Both Unity and GNOME 3 came out before Windows 8. I also dislike the trend, but I've moved on to tiling window managers after a few months on Ubuntu/Kubuntu.
  - giancarlostoro 6y ago
    I was curious and sure enough Unity is from 2010, and came out with Ubuntu 10.10, whereas Windows 8 came out in 2012. Unity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_(user_interface) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_(user_interface) Windows 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8 Edit: Looks like Zune had a metro based design in 2006 though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_(design_language)#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_(design_language)#Histor... I never had a Zune so no idea if it had icons like that at all.
throwaway123x2 6y ago
I've only ever enjoyed using Ubuntu with Gnome 2. Nothing else has come near meeting that standard.
- panpanna 6y ago
  Well, Gnome 3 is starting to grow on me. I know you can still use gnome2 or unity but I eventually decided to stop fighting and embrace changes. Maybe it's just me getting more comfortable with Linux, but I fell I now get more things done with vanilla 20.04.
- ktm5j 6y ago
  You'd probably like MATE then: https://mate-desktop.org/ https://mate-desktop.org/
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- alexhutcheson 6y ago
  Have you tried Cinnamon[1]? [1] https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon
  - larrik 6y ago
    Cinnamon was always to me "Gnome3 for people who prefer Gnome2"
    - alexhutcheson 6y ago
      Yeah that's literally the goal of the project. Also sounded like what the commenter I was replying to would want.
sergiomattei 6y ago
I'm actually sad Unity 8 never shipped. I was really looking forward to seeing it develop, it had a lot of brilliant ideas. Especially those desktop widgets. They were beautiful!
AdmiralAsshat 6y ago
Cool side project for anyone who was really keen on Unity. FWIW, though, someone has a Unity-like theme available for KDE that will give you a similar layout and can be applied with one click. I'd still say Ubuntu going w/ GNOME3 vanilla is probably the best thing to ever happen to GNOME3. It's received a ton of fixes and improvements as a result of Canonical pounding on it.
ComputerGuru 6y ago
Why was a Twitter post to the download link posted? Better link (still useless but at least contains a screenshot in addition to the same download links): https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-unity-remix-20-04/15968 https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-unity-remix-20-04/1596...
severino 6y ago
I heard Ubuntu 20.04 still shipped with Unity as a package, but I suppose you can't get it just installing it. After quite some time using 14.04, I miss Unity. In fact, I always liked it, despite all the criticism it got. Compared to GNOME 3, I think those "small things" were better, like having the pidgin icon turn blue in the top right corner of your screen whenever there's a message. Now you have a popup notification every one can read if you're sharing your screen, but at the same time you can easily miss it if you weren't paying attention. The same happens with the Thunderbird integration, etc.
- devbat8712 6y ago
  You absolutely can get it by installing the package! https://itsfoss.com/use-unity-ubuntu-17-10/ https://itsfoss.com/use-unity-ubuntu-17-10/ That's the beauty of desktop Linux Imo. If you change your mind, you can just change whatever you want on the fly
- beagle3 6y ago
  You most definitely can. It feels less polished because modern software releases doesn't get tested with it anymore, so occasional e.g. indicators don't work as well, and it doesn't support wayland IIRC. But it most definitely works.
beagle3 6y ago
Not an official canonical product. Also, a little more, but not a lot more, than a few "apt install" commands. I guess it's useful for people who use Linux, like Unity, do not know how to "apt install" it themselves, AND trust a random googledrive/mediafire download as their main OS. I don't know any of these people myself, but I'm sure they must exist.

31 points by reddotX 6y ago

Maybe it's just me but I can't find a single link from that Twitter account to an explanation of what is "Ubuntu Unity Remix". My first guess is that it's an Ubuntu fork with the Unity interface instead of the Gnome Shell. But the logo and icons on the Twitter page + the "Remix" inside the name suggest it may be an multimedia editing oriented distro?

reddotX 6y ago
it's just Ubuntu 20.04 with Unity7 https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-unity-remix-20-04/15968 https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-unity-remix-20-04/1596...
mikegioia 6y ago
I agree, and they have no homepage or anything either. Unity was (is) a desktop environment alternative to Gnome. It used to be the default in 16.x but Gnome became the default in 18.x. Remix is (I think) an updated, forked version of Unity that is now being maintained and advanced with the latest versions of Ubuntu. This is particularly exciting for me and other Unity lovers because I pretty much only use Unity as my DE. I have been manually installing it as a replacement for Gnome and this update is very exciting. I think Unity is a lot better.
- severino 6y ago
  Can you please elaborate a bit more on this "now being maintained and advanced with the latest versions of Ubuntu"? I mean, is it really different from the Unity version you can still find and install from the 20.04 official package repository? The problem I see with this is that you have to trust a binary distribution (not just the package, but the entire OS) bundled by a not well-known team. For me, it would be great if Unity could be maintained and developed just like any other desktop environment (i.e. XFCE) which is completely open source and you can get from your command line just apt'ing it in vanilla Ubuntu.
rlpb 6y ago
An Ubuntu "remix" was previously defined in the trademark policy: https://web.archive.org/web/20070429002528/http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/trademarkpolicy https://web.archive.org/web/20070429002528/http://www.ubuntu... I'm not sure about the current legal status of such use of the trademark, but I hope this explains what is usually meant by "Remix" in the context of Ubuntu. "We recognise and encourage the concept of a “remix.” Remixes are derived versions of Ubuntu, and it is intended that any software and hardware certifications will apply to a Remix. Therefore the changes from official Ubuntu product must be minimal to be permitted to use the Trademarks. These changes can include configuration changes through the existing Ubuntu configuration management tools, changes to artwork and graphical themes. and some variance in package selection. In general, a Remix can have applications from the Ubuntu archives added, or default applications removed, but removing or changing any infrastructure components (e.g., shared libraries or desktop components) will result in changes too large for the resulting product to be called by a Trademark. Note that if the nature of the product's divergence from Ubuntu changes, the Remix naming and Trademark use may no longer apply." "Therefore, if you are creating a derivative of Ubuntu, you may use the Trademarks in association with the software product provided: [some conditions]"

CSDude 6y ago

When Unity was introduced I did not like it at all and now it defaults to Gnome 3, which also feels weird to me. I'm not sure but it feels like it all started with moving from Start Menu to Windows 8 and very large tiles, which was marketed for tablets and touch screens, and seems like Unity and Gnome followed. I never liked this trend and today go with Xfce or LXDE, where I found more practical and feels like a computere, or I am just old fashioned.

holtalanm 6y ago
when I used to use linux as a desktop environment, I preferred LXDE or even just Busybox. So, you're not alone. Another decent one is Ubuntu Mate.
- majewsky 6y ago
  I think you mean Openbox. Busybox has nothing to do with GUI.
  - holtalanm 6y ago
    I stand corrected. Been a while. heh
jorams 6y ago
Your timeline is incorrect. Both Unity and GNOME 3 came out before Windows 8. I also dislike the trend, but I've moved on to tiling window managers after a few months on Ubuntu/Kubuntu.
- giancarlostoro 6y ago
  I was curious and sure enough Unity is from 2010, and came out with Ubuntu 10.10, whereas Windows 8 came out in 2012. Unity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_(user_interface) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_(user_interface) Windows 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8 Edit: Looks like Zune had a metro based design in 2006 though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_(design_language)#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_(design_language)#Histor... I never had a Zune so no idea if it had icons like that at all.

throwaway123x2 6y ago

I've only ever enjoyed using Ubuntu with Gnome 2. Nothing else has come near meeting that standard.

panpanna 6y ago
Well, Gnome 3 is starting to grow on me. I know you can still use gnome2 or unity but I eventually decided to stop fighting and embrace changes. Maybe it's just me getting more comfortable with Linux, but I fell I now get more things done with vanilla 20.04.
ktm5j 6y ago
You'd probably like MATE then: https://mate-desktop.org/ https://mate-desktop.org/
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
alexhutcheson 6y ago
Have you tried Cinnamon[1]? [1] https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon
- larrik 6y ago
  Cinnamon was always to me "Gnome3 for people who prefer Gnome2"
  - alexhutcheson 6y ago
    Yeah that's literally the goal of the project. Also sounded like what the commenter I was replying to would want.

sergiomattei 6y ago

I'm actually sad Unity 8 never shipped. I was really looking forward to seeing it develop, it had a lot of brilliant ideas. Especially those desktop widgets. They were beautiful!

AdmiralAsshat 6y ago

Cool side project for anyone who was really keen on Unity. FWIW, though, someone has a Unity-like theme available for KDE that will give you a similar layout and can be applied with one click. I'd still say Ubuntu going w/ GNOME3 vanilla is probably the best thing to ever happen to GNOME3. It's received a ton of fixes and improvements as a result of Canonical pounding on it.

ComputerGuru 6y ago

Why was a Twitter post to the download link posted? Better link (still useless but at least contains a screenshot in addition to the same download links): https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-unity-remix-20-04/15968 https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-unity-remix-20-04/1596...

severino 6y ago

I heard Ubuntu 20.04 still shipped with Unity as a package, but I suppose you can't get it just installing it. After quite some time using 14.04, I miss Unity. In fact, I always liked it, despite all the criticism it got. Compared to GNOME 3, I think those "small things" were better, like having the pidgin icon turn blue in the top right corner of your screen whenever there's a message. Now you have a popup notification every one can read if you're sharing your screen, but at the same time you can easily miss it if you weren't paying attention. The same happens with the Thunderbird integration, etc.

devbat8712 6y ago
You absolutely can get it by installing the package! https://itsfoss.com/use-unity-ubuntu-17-10/ https://itsfoss.com/use-unity-ubuntu-17-10/ That's the beauty of desktop Linux Imo. If you change your mind, you can just change whatever you want on the fly
beagle3 6y ago
You most definitely can. It feels less polished because modern software releases doesn't get tested with it anymore, so occasional e.g. indicators don't work as well, and it doesn't support wayland IIRC. But it most definitely works.

beagle3 6y ago

Not an official canonical product. Also, a little more, but not a lot more, than a few "apt install" commands. I guess it's useful for people who use Linux, like Unity, do not know how to "apt install" it themselves, AND trust a random googledrive/mediafire download as their main OS. I don't know any of these people myself, but I'm sure they must exist.