Contributor Ape

Nethack is one of the best games ever made! But many don't like the text based interface. There is also available graphical interfaces like: nethack-x11, nethack-qt and nethack-gnome. But the GUIs could be better..

Currently I think the best GUI is nethack-gnome. There is some problems with it:
- You can't see highscores
- You can't copy text from the message area

Also the new generation GUI could contain these features:
- It should look cool, current GUIs are ugly
- It should be fully customizable
- Include multiple tilesets and themes (also old school character based)
- Support for highscore / bone servers
- Sounds (there is support for sound triggers)
- GUI for save game recovery included

The same client should also work with different nethack mods like Slash'EM.

First of all: What is the difference between Preferences and Administration? For example: why do I see 'Encryption and Keyrings' in Preferences and 'Keyring Manager' in Administration? What is the difference between 'Default Printer' and 'Printing'? Why do I have to disable the Tracker under Sessions and not under Search and Indexing? And why are these menu's so large? I have 24 items in Preferences (they don't even fit on my screen!) and 18 items in Administration. To put all this stuff in a popup menu is bad interface design imho. Besides, the number of option should be much smaller. A few suggestions:

- Merge 'Screensaver', 'Screen Resolution' and 'Screens and Graphics'.
- Merge 'Network', 'Network Proxy' and 'Network Tools'.
- Merge 'Update Manager, Synaptic Package Manager, Software Sources'.
- Merge 'Encryption and Keyrings', 'Authorizations', 'Keyring Manager'.


Below are all settings I can visit via the System menu. This is just way too much.


-- Preferences --
Universal Access
About Me
Appearance
Bluetooth
Default Printer
Encryption and Keyrings
Keyboard
Keyboard Shortcuts
Main Menu
Mouse
Network Proxy
PalmOS Devices (I don't have one)
Power Management

[....]

When you create 2 or more login users on a single computer for your family members, they are able to see all your files and folders.

When creating the new accounts, I should be presented with an option to make my files, folders, program settings private from all other users.

Using System -> Preferences -> Screen Resolution in a dual screen setup doesn't seem to support the common resolution 1680x1050.

Am I the only one having problems with this configuration or is it a lacking feature in Gnome?

I would like to see it fixed anyhow.

I resently installed Ubuntu 8.04 on my sisters(not a power user) laptop. Things were going great, everything was working and she realy liked it, until...

All she had to do was copy-past a few lines I emailed her into the command line and hit enter. Simple right?

Nope!

It was a none starter, she wouldn't do it, she reinstalled windows the next day.

My sister doesn't need the command line there. (or in OSX)

My point is that if it is that easy to copy-past into the command line, then it should be that easy to make a simple GUI to do the same thing.

There should be an option to empty the trash on log out (and on shutdown and similar).

Now I must empty the trash manually. I know I could make a cron for auto deleting trashes, but that should be time based.

Looking at the success of Wikipedia and the relative lack of it for bundled help/documentation of FOSS (or indeed manuals in general), one gets this idea: How about setting up a Wikipedia-like wiki for help/docs with stable versions (i.e. versions marked as good by a dev/trusted user), and the latest stable versions would automatically be used as the bundled help/docs for each release (or latest stable, but with some date limit)?

This way whenever you click on a help button or help menu option, you would get the text which originated from the wiki, and have a link for the latest (on-line) version where you could go to look for updates/related hints, ask questions on a talk page, add omissions/corrections, etc. The categorizations, redirect pages and related page / see also links on Wikipedia are also pretty good, and maintained by the community; it is not so easy for a passer-by to pitch in there for the help/docs of Ubuntu.

Note that this is not at all the same as various forums and wikis which are related to Ubuntu / Linux, etc. It is sad that the best way to get information is actually there (or Google, more likely than not) instead of the bundled help/docs, and this idea is about improving the bundled help/docs (ideally, all of them) with the help of a wiki, not adding yet another separate source of information. Also, while the current Ubuntu help/docs don't score highly on the "better than Google for its topic" count, Wikipedia does, so the approach should be very sound.

I think this approach would make the help/documentation of Ubuntu far better than any of the proprietary competitors (for whom this method would presumably not work), and if the startup page of Firefox were the help/docs equivalent of Wikipedia main page (and look similar), it would give the non-developer a good and immediate (at a glance, no reading required) analogy to understand what the idea of free software is about, and many more would probably pitch in with the help/docs if they associated them with Wikipedia (it has enormous mindshare, after all).

See GDebi for great use of gksu. You can start the application without root rights and be able to get them when needed. Please implement this great feature in synaptic, nautilus, gedit and may other applications, too.

Ubuntu Tweak is such a good tool for getting your Ubuntu system to work just right, I think it should be included by default. The first thing that I do when installing a system is put Tweak on it and fiddle a bit. It offers a comfortable, non-intimidating GUI for new/intermediate users to tweak their system. This is consistent in Ubuntu's quest to be Linux for Human Beings. A new user can use it to customize their GNOME setup and Compiz, or add easy scripts like Open As Root to Nautilus.

http://ubuntu-tweak.com/

This is an attempt at a unification of:

http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/7081/
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/7390/
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/7649/
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/7725/

I can't think, nor have I heard, of any showstopper reason for why BitTorrent shouldn't be used as the primary download method of Ubuntu respository packages. Although the specifics of the implementation of this idea will be different for ISOs and repositories, I feel they should be unified in the brainstorm because the goal is to allow the rapid, efficient, reliable, and available download of Ubuntu software.

Implementation Benefits

1) Speed. All Ubuntu downloads (ISO downloads, dist upgrades, regular system updates, and new application installs) will as a whole be faster. Generally torrent download speeds benefit from higher numbers of downloaders that seed, which Ubuntu users have demonstrated they are prone to do. BitTorrent is better able to absorb (and eventually use as an asset) large numbers of users attempting to download data at the same time, such as with the recent mad rush of Hardy downloaders/upgraders.

2) Efficiency. The BitTorrent protocol has proven to be one of the most efficient methods of distributing data amongst a large number of clients. It will harness the collective upstream of tens of thousands of Ubuntu users, from DSL and cable connections to the fastest of corporate connections.

3) Reliability. Checksums guarantee the integrity of BitTorrent downloads, so data corruption is much less likely to occur. Only the pieces that fail checksum are redownloaded, contributing to points 1 and 2.


[....]

If you work with Photoshop, it is very difficult to use GIMP, but if it would be the possibility of make it more similar, it would make easy the migration

I don't say to put it by default, but yes give the option

In photoshop, all the pallets, and images appear in one window. I propose to add a windowlist embedded in gimp, of this same, the system windowlist is not saturated

I can't check right now so I don't know offhand if Gnome has the option the cycle between backgrounds every so many minutes, but it's an option I can safely assume many users would expect to see.

I've seen OS X and some other things for Windows do an instant and distracting switch between backgrounds, but what about a simple fade/blend between images? Filter effects could also be used for an interesting shift, like additive (the RGB values of the two images are added together) or subtractive (the RGB value of one image subtracts from another) blending could make for quite an experience when using different backgrounds that cycle.

Windows 7 is going to include a number of changes to it's basic applications, like it's calculator. Here's a video of it's new features: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqZkkqgSJ4A
Why can't we include some of this functionality? 7 isn't going to be released until either late next year or 2010, and Ubuntu has a few releases between now and then.
So why not?

It would be great to be able to copy paste messages from nethack-gnome. Yes, I know that this is what you all want!

It would make ubuntu much less intimidating for windows server admins if there was a gui which allowed configuation of common network services such as:

web
ssh
mail
database
vpn
dhcp
ldap
dns

Some of these are easier than others but I have seen very little work on this front and I think it will help win over windows admins.

In kubuntu's case, it really does need a 8.041 updated CD. I hate to say it, but both the KDE4 and KDE3 live CD's are incredibly buggy.

- If you try to configure samba for instance in KDE3, it says you need to install Samba.. Well, samba comes preinstalled..
- The kde3/4 VNC server seems to ignore when you click that it should allow uninvited connections, and not confirm them. It still asks for confirmation sometimes.
- In KDE4, I dare people to try to configure their IP manually using the knetworkmanager (tried in sudo too). Its missing a .so. So people who cant use DHCP for instance, cant use it.
- A KDEsudo error popped up for me after reboot in KDE3 and KDE4.

I've found MANY bugs within the first hour of using them. Apple releases updated OSX discs without an uproar. We have to accept that kubuntu 8.04 isn't quite final yet, and do the same. And yes, tried Ubuntu too, and that was flawless. But both Kubuntu CD's have some pretty serious bugs.


And no, I'm not a Apple/Microsoft spy who is trying to cause a massive flamewar. Kubuntu has the potential to be a very stable OS, but we have to quickly patch these bugs, and re-release, or our first impression to users will be "buggy".

Software should be written to maximize the chances of finding a stolen laptop (or desktop), and installed with Ubuntu by default.

Many small-time opportunistic thieves (common at colleges) don't know much about computers, especially Linux, and can be tracked and caught when logging into the Guest account. There are many stories of people being caught after stealing cell phones and posting pictures online, etc.

The simplest thing it can do is to log its external IP addresses (checkip.dyndns.org) so they can be given to the police. But there are many other things it can do:

Log all nearby wireless access nodes SSIDs and MAC address
Traceroute information
Take screenshots
Take pictures with built-in webcam
Record from built-in microphones?

These can either be sent to a server (Ubuntu could provide one, but you could configure your own as well) or the data could be emailed to you so it doesn't need any other servers.

Many proprietary programs already exist that do some of these things. I can only find one for Linux, though Ubuntu refuses to package it:
http://adeona.cs.washington.edu
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/248782

Here's an Ubuntu DynDNS tracker:
http://www.arsgeek.com/2007/05/04/how-to-track-and-recover-your-linux-laptop-if -it-gets-stolen/

[....]

Allow to use the middle click to close a window in the window list on gnome panel, just like you close a tab on firefox with the middle click.

If you fear to accidentally closing a window, just put an option so middle click on the panel restore the windows or something like that, maybe like firefox, just a restore option.

There are relatively few applets that allows the extendability to the Gnome panel.

You can monitor the CPU usage with the Gnome system monitor applet (multiload applet) on a panel. Now it just shows total CPU usage. So if you have multi core CPU and one core is 100% in use and the other is 0% used. It will show 50% as the total.

I'd like to see two (or more with have more cores) different bars for the separate cores. Then I could see if the core A is used 100% and B 0% or is it 50% and 50%.