[GLLUG] Ubuntu Woes

[Chick Tower]

I installed Ubuntu 4.10 on my PC and I've been playing around with it 
some.  Maybe it's just because I usually use KDE, but I sure didn't find 
it easy to do things with Ubuntu and/or Gnome.  It feels to me like 
something big is just sitting right in the way of where I want to go 
when I try to do things.

Getting it to use my modem was a nightmare.  I'll bet I entered the 
phone number at least eight times before realizing it doesn't like a 
hyphen between the third and fourth digits.  That was only when I 
noticed that the <Forward> button on the screen became inactive when I 
typed the hyphen.  No other indication of an incorrect entry appeared. 
What idiot programmer thought to watch out for "extraneous" data, 
prevent the configuration utility from proceeding in such a case (but 
let data entry continue), and not bother to tell the user what's wrong? 
  Is this what Gnome's famous human interface guidelines suggest?  Then, 
when I finally figure out that it accepts 7547800 but not 754-7800, and 
get it saved (another lengthy exercise in futility), I can't get the 
damn thing to dial out.  So I give up, and when I exit the configuration 
utility, the modem begins dialing.  Great.  The <Activate> selection 
seems to do nothing, so why wouldn't closing the application cause the 
modem to activate?  Seems intuitive to me.  NOT.  Thankfully, my PC has 
no equipment to allow Gnome to determine if my body position or apparel 
are satisfactory for its programmers's purposes.

Then, my Web browsing experience was so slooooow, even for a modem, that 
it was unbearable.  I don't know if it's because of the Firefox 1.0 
release candidate that came with Unbuntu, the fact that I'm not using 
Privoxy to filter out ads, or the connection speed.  I didn't even see 
any indicator that I was connected, let alone how to check the 
connection speed.

I also can't stand the way they've configured Nautilus, the file 
manager.  Maybe it's the spatial Nautilus I've read about, but it sure 
is annoying.  It would be nice to see a directory tree somewhere, 
instead of opening new windows for every directory.  I can't even 
retreat to the console and Midnight Commander, because mc isn't 
included!  They can pack in vim, emacs, and nano (with no indication in 
the Gnome menus that they exist), but not mc?  Hell, they've even got 
the text of a commercial book, _Dive into Python_, in their help system, 
but not mc?

I'm not asking for help, I'm just letting off a little steam.  I really 
like the ideas behind Ubuntu, Gnome doesn't seem to be difficult to use 
otherwise, and it looks sharp, but it sure seems to get in my way when I 
know what I want to do.  It's not like I'm an idiot; I've been using 
Linux for about four years, and Slackware for the last year or two. 
Maybe coming up through DOS and Windows molded/warped my mind to make it 
a poor fit with a Gnome that seems to hide the existence of console 
tools.  But I'm glad Eric brought in all those Ubuntu CDs.  At least I 
got a recent version of OpenOffice.org, just in time to do my taxes. 
And the included "live" CD allowed me to use my girlfriend's laptop to 
work on my taxes without having to use her Corel Office Suite.

                                Chick

P.S.  Do I even dare to mess with Synaptic?