It has a left side panel, like MX.
What are you going to do with Ubuntu?
Thought I might give Ubuntu-24.04-LTS a try!! Runs well and is easy, what else is needed!! Not Gentoo or LFS, but what the heck!!
I have no idea!!!
Well, it is an opportunity to learn something about snaps… and other features that only Ubuntu has … like the dreaded PPA.
Cant do much harm in a VM. Try something radical.
Ubuntu’s had that side panel since the Unity days - i.e. since around 2011-ish?
I think Canonical called it the HUD (heads up display) - back in Unity times… Now it’s called a “Dash” on Gnome… I use a tweak / extension that converts that “dash” to a dock - called unsurprisingly: “dash to dock”…
I’m just about to try out Ubuntu 26.04 on hardware (AMD ThinkPad) to replace Bazzite - which I’ve ruled out as a potential contender for a Linux Gaming PC…
That is the one thing i hâte about ubuntu and it stopped me using it. I prefer to put myself own desktop items on the left and not be controlled by the system. Strange how little things like that frustrate and change your use. I know many like it.
I used to make it autohide… or that might have been the default anyway? I quite liked it anyway…
But now I use dash2dock and make it a dynamic dock/applauncher/task switcher at the bottom like on a Mac…
No magic required: Cinnamon can attach panels on all four sides.
KDE can do that too
Xfce can do that too
On KDE desk top i always have my panel on top .
I think you are correct!!
Had to use the 24.04 LTS with Vbox, I guess 26.04 is too new!!
Where do I find this?
Yes it can, I sometimes use a top and bottom panel, but see no need in using four!!
Was not expecting this much response from a simple Ubuntu VM!! Very much prefer using LFS and the simplicity of XFCE!!
is Mate as simple as Xfce?
Simple answer yes. It has more commands available in each screen just looks older and chunky
I think the package is gnome-shell-extension-manager… on Ubu 24 and 26…
You can see what extensions are enabled - and - you can Browse for new ones to add…
The bottom XFCE panel in a default setup isn’t “dynamic” like the HUD / dash… It’s more of a static launcher…
What does a dynamic panel let you do?
I often put things like cpu monitor in the xfce panel… is that dynamic?
Mate is always my first choice, much easier to configure, than XFCE!! But Mate is not available with LFS, it can be built, but it may or may not work!!
Thanks, will give this a try!!