there is no practical way to start/switch applications, menus and tasks in virtual session (VNC/NX/SYNERGY/VIRTUALBOX)

[Eugene San]

There is no practical way to start/switch tasks in virtual session (VNC/NX/SYNERGY/VIRTUALBOX).
Activating launcher, by reaching edge, is almost impossible.
"Super" key ussually interpreted by both Host and guest systems.

Using homebutton could be a solution, but in recent releases homebutton functionality is partially broken.
After few activations of launcher, launcher do not hide anymore covering part of the screen.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity-2d 4.12.0-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.19-generic-pae 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic-pae i686
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu2
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Oct 4 12:21:04 2011
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Beta i386 (20110901)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: unity-2d
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Michał Sawicz (saviq)]

What do you mean "homebutton functionality broken"? AFAIK there's no more "home button" in Oneiric.

The only thing that I could call a bug here is the <super> key being interpreted by both the "virtual" shell and the actual one.

In vbox, if you disable mouse integration, so that the cursor is bound to the virtual window, you'll be able to use the edge detection just fine. Also, alt+f1 will pop up the launcher for keyboard navigation.

Also, isn't alt+tab a practical way to switch tasks?

[Eugene San (eugenesan)]

Bug opened not just to indicate problem with "Super" key.

Homebutton is still there, it's just disabled by default.
Just invoke: dconf write /com/canonical/unity-2d/panel/applets "['homebutton', 'appname', '!legacytray', 'indicator']"

[adam jvok (ajvok1)]

Same/similar problem here.

I have tried using remote, virtual sessions with both NX and VNC. (11.10)
In both cases I get no launcher panel at all and no top panel.
This means that I can't start any applications, and any that are started automatically (startup apps) - with them I can not get see/use the max/min icons on the top panel.

Basically unusable,

Whereas, running using VNC to access a non-virtual (real) session works just fine.
Problem is, I don't want a real session running unattented on a remote machine.

This worked properly with the 'ubuntu classic' on 11.04.

[adam jvok (ajvok1)]

Well here is a solution hat works for me (although I am not entirely sure why it works):

I installed gnome-shell on the remote machine and then modified /etc/X11/default-display-manager so that it contains

/usr/sbin/gdm

instead of

/usr/sbin/lightdm

My intention was to try to run a virtual 'ubuntu classic' session and so avoid unity.

The odd thing is that when I start a remote virtual session (with NX), the unity desktop comes up and works perfectly.

[Mtt.Castelli (mtt.castelli)]

I subscribe this bug 'cause _dashboard_ wan't appear when in remote session I reach left edge with mouse,
so in fact it's unusable, it's an 'empty' session.

VNC server: vinagre Ubuntu 12.04, Unity (the default, not -2d!)

VNC client: vinagre Ubuntu 11.10

I've also tried decreasing color deept (ex. 8 or 3-bit) or activating jpeg compression option to improve
connection speed, but there's no way to make dashboard appear.