First impressions of the transition from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

    As you know, the main visual change in release 18 is the rejection of Unity and the transition to Gnome 3. Here I want to share my impressions of the transition from 16 to 18

    First about the good ...


    Release 18 brought us a new Linux kernel (4.15) with patches from Meltdown and Specter, which are enabled by default and, according to experts, should severely degrade computer performance. However, despite the fact that my processor (Intel Core i5) is included in the list of vulnerable ones, which means that the patches are included for it, which is confirmed by the boot logs, I did not notice any noticeable performance drop in my normal tasks. Therefore, if your computer is not a server operating under constant high load at the limit of its capabilities, it is hardly worthwhile to immediately rush to disconnect these patches only because of the fear of “brakes”.

    The gnome's graphical interface itself, according to my feelings, works significantly faster than the unit. I believe that this is due to the fact that it opens windows, etc. etc. just hung fewer effects that can be turned off in a unit. But since my job is not to study the interfaces of ubunt, but I am too lazy to do this on my own initiative, I have to use what is out of the box. Out of the box, the gnome works faster than the unit (or, more precisely, gnome 3 on ubunta 04/18/01 against unit on ubunt 04/16/04). However, this “noticeably quicker” does not mean that the interface of the unit is monstrous and braking. By no means. The speed of his work is quite acceptable. Just a dwarf quicker.

    I also liked the analogue of the Start menu (a square of nine circles in the lower left corner). Despite the fact that it is also tiled, it opens quickly and shows all installed applications in the system. Working with him is easy and convenient. He practically didn’t use them at all in Unity due to the fact that it is this component that is really very inhibitory and somehow doesn’t show exactly what I expect to see.

    With the pluses finished, go to the minuses ...


    1. Third-party repositories

    When switching to a new version of ubunt, usually disables third-party repositories, and then they need to be turned on again. This was done usually from the window interface. However, this time, no matter how hard I checked on the checkboxes, the window just turned gray and nothing happened. I had to manually edit the files in / etc / apt /. A trifle, of course ...

    2. Application notifications disappeared

    When a new letter came to me in a mail or a message in a slaky, constantly hanging icons popped up in the upper right corner, when clicked, the corresponding application opened. Analogue system tray in windows. When switching to a gnome, all such notifications disappeared. That is, in the gnome there is a certain notification mechanism, when when a new letter arrives for 10 seconds almost in the center of the screen a window pops up with a message. But what if at the moment I was not at the computer? Or even just for those 10 seconds looking the other way? Yes, and they also came to understand how. It seems that only notified the first letter, and all subsequent ones were ignored.

    After some dancing with a tambourine, I managed to achieve that Thunderbird began to display a red circle with the number of new letters on its icon in the taskbar. Although this is not a system tray, but a completely equivalent replacement. And I have reason to assume that this red circle, as it were, should have been made immediately after installation, since I didn’t do anything special in my dances with a tambourine and eventually returned to where I started. And the mail client is not any third-party, but the default one, it should be licked along and across. But for some reason I did not immediately earn.

    Notifications for the same weak and failed to configure. And given that this is our main means of corporate communication, then trouble-trouble (If someone knows how to deal with this trouble, I will be grateful for the help)

    In general, for the notification HUGE minus

    UPDATE: Notifications are weak in a mysterious way appeared by themselves, after one and a half days after installation and several reboots that are not associated with the weak. At the top center of the right monitor, right before the date. So there are still notifications in the gnome, hurray! one problem is less)))

    3. The next “wisdom” in gnome-terminal

    gnome-terminal was the default terminal and in the unit, so it is not a problem of transition from unit to gnome. This is the problem of moving from ubunt 16 to 18.

    The bottom line is that if earlier I could create a script that recreates my working environment, like

    gnome-terminal --maximize \
        --tab --working-directory=$HOME/workspace/project1 -e "script" \
        --tab -e "top" \
        --tab -e "ssh -t user@host.ru" \
        ...
    gnome-terminal --maximize \
        --tab ...
    

    now this construction works at random, since the tabs of both terminals will open in the tabs of the calling window, that is, they will all be piled up in one pile. Plus, the terminal spills you with messages that the -e option is outdated and will be removed soon. That instead of -e "command" you should use the construction - command. That is, one call to open two tabs connected via ssh to two different hosts will become a problem. And in general it will become a problem to create a new window from the command line with a set of your own tabs (in fact, I think you can create a new window and already in the command to it register a series of calls to the terminals with separate tabs, but in my opinion this ...)

    For most users, this problem is, of course, a trifle, but for those who use gnome-terminal directly, it is already unpleasant ...

    4. Taskbar with dual monitors.

    There are two monitors. They work in the mode when everyone has their own content. Taskbar customizable so that displayed on both. Now we open two windows, for example, a browser or development environment and drag them away to different screens. It is important that both windows are the same application. Let it be chrome browser. In the taskbar to the right of the chrome icon, we will see two small circles, indicating that two instances of chrome are open.

    How was the unit?

    If I click on the chrome icon in the left taskbar, the system will automatically switch me to the chrome window on the left screen. If I click on the icon on the right, then on the right. If in the left window I open another window of chrome, the third, then when I click on the icon in the left panel, the system will give me the choice of which window I want. The right pane will still switch to its only window immediately, without asking any questions. Archdeal!

    How now in the gnome?

    The panels on both screens are completely identical and always display a query in the form of thumbnails, which window to choose. And from this request it is problematic to understand which window belongs to which screen. And when working with several windows of the same application, you have to make a lot of unnecessary clicks.

    Thus, if the task of active work on two (or more) monitors is relevant for you, I would recommend thinking ten times before giving up a unit in favor of a gnome.

    Summary


    In general, units and gnomes are quite comparable in their capabilities and functionality. What to choose - rather a matter of personal preference. I brought what immediately caught my eye and “complicated” to me personally the life of the transition to the gnome. What of the above is relevant to you, and whether it is relevant at all, it is up to you to decide.

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