What is USP and why use it?

1a. What is USP?

USP (short for Ubuntu System Panel) is an alternative (and hopefully an eventual replacement) to Ubuntu's "Main Menu" button (for those more familiar with Windows, its basically a replacement "Start" button/menu).

1b. Why should I use USP?

So why would people want to use it instead of the standard menu? It has a host of features that make it much better than the main menu, including support for quick searching of all your installed applications, plugins, tabs and themes (to name a few). It can be used for quick access to more things than just your applications. It's also fully customizable, so you can tweak it to look pretty much exactly like you want it to. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here are some screenshots from a basic Feisty install:

http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=25667&d=1171884176

If you don't like the way that it looks, remember that you can customize it any way that you please, including creating your own skins for it.

1c. Why should I use the SVN version over USP1 or the .deb?

The SVN version should always be the most up-to-date one, with new patches and fixes applied to it regularly. It supports several new features over USP1, and lots of bugs fixes.

1d. What USP won't do (yet).

• USP isn't compatible with any environment except for GNOME but can be run on Xubuntu/XFCE with the xfapplet.
• The recent documents plugin won't work with Dapper, but otherwise it should be fine. There is a USPrecent_D plugin for recent documents on Dapper.
• USP isn't the most lightweight menu ; it will use about 5-10MB of RAM. That said, most systems will not mind it and it really is worth its weight.
• Full alpha transparency support is NOT going to be available for USP2. You'll have to wait for USP3 for this.
• It will not solve hunger or cure cancer. However, from what I understand, the full specs of USP3 haven't been finalized yet so you never know .