Contributor SchwarzeKrause

Ubuntu ships with GIMP as preinstalled graphics program. GIMP is a really impressive tool, once you figured out how it works. But there are a lot of people out there, who only need a fraction of the things GIMP can do. There are a lot of simple image editing tasks which can be done with simple programs:

John needs some help to do certain things on Ubuntu. He takes a screenshot of a program and tries to mark his problem with a hand painted error and some text.

Mark has been on a conference trip. He want's to remember the people he met, so he pulls a group picture from his digicam and marks everyone with a name tag.

Under MS Windows MS Paint fills this gap. Don't lough, I know a lot of people who use this program quite often. It does exactly what those people want to do. Nothing more, nothing less. For linux there are some mspaint alternatives [1][2]. But they could need some makeover (in the case of gpaint) or a targeted at a different users (tuxpaint is a program for kids).

[1] http://www.gnu.org/software/gpaint/
[2] http://www.tuxpaint.org/

I find the functionality of docks like the Avant Window Navigator to be supremely useful. I.e. an application launcher that doubles as a kind of window manager in a similar manner to OSX.

I would like to see one of these products integrated into ubuntu so that it is easy to install and is consistent with the overall look and feel of the OS. It would also be good if it didn't necessarily require compositing to work, or was implemented as an applet for the gnome panels.

Most people aren't even aware of the existence of libsensors-applet-plugin, lm-sensors, hddtemp, libsensors4, smartmontools, etc. People who run Linux tend to be more likely than the average to be interested in the health of their hardware. Therefore these things should be available by default.

(Clarification regarding Hardware Sensor Monitor applet: *available* != *included+configured* in the default desktop)

Suggestion to interested readers:
((hit enter for prompts except for adding "yes" in install modules by default))
$ sudo apt-get install libsensors-applet-plugin0
$ sudo sensors-detect

Then right click on your gnome panel an select "Add to panel"->"Hardware Sensors Monitor" & "CPU Frequency scaling monitor".

My primary complaint is that this sensors monitoring applet is not even available unless you install the aforementioned packages.

As a user I want to be able to listen to audio or watch videos with the least amount of setup. I would like to have a single interface (Codec Manager) that lists all of the most common audio and video formats and shows me if I am missing the necessary codec for playback.

Use Case: Enable MP3 playback.
Precondition: MP3s are not currently playable.
1. User logs into the system.
2. User opens the Codec Manager.
3. System displays a list of common audio/video formats.
4. User selects MP3s.
5. System displays some info about MP3s.
6. System displays a list of available codecs.
7. User selects a codec and clicks Apply.
8. System downloads and installs the selected codec.
9. System informs the user when completed.

Other possible features:
- Display a list of audio/video types that are missing codecs.
- An auto-setup function, that grabs the recommended codec for all formats.

Audio and Video formats that should be supported:

Audio:
- MP3
- OGG
- AAC
- FLAC
- Real Audio

Video:
- MP4

[....]

ADD BITTORRENT OPTION ON THE MAIN DOWNLOAD PAGE!

The Novell guys took the lead already: http://software.opensuse.org/

When Hardy Heron was released, the Ubuntu servers became overloaded with thousands of people trying to download it. Downloading rates of repositories and updates were so slow that some people had to leave the computer on at night only to find connection errors the next morning.

However, if Canonical had promoted the BitTorrent downloads, this wouldn't have happened. Everyone would have got a copy of Ubuntu without slowing the repository servers and producing a Denial-of-Service effect.

Moreover, BitTorrent has many advantages over direct downloads. For instance, the more people downloading at the same time, the more sources and lesser the wait. In addition, it ensures file integrity because it uses hash functions, that is, files cannot be corrupted (modified). Not to mention that transfers can be resumed if the connection is broken.

Therefore, BitTorrent downloading should be included in the Get Ubuntu page ( http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download ) with a succinct but clear explanation on how to use them.

The fact that this idea hasn't been implemented --despite all the votes in favour-- clearly shows a neglect and reluctance from Canonical decision-makers to do what is best for the community. The worst thing is that they aren't giving an explanation. I hope good ideas in this site don't come to die here in a puzzle of bureaucracy :(

The reason Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution is because developers listen to people. Let's keep that "humanity towards others" alive.

Download Desktop CD: http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04.1-desktop-i386.iso.torrent

[....]

Sometimes a picture shows what we are talking about better than words so allow us to post pictures in our ideas, like you can on Ideastorm.

To configure devices
To configure networks
To configure programs
For anything
...

many configuration files like etc/fstab, /boot/grub/boot.lst, xorg.conf or sudoers are simply unreadable.

join them (where sane), make them xml, have easy-to-use graphical tools to edit them.

Because sometimes things don't sound like nearly as good an idea when you've thought on it a while. :-)

Power profiles in GNOME power manager, to make it easy to switch between power-saving mode and number-crunching. I am aware this feature was introduced in Vista, which otherwise kind of sucks. Anyways, this is really very helpful in stretching the battery runtime of laptops.
This way, you could easily switch off compiz effects, enable more aggressive CPU scaling, shut down stuff like Bluetooth, etc.
The profiles could be easily accessible via the power manager icon in the panel.

I think of this NOT to be a duplicate of http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/4101/ as the goal is rather different.

As I understand, using closed codecs literally means breaking the law even while playing legal media in some countries. So, the current situation with Ubuntu is full of hypocrisy. Ubuntu's CD doesn't include illegal software, but every user would likely download and install it right after the installation is through. Fluendo codecs are an alternative, but a weak one.
Another point, is that the user is forced to use OpenOffice just because other products can't work with MS formats well. This is also inconvenient, since there are some lightweight solutions that can work with OASIS ODF and thus allow user to do all the basic tasks. And, after all, Office 2003 formats aren't supported even by OpenOffice at the moment.
Finally, the archive formats - rar, ace, arj, which also could be converted to zip or tar.gz2 or whatever.
So here is my suggestion on how to promote open technologies.
At the moment, there are already some web services to convert documents (or even music) from one format to another. For example, http://koolwire.com
So, what I am talking about, is a web-service, that would allow to convert audio files to OGG Vorbis and FLAC, video to OGG Theora, Microsoft Office files to OASIS ODF (and PDF, in case the conversion cannot be done well for some files). And it would be very nice, if the service would be integrated into the user's environment. So the software necessary for conversion would be installed only on those servers, which can be located in countries where patent issues are not a problem.
Probably, this initiative requires some really mighty servers, but I guess that this can be done on behalf of the Open Source community on the whole, not just Ubuntu/Canonical, so the funds necessary would be raised and the service will be free of charge. After all it's a real opprotunity to promote free standarts.

If I am not mistaken, Ubuntu can not include some software (codecs and such) by default due to legal issues in USA and some other countries. So, users from the rest of the world suffer from inconvenience for no reason. Then, why not make two releases - for USA and countries with similar legislation concerning this issue, and the rest of the world? Then, at least some users could use the full-featured system out-of-box.
Edit: And, speaking of free software, ubuntu now has a gobuntu - pure open source flavour, so why should the original Ubuntu still sacrifice its usability? Do not forget, that lack of codecs and similar stuff makes Ubuntu unusable without an high speed Internet connection, which is still a problem in some countries

If the user wants to clean the panel from unnecessary applets, he can also remove Network-Manager by mistake. However it is not easy to restore it. That should be fixed.

I got this idea more as a joke but kind of grown on me and I think
it's so strange it could actually work...
First of all, what I mean with "lifestyle" magazines.
Lifestyle magazines are everything from Playboy through Cosmopolitan to The Economist.
So idea is that Cannonical pairs with one or more of this magazines and creates a "special" Ubuntu theme based on these magazine. So let's say there would be Ubuntu Playboy theme with desktop picture of playboy bunnies, an rss feed preinstaled for news from their site and so on... The same for Cosmopolitan or the Economist... It doesn't really matters which it is. The point is that the CD with this "special" edition would be sold with this magazine. So Ubuntu would get a lot of new users...
So why not anything else rather lifestyle magazines. Well this magazines are sold globally and are usually printed in local language. Well Economist isn't but I put it there to prove my point.
And don't forget National Geographic I can already see a good "special" edition of Ubuntu for it.
I think that almost in all cases Kubuntu would better because all of this editions would be built on eye candy plus KDE looks more like Windows than Gnome.
Please write why you don't or do like this idea which magazines (with global coverage) would you recomend.
Which would use Gnome / KDE / Xfc desktop...

I'm totally aware that this is a bit weird idea, but its one way how to get those that never even herd of anything else then Windows

We currently have full support for ACPI 1.0 and some support for ACPI 2.0.

We should get full support for ACPI 2.0 and also try to get full support for ACPI 3.0b.

ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) is an open industry standard that defines common interfaces for hardware recognition, motherboard and device configuration and power management.

In Windows you can create an scheduled task with the ability to automatically wake up the computer from hibernation when the time arrives (example: perform a tape or network backup daily at 2:00 AM.). This kind of behaviour is highly convenient so certain types of hevyweight workloads can be carried out unattended and do not interfere with your daily work routine.

Well, that's a pretty common idea in terms of all that Web 2.0 thing, but I'll dare to offer it.
At the moment there are lots of different services in Ubuntu: wiki, ubuntuforums, irc server, launchpad, rosetta translation, personal repository and even more.
So, why not unite all these under a single brand and integrate it deeper? Make a kind of social network in a common sense as a basement and settle all the other services atop. Or simply rebrand and extend Launchpad. I think, there would be no harm if such a network would be a place for conversations on different topics, not only Linux itself (although within some limits). But anyways, a more clear integration would make all these tools even more useable, if there was a single page one could start with and access all the services easily.
And again, all this could show the concept of a community more clearly to non-programmers. Nearly any active Internet user (although somehow experienced computer user - not necessarily an experienced Linux user) could contribute.

Apart from it, some other services might be added.
1) a simple pastebin-like stuff and a personal repository for configs - like dotfiles.org. Just more useable.
2) a simple blogging system (not only Planet)
3) some centralized personal messages system. Another thing is to set an ubuntu's own jabber server - probably without any gates to other protocols (like ICQ, MSN), but that would provide people with an easier option than IRC and a reliable Jabber server, too)
4) some common things from social networks. Of course, there is no need in another Facebook, but the Web 2.0 concept can be greatly attuned to Open Source ideology, so one can use some of its strong tools.

Well, there are many other possible developments for these idea. What do you think?

I know that is a huge task but is one thing that I think would get alot of people away from windows, and draw alot of new linux users to Ubuntu. A simple graphical way to install programs using wine would be a huge draw for many people. Personally I spent a long time trying to get WINE to work and with little success in a lot of cases. Cedega does a great job at making things easier but you have to pay for it and set it up. I think an in house program that is set up at install would be an amazing addition to Ubuntu, and would help ease people into making the linux switch.

Basic idea: after an initial boot-up, save a list of all loaded kernel modules & probed addresses/settings to a special file (extension for /etc/modules.conf?). This special file ("snapshot") will be used next time to speed up booting of the system.

During normal use (e.g. after the user has logged in), a background tool can attempt to load any additional drivers to detect changed/removed/added hardware and thus update the list.

How many times have you clicked an application to find *buntu doesn't know what to do with it? what happens next is real handy, it drops you to your home folder to pick a application! This works for us seasoned Linux folks but wat about the poor newbies? I was thinking that the /usr/bin folder would make more sense but then what do they pick? perhaps a data file with possible applications for tasks that could be upgraded when needed? If the application is not install perhaps a gui link to synaptic or adept etc to install the offending problem?

Cary