I have used Unity for a bit now, and I am not ready to ditch Gnome-Do. Unity does overlap quite a bit, but Gnome-Do still has features that I like.
So, read below for an exploration in the some of the ways Unity falls short of Gnome Do and how to enable the two to work together.
Application Searching
One of those examples is application searching. What if I want to start Gnome-RDP?
First, I type a “G” because my first thought is to start typing Gnome…
At this point, Gnome RDP isn’t even on the list. So, I added an “N”:
Now, I see two similarly named applications — Gnome Do and Gnome RDP. I should be able to just type “R” because it is the first character between the two that is different. Unfortunately, Unity isn’t this smart:
In contrast, Gnome Do picks Gnome-RDP just with the first key:
Since it picked Gnome-RDP first, let’s try to open Gnome Do. We can just press a “Do”. Now, it comes up!
Shutting Down from the Keyboard
One thing Unity doesn’t seem to be able to do: Shutdown. No options show when you type shutdown:
Power off gives nothing too:
By contrast, Gnome Do can shutdown easily:
Configuring to Work Together
The key problem is that both use the “Super” key (or, in the Windows world, the “Start” key). I have seen several other guides that reconfigure Gnome Do to use a different key combination.
For this, you can go into the Gnome Do Preferences:
Then, you can change the “Summon Do” keyboard combo:
Instead, Unity is the new kid on the block so let’s try to change it instead. You know, be fair! So, open up the Compiz Config manager (you may need to install it from Ubuntu Software Center).
Then, find the Ubuntu Unity Plugin options, and click on it.
Now, what we want to change is the “Key to Show the Launcher”.
About this time, I found an interesting article about how Andrew customized his desktop. His choice was Shift+Super. I think that I am going to try Ctrl + Super because I think it will be easier on my fingers.
Now, with the Cntrl + Super option, Gnome Do works!
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Note: Super + A used to open the Applications Lense and Super + F used to open the Files Lense. Those have been changed now to Cntrl + Super + A and Cntrl + Super + F.
