Hello. I am a first time Ubuntu user and I need some help.

I first tried from the USB stick and then installed UNR 9.10 on my Samsung NC10. However, I didn't expect so much difference between the menus and the applications between UNR and Desktop so I didn't try both of them before installing. Now with my UNR already installed I also tried from the USB stick the desktop version and I like it better.

I definitely like it that the whole desktop is not covered with the menus instead they are on the top bar. Plus from just a glance I noticed that applications like Gparted and Remote Desktop are there, they are missing in UNR. But they can probably be installed...

Aside from the desktop/menus look and few apps difference, is there any real difference if I install the netbook version vs desktop version? Performance? Hardware load?

I still have only few personal files in the UNR so should I just install Desktop over it? Because I made separate partition for /home if I understood correctly even the few files I have can remain there. In the new install I point /, swap and /home to the correct partitions but I do not format /home. Is that right?

The differences between UNR and Desktop versions are, as you said, just differences on desktop's look.
The base system is ubuntu in both cases, the default installed packages are the same too (just for the record, gparted is available on the live version booted from USB, it's then removed when you install it on HD. It can be easily reinstalled through the package manager).


Yes, it's perfectly right.

Thanks a lot!

One question further. Somewhere I read about package called Switch Desktop (or Desktop Switch) for UNR that actually allows you to switch the look. But the information was confusing, some people said it existed in alpha/beta versions but it is not there in the released UNR.

That would actually be a much better option allowing you to just switch the look. Is that possible? Will it be soon?

i didn't try the 9.10 but in the 9.04 in the system->preferences there is an icon that allow you to switch to desktop mode

That's the thing, it doesn't exist in 9.10.

Googling around a lot of people report that it was there in beta but it's not in the final version. Whether a bug or on purpose, no clues.

Personally I didn't try the beta, just waited for the final release.

EDIT: If I want to try and install it with apt-get what would be the correct syntax of the package? switch-desktop?

you can look at this thread, at the end someone post a solution..try

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8240801

One question to add to this discussion:

I am using 9.04 UNR on my NC10, and have loaded both an English and French keyboard configuration. In classic desktop mode, I use the Gnome panel applet "keyboard switcher" to switch between one configuration and another, but in UNR mode this applet doesn't appear and there is no way (that I found) to switch keyboard configurations. I remember reading on a forum thread someplace, soon after installing 9.04, that this was a known bug and it was being worked on. Since then I haven't seen any news.

Does anyone else know about this issue in Karmic?

In the "Add to panel" dialog on my Karmic UNR I see an applet called 'Keyboard indicator'. I have only one keyboard layout enabled so I can't tell for sure, but it looks like it can be used to switch keyboard layouts if you have multiple layouts.

Matt