Ubuntu 12.10 Drops Unity 2D Desktop

[ninez]

Practically 100% of systems that are powerful enough to run a composited desktop on llvmpipe have workable 3d hardware, with the exception of things like SERVERS, on which you would NEVER run a composited desktop since you can't afford to have the thing crash and burn.

The rest of the hardware that doesn't have working 3d hardware is NOT POWERFUL ENOUGH to run composited desktop on llvmpipe.

THAT INCLUDES x86!!!!!

The difference with Fedora, is that you can still go to System Settings --> Details --> Graphics --> Force Fallback, and achieve a usable desktop.

+1

I've never understood the logic in pushing LLVMpipe unto users with lower-spec hardware that lacks 3d accel. they should just tweak gnome-panel for their own purposes with classic/fallback mode, instead.

[jakubo]

is the issue for intel chips resolved that limits 3d accelerated area to 2048x2048 (so 2nd screen will be very low on resolution). unity2d just worked on a multi monitor setup

[grantek]

At this point I think it'd be nice of Ubuntu to make a GUI app for switching the desktop - if a user is experienced or curious enough to find the "appearance" settings, there should be a button or link from there to open up a menu of different desktop environments in the Software Center.

Unity may work perfectly well for beginners and be a sensible default in their eyes, but it's definitely not a good fit for everyone, so restricting new users to whatever their flavour of the day desktop software is is just damaging.

[johnc]

I'm having a nVidia GT-240 which suffers badly from performance problems with Unity.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...iz/+bug/964788
The only way for me to play a game was to switch to Unity2D. Now I'm having a problem and I believe I'm not the only one. This is quite a bad timing with the Steam release coming soon. Ubuntu might miss an opportunity here.

It's a disaster.

I'm really having a hard time believing that Valve is having success on stock Ubuntu 12.04.

Simply clicking an item on the launcher can take up to two minutes before it responds.

[d2kx]

Most of the performance and related problems of Unity, especially with OpenGL/games, are going to be fixed with the Unity 5.16 update for Ubuntu 12.04 which is going within the next few weeks. Even more improvements are coming with Ubuntu 12.10.

[grenadecx]

It's a disaster.

I'm really having a hard time believing that Valve is having success on stock Ubuntu 12.04.

Simply clicking an item on the launcher can take up to two minutes before it responds.

I can only speak about my own experiences with Unity3D, and for me, it works really well. On my Laptop with Nvidia drivers it's works for gaming.
I also have a eee pc laptop which runs on Intel drivers, it also works really well, I don't game on this. But using Unity3D everything is actually really fast.

However, I don't agree they should dump Unity2D...that will be a pain on older computers.

[MistaED]

I am a bit worried as well for VFX work, how does Maya/Mari/Nuke/etc. work in Unity3D these days? In my experience not as well as using something like Unity2D. Can the llvm-pipe be leveraged with programs using hardware GL so that the compositor doesn't live on the GPU?

I know typically CentOS or Fedora is used but some studios (Weta) and users like me do use Ubuntu for VFX work...

Wait until there's proper compositing in terms of stable Wayland, not depending on this copy pixmap Xorg silliness...

[Delgarde]

+1

I've never understood the logic in pushing LLVMpipe unto users with lower-spec hardware that lacks 3d accel. they should just tweak gnome-panel for their own purposes with classic/fallback mode, instead.

That's because you're thinking of "lacks 3d accel" as "lower-spec hardware". They're thinking modern hardware, but for whatever reason unable to deliver 3d performance - e.g a new video card lacking driver support, or a VM with emulated hardware. Fast CPU, but unable to offload to GPU.

[ninez]

That's because you're thinking of "lacks 3d accel" as "lower-spec hardware". They're thinking modern hardware, but for whatever reason unable to deliver 3d performance - e.g a new video card lacking driver support, or a VM with emulated hardware. Fast CPU, but unable to offload to GPU.

ya, i guess that does makes sense.

[Delgarde]

ya, i guess that does makes sense.

Yep. I don't think any of the major distros are really interested in supporting people running old P4 hardware anymore. Those people are welcome to run alternative lighter desktops on top of Ubuntu, but they're not part of the target audience for the Unity shell.