Ubuntu Unity has forced me to find a new distro.

[Pattonias]

I have become so frustrated with the Unity GUI that I my never use Ubuntu again. Not long ago, Ubuntu was the go to distro for user friendly Linux. Now it is so difficult to do even the most basic tasks and overloaded with so much useless software that I don't think I'll ever use it again. Anyone else played around with it?

 

[Ben Niehoff]

I agree on Unity. For now, my Ubuntu is staying at 11.04. I'm also doing some research into other distros and will probably change mine during the summer.

 

[grindfreak]

I've been using Fedora 16 for a bit and have really enjoyed it. I'd recommend trying anyway.

 

[Hobin]

I've been using Fedora 16 for a bit and have really enjoyed it. I'd recommend trying anyway.

It should be noted, though, that if the OP relies on proprietary drivers and software on Ubuntu, this might cause some issues in Fedora. The people from Red Hat have a much stronger stance on free software than Canonical.

Pattonias, why not simply uninstall Unity and try a different WM or desktop environment such as XFCE or KDE? There are many, many others to choose from, and there is no need to switch distros because of an issue like this.

In any case, as far as distros-like-Ubuntu-but-without-Unity go, I recommend Linux Mint. It's gained a lot of attention since some of the more controversial moves of Canonical, and it's also a very newbie-friendly distro (just like Ubuntu).

 

[jhae2.718]

Xubuntu is good.

 

[Ivan92]

Do gnome fallback session. Ubuntu 12.10 is supposed to have a fall back session in the Software Center.



I also hate Unity...

 

[Ben Niehoff]

Pattonias, why not simply uninstall Unity and try a different WM or desktop environment such as XFCE or KDE? There are many, many others to choose from, and there is no need to switch distros because of an issue like this.

This is a fair point, but I think part of the problem with Ubuntu is Ubuntu's constant decisions to change things just for the sake of changing something. Someone somewhere gets something in their head that they think is "easier", "simpler for beginners", and the whole thing gets rearranged. Even the locations of important config files get moved around every new major release. It's really annoying.

The result is that the so-called "beginner", who has chosen Ubuntu for its supposed simplicity, has to relearn how to use the operating system every time they update it.

I'm thinking of changing to something more standard, like maybe plain Debian. Also looking into Linux Mint.

 

[jhae2.718]

Welcome to the world of UI designers...

--

I'll reiterate my support for Xubuntu. It's a separate project from "plain" Ubuntu, so there's not much of change for change's sake. It's also pretty resource light.

I use Xubuntu on my home computers and on my lab's computers.

 

[Hobin]

The result is that the so-called "beginner", who has chosen Ubuntu for its supposed simplicity, has to relearn how to use the operating system every time they update it.

Technically, that's not exactly true, because Ubuntu is not a rolling-release distro. Thus, for some of the fancier changes to happen, you'd have to install a newer version of Ubuntu to begin with. The only time this becomes necessary is when an older version is no longer supported by Canonical.

I agree with the rest of your post, though.

I'm thinking of changing to something more standard, like maybe plain Debian. Also looking into Linux Mint.

Having tried many distros and operating systems myself, I may be able to offer a few suggestions. Linux Mint is great if all you want is Ubuntu with a less annoying window manager, though I've always found that the newer versions can be slightly more unstable. Debian is also a great distro, but I would very much advise *against* using the stable release. Instead, go for testing, or even unstable. (Also take a look at http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-choosing.en.html in the Debian FAQ.)

Personally, I've always preferred rolling-release distros, since I think it's ridiculous that people have to reinstall their distro every so many years. Take a look at Arch Linux, too. It's my favourite distro, and it's much easier to get running than many would have you believe.

 

[Max™]

*cough*
http://pinguyos.com/
*cough*

I love it, gf loves it, it's not only her first computer (my old netbook) but her first linux distro, she digs it, loves the conky and docky stuff, runs significantly quicker than the 7 starter which came with it. I first tried to get Ubuntu netbook running but it didn't like the touchpad, and the fn+keys weren't set up right so I had to rummage around to find a mouse just to try to change the touchpad settings, that didn't last long.

Got Pinguy 11.04 64 bit on my box, love it, so many toys, so much stuff to tinker with and learn about, and in such a user friendly way. I've since played around with building my own slax, setting up puppy versions, and so forth, but Pinguy is sooooooooo easy to love.

 

[jreelawg]

I also dislike unity, and went with mint 12. But, it was too buggy so I switched back to Ubuntu; Installed the gnome desktop, and found out that you can also install the mint desktop package on Ubuntu.

 

[Max™]

I'm pretty impressed with Joli OS atm, the HDD on the gf's netbook is kinda starting to tick so I wanted to set her up with an SD card install as a backup til we can get a replacement if it bugs out. I put ping-EEE on a 16 GB card and it worked ok, but it was noticeably slower than the HDD install, Joli on the same card is actually quite a bit quicker in many ways than the HDD install.

It doesn't have stuff I'm used to though like Conky/Docky, and the settings are kinda hidden, but for a light basic use distro it's really nice.

 

[dalcde]

I vote for Mint 13 MATE (although I use Cinnamon myself). Mint is based on Ubuntu with many codecs installed. MATE is basically GNOME 2, and it is great if you don't want to change. The performance of Cinnamon can be very stable for some users while buggy for some. I'm a dev so instability means fun!