Contributor Penguin Guy - Ubuntu brainstorm

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The Ubuntu community has contributed 21986 ideas, 135057 comments, 2615221 votes

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Contributor Penguin Guy

Nautilus to display more info while asking for copying existing file

Written by aufather the 9 Nov 08 at 04:07. Related project: Nautilus. Implemented

When I copy a newer version of a file, nautilus asks whether to skip or replace this file. But it does not provide any info other than the file name. It would be nice if it would at least provide the file sizes too. More info maybe accessible from a drop down button. Like modified time, owner, permissions etc. But these can be hidden and be accessible from a drop down button (like the button which shows progress of individual files during software installation). This will help the user to compare both the files and make an informed decision there itself. Instead of canceling the operation and then comparing both the files and then redoing the same operation.

260
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529
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202
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338
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229
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103
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95
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42
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Selected solution (#8): Previews of the files

Written by philip the 5 May 09 at 22:52.

The dialog should contain pre-computed views of the files, so you don't have to wait for (say) the spreadsheet program to load and open the files. The views should be about 100x100 pixels large and should show a cropped, scrollable view of each file. When the user resizes the dialog,, the preview areas should show more or less of the files. Or, a larger preview can show as a tool tip when the mouse hovers over the small preview.

45
votes

Selected solution (#9): nautulis: copy old file to trash before overwrite

Written by bgfeldm the 12 May 09 at 13:01.

add an option to move old file to the trash before overwrite.
nautulis:
move file to trash before overwrite, if file is a text or document file below a preconfigured size such as 1 MB.

This way overwritten files can be retrieved at a dept of one.
Or you could make the trash bin a temporary source repository for overwritten/deleted files, only storing the diff of the text files, so you limit space taken up by the trash bin and have multiple restore points for files. The repository will be clear every time the user clears the repository or after a defined amount of days.

56
votes

139
votes

25
votes

Selected solution (#12): Push transfers requiring user feedback to the end of the queue

Written by Redge the 8 Jun 09 at 00:07.

When doing file operations and Nautilus encounters conflicts or errors that require the user's feedback to resolve, Nautilus should first try to complete the rest of the queue and push the files needing feedback to the end. That way, if the user is AFK as much of the operation as possible will be done by the time he/she gets back.

-3
votes

37
votes

Selected solution (#14): Check files below a certain size

Written by korin43 the 18 Jun 09 at 20:58.

Decide on a on file size where it's faster to just check if it's an identical file than ask the user if they want to replace/skip. If the files with the same name are identical, we just skip them instead of presenting the replace/skip dialogue (since both options would have the same result).

Note: This would be a complete byte-for-byte comparison, not just a comparison of timestamps and name.

Here's the order that the system would check:
- Is there a file with the same name?
- Is it below the maximum size set to check? (we don't want to auto-check if it would be faster to ask the user. ex: 10 Gb file)
- Compare size
- Compare the two files (byte-for-byte), fail as soon as you find anything different (if the first byte of the new file is different, fail immediately instead of checking the whole file)

Note 2: Timestamps will not be compared. If the new file is identical with a different timestamp, the new timestamp should be applied.

21
votes

Selected solution (#15): Add "auto" option to replce/skip pop-up

Written by vegetarianshrimp the 19 Jun 09 at 19:03.

This gives the user the option to replace/skip if they already know whether the file is identical or not, or don't want to risk replacing an important file. But if they don't know if the files are identical, then they can press the auto button.

It would look something like this:

|Auto| |Auto all| |Replace| |Replace all| |Skip| |Skip all|

25
votes

Selected solution (#16): Show context for the differences

Written by Prime Mover the 2 Aug 09 at 21:50.

The dialog should attempt to show the differences between the files if they are in a recognizable format. For example, if the files are images, show both images, along with file size and date. This will allow the user to easily make a decision about whether to replace the file. The destination filename could also be an editable field to allow the user to change the name and have the copy continue under the new name. If the file were an audio file then it could display bitrate, sample rate, length, etc.

Here's an example dialog box from Directory Opus on Windows which demonstrates this:

836
votes

164
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62
votes

Selected solution (#19): Avoid overwriting the same file.

Written by pubsbin the 8 Aug 09 at 01:12.

There are some easy tests for checking if two files (in two different folders) are the same file. From the easy ones (metainformation, size, name), checking some positions (sampling) and, finally, comparing them entirely.

If Nautilus uses those easy equality checks, it could avoid copying equal files. Even if you compare the whole file, a read is faster than a write.

151
votes

Selected solution (#20): "No to ALL"

Written by don1500 the 12 Aug 09 at 20:20.

Most of the time I have this problem I run into it when moving music files. There is a "Yes to ALL" but no "No to All". All I want are the files that are on the source but not on the target. "Overwrite if Newer" is close and a good suggestion, but sometimes I don't want to overwrite the old file. Sometimes you want to overwrite the older version, and with "Yes to All" you still have that option. Maybe adding both "Overwrite if newer" AND "No to ALL" is the answer. I think this would be the easiest to implement. This is also the K.I.S.S. answer.

83
votes

14
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8
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Selected solution (#23): Advanced File Operations (AFO :D)

Written by Chronos the 29 Aug 09 at 14:46.

Create a more advanced "thread" based queuing system for file operations. Its possible to make it simple, no need to make it complex. Read below:

Seriously, in Total commander i used a lot the function to not just copy files at once and send the process in the background, but to push F2, and create a list of the operations where(!) the list is a queue. So the processes are not running at the same time to slow things down. We can even make this better. Imagine you have 4 drives. A B C and D. You want to copy 3x6 folders/files from A to B and vice versa. It takes long, so you start to copy/move/whatsoever to work on C and D (like before from C to D and vice versa). To make all these operations (4direction) run at the same time slows the computer slow down(no wonder why).

We could create two thread with two queues in this case.

In summary, A and B would process their queue, processing files the fast as possible, and separately C and D would do their things as well.

We could make it automatic maybe, that if we are making file operations to or from one partition/hardware, at default it would create a queue, what (with a push of a button) would appear from the already used window(dont know the name). This queue would make sure that only one operation is active at a time, making hardware sweat less, and operations faster.

[...]

Maybe i'll do a mockup if i have time.

This is just an idea, we can modify it.

Cheers,
David

32
votes

Selected solution (#24): Pile up a list of action needed files.(Use with Solution #1)

Written by yaknowwat the 16 Aug 09 at 09:07.

The list would list all the files that need conformation and let u handle them with check boxes. ( A Select All/None combo button and an Invert Selection button are a must for such a list. Then double clicking a listed directory should select all in the directory.)
Then by for example pressing Overwrite or a Do Nothing button the action would affect all selected files. After which you can continue such steps until the List is gone or the user exits.
I'd imagine this would be simple to do without over complicating things.
Also the number of dialogues could easily be reduced with this strategy.
This increases efficiency because a user could handle all the conformation files at once in their own way even as their still copying normal files.

6
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5
votes

Selected solution (#26): Add intelligent preview/comparison box to the Nautilus file replacement dialogue

Written by cajhne the 14 Sep 10 at 21:05.

Disclaimer: I worked this up before finding that my problem was a dupe of this thread, so don't yell at me for "duplicating" some ideas here. I've +1 promoted the ones that I came to the same or similar conclusions about. There's different stuff in here, so please read the whole thing! :)

It would be handy to show other relevant information based on the file type in a small preview/comparison area on the side of the replace notification dialogue. It would also be nice to have an in-dialogue "rename" function, where you could change the name of the file being copied rather than just the standard replace/don't replace option. Leave the defaults the way they are, but offer a drop-down of other solutions, as well as a preview box for the file. Text files could show the first few lines of the file (if permissions allow), the photo can show thumbnails, music can have the same (nifty) mouse-over preview in the file browser, etc.

The "intelligent" bit changes the options for replacement/renaming/etc based on the kind of file, and the kind of preview shown. Some handy alternate options might be "append" for videos/music/text files, which combines/concatenates two files into one, or "version" which simply appends an ordering number to the end of the filename (my_cat.jpg -> mycat_b.jpg)

I have worked up a visual on what I think this might look like if there's enough interest. :)

http://whitecatgraphics.com/ubuntu/nautilus_replace_comparison_dialogue.jpg

[...]

This example shows the standard file replace dialogue with my additions. The files under scrutiny are an old and new version of the same image. The desaturated, darker one is meant to represent an unedited photo, and the saturated one an edited version, which highlights the advantage/importance of being able to see samples of each to make the judgement.

Things to note in this sample:
1.The "replace all" option now has a drop-down menu below it, in which you can specify in what manner you want to "replace all".
2.The arrow between the two thumbnails indicates which is source and which is the destination (since some people in the world read from right to left. :))
3.The thumbnails act like thumbnails in the regular browser. Right-clicking on them could bring up options like "preview", "open with", "info", or "show in folder".
4.Selecting "Keep" under either sample will automatically set the other to "Erase", for ease of use. The "Save As..." option could bring up a box for the new file name, or alternatively, a standard "save as" dialogue as seen in GIMP, Open Office, etc, when you choose "Save As".
5.The green check-mark and the red "X" icon indicate which is being kept, and which is not. These change when "Keep" or "Erase" is selected.
6.After selection is complete, the user would then click the "Replace" button to perform the action, and continue the file copy/move operations.

I'm not married to any of the above components. If anyone thinks of a different/better way to do it, please post it in the comments section, and I'll revise this solution based on the suggestions. :)

I'm not proposing changing any of the defaults, just adding a box for more information, and a few more options to streamline the current replacement procedure.

It would be handy to show other relevant information based on the file type in a small preview/comparison area on the side of the replace notification dialogue. It would also be nice to have an in-dialogue "rename" function, where you could change the name of the file being copied rather than just the standard replace/don't replace option. Leave the defaults the way they are, but offer a drop-down of other solutions, as well as a preview box for the file. Text files could show the first few lines of the file (if permissions allow), the photo can show thumbnails, music can have the same (nifty) mouse-over preview in the file browser, etc.

The "intelligent" bit changes the options for replacement/renaming/etc based on the kind of file, and the kind of preview shown. Some handy alternate options might be "append" for videos/music/text files, which combines/concatenates two files into one, or "version" which simply appends an ordering number to the end of the filename (my_cat.jpg -> mycat_b.jpg)

I have worked up a visual on what I think this might look like if there's enough interest. :)

http://whitecatgraphics.com/ubuntu/nautilus_replace_comparison_dialogue.jpg

Things to note in this sample: 
1.The "replace all" option now has a drop-down menu below it, in which you can specify in what manner you want to "replace all". 
2.The arrow between the two thumbnails indicates which is source and which is the destination (since some people in the world read from right to left. :)) 
3.The thumbnails act like thumbnails in the regular browser. Right-clicking on them could bring up options like "preview", "open with", "info", or "show in folder". 
4.Selecting "Keep" under either sample will automatically set the other to "Erase", for ease of use. The "Save As..." option could bring up a box for the new file name, or alternatively, a standard "save as" dialogue as seen in GIMP, Open Office, etc, when you choose "Save As". 
5.The green check-mark and the red "X" icon indicate which is being kept, and which is not. These change when "Keep" or "Erase" is selected. 
6.After selection is complete, the user would then click the "Replace" button to perform the action, and continue the file copy/move operations.

I'm not married to any of the above components. If anyone thinks of a different/better way to do it, please post it in the comments section, and I'll revise this solution based on the suggestions. :)

I'm not proposing changing any of the defaults, just adding a box for more information, and a few more options to streamline the current replacement procedure.

6
votes

5
votes

Selected solution (#28): Additions to File Operations

Written by JohnLM the 15 Jan 09 at 21:46.

I thought it could scan for involved devices and queue by (configurable) default, if that device is in use (i.e. having copy or move operation already). And have a "Do now!" kind of button on file operation window for override.

Naturally it should never en-queue same partition's move operations, cause they are super fast by nature!

btw As far as I know the Nautilus' File Operations thingie is not really finished and is under development now!

9
votes

Selected solution (#29): Conflict dialog: say how many more conflicts there are

Written by philip the 18 Mar 11 at 20:07.

When you try to copy or move a bunch of files, and files with those names already exist in the destination folder, you get a dialog asking you if you want to replace the existing file or skip copying this file. You can also check a check box for repeating this operation on all other conflicting files.

It would be helpful to know how many more conflicting files there are. This can alert the user that he has done something wrong if he did not expect that many conflicts. It can also guide his decision to check the conflicts manually or click on the "perform this for all files" check box.

Getting more sophisticated, the dialog could even list the conflicting files when the user clicks on a drop down list.

12
votes

-1
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Selected solution (#31): Require the user to enter a sub menu.

Written by Darwin Survivor the 5 Mar 11 at 09:13.

Simply having gksu pop up every time a user tries to do something they aren't allowed to (edit a system file) is a quick way to a non-working system.

I propose we put gksu-enabled commands in a sub-menu (like how new-file lists a few file types). This will prevent users from simply converting to "enter your password until it works" people.

66
votes

20
votes

Selected solution (#33): Control the number of simultaneous op-s on a drive

Written by andrew.p the 19 Mar 09 at 21:28.

This is not a complete solution, but an addition to #2/#1.
I often miss an option to limit the number of simultaneous file operations on a drive (simultaneous file operations are not as quick as one-by-one sometimes).
Speaking about sol#1, it would be logical to have an option to queue file operation instead of performing immediately (name menu item "Queue Paste" & give it keyboard shortcut like Ctrl+Alt+V/Ctrl+Q/Super+V). Also it is a workaround for controlling the number of simultaneous file operations.

-4
votes

7
votes

Selected solution (#35): Click & drag priority management

Written by Ian Burnet the 11 Apr 09 at 03:11.

Being able to set the priority of ops would be really useful, but we also don't want to add too much to the interface.

I think the most user-friendly solution would be to:
1) Run only one op at a time automatically
2) Have a continue / pause button to force start, pause, and resume
3) Have the ops listed by priority (i.e. which was started first; which are running)
4) Be able to click and drag the progress bars up/down to switch the priorities

15
votes

See the 13 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 22 May 12 at 05:18) >>

Put the gedit search in a toolbar like in Firefox

Written by ubbrainy the 14 Mar 10 at 22:05. Related project: Firefox. Not an idea

If you are searching a lot in text files having a separate search window is cumbersome.

515
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72
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86
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68
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-2
votes

See the 9 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 30 Dec 11 at 20:03) >>

Nautilus Standard Permissions Editor is Confusing

Written by Penguin Guy the 29 Mar 10 at 21:02. Related project: Nautilus. Not an idea

The standard permissions editor is nautilus is confusing and non-standard (a checkbox grid editor being standard).

728
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117
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394
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134
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Solution #4: 'set default rights' button

Written by m.lettner the 31 Mar 10 at 19:18.

Add a button which assigns the most useful and common rights to the selected item (recursively if it's a directory).
that would be rw-r--r-- for files and rwxr-xr-x for folders.

this would be very useful for example if you copy files from lesser advanced filesystems like the ones used in windows which don't have rights management (they are often set to wrong values like 777 then)

just one button - one click - which sets the default rights. so the user is safe and doesn't even have to know anything about rights management.

189
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-98
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13
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Solution #7: adding to solution #5

Written by tommynz1975 the 3 Apr 10 at 05:30.

I am not to sure what the poster ment.

But to be able to edit users in each group when one brings up the properties window shown in solution #1

Maybe having an unlock button on the properties dialog box, like with network settings would be good.

This could solve the other issue some have of, I am the only user but have no access to my usb drive, cant change properties.

145
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40
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13
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Solution #10: A merge of #1, #3,4,5 and #6

Written by Tatsel the 12 Apr 10 at 06:53.

I agree, the default one confused me long time (and still does), so I am proposing the advanced view, the "Become Root" button, the "default permissions" button, for dual(or more)-booters, as example and the current Owner/Group.

About #6, I would rather put it under a button that open a small dialog (or anything similar) because:

1- This is more advanced features that new users should probably not mess with;

2- the permission dialog will be rather big even without those last options. We don't all have 32'', HD computer screens.

See the 10 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 19 Oct 11 at 14:20) >>

The update manager is plain and old

Written by Afroman10496 the 6 Aug 09 at 20:15. Related project: Update manager. Not an idea

In the update manager, all you see is a menu with a scrollbar, with programs, a program number, and a very brief description. BORING.

353
votes

Solution #1: Make it better looking and more orginized

Written by Afroman10496 the 6 Aug 09 at 20:15.

Totally change the interface of it to show more info, telling average users simple but important info and enhancing it with features like:

- Show the importance of the update, with colored circles or boxes showing how important it is

- Group them into tabs (according to their sub-menu in the Gnome Menu's hierarchy), like [Overview][Accessories][Games][Graphics] and so on.

- Tell the users the new features of the upgrade

- Tell the users if the update will require any restarts of anything in advance.

266
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38
votes

Solution #3: Group related updates together

Written by chrismounce the 12 Aug 09 at 23:27.

Most users don't need to know the names of all the packages that are being upgraded. It might make things look less scary if, say, all the security-related updates were lumped together into one item in the Update Manager. And not just group those updates together -- I mean *completely hide* the names of all the security-related upgrades, so the user only sees *one* security-related item in the list.

Power users should still be able to get a list of what each update contains. But regular users shouldn't be overwhelmed with 50 different package names, when all they need to know is that there's 37 MB of system upgrades, 2 MB of security patches, and a new version of Firefox.

-33
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-49
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-12
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Solution #6: Only group packages with same changes text

Written by oliver-joos the 27 Aug 09 at 23:38.

(Similar but not equal to #3!)

The Update Manager lists updatable packages. Below the list you can unfold a text field that describes what changed in the currently selected package.

I propose to group together all packages that have the very same text of changes! Each package should still be un/checkable for updating individually. But only a whole group should be selectable. Further the context menu in the list could also show "Check Group" and "Uncheck Group".

In contrast to #3 no info is hidden! I even miss the total number of updatable packages that Gutsy or Feisty once had shown.

-11
votes

-6
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Solution #8: No more code-rot please!

Written by LnxDeeGee the 31 Aug 09 at 01:17.

I agree that the existing system is quite poor.
I should not see so much mess in the app list. Searching for a specific app to install also should never return Beta or Source unless I've chosen to see those.

I'm 100% against AppCenter!
One of the most irritating things about Linux is all of the abandoned/orphaned/code-rot apps. How many different apps like this do we need and must we have installed?
Please do not release a different app to manage this, the source exists for the other apps, just take the best one and update it to a new version that has the required features.
There should never be multiple/duplicate/abandoned apps for the base OS... EVER!

See the 7 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 5 Oct 11 at 17:38) >>

A developer that is not used to develop for Ubuntu needs help at first.

Written by LucaDionisi the 11 Mar 10 at 16:15. Global category: Programming. Already implemented

A developer that is used to other OS, feels confused when he uses popular open source tools for developers.

145
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518
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88
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Solution #3: Create a social networking infrastructure

Written by Dataphile the 22 Mar 10 at 06:43.

While I'm not opposed to either of the above ideas, I feel that much of open-source development is a social activity.

I need a place where I'm comfortable:

1) Asking questions
2) Getting appropriate answers
3) Being asked to assist
4) Growing
5) Contributing

As it stands, there's a huge disconnect when it comes to #2 and #3. Much of this disconnect comes from not understanding unique personal limitations and skills. IMHO, social networks are capable of overcoming this disconnect much faster than tools.

14
votes

See the 7 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 9 Jul 11 at 16:22) >>

Tutorial for Terminal

Written by acreman the 27 Jun 08 at 18:09. Global category: Documentation. New

The man pages are a beautiful thing but if you don't know about the man command, think of the noobs, then if you ever want to learn the terminal you stuck looking at a prompt.

15
votes

Solution #1: Training Videos

Written by acreman the 27 Jun 08 at 18:09.

I think something like a video series (beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert) about the CLI and the commands would help.

The new user can go to Applications -> Accesories -> Terminal Video Series and be taken to a website that will show them how to use commands and what the command does (For beginner some commands like ls, man, ps, cd, rm, etc.; Intermediate: ifconfig, grep, kill, mounting; Advanced: piping, IO redirection, vi, scripts; Expert: Crons, At Jobs, format, fcsk, etc.). Afterwards it would refer them to the Ubuntu Forums for more help and to check the man pages for any of their questions.

-11
votes

126
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-4
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244
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23
votes

Solution #6: Make Ubuntu's IRC channel easily accessible

Written by aadityabhatia the 5 May 09 at 21:03.

Make it easier for new users to reach the official IRC channel of Ubuntu, where volunteers are always willing to help newbies with all the issues, including Command-line usage.

Moreover, new users are usually unable to find the syntax errors while the IRC people can easily spot such things and make it easier for newbies to learn.

4
votes

-12
votes

Solution #8: Give a CLI GUI bridge A/UX style

Written by cellarroot the 14 May 09 at 02:46.

Create a program like A/UX's(Apple Unix[early 90's]) Commado. It allows users to open /bin and click a command executable and be presented with a window of check boxes and radio buttons corresponding to options(see second URL).

This article is an excellent overview of A/UX's user interface. http://www.applefritter.com/ui/aux/index.html

and for a screen shot of Commando go to http://www.applefritter.com/ui/aux/images/cmdo-ls.gif

6
votes

-4
votes

Solution #10: Promote INX is not X

Written by Clorox the 30 May 09 at 02:47.

INX is not X is an Ubuntu-based experimental Linux distribution where everything is text-driven. It has some very good tutorials about general bash and CLI, and also about specific programs such as the apt suite. And for those who don't want to reboot their computer every time they want to use it, it is also available as a qemu or VirtualBox image.

8
votes

3
votes

Solution #12: Create a CLI Tutorial Application

Written by nillbug the 5 Oct 09 at 23:50.

There are many user's common tasks that can be made in a easy and fast way at CLI, but not in the GUI.

The idea is to create a rich training application embedding a CLI, specific tools as video, voice, pics, a dedicated folder like "CLI-training", etc. The embedded CLI could be a striped down or a fake one only working for this purpose.

The training would be done through exercises, using all those pieces interactively with the user.

The exercises should only teach the user to perform CLI true useful tasks witch cannot be done in GUI with the same ease, like: "resize all pics in a file to the same dimension and save them".

The objective is to provide users a better computing experience with the best of two worlds: the usefulness of GUI and the power of CLI.

See the 3 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 1 Jun 11 at 07:58) >>

Can't See Links on Ubuntu Forums

Written by Penguin Guy the 29 Aug 09 at 18:04. Related project: ubuntuforums.org. Not an idea

When you create a link on the Ubuntu forums it appears the same color as normal text in the preview, this can cause confusion for the author. For example, you will see something like:

This is not a problem when viewing posts, only when previewing them.

0
votes

See the 3 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 29 May 11 at 23:22) >>

Make gedit be able to open any files

Written by Eldmannen the 23 May 08 at 18:50. Global category: Others. New

Make gedit (the primary text editor in Ubuntu) be able to open any type of file.

When I try to open a binary file or a .png file or something, it whines and says;
* "gedit has not been able to detect the character coding.
Please check that you are not trying to open a binary file."

Well, I would like to be able to open a binary file.

160
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11
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22
votes

9
votes

-2
votes

3
votes

Solution #6: Make gedit more tolerant of encoding

Written by geoff07 the 30 Oct 10 at 20:43.

When I open a text file from Windows, gedit often blanks the screen and in a big red banner says it can't open the file.

Yet notepad/Wine in Ubuntu can open these files.

Therefore the files are perfectly open-able by a simple program. So it isn't a problem of unreadable bytes or binary data. So why not by gedit, which is supposed to be the premier editor in Ubuntu?

And please don't expect me as a user to know or want to know anything about character encoding, that is the job of the developers.

5
votes

Solution #7: Display anyway, providing options.

Written by orbatos the 13 Feb 11 at 02:57.

gedit should simply display available ASCII characters and perhaps (optionally?) detect newlines and spaces, while blocking out unprintable characters using their control or hex codes like other technical editors (SciTE, VIM).

In addition, if any banner is to be displayed, the document should be visible and the banner should have options like "Ignore" and "Read As:", followed by the encoding menu.

In the event that a hex editor plugin is developed, an encoding option of "Read as Hex" could be added to the encoding menu.

See the 25 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 13 Feb 11 at 04:07) >>

optimize shutdown time

Written by cyberix the 24 Aug 09 at 12:05. Global category: Quality. New

While Ubuntu shutdown time isn't typically very long, the time may still matter when one needs to turn her laptop off to catch a bus, or reboot a system with strict availability requirements.

377
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348
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186
votes

Solution #3: Work on Multi-Threaded Startup

Written by Penguin Guy the 31 Aug 09 at 10:56.

99% of the time, startup speed matters more than shutdown speed. At the moment using a multi-threaded startup is dodgy because some programs need to be loaded before others - create a program to manage this.

This will mean that if you have a dual core you will be able to boot twice as fast, if you have a quad core you will be able to boot four times as fast, etc. I believe a program that does this is already in development, but couldn't find it's name. If so; continue work on that.

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Solution #4: Offer a "quick shutdown" option

Written by Aielyn the 8 Sep 09 at 11:31.

NOTE: As I suspect that people are voting my solution down because they think I'm suggesting it as a replacement, rather than merely an option, I've removed the phrasing that implied it.
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Have a special "optimised" shutdown option that does only what is absolutely necessary for the shutdown. This would include things like only checking to make sure that disc writing isn't happening while shutting down, rather than waiting for various processes to end.

Perhaps processes could also be tagged to indicate whether they must be ended properly or can be allowed to remain running until powerdown - that way, the system knows immediately if such processes need to be shut down properly.

And regarding Solution #2, the same logic could be applied, except that there would also be tags indicating which processes can be halted and then restarted at wake, and which need to be properly suspended/hibernated.

This should stop situations where the system is kept waiting while a particular process or application is trying unsuccessfully to end, without requiring user input for each instance of such a problem process.

See the 16 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 2 Dec 10 at 16:34) >>

I would like to be notified when a large file operation (copy/move) is completed

Written by martinbrook the 19 Mar 10 at 11:23. Related project: Gnome. New

I often perform moderately large copy/move operations which take more than a few minutes. I like to leave these running in the background and get on with some other work in the meantime, and return to the task I was dealing with once the file operation is complete.

I usually close (i.e. hide) the 'file operations' dialog so that it doesn't distract me while I'm working.

The problem is that I don't have an easy way to know when the copy/move is done. The only thing I can really do is keep checking the notification area to see if the 'file operations' icon has vanished.

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Solution #3: Notify when user indicates lessened immediacy

Written by Dataphile the 21 Mar 10 at 18:36.

As the submitter noted, putting things in the background is the issue here, as their status updates aren't apparent. If the file operation window is focused, then it doesn't make sense to notify the user, so I believe Solution #1 is overkill.

Adding a new setting to customize the time interval (Solution #2) also seems like overkill from this perspective.

So, I'm wondering, why not just fire up the libnotify popup when the file transfer completes and the file operation window is not focused, as that indicates the user has focused on other priorities?

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Solution #7: expanding on #1 and #4

Written by Snow Keld the 5 Apr 10 at 05:27.

both solutions, #1, and #4, are great, but i often miss the libnotify bubbles.

i think that it should be set to always announce with libnotify, but also have the check box and raise/prioritize what window when its finished instead of closing it auto.

which means on a file transfer, if you do not click the box then when the transfer completes it will be sent to libnotify and the window will close (and the bubble will pop up for a moment)

when you click the check box and the transfer finishes the libnotify bubbly will still pop up for a moment, but the transfer window will stay open and be raised to the top saying your transfer is done, in this way you'll be notified for sure.

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Solution #8: Let the user decide when the popup should appear

Written by man0riaX the 6 Apr 10 at 16:20.

Create a simple and easy-to-use configuration dialogue to configure in what situations a popup should appear, e.g.:

Notification when
- single file operation done (yes/no)
- all file operations done (yes/no)
- file operation gave an error message (yes/no)
[you can extend this list on your wishes]
e.g.
- Firefox download complete (yes/no) [deactivate the built-in firefox notification then]

You can also extend this and disable the default-notifications, such as
- Rhythmbox notification (yes/no)
- Empathy notification (yes/no)

Also, to come back to that file-operation-notification, in that control panel you can decide what exactly a "large file operation" is; means you can tell the system that you want to see a notification if the file(s) is/are larger than 10GB (let the user decide about a value here), but not to show a notification if the file(s) is/are smaller, for example.

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See the 14 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 28 Jul 10 at 23:29) >>

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