Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

[GreyGeek]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

If this is a new installation then Akonadi, Nepomuk and Strigi are probably doing their indexing.

You can temporarily disable their daemons and see if your CPU usage goes down. If it does you can keep them permanently disabled (or remove them), or let them finish their indexing. I removed them because I favor "locate" as my search tool.

[Detonate]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

I think you are right GG, this morning the CPU usage seems to be normal. I am going to remove them, as I don't use them. I too, use locate.

[jpenguin]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

I just installed Ubuntu with Unity in a VM; first impression- unity should be for touch devices only! It is a nice DE but itwould not satisfy me as a desktop DE; it reminds me a bit of Android and iOS...

[GreyGeek]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

Ditto.

It appears to me that Unity was designed first and foremost as a DE for touch screen devices like Android, although without being installed by the OEM I doubt that most users could install it themselves on such a device. Somewhere down the development process someone must have come up with the idea of making it a one-size-fits-all OS and adding some laptop/desktop capabilities. Over all, they have a ways to go on both fronts. Although I didn't mind Unity as a guest OS I have no plans to switch to it and I doubt that I will ever purchase a smartphone -- iPhone, WinP7 or Android. Their Internet connections are too slow. too expensive and the caps are too low. Their screen real estate is too small for my fingers, which shake too much to accurately hit a link.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

GG: Have you noticed any reduction in battery life since switching to Natty? Asking because in the Toms Hardware review site they talk about the battery life with 10.04 being double that of 11.04 and blame it on the kernel, not the interface.

As far as the DE being designed for touch screen - yes I believe that is the case also. Although, I wouldn't refer to all touch screen devices as "Android" devices - admittedly, most cool touch screen phones run Android.

I think it's more a push toward the perceived "Pad" or "Tablet" markets. Microslug has fallen way behind in the touch screen environment and Canonical smells blood in the water.

[PhilT]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

I agree with both the above posts. I have an LG Android phone which is a bit difficult to use with my "Big Old Fingers" but it's exceptional (and free on my £15 per month, virtually unlimited usage account). But I was wondering about the new Samsung 10.1 Android tablet. It's got the newest Honeycomb Android software. Does anybody know how easy it is (or would be) to add a Kubuntu desktop to the Android base? With that larger screen real estate the buttons would be much bigger, wouldn't they? Of course one would need to add it to a local WI-Fi router network to move files as it's got no USB connectors.

Dunno! Just wondering?

[GreyGeek]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

GG: Have you noticed any reduction in battery life since switching to Natty? Asking because in the Toms Hardware review site they talk about the battery life with 10.04 being double that of 11.04 and blame it on the kernel, not the interface.

I didn't switch to Natty but I tried it out as a guest OS. Battery life was definitely shorter, and out of curiosity I checked reports of other distros using the same kernel. Across the board they all report shorter battery life, so it is not a function of the DE. The Kernel dev team is aware of it and I suspect that the issues will be resolved in the new future.

As far as the DE being designed for touch screen - yes I believe that is the case also. Although, I wouldn't refer to all touch screen devices as "Android" devices - admittedly, most cool touch screen phones run Android.

My daughter bought an Android powered smartphone and I played with it for a while. Comparing it with my iPod (not from the 3G standpoint) I'd put Android well above iPhone (iPod) in functionality, power, speed and ease of use. She uses that gesturing keyboard like it was Chiclets keyboard, popping off words at a time, not letters. It is easy to see why folks are migrating to Android in large numbers.

I think it's more a push toward the perceived "Pad" or "Tablet" markets. Microslug has fallen way behind in the touch screen environment and Canonical smells blood in the water.

Undoubtedly. Unless Microsoft can enslave some smartphone OEMs the way they have PC OEMs their "smart"phone isn't going anyway. IOW, they'll have to use their traditional unethical, immoral and illegal tactics to acquire market share with a product that consumers rejected resoundingly and overwhelmingly during the last quarter of last year. Peaking out at 2.7% market share, which included counting the WinPhones setting on retailsers shelves, coming down the channel and setting on the shipping docks of OEMs, they are now setting at below that percentage now that folks have given it a shakeout. The only way someone would stay with a WinP7 would be a two year contract lock in which would be too expensive for regular consumers to buy out of.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

...
But I was wondering about the new Samsung 10.1 Android tablet. It's got the newest Honeycomb Android software. Does anybody know how easy it is (or would be) to add a Kubuntu desktop to the Android base? With that larger screen real estate the buttons would be much bigger, wouldn't they? Of course one would need to add it to a local WI-Fi router network to move files as it's got no USB connectors.
...

A nice video review of the Samsung Galaxy, Zoom and iPad2 is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bv4JqcnIYc.

Personally I would prefer Zoom because of the external ports and the 32GB instead of Galaxy's 16GB, which is not upgradable. Both have brighter screens than iPad2, and I like the aspect ratio for Samsung's offerings, vs. iPad2.

My son has an iPad2. He got frustrated with the virtual keypad and bought a device into which his iPad plugged into. It supplied an chicklet keyboard AND when he closes his iPad the keyboard wraps the iPad and behaves like a tot bag. It also has some port connections. I believe he paid $139 for it, but it makes his iPad like a netbook.

Now, I bought my wife an Acer Aspire One AD0521 netbook for xmas. I got it through Amazon on Black Friday for $150 off -- $298. Much more affordable than either the Galaxy, the Zoom or the iPad. It has the same screen diagonal, 10.1, and it has 250GB HD, three USB ports, an excellent HDMI port, web cam, eth0 and wifi, fantastic sound, 5 hrs battery life ... I just can't say enough about it. I swapped out the 1GB RAM stick for a $28 2GB RAM stick, which made all the difference in performance for both Win7 Starter, which it came with and Kubuntu Lucid, which it runs perfectly.

I also got a cute little padded tot back which is much smaller than her purse, and could fit in it, but so could the netbook, if she wanted to carry it that way.

The only thing, IMO, that makes any of them "convenient" is their 3G or 4G connection, IF they have one. Otherwise, they are just a small PC with limited port availability that requires a wifi connection (because they do not have an eth0 socket), which the AD0521 has.

So, with the Acer One I get a MUCH more powerful machine at the same or less than something which tries to extend the smartphone concept into the sub-netbook category. IMO, that fails miserably. I stayed with a simple cell phone.

A note of caution. IF you want to buy an Acer One Aspire, make SURE that the one you buy allows you to access the RAM slots from a door on the back of the machine, by removing a few screws. Some of the Aspires do not have such a back port and you cannot upgrade the RAM WITHOUT taking the keyboard off and dismantling it. You NEED to upgrade the RAM. With 1GB of RAM the Aspire is a marginal netbook. With 2GB of RAM it shines. (Kubuntu runs better on 1GB than Windows 7 Starter does, but that's not saying much).

[woodsmoke]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

Some "ubu" people are already beginning to appear and ask questions

woodsmoke

[PhilT]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

Thanks for that info and thought, GG. I guess I'll just wait a bit to see how things develop!

But those tablets or netbooks do look very convenient when away from the desktop!

[Guest]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

Unity in and of itself did not drive me to KDE and Kubuntu. It’s the glitches and the constant crashing of Compiz that has driven me away from vanilla Ubuntu. The usability is okay if you don’t mind one program or window per virtual desktop (I prefer 10 windows on a single desktop). After moving to Kubuntu, I’m quite satisfied with KDE and will continue to use it for the foreseeable future.

[Guest]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

Like many of you I tried Unity and could not stand it. I have used GNOME 2 for years and can't stand GNOME 3 either. Having never tried KDE I decided I would and am loving it! The level of polish is quite refreshing. I don't think I will have a problem calling Kubuntu home for awhile...

[saurav]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

Hmm... yes, though I doubt how many of the users Unity/Ubuntu are targeted at even know of the existence of Kubuntu. I posted an article on my blog - http://sauravzone1.blogspot.com/2011...ck-in-kde.html. As mentioned in it, I went not to Kubuntu 11.04, but to 10.10 because of this: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=258916.

[bra|10n]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

If this is a new installation then Akonadi, Nepomuk and Strigi are probably doing their indexing.

You can temporarily disable their daemons and see if your CPU usage goes down. If it does you can keep them permanently disabled (or remove them), or let them finish their indexing. I removed them because I favor "locate" as my search tool.

GreyGeek can you advise on how to completely remove Akonadi, Nepomuk and Strigi?
In Synaptic, marking said packages for complete removal causes loads of other packages marked for removal also.

[Snowhog]

Re: Is Unity driving its Ubuntu users towards kubuntu?

You can't remove them as they are integral to the system - they are tied to system wide dependencies. If you don't want to use them, just disable them as suggested.