Contributor ajjeckmans

Kubuntu website has been redesigned, but when you decide to take the tour there are no screenshots at all. I think there should be some screens showing Kubuntu features and how it looks like, or even better, a Kubuntu features page like Ubuntu's one.

Fedora is currently working on improving the startup experience by implementing Plymouth:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/FeatureBetterStartup

By doing this, transition from Grub to GDM (or KDM or whatever) would be done almost instantly. Plymouth will use a graphical boot mode with a fallback method to text for those computers that don't have hardware support.

It's silly to be pushing open standards when we don't follow them for our own sites.

Ubuntu.com Failed: 54 Errors
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fubuntu.com&charset=%28detect+aut omatically%29&doctype=Inline&group=0

All Ubuntu websites should pass the W3C validation checks. (none appear to currently)

For reference:
Microsoft, Redhat, Sun, Novell, openSuse and Apple fail.

Debian, Fedora, Linux Mint, Gnome, KDE, Opera, Firefox and OpenOffice.org pass

Although this was copied from what is probably an april's fool joke, it directly made sense to me. The current directory structure is very confusing to new users and the one proposed below immediately makes sense to anyone:

/bin /system/executables
/boot /system/boot
/dev /system/devices
/etc /system/config
/lib /system/libraries
/home /users
/media /storage
/mnt /storage
/proc /system/processes
/root /users/Administrator
/sbin /system/executables/admin
/tmp /system/temporary
/usr /system/applications

(idea taken from http://blog.drinsama.de/erich/en/linux/debian/2008040101-renaming-directories.h tml)

Probably this is going to be controversial but...

The majority of people that are into open source/free software probably don't like very much some of the laws the USA got, DMCA, software patents, lots of power to DRM and not so much power to the users... Microsoft threatening Linux with lawsuits! a "Sue them all!!!" policy that threatens everyone...
Lots of countries in the world have more freedom in the aspect of the "digital things"... and it kinda sucks that every ubuntu user in the world gets a system that (in it's default configuration, of course) can't even play a .mp3 file! not because of technical limitations, but because of laws made by the powerfull people of one or few countries, lobbied by the rich guys and companys...

Why not just relocate ubuntu main servers to a more free country? I don't know were they are now, but Sweden, for example, looks good for this kind of things... so a more “complete package” of ubuntu could be offered (I'm talking about software like libdvdcss, etc... software that is free software but is not included only because the fear of lawsuits) I'm not saying: “Lets be the Pirates of Sealand and live in anarchy!”, but most of us agree that the current laws in USA are a bit...... well... I leave it to you to think about it...

[EDIT] This is not about including proprietary software, it is about including FREE software, but that in the current situation is ILLEGAL (link to PDF with DRM) to use in the USA (or at least "risky" or "in a grey area" of legislation).

(This is not getting into stuff like "My country is better than yours!"... they All have good things and bad things... it is just my humble opinion...)
Peace.

It would be really cool if you could set how many significant digits for one column, and then Spreadsheet would keep the correct number of significant digits for all calculations done with those cells. It would be fairly easy to do too.

On the worldmap show timezones, not cities. Timezones are just much bigger targets for the mouse.
In the selection field below, make a scrollbar for quicker scrolling.
Make the selection field typeable. Instead of scrolling through a long list i should be able to type something like "sweden" or "nebraska" or "gmt+3" and the computer should understand what timezone is meant.
Also do not set the clock, if no timezone was asked. Today, Wubi installations do not ask the timezone, but still set the clock. It makes no sense.

I have a Logitech Mx510 mouse.

It has a backwards and a forwards key on the side. In Windows these keys can be used to navigate backward and forward in the browser and file manager.

In Ubuntu these buttons are detected but have no effect in Firefox and Nautilus. Please make these buttons work by default in these applications.

Right now,when I connect an Bluetooth stick or USB Headphones,Ubuntu does nothing to show me that.I suggest something trough libnotify to show me that a bluetooth/usb headphone/ has been connected.

I mean,windows has this,it makes life easier,why couldn`t we have this?

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?

Release 8.04 (hardy) contains tools for checking and reporting hardware compatibility (System Tools → Hardware Testing).

This is good start. Thanks for it! However I am missing few important questions. Many people are begging for suspend/hibernate support and sound recording fixes. Following questions will help to determine problematic hardware.

Is suspend mode working?
Is hibernate working?
Is sound recording working?

When you press ctrl alt f1 ect you get a terminal indepenant of X and is wonderfull if you know what your doing, but say my mum accadentally presses ctrl alt f1. Not knowing really what she is doing or the cat lands on the keyboard and puts it into a terminal. She would think the computer is broken and be very confused on how to fix it I think we should put a discription as to what it is and how to get back to X

The Ubuntu Brainstorm site should protect the ideas submitted by users for the benefit of the entire Free/Open-Source community of now and the future. Many suggested ideas are novel, valuable and are the assets of the whole community.

Profit-driven companies could claim patents for ideas found in this site --as if their own-- and later block the Free/Open-Source community from implementing them freely.

In the sake of the protection of our most valuable asset: our ideas, I say the Ubuntu Brainstorm site should add some visible waiver that states that the poster of the idea releases it under a copyleft (OSI) license which specifies a perpetual and royalty-free patent agreement in favor of the Free/Open Source community.

I am aware that most ideas come from other popular operating systems and that such measure may be a contradiction in itself. However, that should not deter us from protecting our novel ideas.

We must take every pertinent precaution to protect our freedoms and of future generations.

I think, a lot of people like to help with ubuntu development, but they don't know where to start. This includes not only programmers but also designers, music composers or just the normal ubuntu user.

So how about creating a website "howcanihelp.ubuntu.com" where everyone (except for C/C++ programmers ;-) ) can find out how to contribute?

Examples:
PHP Programmer -> help with Brainstorm Development, someproject.ubuntu.com needs a new Website, ...
Music Composer -> (don't know where this should link)
Graphic Artist -> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork
Foreign Language Native Speaker -> Translate Subtitles at screencasts.ubuntu.com,...
Beginner Ubuntu User -> (don't know if we find something for them :-) )
Advanced Ubuntu User -> Help people at IRC #ubuntu, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WikiToDo, join the Documentation Team...
Marketing Expert -> ...


and so on!

I think that the Fedora art team is a talented group of people that can help Ubuntu gain for partners.

I'm NOT saying "Change from Ubuntu to Fedora artwork", or "Make Ubuntu blue", but what I am saying is that we should have them help us with themes, promotional artwork(Ubuntu advertising), etc.

I hope you will a least think about it, and thank you for making such a wonderful operating system.

It drives me insane trying to diagnose if my sound card Microphone input is working correctly.

it would be great if I could have some kind of visual feed back like the old "VU" meters we used to have on old fashioned tape decks.

Getting skype to work or dealing with any "sound in" / "mic in" issues on Ubuntu has been a nightmare to trouble shoot. this would make it a bit easier.

New users coming from Windows are often disoriented and don't really know the real advantages of Ubuntu or even how to use some of its basic functions (Add/Remove instead of setup.exe). An orientation would help them.

A couple of ideas for how to help them have come up, including an idea about having pop-ups for every new application that's open. The pop-up idea has a few downsides, of course, not the least of which being that pop-ups are annoying to many users, both new and experienced.

One relatively unobtrusive way to introduce new users to the basic functions of Ubuntu is to show a slideshow during the installation process. New users would probably watch the slideshow (they're waiting for the installation to finish--what else are they going to do?), while experienced users might have the option to turn off the slideshow... or they may just get up and leave, knowing that the installation won't take more than fifteen minutes.

If HP drivers are included in Ubuntu why should we insist geeks to install Brother drivers?

http://solutions.brother.com/linux/sol/printer/linux/cups_drivers.html

All speakers in AlsaMixer should be on by default. A new user should not have to figure out how to get into alsa mixer and change this.
Also there should be an easy option in audio or keyboard for using the volume buttons on keyboards to change either "Master" or "PCM". Currently by default these only change the volume of the front speakers.

Right now, setting download speeds in applications is a common necessity for working with a shared Internet connection. However, no two applications present that option the same way, and some don't present it at all! It is also an option that, when available, must be accessed very often.

I recently discovered a number of neat tools that fix this for me. One of them is called "wondershaper", which lets me change the downstream and upstream speed for a particular device, on the fly, for everything. The results are instant and quite satisfying.
There were other tools that could do the same idea for particular processes. It stood out to me that they all demanded to run the process themselves, but it doesn't seem like it would be impossible to selectively shape networking for a process once it is running.

One major benefit of the graphical user interface is that windows can be traced directly to processes. In this way, the user can select a window and have a program know exactly what process to kill / limit.

Granted, moving network speed limiting outwards sounds weird. How dare we pull control from the applications?
Actually, this is already being done for many other kinds of resource! That is what "nice" is all about, for example. The difference here is that this would be a "nice" control for resources outside of the local ones, which we may not necessarily see. That is what the window management stuff is all about, with reserving space that programs can draw to. We are not expecting the program to manage system resources for us; the program just has to go with the flow, and the operating system keeps it all organized as the end user would like.

How to implement it?
This would be an upstream type of thing. Somebody will have to persuade the GNOME people. I think, done right, this would be a positive adjustment for GNOME since it simplifies the user interface in the way we like, while adding functionality across the desktop. No longer must you hunt across menus to find out how to limit network resource usage in Download Tool X; it is always in the same place. Big, big plus for usability, and that's not even counting the benefit of easily controlling network usage for the forward-thinking applications that don't think to include the option!

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