Ubuntu 11.10 is out and Gnome 2 is gone. So all Gnome 2 lovers, like
me, are forced to arrange with the new desktop environments (I see
Gnome 3/Unity as different branches of the same style) or to search
another one, e.g. Xfce. Here are my experiences.
When it comes to relatives that don't customize their desktop much
you may try Gnome classic. Install the Gnome shell and select Gnome
classic in the login manager. Then you get something that is very
similar to the default look and feel of the old Gnome desktop. The
only new thing is that you have to press an extra key like Alt (that
is configurable) in order to modify the task bars. See this post for
an example: http://askubuntu.com/questions/65873/how-do-i-move-the-clock-in-gnome-classic.
For your own computer you may give Unity a try. For devices with
limited screen size their solution seems to be pretty OK. For large
monitors, e.g. 23 inch 1920x1080, you better tweak it. The first
thing is that the launcher always hides. That is no problem for a
launcher but as it also the taskbar it is a problem when you want to
change your applications often. It feels more fluent when you know
where your target is while you move the mouse to the launcher.
Having to wait for the launcher to appear is a kind of show stopper.
Also it shouldn't be a problem to sacrifice some width of your
screen when you've got 1920 pixel.
To start tweaking you need to install compizconfig-settings-manager.
The command name of the program is ccsm. Under the section Desktop
there is the "Ubuntu Unity plugin". Click on it get in its
configuration screen. Then select "Never" for the "Hide Launcher"
control.
While you are in the program you may want to go to "Window
Management"/Scale, select the tab "Bindings" and choose a value for
"Initiate Window Picker" besides the monitor icon. This will allow
you to get a nice expose view like on Macs when you move the
specified edge with the mouse. I've chosen the top left corner. That
isn't a great place as you hit it accidentally when you want to
close a window but the other edges didn't feel good to me. Choosing
something other than an edge isn't a good idea as it will probably
infer with an existing binding.
As a Gnome user you have probably used applets. In Ubuntu 11.10 you
want to search for indicators. There are two in the official
repository. On for the weather and one for the system load. If you
want more you have to add extra packages. You may head over to http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/tag/indicatorapplets/.
With this steps I've got almost comfortable with the new design.
There are some situations where I think that the old style was
better but on the other hand I appreciate the new height that I've
got for the content. Oh and the new expose style is pretty cool. Not
much usable as all windows are rearranged each time but cool.