Unity: Configuration and administration programs are hidden in the On/Off menu

Bug #774334 reported by Jeff Lane 
This bug report is a duplicate of:  Bug #732653: Menus are hidden by default. Edit Remove
10
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
system-config-printer (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned
unity (Ubuntu)
New
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: unity

In previous versions of Ubuntu, I can configure printing quite easily by hitting the Administration/Printer menu. This is kinda important because there are some things I have to set there to be able to connect to network shared printers on other hosts in the office.

However, I can not find any real printer config tool in Natty running Unity. The best I can find is a "Printing" app that lets me add printers that I already know about. There's no "Show printers shared on other hosts" option similar to functionality that was present in Maverick, so I can't scan the office network and actually print anything.

Sadly, this kinda impacts my work and makes me less productive. So was the gnome print config removed? Or is it hidden somewhere that I don't know about, or was this functionality removed?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: unity 3.8.10-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,mousepoll,vpswitch,regex,animation,snap,expo,move,compiztoolbox,place,grid,imgpng,gnomecompat,wall,ezoom,workarounds,staticswitcher,resize,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,scale,session,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
DRM.card0.DP.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.HDMI.A.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.LVDS.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: On
 modes: 1280x800 1280x800
 edid-base64: AP///////wAwrhFAAAAAAAATAQOAGhB46lzVk1xejiccUFQAAAABAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEB7hoAgFAgEDAQMBMABaMQAAAZ0BcAxlAgGTAwIDYABaMQAAAZAAAADwCBCjyBCjIWCQBMo0FUAAAA/gBMVE4xMjFBVDA3TDAyADg=
DRM.card0.VGA.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
Date: Sat Apr 30 14:19:41 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-04-15 23:30:41.731686
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: vboxhost, 3.2.12, 2.6.35-25-generic, x86_64: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0046] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:215a]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
InstallationMedia_: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
InstallationMedia__: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
MachineType: LENOVO 3626R3U
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=61ba3769-4bdd-4c3d-a7d4-77016745d83d ro crashkernel=384M-2G:64M,2G-:128M quiet splash vt.handoff=7
ProcVersionSignature_: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
ProcVersionSignature__: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-16 (14 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 06/07/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 6QET46WW (1.16 )
dmi.board.name: 3626R3U
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr6QET46WW(1.16):bd06/07/2010:svnLENOVO:pn3626R3U:pvrThinkPadX201:rvnLENOVO:rn3626R3U:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 3626R3U
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X201
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu13
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7

Revision history for this message
Jeff Lane  (bladernr) wrote :
Revision history for this message
abc (esfsdfstsf-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

This isn't for support, you can try asking for help on the ubuntu IRC @freenode.net #ubuntu or on the Ubuntu forums.

Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Bilal Shahid (s9iper1) wrote :

or u can also download "xchat" software from software center for IRc ubuntu chat

Revision history for this message
Jeff Lane  (bladernr) wrote :

This is not a support request. It's a request to restore functionality that was present in Maverick to the printing config tool in Natty.

However, I can see how the original wording sounds a lot like that... so I've changed it.

description: updated
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Invalid → New
summary: - how to I configure printing? All I seem to have is an app that lets me
- add printers.
+ Printer Config is missing functionality that was previously available in
+ maverick
Revision history for this message
Jeff Lane  (bladernr) wrote : Re: Printer Config is missing functionality that was previously available in maverick

Hoping this is the correct package

affects: unity (Ubuntu) → system-config-printer (Ubuntu)
Revision history for this message
Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter) wrote :

system-config-printer has all.desktop files to create menu entries. Does it need something additional to appear somewhere in Unity (please tell what is missing in the s-c-p package)? It should be sufficient with .desktop files as one otherwise would get problems with third-party packages which do not take Unity into account.

What I did not find in Unity are the System->Administration and System->Preferences menus in some form. So I am not only missing easy access to system-config-printer but also to all the other configuration tools.

Re-adding Unity task ...

Revision history for this message
Dave Gilbert (ubuntu-treblig) wrote :

I don't see this is Unity's fault (but see my comment on s-c-p in a sec)

Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
status: Incomplete → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Dave Gilbert (ubuntu-treblig) wrote :

On my machine if I go to the Control Centre (from the on/off menu) and select 'Printing',
I can then click 'add' this shows me a dialog 'New Printer' and under Select Device it shows Other and Network Printer; next to the Network Printer is a triangle, if I click the Triangle I get a set of options under Network Printer. One of these is Find Network Printer.

I believe that should find your printers on your office network and therefor I believe that the functionality hasn't gone anywhere.

Do you agree that is the same functionality?

Dave

Changed in system-config-printer (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter) wrote :

The program you entered was system-config-printer. Under "Network Printer" you get even a list of printers discovered in the local network when you wait something like 15 seconds (the spinning ring at the bottom left disappears then). Use "Find Network Printer" if your network printer does not appear in the list then.

So there seems to be nothing wrong with the system-config-printer package. All programs which were in the menus System->Administration and System->Preferences in Maverick (or in Natty's "classic" desktop) are in the Control Center which opens via On/Off->System Settings in Unity.

This is a rather hidden place which is not intuitive to find. So I consider this problem as UI usability bug which needs to get fixed in Unity.

Closing system-config-printer task ...

Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Invalid → New
Changed in system-config-printer (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Invalid
summary: - Printer Config is missing functionality that was previously available in
- maverick
+ Unity: Configuration and administration programs are hidden in the
+ On/Off menu
Revision history for this message
Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter) wrote :

Note also that Unity has Mac-OS-X-style main menus. This means that if you have a window of an application, like system-config-printer, the main menu of the application is not at the top of the window but at the top of the screen, in the upper panel. And to make it more difficult, this menu appears only if you move the mouse pointer into the upper panel.

So if you have clicked on "Printing" in the Control Center, a rather window pops up, with the "Add" and "Refresh" buttons, but without the menus. If you move your mouse pointer into the upper panel while this window is active, the main menu of system-config-printer appears in the upper panel and there you choose "Server" -> "Settings" to set the printer sharing options.

Or simply log out, switch the session type to "Classic", and log in again, then everything is back where it was in Maverick ...

Revision history for this message
Jeff Lane  (bladernr) wrote :

Till: you are absolutely correct, And yes, I think this is a bug with Unity. Thanks for the clues. I actually discovered this behaviour while doing screen shots of everything to help explain what I was complaining about.

This is entirely counter-intuitive. It wasn't until I read something in your response that I actually maximized the printer config window and realized that the menus where there...

And then I read your later comment and that explains the rest.

Unfortunately, this is entirely counter-intuitive to anyone who hasn't used Mac OSX. I've never used OSX beyond one time in a 1 day class about 8 years ago when OSX first came out. That's the last time I touched a mac other than some very simple and quick playing with them in a Mac store...

So thanks for pointing this in the right direction.

The sad thing is that I've been using Linux since the mid-90s and computers since the mid-80s and even I can't figure out where many things in Unity are... maybe it's just me, perhaps...

Revision history for this message
Jeff Lane  (bladernr) wrote :

I should clarify that rather than a bug with Unity, I really mean a counter intuitive means of displaying the menus for an application for anyone who's never used OSX...

I honestly would not have thought of having to move my mouse to the top of the screen to unhide hidden menus for a window at the lower end of my display... :(

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

seems your issue in basically bug #732653

Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

This is not a duplicate of bug 682788: that is =about where menus appear on large screens, not about their default visibility.

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