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   1 [18:00]  * jcastro jiggles the classbot
   2 [18:01] <jcastro> Ok awesome
   3 [18:01] <jcastro> how is everyone today
   4 [18:01] <jcastro> this last session is going to be an Introduction to Unity
   5 [18:01] <coolbhavi> okay guys I m done :) thanks for attending :) If you have any questions I'll be around on the irc on weekends or you can catch me up on facebook @ facebook.com/bshankar or mail me @ bhavi@ubuntu.com
   6 [18:01] <jcastro> I'll wait a minute for the latecomers
   7 [18:01] <jcastro> nice job coolbhavi!
   8 [18:02] <coolbhavi> oops sorry jcastro for interrupting :)
   9 === ChanServ changed the topic of #ubuntu-classroom to: Welcome to the Ubuntu Classroom - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom || Support in #ubuntu || Upcoming Schedule: http://is.gd/8rtIi || Questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat || Event: Ubuntu Open Week - Current Session: Introduction to Unity - Instructors: jcastro
  10 [18:02] <jcastro> no worries, high five!
  11 [18:02] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2011/05/02/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
  12 [18:03] <jcastro> ok so let's get started
  13 [18:03] <jcastro> I'm your host, jorge, and I'll be running a session on an introduction to unity
  14 [18:03] <jcastro> I've got a ton of information to share with you folks
  15 [18:03] <jcastro> so I'm going to spiel for a little bit
  16 [18:03] <jcastro> and then I can just take your questions on unity directly
  17 [18:04] <jcastro> so let's start with the basics
  18 [18:04] <jcastro> Unity is a desktop shell that runs on top of GNOME: http://unity.ubuntu.com/
  19 [18:04] <jcastro> it's the default desktop for 11.04
  20 [18:04] <jcastro> and is built using technologies from compiz, gnome, and zeitgeist
  21 [18:04] <jcastro> A great "new user" intro was done by the OMG Ubuntu folks here: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/natty/
  22 [18:05] <jcastro> and I myself have put together a Unity power user's guide here: http://castrojo.tumblr.com/post/4795149014/the-power-users-guide-to-unity
  23 [18:05] <jcastro> the most common question is
  24 [18:05] <jcastro> what exactly is all this stuff
  25 [18:06] <jcastro> http://askubuntu.com/questions/10228/whats-the-right-terminology-for-unitys-ui-elements/19166#19166
  26 [18:06] <jcastro> so "unity" as a whole is the sum of these parts
  27 [18:06] <jcastro> a launcher, a panel, and what we call the dash and lenses
  28 [18:06] <jcastro> for novice users unity is pretty simple to use
  29 [18:07] <jcastro> you click firefox and go to facebook, and that's mostly it. :)
  30 [18:07] <jcastro> but for people like us Unity has some nice features that I'd like to share
  31 [18:07] <jcastro> the first is the use of keyboard shortcuts to multitask in Unity
  32 [18:07] <jcastro> I did an entire presentation on how to effectively use Unity to launch and manage applications: http://castrojo.blip.tv/file/4997614/
  33 [18:07] <jcastro> I recommend you watch that video
  34 [18:08] <jcastro> people are also starting to put together some pretty amazing quicklists for unity: http://askubuntu.com/questions/35488/which-custom-unity-launchers-and-quicklists-do-you-use
  35 [18:08] <jcastro> which allow you to customize what menu items show up when you right click on a launcher
  36 [18:09] <jcastro> and of course, for people who want to customize their  unity set up
  37 [18:09] <jcastro> we have a tool called ccsm that does that: http://askubuntu.com/questions/29553/how-can-i-configure-unity
  38 [18:09] <jcastro> this is where you can do things like resize the launcher
  39 [18:09] <jcastro> and turn the backlight settings on and off, and mess with the animation
  40 [18:10] <jcastro> this is also where you can choose to have the launcher not autohide
  41 [18:10] <jcastro> by default the launcher does what we call "intellihide"
  42 [18:10] <jcastro> which means when there's nothing on your screen that you're using
  43 [18:10] <jcastro> we show the launcher
  44 [18:10] <jcastro> but if you move a window over to it or maximize a window the launcher hides until you press up against the left of the screen
  45 [18:10] <jcastro> we also have a plethora of keyboard shortcuts
  46 [18:11] <jcastro> http://askubuntu.com/questions/28086/unity-keyboard-mouse-shortcuts
  47 [18:11] <jcastro> these are my favorite feature
  48 [18:11] <jcastro> since in the past we didn't really use the Super key
  49 [18:11] <jcastro> now I have my launcher order in a certain way
  50 [18:11] <jcastro> so that super-1 always launcher my file manager, super-2 is always the browser, and super-3 is my mail program
  51 [18:12] <jcastro> so that when I set up my computer when I log in, it's trivial for me to launch all my favorite apps
  52 [18:12] <jcastro> ok
  53 [18:12] <jcastro> so, those are the basics
  54 [18:13] <jcastro> how I find myself using unity is like so
  55 [18:13] <jcastro> I usually just find myself hitting the super key (this is commonly the windows key on most keyboards)
  56 [18:13] <jcastro> and typing what I want
  57 [18:13] <jcastro> this is similar to how gnome-do works if you've ever used that tool
  58 [18:14] <jcastro> so as I type unity just searches for what I want
  59 [18:14] <jcastro> so if I want libreoffice
  60 [18:14] <jcastro> I can just hit super and start typing libreoffice
  61 [18:14] <jcastro> and then unity matches as I type and I can hit enter and it launches
  62 [18:14] <jcastro> but we do more than app names, we do descriptions
  63 [18:14] <jcastro> so if you type "text" unity shows you the text editor and libreoffice writer
  64 [18:15] <jcastro> so you can super+"text" and then use the arrow keys to navigate the results and just hit enter
  65 [18:15] <jcastro> and we do this for your files too
  66 [18:15] <jcastro> Powered by Zeitgeist(tm)
  67 [18:15] <jcastro> ok, so that's how I use Unity, let me go ahead and open it up to questions
  68 [18:16] <ClassBot> sebsebseb asked: Why is it called Unity?
  69 [18:16] <jcastro> that's a good question for Mark on Wednesday, but I've heard him mention that it's the unity of netbook/laptop/desktop/tablet interfaces
  70 [18:17] <jcastro> (Feel free to start asking questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat)
  71 [18:17] <jcastro> just preface them with QUESTION: so the bot can pick them up
  72 [18:17] <ClassBot> TonyP18 asked: If I run on the Natty live CD I get full 3D unity, but when I upgraded to 11.04 the best I can get is 2D.  Why is this?
  73 [18:18] <jcastro> not sure why that is, you need to ensure that you've installed the right drivers after you install
  74 [18:18] <jcastro> this can be accomplished by running "Additional Drivers" from the classic mode
  75 [18:18] <jcastro> then it will fetch what it needs, and you reboot and go back into unity, if that doesn't work please file a bug
  76 [18:19] <ClassBot> bugslayr asked: what I miss most is "focus follows mouse". The menu in the tope the application menues back to the window or window decoration? panel does not work with it. is it possible to mov
  77 [18:20] <jcastro> right now there are some problems with focus follows mouse
  78 [18:20] <jcastro> there is a bug report somewhere on launchpad that tracks that progress (I can't find it right now but a good google search on site:bugs.launchpad.net/unity should find it)
  79 [18:20] <ClassBot> Nekhelesh90 asked: I have some feature requests, some that I may like to also code. How do I get my point across to the developers?
  80 [18:20] <jcastro> you can talk about unity on the ayatana mailing list.
  81 [18:21] <jcastro> as far as coding your own features, feel free to file them on launchpad and start implementing them and proposing them to unity.
  82 [18:21] <jcastro> though it's probably best if you file the bugs first and get feedback before starting to write them
  83 [18:21] <jcastro> I have instructions here on how to get started hacking on Unity: http://unity.ubuntu.com/getinvolved/
  84 === N0xman is now known as Dani3l
  85 [18:22] <jcastro> !q
  86 [18:22] <ClassBot> roasted asked: I have a dual screen desktop. I cannot get Unity to be placed on the left side of my right monitor (which is my main). Will there be a patch soon to make it allowable for me to have the Unity bar on the left side of my right monitor?
  87 [18:23] <jcastro> yes
  88 [18:23] <jcastro> this bug is absolutely on neil's radar
  89 [18:23] <jcastro> he's looking at it this week and maybe next week
  90 [18:23] <jcastro> currently if you main monitor is on the right then it's not a very good user experience. :)
  91 [18:23] <jcastro> I have my main on the left so I didn't even notice until someone filed a bug
  92 [18:23] <jcastro> but yeah, that sucks, he's working on it, sorry about that
  93 [18:24] <ClassBot> pali asked: Unity is just gnome-do + dock?
  94 [18:24] <jcastro> well, not really
  95 [18:24] <jcastro> it's an evolution of "what if we took the guys that did gnome do, docky, awn, and cairo dock and took all the lessons they learned and did it integrated with the window manager"
  96 [18:25] <jcastro> (The DX team comprises of members who started all those projects)
  97 [18:25] <jcastro> though David Siegel moved on to a startup (he started GNOME Do)
  98 [18:25] <ClassBot> roasted asked: What are the licensing restrictions of Unity? Is it possible we might see other distros easily adopt Unity, such as opensuse, Fedora, and Mint? Or is Unity somehow bound to Ubuntu only (or with penalty if other distros pick it up)??
  99 [18:25] <jcastro> Unity is 100% Free Software
 100 [18:25] <jcastro> (not sure of the exact licenses of each file, but I think GPL3)
 101 [18:26] <jcastro> anyone is able to take Unity and do what they want with it
 102 [18:26] <jcastro> (Do note that everything in Ubuntu by default as shipped on the CD has to be free software, other than exceptions made for drivers)
 103 [18:26] <ClassBot> uuser2323 asked: Is there a "Show Desktop" button in Unity and if so where?
 104 [18:27] <jcastro> there is no button for this in unity
 105 [18:27] <jcastro> however there are 2 work arounds
 106 [18:27] <jcastro> the first is the keyboard shortcut, Super-D
 107 [18:27] <jcastro> the other is putting one on the launcher itself
 108 [18:27] <jcastro> http://askubuntu.com/questions/29969/is-there-a-unity-equivalent-of-the-gnome-panel-show-desktop-applet
 109 [18:27] <jcastro> which unfortunately you have to do by hand
 110 [18:27] <ClassBot> roasted asked: will Unity 2D get the same customizable features as Unity 3D currently has? Right now, Unity 2D disables the Unity plugin in CCSM, so I cannot do *anything* such as resizing icons, etc.
 111 [18:28] <jcastro> right
 112 [18:28] <jcastro> Unity 2D and 3D are supposed to have feature-to-feature parity
 113 [18:29] <jcastro> this will likely happen for 11.10, but as Unity 2d isn't on the CD and not as the default (other than ARM hardware) it's not /exactly/ the same as 3D
 114 [18:29] <jcastro> http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/ubuntu-unity-2d-tweaking-tool-lets-you-adjust-the-launcher-dash-enable-compositing/
 115 [18:29] <jcastro> check that out though
 116 [18:29] <ClassBot> sebsebseb asked: Currently Unity is not that customisable, when it uses Gnome 3 underneath for 11.10 is it likely to become much more customisable or is this more of a design thing?
 117 [18:30] <jcastro> this is more of a design thing, we'll know next week during UDS
 118 [18:30] <ClassBot> roasted asked: You just mentioned "everything on the Ubuntu CD has to be free software when it is shipped." Why is this? Is this Ubuntu's philosophy that they're living by or is this some sort of legal issue that requires them to do so?
 119 [18:31] <jcastro> Yes
 120 [18:31] <jcastro> this is a fundamental belief in Ubuntu
 121 [18:32] <jcastro> we call this the Ubuntu Promise: http://www.ubuntu.com/project
 122 [18:32] <ClassBot> Nekhelesh90 asked: An introduction to Unity should be shown in the desktop after the installation of ubuntu to help users. Is this planned for the future (like in Oneric)?
 123 [18:32] <jcastro> Not sure, but yes, I agree completely, we'll be discussing things like this in a week
 124 [18:33] <jcastro> so keep an eye out for progress during the ubuntu developer summit here: http://uds.ubuntu.com
 125 [18:33] <ClassBot> roasted asked: Jcastro, you mentioned something about "that's a good question for Mark on Wednesday." Is he coming by to discuss Unity as well? If so, what time?
 126 [18:33] <jcastro> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek
 127 [18:33] <jcastro> wednesday at 1400 UTC
 128 [18:33] <jcastro> hah, more questions! I'm out!
 129 [18:35] <ClassBot> nigelb asked: What's your personal favorite feature in Unity? :)
 130 [18:35] <jcastro> the keyboard shortcuts, by far. :)
 131 [18:35] <jcastro> that just hitting super and typing
 132 [18:35] <jcastro> it's like in the old days search engines were indexes
 133 [18:35] <jcastro> and you had to find a category
 134 [18:35] <jcastro> and then a sub category
 135 [18:35] <jcastro> and then find what you want
 136 [18:35] <jcastro> like old Yahoo
 137 [18:36] <jcastro> and then google came out and then you just type what you want and you get it
 138 [18:36] <jcastro> that's what I love about the search thing in the dash
 139 [18:36] <ClassBot> Nekhelesh90 asked: super-D actually pulls up the panel launcher too, that is really annoying, anyway we can disable that ?
 140 [18:37] <jcastro> There's a threshold for holding down super to invoke the launcher
 141 [18:37] <jcastro> you might need to hit it faster
 142 [18:37] <jcastro> or set minimize in compiz to be a different keyboard shortcut
 143 [18:37] <jcastro> I got so used to ctrl-alt-d that that's what I still use today actually
 144 [18:37] <ClassBot> jrgifford asked: Does Unity *require* compiz?
 145 [18:37] <jcastro> yes, Unity is actually nothing more than a fancy compiz plugin
 146 [18:38] <ClassBot> Nekhelesh90 asked: Are the new lens which are in development be available through the ubuntu software center officially?(Without the need to add any PPA)
 147 [18:38] <jcastro> actually we are working right now on putting the askubuntu lens in extras.ubuntu.com
 148 [18:38] <jcastro> which will do what you want
 149 [18:38] <jcastro> but right now since 11.04 is so new many lenses are fast-moving, but I hope to collect the good ones and put them in extras.ubuntu.com
 150 [18:38] <ClassBot> hardfire asked: what about gnoem3, what happens to it. The whole thing breaks if we try installing gnome3
 151 [18:39] <jcastro> right, currently right now unity and 11.04 is gnome 2.x based
 152 [18:39] <jcastro> like if you log into the classic session it's gnome 2.32
 153 [18:39] <jcastro> now that GNOME3 is out and Unity is in Ubuntu for 11.10 we'll be migrating the distro to GNOME and GTK3, this includes building Unity on GNOME3 tech
 154 [18:40] <jcastro> so for 11.10 we should have moved to GNOME3 tech, which will let us have a better GNOME3 experience in 11.10
 155 [18:40] <jcastro> right now unfortunately it's either GNOME2 or GNOME3 in the archive as we're in a transitionary period
 156 [18:41] <jcastro> which is why the GNOME3 PPA is basically a "1 way upgrade"
 157 [18:41] <ClassBot> roasted asked: Unity is based on Gnome. Which version of Gnome? 2 or 3?
 158 [18:41] <jcastro> GNOME2 stuff
 159 === kamal1 is now known as kamal
 160 [18:41] <jcastro> it's mostly ready to be compiled on GNOME3 stuff, BAMF just needs a bit of work and it's ready to go
 161 [18:41] <jcastro> the DX team built it in mind knowing that GNOME3 was coming
 162 [18:42] <ClassBot> roasted asked: Will Ubuntu always ship with the Gnome Classic option? I ask this because there are instances I like to use the GUI'd Ubuntu on a server. I love Unity, but it doesn't scream "server interface" to me, so having the classic option might be nice.
 163 [18:42] <jcastro> This release will likely be the last release with the classic GNOME 2.x interface, for 11.10 you'll have Unity as default and Unity-2d for those with driver problems or slower computers
 164 [18:43] <jcastro> unfortunately the GNOME 2 interface is unmaintained, she did serve us well for 7 years though
 165 [18:43] <jcastro> but it's OSS, it's possible someone could just maintain the old panels if there's interest
 166 [18:43] <ClassBot> Nekhelesh90 asked: Where can I find easy examples of unity lens coding?
 167 [18:43] <jcastro> oooh
 168 [18:43] <jcastro> good question
 169 [18:44] <jcastro> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/Lenses
 170 [18:44] <jcastro> I've got a whole guide here
 171 [18:44] <jcastro> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/Lenses/Ideas
 172 [18:44] <jcastro> ^^ and ideas people would like to see in lenses
 173 [18:44] <jcastro> that second page has links to other lenses that people are working on
 174 [18:44] <jcastro> a python lens is about ~350 lines of code, so it's quite easy to just grab someone else's lens and adapt it to your own
 175 [18:45] <jcastro> and here is a list of lenses: http://askubuntu.com/questions/38772/what-lenses-for-unity-are-available
 176 [18:45] <jcastro> http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/five-neat-unity-lenses-in-development/
 177 [18:45] <jcastro> and another list from OMG to give you an idea of how those are coming along
 178 [18:46] <ClassBot> roasted asked: So while Unity is currently based on Gnome2, it'll soon be ported to Gnome3. Is this something expected for 11.10? If so, are there any expected issues with the platform changes or would this be a smooth transition?
 179 [18:46] <jcastro> like all major releases it will be a ton of work
 180 [18:46] <jcastro> but we have some very experienced GNOME hackers on our team, so it'll be fine
 181 [18:46] <jcastro> keeping in mind that a ton of work has already been done in the PPA
 182 [18:46] <jcastro> we just need to start moving that into the archive
 183 [18:46] <ClassBot> sebsebseb asked: What's BAMF?
 184 [18:47] <jcastro> https://launchpad.net/bamf
 185 [18:47] <jcastro> BAMF is a window matching framework
 186 [18:47] <jcastro> it's the tool that tells you "oh this window is firefox, this one is the terminal"
 187 [18:47] <jcastro> and allows us to match them and show them right on the launcher
 188 [18:48] <ClassBot> sebsebseb asked: Why did you do guest blog enteries about Unity on OMGUbuntu?
 189 [18:48] <jcastro> Why not?
 190 [18:48] <ClassBot> roasted asked: While the transition to Gnome3 for Unity is on the horizon, will there be any additional features or benefits from moving to Gnome3, besides "future proofing" yourselves?
 191 [18:48] <jcastro> good question
 192 [18:48] <jcastro> yes
 193 [18:48] <jcastro> we can drop a ton of old junk from the CD
 194 [18:48] <jcastro> like the old panel
 195 [18:48] <jcastro> (which was fine when it was designed in early 2000's)
 196 [18:49] <jcastro> but not as awesome when it comes to like, multiple monitors
 197 [18:49] <jcastro> touch friendlyness
 198 [18:49] <jcastro> and adjusting to changing resolution on the fly
 199 [18:49] <ClassBot> roasted asked: Unity by definition is what... a shell to Gnome 2/3? That being said, does it fall under the same category as Gnome Shell does? Does GS/Unity have the same relationship to Gnome?
 200 [18:49] <jcastro> yep, that's exactly it.
 201 [18:49] <jcastro> but -shell is the official shell of upstream GNOME.
 202 [18:50] <jcastro> now gnome3 is out you'll notice that upstream gnome doesn't mention GNOME3 and GNOME Shell as seperate things
 203 [18:50] <jcastro> the whole thing is now "GNOME 3"
 204 [18:50] <ClassBot> sebsebseb asked: I guess you blogged about Unity on OMGUbuntu since it's a very popular Ubuntu website at the moment. What do you think about it by the way?
 205 [18:50] <jcastro> I like it, I like all ubuntu blogs
 206 [18:51] <jcastro> I dig webup8, askubuntu, and the ubuntu subreddit
 207 [18:51] <ClassBot> obengdako asked: what type of themes are we to expect in Unity, i used a Mac theme in Gnome2 and would love the same window decorations.?
 208 [18:51] <jcastro> right now it's really just 2 themes
 209 [18:51] <jcastro> the dark one and the light grey one
 210 [18:51] <jcastro> and even then the launcher itself doesn't theme
 211 [18:52] <jcastro> but some people are using icon themes like faenza on it
 212 [18:52] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
 213 [18:52] <jcastro> unfortunately this isn't something I know much about, so you'll have to wait until after we're further along in 11.10 to find out what the plan is (I also have no idea)
 214 [18:52] <ClassBot> roasted asked: I can't help but to wonder, despite the open source nature of "everybody is free and equal", has there been any tension with working with Gnome developers since Unity is basically a shell fork, independent and separate of Gnome Shell, which is clearly Gnome's "baby" for the future?
 215 [18:53] <jcastro> this really depends on what you think "tension" means
 216 [18:53] <jcastro> for some people this is all controversial and drama filled
 217 [18:53] <jcastro> for others it's just business as usual and they hack on what they love.
 218 [18:53] <jcastro> Ubuntu and Canonical are still heavily invested in GNOME
 219 [18:53] <jcastro> we are part of the GNOME Advisory Board and we participate in GNOME events and hackfests
 220 [18:53] <jcastro> and provide GNOME with infrastructure support
 221 [18:54] <jcastro> and we will continue to do so in the future
 222 [18:54] <ClassBot> obengdako asked: would Gnome3 support theming?
 223 [18:54] <jcastro> I am not sure, I'm not a GNOME 3 pro but iirc it's all just JS and CSS
 224 [18:54] <ClassBot> Grillmeister asked: Since the release of Ubuntu 11.04 the download link of the netbook edition via torrent is broken: http://releases.ubuntu.com/11.04/ubuntu-11.04-netbook-i386.iso.torrent  - When do you think this will get fixed?
 225 [18:54] <jcastro> netbook edition no longer exists!
 226 [18:54] <jcastro> we just have "Ubuntu" and "Ubuntu Server" now
 227 [18:55] <jcastro> and we kind of dropped the edition thing
 228 [18:55] <jcastro> the normal ISO works on both desktops and netbooks
 229 [18:55] <jcastro> the baseline for unity performance is a dell mini 1010, where  unity rocks it at 60fps
 230 [18:56] <jcastro> I have time for like 2 more questions!
 231 [18:56] <ClassBot> roasted asked: Is there more of these chats scheduled in the future besides the one you told me about coming up Weds?
 232 [18:57] <jcastro> we have them all week, Open Week is usually the week after release
 233 [18:57] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
 234 [18:57] <jcastro> and we have other IRC workshops, you can find the list here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom
 235 [18:57] <jcastro> and you can also run your own!
 236 [18:57] <jcastro> ok so in closing
 237 [18:57] <jcastro> I hope you give unity a shot
 238 [18:58] <jcastro> if you're a developer, please dive in
 239 [18:58] <jcastro> we could always use a hand
 240 [18:58] <jcastro> and remember my power guide here, and tell a friend! http://castrojo.tumblr.com/post/4795149014/the-power-users-guide-to-unity
 241 [18:58] <jcastro> thanks so much for coming out!
 242 [19:02] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2011/05/02/%23ubuntu-classroom.html