Installation category

IDEA:
Improve installation partition manager to make it more user friendly.

RATIONALISATION:
The only main barrier which a novice/intermediate user faces when installing Ubuntu, is the rather daunting partition manager.
If a novice user attempts to install a dual-boot set up, and ends up deleting their Windows (or other familiar operating system) and data, then it will possibly deter them from switching to Ubuntu (and Linux in general) for good.
Equally, the intermediate user may err on the side of caution and under-allocate Ubuntu space on an existing drive.

SOLUTION:
Extend the existing partitioner to make it easier to use by adding 2 main features...

1)Add an intuitive GUI which provides a graphical map of the physical layout of drives on the computer.
e.g. Something like this... http://www.forensic-psychology-forum.co.uk/partitioner.jpg
2)Add 'Help' suggestions for new users.

A scroll bar on the left or right of the installer GUI so I can see and click the buttons, or make the GUI smaller. Some computers have low res screens still, i.e. Eee PC

When having some problems in ubuntu ie., for ex an file missing means we cannot able to reformat and install the whole thing. Just we repair the installation this will give much beauty to ubuntu

There are still many old x-based apps (packages) that get installed on the system by default, like xclock and other.

These are probably just orphaned dependencies, that are still getting into the modern distro. To save space and decrease the number of the packages getting installed, these should once and for all be dealt with.

One of the great things I like about Ubuntu (and other linux distros) which astounded me after using windows is the benefits of storing the user's settings in their home folder.

I have always kept my /home partition separate from the root partition (which I think the Ubuntu partition setup should do as default) so when you re-install ubuntu, all your settings are restored, color-scheme, wallpaper, etc.

After installation, as you re-install the applications you used to have each app picks up it's previous settings with no hassle.

However, although all the settings are still stored, you still have to go through all the applications you had installed previously and re-install them from the package manager.

"My Ubuntu", would be a little application that you run and it would present you with a list of the applications you have installed at the present time. This would not be at the lib or version level, but be at the application name e.g. Gimp, Cheese, i.e. the identifier that would be put in the main menu.

From this list you can de-select any apps you are not interested in and then click a save button, which writes the list to a file in your home folder.

After doing a re-install you then simply have to install "My Ubuntu" (it would be nice if it was installed as default eventually), select the previously saved apps list file and it will then go through and ensure all the apps on the list are installed.

At present, many new Ubuntu users are confused when they can't play their MP3 files, YouTube videos and DVDs out of the box. They then get confused when they then have to use this strange apt-get thing to somehow install them, and are then baffled by the term 'non-free'.

My proposal is as follows: either during the install or on first boot, a dialogue should be presented to the user entitled "Installing proprietary software", telling users about why you might need Java, Flash, MPEG-2 codecs and LAME, what they are, and why they aren't bundled with Ubuntu. These explanations should avoid the term 'non-free', because Joe User might not be able to distinguish between free beer and free man - the last thing we want to do is make the user think we're offering something he has to pay for. Ideally, they should use the word 'proprietary'.

If the user accepts and has an open internet connection, they will be presented with the EULAs, after which they will be asked to authenticate to gain superuser access (or, using PolicyKit, simply unlock the keychain to gain root access) and apt will automatically install everything they've asked for behind the scenes. It could even install in the background and operate on a "while you work" system.

I suggest the dialogue also offers users the opportunity to enable the universe and multiverse repositories, after explaining what they are.

Ubuntu has 4 different GUI applications that manage packages. Each provides similar but different functionality. These utilities should be combined in a unified interface to eliminate the appearance of bloat, while providing an all in one center for all your package managing needs.

If you want to update the system while installing new software, you can do them together. Gdebi packages can be easily installed with other software from the repositories. Users won't have to open multiple interfaces for similar tasks, streamlining operation in Ubuntu.

Why not add a "Install latest release" icon to the LiveCD desktop?

Use Case:
You have an older or out-dated Ubuntu CD and with it you can install the latest Ubuntu release. The option is only visible if the LiveCD is able to connect to the internet for downloading the files.

So don't have to burn a new CD with every release. The installation will not take longer than installing an out-dated version and updateing from there.
If a feature like this was included you would be able to boot you Gusty, Feisty (just an example) LiveCD and click the icon on the desktop "Install latest release" an enjoy the installation process on Hardy.

I hope my idea is thoroughly explained - if not, please ask!
//MadsRH

(I should perhaps mention that a USB installation tool is planed for 8.10)

Currently, when installing Ubuntu, we can't tell whether the hardware will be recognized and supported until the installation is over, or by digging through incomplete on-line documentations.

Why not create a Wizard, that will be run-able from either the Live-CD or Wubi, that will detect the hardware, and report what works?

This way we can avoid frustrating users that will discover post install that their video card is black listed (so Compiz doesn't work), having compatibility problems with several chipsets (like jmicron), non-working web cams, unsupported multi-monitor setups, etc.

When you know in advance what you're facing, it is easier to cope, instead of wasting time and discovering after the fact that the hardware is not fully supported.

for example:
Running the hardware wizard from Wubi on my main machine will yield the following result (based on my actual experience installing Hardy):

Hardware discovered:

(X) motherboard: MSI Neo 965 - known problem - unsupported jMicron chipset, the system will not be bootable.
(V) Video card: Nvidia 8800gts 320mb - hardware support is available.
(X) Dual screens: Dual screens are not properly supported using the propriety nvidia drivers.
(X) Printer: Epson pixma ip1500 - printer is not supported.
(V) scanner: HP (something) - supported.
(X) Webcam: Samsung (something) - webcam not supported.
(V) iPod : supported.
(V) Palm Pilot m505: supported.

On my laptop:
(V) Motherboard: compal (something) Supported.

[....]

Remember the bad ol' days of EasyUbuntu and Automatix? How many of you (and how many times) ran them on fresh Ubuntu installs as a first step? The "ubuntu-restricted-extras" metapackage made them obsolete for good.

But what about now? Have you tried to play your legal DVDs with menus(!) in Hardy, even with libdvdcss2 enabled, and it failed miserably? So - as everybody knows for sure - it's time to install VLC. Easy, done with no effort. Now, set it up to pop-up automagically when you insert your disc. What?! No bloody way?! So, the solution is pretty simple and obvious: google out these instructions: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Hardy#How_to_make_VLC_open_when_you_insert_a _DVD and follow them step-by-step. Got it? Voila! It works! Hip-hip-hurray!

But this can be done MUCH better. Simply provide one "vlc-dvd-support" (sort-of-meta)package with reasonable description and decent ./postinst and ./prerm scripts, which will do EVERYTHING of above for you. And yes, put it in the medibuntu repository if none of official repositories cant't bear it.

And make it the same way with as many other common post-install tasks and workarounds as possible.

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PS: If you vote this idea down (as somebody just did), explain WHY by adding a comment, please.

I install Ubuntu, but Evolution can't read my old Outlook/Outlook Express e-mail!

Is this the dark ages?

WE NEED A LIBRARY to convert all the e-mail formats: Outlook, OE, Apple Mail, Notes, Evolution, Thunderbird, etc.

- Full-featured clients like Evolution and Thunderbird can use the library and write their own wrappers to get near-universal import and export.

- Since it's a library, small e-mail clients can get the same benefit.

- A standalone installation script can use the library to migrate a user's e-mail and settings on a fresh install.

Other uses will appear.

I figured out how to convert my e-mail (readpst) - but I'm a geek who likes solving problems like that. To attract non-geeks, it must be easier!

Hello,
I am a Gentoo user who installed an Ubuntu system for a friend, and the process was pretty flawless except of one thing. My friend has two sound cards installed - Intel HDA on board and Creative Labs PCI external.
After the installer finished, there was no sound. The funny thing is - the right module for the Intel HDA card was loaded, and the jacks were plugged in - it should have worked. Well, it worked indeed, but, the sound was routed trough the Creative Sound Blaster one.
While it's a good thing to enable the better card by default, there was no seamless way to "force" ALSA to use the Intel HDA card. Therefore, here's my suggestion:

1) After first boot, if two soundcards are detected, ask the user for the preffered one.
2) In the Sound Configuration Menu add some seamless option to easily disable/enable selected sound device (by which I don't mean selecting Pulseaudio/Alsa/OSS, but the card itself).

If we really want to make (K)Ubuntu for the layperson, than we need to be able to set up more than one user account during the installation.

Families won't like (K)Ubuntu if they can't make their own personal user accounts from the get-go.

If admins could store answers for selected sections of an ubuntu install on a USB drive (and automatically perform actions afterwards), they could easily mostly automate the installation on a wide number of computers.

For instance, admins might save everything (including guided harddisk partitioning) during installation, except:
- TCP/IP settings (they don't want DHCP)

And they may also choose to automatically install openSSH after install via the USB script, and enable vnc

This would make mass deployment a lot easier for admins, and would be a step towards self-deploying ubuntu networks which anyone can set up

For those of us that don't have an optical drive, or USB option... it would be nice if we could launch an install from the web with our current OS.

Prior to install, the site could collect the hardware data and determine if it would be supported. It could then download the necessary files, store them, and begin the install process or command the system to reboot and begin the install.

Maybe it could even discover my documents and photos, and save those for the new OS.



Is this possible?

Upon finishing the initial install, a small slick movie clip lasting a few minutes could be made available as a icon on the desktop. After clicking on it, the option for the codec install could be offered. Upon finishing installing the codec, the professionaly produced clip could show all the features and such of Ubuntu linux.

A kind of introduction/promo for first time users.

Every time I do online update I first need to install the ubuntu-desktop package with 400 packages to "ensure the correct upgrade" only to, minutes after the install, uninstall it again with 500 packages I don't use.

This is probably the dupe of http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/1653/ and others, but ...

I suggest that ubuntu-desktop promotes the upgrade, but is minimised to system and basic gnome packages that users *vote* on or are gathered by "preffered app" survey.

How about a CD Image that is something like debian's netinst that has some base packages, a package-manager, and network capability? The image shouldn't be much more than 100MB. This would be incredibly useful for an installation in between releases when there are several hundred updates that you have to download anyway. Additionally, if a local mirror is available, this install could finish incredibly fast.

Backing up the MBR before installation using the "dd" command can save a lot of trouble in case of boot problems.
Why not offer an optional MBR backup before installation?(would require backup media like a USB key for example of course)

If there are several partitions already, it could backup all start sectors. This is easier for people who have no idea where their boot partition is.

In general, it would be nice to have a GUI utility to backup/restore MBRs.

If you think people would panic and stop installing if they see such an MBR backup dialog, just deactivate it by default.
A simple checkbox or GUI utility on the LiveCD could be used by users that want to play it safe.

edit:
As indicated by Warbo, a very easy solution would be to automatically create the MBR backups and those that care about them would just have to save them on an external device. :)

Very few people use ekiga smartphone and removing
would free up space for more stuff like compiz
config settings manager.Some people see the compiz
videos on youtube and shouldn't have to download
an app to enable them.