Ubuntu QA:

Blog	Brainstorm

The Ubuntu community has contributed 12232 ideas, 57574 comments, 1174524 votes

Contributor Vivien

2584

LiveUSB

Written by Taku the 28 Feb 08 at 14:35. Category: System. Related to: Nothing/Others. New

cdroms are slow, don't allow to modify their content easily, they are weak and not as easy to carry as USB keys.

It would be great to provide Ubuntu as a liveUSB just as Mandriva does. We should be able to carry our distribution on any computer, manage our preferred settings (do I want binary drivers enabled ? what is my preferred resolution ?), etc.

The thing is not to make something transportable, but really a nomad system that could be used just the best way as it could on any computer.

Developer comments

I've changed the title from "LiveUSB instead of LiveCD" to just "LiveUSB". Simplifying the creation of USB versions is a good idea, but it doesn't need to replace CDs just yet.

A tool to turn a USB disk into a bootable Ubuntu live image is planned for Ubuntu 8.10.

See the 73 comments >>

Already done!

(3253)

Codec Manager

Written by intarwub the 29 Feb 08 at 00:32. Category: Multimedia. Related to: Nothing/Others. Already implemented

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

[....]

Developer comments

Attacks the problem from the wrong angle. I don't think many users would care about a "codec manager", that sounds very much like a geek tool. Heck, *I* wouldn't care about a codec manager. I care about watching my videos. :-)

To me this already seems solved very elegantly with the existing easy-codec-installation.

See the 65 comments >>

Done!

(2355)

Brainstorm: Don't start with most popular, and hide grades until requested

Improve the model for default idea listing order (#197019)

In :	ubuntu-qa-website
Status :	Fix Released
Importance :	Medium
Assignee :

8 comments, 2 subscribers and 0 duplicates

Written by speakman the 28 Feb 08 at 20:28. Category: Brainstorm. Related to: Nothing/Others. Implemented

Change start page of Brainstorm to show latest ideas or something, else people will probably push for the already high-graded ideas and won't care of other newer ideas.

Maybe a page with random ideas?

And remove the grades if not specifically requested, since it will affect peoples voting.

Developer comments

New front page, with a descending (nb of votes)/(time since creation) sorting.
This way, the newest ideas have their chance to stand up!

See the 51 comments >>

4072

Improve dual-screen function

Ubuntu

In :
Priority :	Undefined
Definition :	Approved (Needs guidance)
Implementation :	Implemented
Assignee :	Bryce Harrington

Written by clemdup the 28 Feb 08 at 20:32. Category: Graphics. Related to: Nothing/Others. In development

I'm bored with dual-screen on GNU/Linux, it really has to have a graphic configuration, and better features.
I would like to move windows from a screen to another, but when I maximize I need it to be in a single screen.

Update: Xrandr GUI blog post by Bryce Harrington

Developer comments

Response from Bryce Harrington: http://blog.qa.ubuntu.com/node/9

See the 67 comments >>

264

make unsupported printers work with xp drivers and ddiwrapper

Ubuntu

In :
Priority :	Undefined
Definition :	New (Needs guidance)
Implementation :	Unknown
Assignee :

Written by ReneBrink the 28 Feb 08 at 19:36. Category: System. Related to: Nothing/Others. New

Some (most?) printer manufacturers still don't make printer drivers for Linux, or just for a few models or low quality drivers. This make people running into trouble when migrating to Linux. There is a program called ddiwrapper (developed by SUSE) that can use the XP drivers in Linux to make printing to unsupported printers possible (at the moment only Canon drivers seem to work). Of course support as much printers as possible!

See the 16 comments >>

-31

Elisa media center by default

Written by fabioamd87 the 28 Feb 08 at 20:16. Category: Multimedia. Related to: Nothing/Others. New

Windows and mac now have media ceneter software integrathed by default...

Elisa media center is perfect because it's less heavy of mythtv simply but powerful.

but we need more remote support, or a place to see witch to buy.

See the 7 comments >>

3989

Easy mounting of Images like ISO and CUE

Please support mounting iso images via the context
menu (#197317)

In :	nautilus (ubuntu)
Status :	Triaged
Importance :	Wishlist
Assignee :	Ubuntu Desktop Bugs

8 comments, 4 subscribers and 1 duplicates

Written by Nanotron the 28 Feb 08 at 20:17. Category: System. Related to: Nothing/Others. New

Hi!

I'm a big fan of Images like .iso.
But it is not very easy to mount this Images.
I think there must be a Tool in Nautilus and Dolphin wich alows mounting Images with a double Click. (This feature exists int MacOS). Or with a right click on the file and then there must be a poit "Mount Image". I thick that would be a very use full Tool for every one.
A good example for this is CDemu.

I know there are some ohter good programs, but I think that would be the easyest way and very confortible.

Nanotron

See the 53 comments >>

2737

Enhance mobile devices sync

please merge 0.22 from debian unstable (#81831)

In :	opensync (ubuntu)
Status :	Fix Released
Importance :	Wishlist
Assignee :	Debian Opensync Team

43 comments, 28 subscribers and 0 duplicates

Ubuntu

In :
Priority :	Undefined
Definition :	New (Needs guidance)
Implementation :	Unknown
Assignee :

Written by jherran the 28 Feb 08 at 15:01. Category: Hardware support. Related to: Nothing/Others. New

There are lot of people having troubles syncing their devices (pda, smartphones, etc.) with ubuntu. At this poing there is only one solution available, multisync, and works for only a few devices, and it's very limited on their functions.

And I think, this is a very important point for lots of people.

**Suggestions from duplicate idea 397 work on that idea :

1) Clean up the Opensync and SyncML plugin packages to work properly with Evolution by default.

2) Set up an official Ubuntu SyncML server for Ubuntu users.

3) Possibly clean up open source SyncML clients for the different mobile platforms.

Developer comments

The current status of mobile devices synchronization in Linux is generally is quite shaky. It *can* work but it's a lot of work usually. There are a few efforts around but there's no single project that works in the majority of the situations.

This is also caused by manufacturers not using a single synchronization protocol. The most promising project now is OpenSync[1] which supports basically SyncML 1.1 and the Nokia variation and it works with several degrees of success between phones and desktops but the project itself is in a constant alpha state with a lot of issues, the GUI is simplistic and there are no integrated resources to sync with online contacts/calendars
like Google's. This can be overcome by preparing Evolution and/or Thunderbird to do it.

In short, despite the infrastructure is mostly there, we need work to make it a seamless experience for the user.
Bear in mind that this is a huge effort. Synchronization looks simple but there's a lot of factors and situations that need to be addressed like how to synchronize devices with different capabilities and how to keep 3 way synchronizations (desktop, online and mobile).

See the 65 comments >>

4022

Unmount resolution

Cannot unmount volume: show which application(s)
still use the drive (#81239)

In :	gnome-mount (ubuntu)
Status :	Triaged
Importance :	Wishlist
Assignee :	Martin Pitt

22 comments, 10 subscribers and 0 duplicates

Written by Vivien the 28 Feb 08 at 16:35. Category: System. Related to: Nothing/Others. In development

When someone wants to unmount a volume and the mount point is used, he gets a message telling him that the volume can't be unmounted because an application uses it. The user has no idea which application is actually using it and can't remove the device.

I propose that the popup tells him which application(s) is(are) using the device and propose to terminate them (that list should be kept up to date when the app. dies).

Developer comments

Upstream bug (GNOME #528559) has a patch in discussion. Volunteering to work on it.

See the 35 comments >>