[TriLUG] Onerous Ocelot

[Chris Knowles]

OK, I installed 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot yesterday.

And I get why unity is the way it is.  Tablets and touch screen devices are
cool.  Looks like if I were navigating with a touch interface this would be
OK.

<RANT opt=ignoreifyoulike>
However, I have 2 big monitors, a nice ergo keyboard and a good trackball
attached to my relatively well powered system.

I like running many apps at once.  I like having an applet with the list of
everything I'm running for ease.

I also like the left and right sides of my screen clear... I prefer system
bars at the top and bottom.

Most of all, one of the things I enjoy about Linux is that many things are
configurable.  Perhaps it's my crotchety old man status, but it seems that
Ubuntu has been steadily removing those choices.

</RANT>
<REQUEST-FOR-HELP>

So, since they've removed the "gnome classic" option from this distro...
what options can I see... can anyone recommend how to make this work more
like a desktop?  Or, barring that, what distro I should try?  (I like apt,
but am not fond of debian pure.)

Or is there a tutorial out there on using the onerous ocelot on a desktop
without scratching my eyes out?

</REQUEST-FOR-HELP>

Thanks,
CJK