Ubuntu 11.10: Unity-2d problems and how I fix them

Ubuntu 11.10 introduced Unity as the default desktop. The problem is that it does not work well on my 5-year-old HP laptop, so I have to make use of the Unity-2d cousin.


Unity (and Unity-2d) introduces the unity-2d-panel and the unity-2d-launcher. The *-panel sits on the top part of your screen, and the *-launcher on the right side with the capability of autohiding.


Even with this so-called stable version, many times it crashes and I have to kill the panel proccess and then restart it.
The safest way is:

1. $> ps -ef|grep unity-2d-panel
2. kill -9 <processid>
3. <Press Winkey> and type in: "unity-2d-panel"

This way you kill and restart the panel on the top.