Contributor azimout

when you plug in an unformatted drive, nothing happens. it would be helpful (for new users) to:
a) acknowledge the event, so they know the drive is not broken or anything, and
b) offer to format the drive

It was not obvious, but I found that you can pan in Evince by holding down the middle click button. This is the famous "hand tool". I find this functionality very useful, but kinda awkward... In Adobe Reader you click the cooresponding button in the toolbar, which changes the left-click behaviour.

This would make panning much more intuitive (off the top of my head, I cannot think of another app where you hold down the middle click button, I might be wrong), plus you cannot use the feature currently with a touchpad...

I think it would be useful to be able to open multiple pdf files within the same viewer window. I know that I would use this feature a lot, because I like to multi-task, so I read multiple ebooks or whatever a the same time a lot... but yeah, it would also be cool if there were an option to view your tabbed documents side-by-side somehow for comparison purposes, Im sure that would come in handy sometimes...

but yeah, we have a tabbed text editor, and web browser, so why not a tabbed pdf viewer?

The idea is to have an application that simply make possibile to view OpenOffice file without launch openoffice.
This is only capable to view the file , not edit it.
It should be fast and with just few command/option.
It's only a reader, like evince or kpdf for pdf.

As other people said it could be add the possibility to open ODF file to evince or another existing document reader without make a new one.

Gnome uses a different trashcan format from the freedesktop.org spec (which Xfce uses).

So if I run a Gnome-based program from within Xfce, but delete a file through that program, it doesn't show up in Xfce's trash. I need to use Nautilus to see Gnome's trash.

UPDATE: this issue appears to have been fixed in 8.04 (Hardy).

I also note the existence of the command-line trash-cli package for Intrepid. See http://code.google.com/p/trash-cli/

So this issue should be marked as already implemented.

Sometimes, when I try to open firefox, I get this error

Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.

I propose to change that, including a button - "Close firefox now" :

Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process. [Close firefox now]

I want Gnome to remember and reapply the size and location of all windows / apps / panels that I open.

I'm constantly resizing / maximizing / repositioning the same windows over and over again. It's a productivity drain.

Applications *should* remember / restore their size and position, but they don't.

Apparently, "the Gnome development team will not develop Gnome to handle these issues. Saying it is the job of the application to save its state of size and position". I think that's wrong, and if Gnome won't do it, Ubuntu should patch it.

It has become obvious that Grub2 needs some extra programming help, as Grub-legacy will no longer be adding new features and the end of Grub2 is nowhere in sight. Canonical should allocate 1 or 2 programmers for a few months to help complete grub2 quickly, so that X86 support might be complete in time for Interpid Ipex.

One could argue that the boot loader is the most important part of the operating system, because if it doesn't work properly (which it hasn't been for some of us), it can prevent every OS from working on the computer. We should treat it with respect, and help them. Despite grubs importance, programmers generally enjoy working on more exciting projects like Gnome or KDE, which is one reason why development is slow.

Grub2 fixes a lot of previous brainstorm ideas including many booting issues (like mine), so completion would close a lot of bugs, whilst also making Ubuntu more user friendly because Grub2 deals with booting issues better.

Voting for this ensures that Canonical allocates some developers to the Grub2 project, which would be a big win for both Ubuntu and linux in general!

Planned Features for Grub 2
* Rescue mode saves unbootable cases. Stage 1.5 was eliminated.
* Dynamic loading of modules in order to extend itself at the run time rather than at the build time.
* Graphical interface.
* Fix design mistakes in GRUB Legacy, which could not be solved for backward-compatibility, such as the way of numbering partitions.
* Scripting support, such as conditionals, loops, variables and functions.
* Cross-platform installation which allows for installing GRUB from a different architecture.
* Internationalization. This includes support for non-ASCII character code, message catalogs like gettext, fonts, graphics console, and so on.
* Portability for various architectures.
* Modular, hierarchical, object-oriented framework for file systems, files, devices, drives, terminals, commands, partition tables and OS loaders.

[....]

* A new icon set which matches more closely the icon style of other mozilla applications
* Category colors are now shown next to an event box, giving users a much better overview of their differently categorized events
* Events with alarms now have a visual indicator showing an alarm bell
* A totally overhauled alarm dialog
* Sunbird now recognizes the timezone definitions in .ics files created by other applications. This fixes the longstanding issue of Sunbird miscalculating the date or time of events contained in those files
* The timezone guessing has been significantly improved
* Sunbird now contains experimental support for viewing remote calendars offline. This feature has known bugs and is included for testing purposes only
* Sunbird contains several performance fixes, which should improve working with larger calendar files
* You can now define for each of your calendars, whether you want to be notified of alarms for events in these calendars or not
* A full list of changes that have gone into this release can be found on The Rumbling Edge website

=================================================
Priority: Medium
Realization: (Maybe) Easy
Improvements in terms of usability: Very High
=================================================
Let's say that Bob, an ubuntu user wants to try another ubuntu flavor, he goes to Synaptic Software and selects Install Kubuntu Desktop. Waits, Done, he's got a brand new Kubuntu DE. After one week he realizes that he doesn't want it anymore for many reasons, so he decides to uninstall it. Again, goes to Synaptic and chooses uninstall Kubuntu Desktop.
Whats his surprise? Only the meta package is removed so he has to uninstall MANUALLY EVERY SENGLE KDE APP.

Please make this work in both directions, I'd be nice to uninstall Kubuntu desktop and everything else. With just one click.

The xsane frontend is the most feature-complete gui scanning program, but the interface is complicated and difficult to use.

There are a ton of buttons for adjusting contrast and gamma and resolution etc. that most users don't need. And there's the histogram window, which is just plain confusing

Would it be possible for a simplified version of it to be made with the more complex options visible only under an advanced tab? Just do something to make it less scary-looking.

Getdeb should create their own third party repository to which they would add all their software. This would allow people who wanted the newer versions of the available software to get it automatically through the update manager or manually through synaptic (or apt) without having to worry about using their browser.

Update manager block list of updates and their descriptions while it is working - downloading and installing updates. It will be nice to click install all updates, and then be able to read, for example: what new functions are added to each program.

During boot in splash screen of Ubuntu is boring see only the progress bar maybe show random tips are a best use of unused space in screen, and also useful to learn new tip. And is a time that no one can use the PC, and is a new reason to keep your eyes on screen during boot :) ...

[Edited based on comments]

- Maybe a option to replace the tip and show Fortune phrases instead.
- Maybe also an option to set the level of the tips.
- A option to disable that feature for people that don't like that.

(Sorry for my bad english...)

Create an "+" or "add" button in the Keyboard Shortcuts with which adding new keyboard shortcuts would be easy .

While updating, actually one can not use internet because update manager uses all of bandwidth. So my idea is to provide an option (in GUI) to reduce bandwidth witch is currently using by Update Manager.

1) The list of searches (in "Search Results") is cleared after changes are applied. It should not be cleared until the program exits. You may want to include erasing the list after applying changes as an option, but the default action should be to not clear the list.

2) The search button should be replaced with a text input field with the same function. It makes the UI a bit easier to work with. The search box should remember the last searched term until changes are applied (or the program exits). The search box idea itself is from other ideas, but the point of this one is that it should remember the last searched term until changes are applied. In other words, this part is not a complete duplicate.

3) Sections should NOT be grouped into stuff like:
Something
Something (multiverse)
Something (universe)
Something (restricted)

All of the Somethings should be in a single group. Put in an option to see subgroups if the user wants to see where the package is coming from (official, multiverse, universe, or restricted).

4) Sections should be follow the packages placement in the "Applications" pull-down menu. This will make it easier on the user to see where the program goes instead of hunting for it (for instance, where would something like Limewire or Songbird go - music or internet?).

5) Create a restore point before each change or upgrade. This should help the few unlucky admins that let their boxes get away from them. Yes, we all know they should be smarter than that, and that they should learn their OS before attempting to roll it out, and its their own fault, and they are stupid morons, and they shouldn't be admins if they don't understand things. We all know that. But sometimes life isn't really that simple, and people are forced to admin boxes whether or not they are ready for it (my boss had me image and admin a few winblows boxes - yes, I know I should be using Linux in the office, and no, that decision is not up to me, and yes, if it was I would be using a completely Linux office - even though there was a CS major with plenty of time already on staff). Let me be the first person to say that no, I am not completely read up on how to admin things, but I'm not going to tell me boss to give it to somebody else and look like I'm passing the buck. And he didn't want this done when I was ready, he wanted it done fast, and I need the money for school. Anyway, the point is that by creating restore points prior to any program changes (you could even have it ask or put in an option to not make restore points), it makes it really easy for me as a reluctant admin, to roll back any changes I end up not wanting to do. I personally think that Synaptic should copy any config files for a package and the version of the package. Then if after an update, I need to restore the previous package version, Synaptic will re-download the old package, uninstall the new version, and install the old package with my customized config file.

[....]

Imagine I work in a corporate environment, I install some updates, and suddenly things stop working.

People cant access their e-mail, or shared files on the network, or perhaps have no internet connectivity.

I am about to crap my pants.

The business workflow stops, people are getting impatient and the boss is hugely disappointed. Now everyone wants to hang me by the balls.

I cant tell them "Just wait a couple of hours, I'll google a solution".

Now, wouldn't it be great with a rollback feature?
$ sudo apt-get rollback samba
Or something, and a second later, everything is back to normal, everyone is happy and my balls are safe.

Pulse Audio is now in Hardy! The work is never over though and there are several remaining issues to be solved and enhancements to be made for 8.10. A new GUI is needed to replace the old one for audio control if the features of Pulse Audio are to be taken advantage of. It would be nice to see them accessible by default to raise the "coolness" factor as well as enhancing the usability of the current system. Currently, for example, there is no way to change Pulse Audio's default sound card through the existing GUI without installing extra packages, nor can you change ALSA's default sound card (you can only change the default for the sounds made in Gnome, but not for any other programs which use ALSA). These extra Pulse Audio controls should be merged with or replace the current system, or new ones should be made and merged with or replace the current system, or the current ones changed/enhanced. When other sound servers are selected, certain features could be grayed out if unavailable to keep everything sound system agnostic. This will also allow configuration of ALSA as well for those programs which still rely on it (and fix the above problem with ALSA as well).

Idea #2: There are still many programs that use ALSA, which is a remaining issue mentioned in the linked blueprint. If more programs were only made to be agnostic so that users can use whichever sound system they desire, that would be an ideal and much more permanent fix so that patching these programs later wouldn't be required. If some kind of standard is needed to help with this issue, the Ubuntu community could help take part in pushing for that standard "interface", and that would really help. It's sad when programs themselves have to be updated if a different sound server is desired, so it's a problem that should be fixed once and for all with a good, easy, standardized sound interface/language available for all programs to use if there isn't one in existence already. It's those kind of changes that will really make Ubuntu/Linux as a whole much more powerful and flexible and allow greater program adoption, competition, and use down the road. This, IMO, makes this idea more important than idea #1, or installing PA by default, or anything else on this subject, even though those are important too. :)

P.S., Brainstorm won't let me continue because it recognizes the Blueprint URL and won't allow an override, since this idea is a lot different. Overriding should be allowed, but for now I'm altering the URL.

A searchable 3rd party repository.

with links to their sites, a stabilty indication, and save us the time to cut google them up, dig their sites for the repo url and paste them into synaptic.

maybe add something like a slider to let users filter out the less stable ones.

This way it is easyer to find 'new' programs and also get an idea of the quality of those.

This will save some time to find and install Cinelerra, Webmin

i'd say something in the style of firefox add-ons