Contributor azrael - Ubuntu brainstorm

Ubuntu QA:

Blog

Brainstorm

Package status

The Ubuntu community has contributed 22700 ideas, 138270 comments, 2629576 votes

All more
Projects more
Global categories more
- Accessibility
- Documentation
- Education
- Gaming
- Graphics
- Hardware support
- Installation
- Internet & Networking
- Look and Feel
- Marketing
- Multimedia
- Office
- Programming
- Quality
- Security
- Server
- System
- Usability
- Others

Idea sandbox

Popular ideas

Ideas in development

Implemented ideas

Contributor azrael

Provide a simple graphical interface to manage _any_ type of network connection

Ubuntu

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

Written by Alan Pope the 28 Feb 08 at 13:50. Global category: Internet & Networking. In development

A single unified tool should be provided which allows the user to connect to a network (or internet) via any supported method. It would also be useful to provide an extension to this tool to manage firewall rules and network connection sharing.

Developer comments

We’re currently designing this graphical interface, with the Internet connection part powered by ConnectionManager.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NetworkSettings

—mpt

8497
votes

113
votes

64
votes

83
votes

69
votes

Selected solution (#6): Add "Automatically connect to VPN..." option to wireless network settings

Written by nickpick the 29 May 09 at 18:54.

Add a drop-down list (or another similar way) allowing the user to select a VPN network he wants to connect to automatically -once the connection with the specified, not just any, WiFi network- has been established.

Example:

+ Automatically connect to VPN...
-- none (default)
-- University_VPN_Example
-- Corporate_VPN_Example
-- Home_server_VPN-Example

42
votes

55
votes

41
votes

64
votes

66
votes

Selected solution (#11): Sharing Internet and network configuration automatically.

Written by nq6 the 13 Aug 09 at 02:39.

#view the outline of the idea.

The new user can not share your internet with other computers or put two computers with Ubuntu in a network easily.

Below is the commands for the user to perform these tasks. This is not simple for a new user. Install packages, use the terminal, set the ip manually, type in the link of the Nautilus Ip of the other machine.

#commands to the two computers
sudo apt-get install samba system-config-samba

#commands to the computer that shares the Internet
sudo su
modprobe iptable_nat
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth1 -j MASQUERADE

[...]

#command to view the other ubuntu in the network - the PC 1
sudo su
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2 up
smb://192.168.0.1/

#command to view the other ubuntu in the network - the PC 2
sudo su
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.1 up
smb://192.168.0.2/

Who has two network devices, you want to share internet and create a network between two PCs, it has to be experienced and know many commands. This is not ideal. The Ubuntu aims to ease.

-16
votes

Selected solution (#13): Create something like in Win XP

Written by viejoyoda the 13 Feb 10 at 14:54.

Last time i have to connect two computers with a regular ethernet cable, was really imposible to share internet and folders... finally i have to restart from my windows xp partition and then apply the network configuration assistant, it was like 20 secs. for success!!!
Regular users don't have to manage a cybercafe or protect a meil server or a bank from "attacks", why is it so difficult!
By the way it could be useful to choose between "network-manager" and "wicd". I prefer Wicd.

See the 122 comments or propose a solution >>

Power Management

Ubuntu

In :
Priority :	Low
Definition :	Pending Approval (Needs guidance)
Implementation :	Slow progress
Assignee :	Amit Kucheria

Written by jsmidt the 28 Feb 08 at 16:49. Global category: Others. In development

Ubuntu needs to go green. Powertop, Lesswatts and other tools have finally hit the Linux scene to pave the way for better power management. It needs to be said, "if you want your battery to last longest, or have your energy bill be the lowest, you better use Ubuntu Linux."

Merged from 18976:
Power management still isn't very effective in Linux and it still puts a lot of laptop users off Linux. While Linux has come on a long way thanks to the work of Intel with PowerTOP informing developers when their software breaks the idol state unnecessarily so they are doing their part as well as the kernel developers now we still have a long way to go to compete with Windows and I'm looking at ways for Ubuntu to do this.

One of the benefits of Linux is that is very easy to customise and a lot of its users love to tinker. Ubuntu should therefore use this to its advantage by allowing its power users to easily have access to the latest developments in Linux power efficiency. This would also be useful to Ubuntu as power users could submit results on what settings are most economical for specific hardware. This would give Ubuntu the chance to market itself on its power efficacy over other operating systems by it silently implementing these settings on the detected hardware setup for new users.

To give users these advantages Ubuntu should help more on Intels Lesswatts projects as these are Linux's best bet on beating windows power management. The problem is the solution to effective power management needs to simple enough that it works for a new user that wont even know its active but also very easy for power users to modify and test their own setups from one central tool.

http://www.lesswatts.org/

8015
votes

336
votes

663
votes

333
votes

2
votes

Selected solution (#6): Develop/Intergrate WattOSPM (GUI laptop-mode/Powersaving) in2 Gnome-power-manger

Written by chappell101 the 1 Apr 09 at 15:16.

This is taking Solution #3 to prevent conflict and expanding to give Gnome-power-manger 2 modes, simple for average user and button to reveal an advance set of options for power users based off the options in WattOSPM and PowerTOP.

To stop average users completely breaking their system with the tool only include safe things to disable in the simple mode in an on/off switch manor such as the optical drives and sound chipsets which aren't necessary to all users on the go but still waste power, Also this is a feature possible in windows for a long time now! The advanced mode could log user results of all their changes and show on a graph similar to Gnomes current power chart and have the option to submit the best back to Ubuntu so they can be set as silent defaults values for specific hardware for less technical users.

WattOSPM is already an effective little python tray-bound GUI to enable fast changing of laptop-mode-tools, X-backlight, and Powersaving settings to optimise many parts of your system for battery consumption and performance. So it would be nice to see it assisted by Ubuntu developers to add more features while it is integrated into Gnome to give back to the whole Linux community. These changes could be those found in Rightmark CPU Clock Utility for Windows Eg.CPU performance states editor, Thermal throttling values, and CPU PLL lock time these could be accessed through the Gnome CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor applet in the tray if cpufreq-selector is installed by default.

[...]

Also get Ubuntu to look at some of the power/speed measures used in the Ubuntu derivative distribution WattOS and port them back to the main distribution where possible.

How to Install http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6362540&postcount=103
Review http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=539

138
votes

Selected solution (#7): Write a simple GUI to control laptop-mode-tools.

Written by andrew.p the 19 Mar 09 at 22:03.

Here are some parameters of /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf that sometimes should be customized not only by greatly experienced users: readahead size, disk spin down timeout, maximum time to keep data in memory, low battery level to write data to disk, whether to enable all of this on AC power. There IS a reason for it, for example optimal readahead can be very different on machines with different amount of RAM. Also, this is a way of locking some values (for example the tool should not allow to set readahead >RAM/50).
Also there should be a global Enable HDD Powersave Tools checkbox controlling /etc/default/acpi-support ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE.

And I also think there should be an option (with warning) to set hdparm -B to 254 in all modes (this fixes ustoppable spinning down on battery for some laptops).

18
votes

57
votes

Selected solution (#9): Expand the capabilities of gnome-power-manager

Written by brand0con the 12 Mar 09 at 01:27.

Gnome power manager is a great tool but I think it could use some expansion. Namely, I'd like to see it logging (and eventually graphing) the system's battery history over the long term (not just a session) to give a more accurate picture of how a user typically uses his or her machine battery-wise and to give a sense of the machine's capabilities.

Ideally, the app would mature and after a set interval of recording this data, it would be able to provide a few basic suggestions based on power related events as to how the user can get the most life out of their battery in the long and short term.

5
votes

Selected solution (#10): "Green Software" Logo

Written by MX the 27 Mar 09 at 12:44.

To increase visibility and to be supported by facts: e.g. increases battery life by x% on average (for notebooks) or reduces average energy consumption by x % (for Pc's).

From my experience proper, non-technical and business oriented communication is key to reach most users and convince them about the usp's of a product.

Thinking of a usp - energy efficiency has a high impact.

Appreciate your thoughts and keep going!

159
votes

85
votes

Selected solution (#12): Automatic charge/discharge

Written by Mondane the 9 Feb 09 at 14:26.

The user shouldn't be bothered checking his battery and/or removing the battery when on AC power. Make the OS drain the battery on intervals so the battery stays intelligent when the laptop is on AC power.

The user should have the option the interrupt and revert the draining if he knows he needs a full battery and is leaving in a short time.

25
votes

Selected solution (#13): Set the maximum battery charge on AC power

Written by mathieu the 5 Feb 09 at 18:36.

In order to preserve its battery's life, I would like to set the maximum percentage of charge (60% or 80% for example) when I'm not using it outdoor.

But if I have to use it outdoor, I want to release the limitation easily to get the maximum charge.
Finally, when I come back at home, I would like to use the battery power if the charge level is over the limitation setting, even if I have plugged the AC cable.

This trick will increase our Li-ion battery lifetime. Because if it is always completely charged when the laptop is running on AC power, its charging/discharging capacity will decrease quickly than if it is set on a lower value.

0
votes

See the 86 comments or propose a solution >>

Fix Suspend and Hibernate

Written by tighem the 28 Feb 08 at 17:22. Global category: System. Not an idea

Suspend and hibernate still seems to be a big issue based on forum posts.

Developer comments

“Fix suspend and hibernate” is not an idea; it is not something that a developer could ever mark as “Implemented”. Suspend and hibernate work for many machines, and making them work for more machines is a matter of fixing individual bugs, not of implementing an idea.

This page has (as shown by the “Mix of improvements” suggestion, and the highly varied “duplicate” ideas) become a vortex for many unrelated ideas. Some of these ideas are good, and some are not so good. They should be separated out and voted on individually.

—mpt

7476
votes

78
votes

Solution #3: Mix of improvements + Solution #1 (letting the user choose)

Written by franco.valoppi the 26 Aug 09 at 03:47.

I think that even using proprietary driver may make it more compatible, always let the user to choose.

On the other hand I have some other ideas to improve performance (probably already implemented):
- Memory trim and garbage collection, before hitbernating.
- Memory Defrag.
- Exclude System Prefetched data from hibernate files. I mean memory used with programs already closed but still in memory in the case you want to open them again.

-31
votes

Solution #4: Add an idle option

Written by qwerty800 the 19 Sep 09 at 14:54.

As a temporary solution, we should add an "idle" option to ubuntu.

Since suspend and hibernate both invole creating a system image and storing it in the ram/in the swap, until we fix this, we need to find another alternative to this.

The only alternative remaining is to leave your computer open during all the night!

Well, my idea is to add an "Idle" option, that would:
-Suspend most of the programs
-Lower the CPU clocking (If possible)
-Lower the fan speed (If possible, trying to emit the less noise possible)
-Lower the HDD speed (If possible)
-Lock the screen

That way, we could still avoid energy wasting, while waiting for a working sleep mode.

136
votes

99
votes

-32
votes

Solution #7: Create solid aternative for laptops where suspend/hibernate doens't work.

Written by FeraTech the 21 Mar 10 at 04:47.

For those laptops where suspend and hibernate do not work Ubuntu should automatically default to an alternative.

A good solution would be to simply have the previous state stored onto the hard drive including all running applications. The laptop would boot normally and all of the previous state would just be stored and controlled by the operating system.

30
votes

-27
votes

10
votes

Solution #10: investigate why suspend works in other distros and not ubuntu

Written by DonnyDonNothin the 22 Nov 10 at 15:36.

investigate why suspend works in other distros and not ubuntu. 's2ram -f' in another distro works flawlessly, but what ever ubuntu uses causes my touchpad to freeze. ask the community to contribute to a list of what hardware and applications work in suspend. much like the voting system here. for example:
XXX touchpads freezing after suspend +6 votes
window contents lost on ati drivers +X votes

0
votes

See the 280 comments or propose a solution >>

Speed Up Ubuntu-Gnome boot time

No information about this blueprint
Information is updated every 5 minutes.
Please wait till the next update.

Written by Arioch the 28 Feb 08 at 15:26. Global category: System. Implemented

I guess everybody has experienced the rather long boot up times in Ubuntu (particularly with laptops). I know they are already working on it, but the change from feisty to gutsy was a pain in the ass in terms of boot up speed.
A default WinXP installation beats Ubuntu's boot up time by far!! That shouldn't be allowed fellas!!

6231
votes

61
votes

Selected solution (#2): Allow users to streamline the boot simply.

Written by tchalvakspam the 23 Jan 09 at 21:53.

In addition to speeding up the processes involved, which is key, make it simple for the user to streamline their own bootup. Installing different software can -always- slow down a bootup, no matter how fast it was initially.

Thus, to -keep- boot time short for the many different ways that people use ubuntu, provide the ubuntu user with a simple default tool to remove, delay the start of, or uninstall software that take the most time during startup. The combination of a default boot-time analysis tool and the current session startup manager would provide allow easy boot streamlining, and to a lesser extent so would showing on-screen indicators of what things are being started up over the course of the normal ubuntu boot load.
Allowing user analysis is the key feature missing to make streamlining available to the individual in addition to the developer.

-20
votes

Selected solution (#3): Defer loading unnecessary programs

Written by aadityabhatia the 29 Jan 09 at 04:57.

Some programs take too long and are not required immediately upon boot. For example, sendmail takes forever to start and a regular desktop user usually wants to see a login screen asap, so sendmail can wait. Such programs could be identified and their initiation can be delayed while rest of the system continues booting up.

40
votes

Selected solution (#4): Profiler to log boot program times

Written by aadityabhatia the 29 Jan 09 at 05:04.

There is a contrast in the comments: some machines take more time before login screen, some do after. In many cases it's the compiz and in some it's dbus or a part of gnome.

The idea is to have a profiler start at the beginning of boot process, on demand, and measure the time taken by each program at startup, writing it to a log file. This will help users figure out what part takes the most time, and will simplify profiling the boot process.

Not sure how much effort is involved, but sounds possible. Any takers?

57
votes

Selected solution (#5): Prefech gnome programs while the user type his password

Written by Id2ndR the 15 Feb 09 at 16:10.

The programs that are loaded just after the login are always the same : gnome-session, gnome-daemons etc.

What take time to load the session is to read them from the hard drive. So as we are sure they will be loaded, we can prefetch them.

This can be extended to user's programs just after he give his name to gdm (so while he is entering his password).

139
votes

1
votes

Selected solution (#7): make gnome as fast as xfce by working with them

Written by slsolaris the 23 Mar 09 at 17:11.

gnome is too slow, it need a lot of implrovements, like when u see icons overlap any other, gnome panel bar is not real transparent, and i bring this things in mind just because i can not understand how xfce that does have this features is faster and and lighter...

i mean gnome should work in hand with them and give them things that they already do not have and they could give us some very important help to improve things

See the 107 comments or propose a solution >>

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. Global category: Graphics. 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

6224
votes

See the 69 comments or propose a solution >>

Clean up Preferences and Administration.

Ubuntu

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

Written by writser the 28 Feb 08 at 16:49. Global category: System. Implemented

First of all: What is the difference between Preferences and Administration? For example: why do I see 'Encryption and Keyrings' in Preferences and 'Keyring Manager' in Administration? What is the difference between 'Default Printer' and 'Printing'? Why do I have to disable the Tracker under Sessions and not under Search and Indexing? And why are these menu's so large? I have 24 items in Preferences (they don't even fit on my screen!) and 18 items in Administration. To put all this stuff in a popup menu is bad interface design imho. Besides, the number of option should be much smaller. A few suggestions:

Below are all settings I can visit via the System menu. This is just way too much.

-- Preferences --
Universal Access
About Me
Appearance
Bluetooth
Default Printer
Encryption and Keyrings
Keyboard
Keyboard Shortcuts
Main Menu
Mouse
Network Proxy
PalmOS Devices (I don't have one)
Power Management
Preferred Applications
Remote Desktop
Removable Drives and Media
SCIM Input Method Setup (What is this?)
Screen Resolution
Screensaver

[....]

Developer comments

* 'Screens and Graphics' has been dropped in favor of just 'Screen Resolution'

6065
votes

120
votes

Selected solution (#2): Fedora 10 inspired solution

Written by yule the 18 Jan 09 at 17:28.

I believe the "Preferences" and "Administration" sub-menus of the "System" menu should be re-structured similarily to "Fedora 10", splitting the items into categories of interest: Look and Feel, Input Devices etc.

Also, but this is probably a generic Gnome defect, items like "Screensaver", "Appearance", "Screen Resolution" should be merged together.

-153
votes

Selected solution (#3): Most important things in Preferences/Administration and everything in control p.

Written by jeypeyy the 18 Jan 09 at 21:05.

Put the most important things that a user will need in Preferences and Administration. If the user want to change less important stuff he/she could go to System->'control panel' where the user can change everything that is configurable.

What I mean with important is something like "screen resolution" while "Sun java 6 policy tool" is less important.

75
votes

Selected solution (#4): Add a shortcut to the gnome-control-center in the system menu

Written by c0p3rn1c the 6 Feb 09 at 15:33.

I'm not asking to remove the existing shortcuts in the system menu just to add a shortcut to the gnome-control-center, this makes it much easier for beginners to find what they are looking for. Especially when users are coming from Windows or Mac they are used to a having a control center.

On top of increased similarity to the most popular commercial OS's gnome-controle-center also adds extra functionality with the search box for people who are not used to Ubuntu yet and or are not yet using gnome-do.

Please try the gnome-control-center menu before you vote against it.
It's really a matter of choosing increasing usability over the possible redundancy issue.

191
votes

Selected solution (#5): All in one Gnome Control Center

Written by dael99 the 14 Feb 09 at 00:56.

All the administration task should be done in the Gnome control center, but nowdays it's just a launcher for gnome-conf apps.

The Gnome Control Centre should be a homegenius way of do things, use the same windows for operations and provide a back button, just like a file explorer (more intuitive no?)

Instead of launching a new windows it show be showed (not nested) to the main area of the Centre. This way we could compete with MS, KDE and MAC in terms of a nice control center.

(also we save some space on the gnome pannel)

85
votes

-110
votes

109
votes

18
votes

Selected solution (#9): Restructure the System menu similarly to the Control Center

Written by Endolith the 9 Mar 09 at 14:35.

Like solution #6, except without sub-sub-menus. Just put "Personal", "Look and feel", etc. directly under the System menu.

"Use submenus sparingly, as they are physically difficult to navigate and make it harder to find and reach the items they contain." "Do not nest submenus within submenus. More than two levels of hierarchy are difficult to memorize and navigate."

http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/menus-types.html.en#menu-type-su bmenu

61
votes

Selected solution (#10): Grouping of the listings.

Written by wish the 5 Mar 09 at 19:25.

1. For example, the Network configurations, Network Proxy and Remote Desktop can be grouped under a single listing Network.
2. Similarly, Compiz Settings Manager, Appearance, Emerald, Screen Saver, Screen Resolution, Windows etc can be grouped under GUI or some other better name.
3. Bluetooth, Printer, Mouse, Palm, etc can be grouped under devices.

Preferences and Administration should also get the option to be open in separate windows where they will not be cluttered.

67
votes

105
votes

68
votes

10
votes

Selected solution (#14): Unified menu for all settings

Written by probono the 4 Mar 09 at 22:09.

The separation between system-wide and per-user settings is not necessary. Neither Windows nor Mac OS X have this kind of separation, as it confuses the user more than it helps. I've observed many people to constantly search for a setting in the wrong menu, because nobody remembers in which menu a certain setting is. Hence, I propose to unify all settings in just one menu, as demonstrated in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF2-JHF6v10

Also, the number of menu items should be brought down by combining multiple of these that fall under the same topic, as it is done in Mac OS X. For example, "Keyboard" and "Keyboard Shortcuts" could be tabs of the same panel. The same is true for "Software Sources" and "Synaptic Pagage Manger", to name just two examples.

-47
votes

-64
votes

Selected solution (#16): Make the Menus Self learning

Written by hariks0 the 7 Apr 09 at 18:37.

If the menu preference could be set in a way that only the recent or frequent items are shown and the others only after a preset delay. Also the "Edit Main Menu" could be used to eliminate the unwanted items from popping up [by the user].

There should be a screen during installation letting the user select which applets they want to install with some tool tip for each of the items.Another requirement is an option to replace the default "menu Bar" with "Main Menu Icon" in initial setup from live CD ,which makes the desktop cleaner.

My third suggestion is to open the two menu items of"System" tabbed in to a window named "Preferences" the other "Administration". The applets/ items could be represented by icons and in alphabetical order.

990
votes

Selected solution (#17): Develop according to the examples below

Written by nq6 the 24 May 09 at 21:35.

Below I developed some screens to explain better my idea.

Reduce the number of options available to facilitate the choice by the user. Decrease from 39 to 16 items.

Scheme simplification.

idea of how many icons can become one. view of the behavior of windows with the merger of these icons.

overview of the idea. In this picture you can see the whole blueprint at once.

[...]

Simplify the menu to facilitate usability. Below the simulation of how the menu of Ubuntu can be. Much simpler, less polluted Visually, and easier to find what you want.

The Ubuntu is an excellent system, more needs to move forward in some areas. One is the simplification of the options that the user faces. The current options make Ubuntu confused. I think that my idea is to improve usability.

-224
votes

5
votes

8
votes

-31
votes

Selected solution (#21): Implement or modify mintMenu

Written by je1403 the 14 Jul 09 at 23:41.

Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution. It is especially beginner-friendly. One of its best features is the mintMenu. This replaces the gnome-menu, but is categorized in the same way. It's pretty difficult to explain it by text, but check out this image: http://www.jessture.com/images/linux_mint/lm3-1_mint_menu.png
The menu is divided in several sections. The "Applications" section is categorized with the average "Office", "Internet", etc. Instead of having the pop-up menus, the menu has a fixed width and height, using scrollbars when the listed items dont fit. Mouseovering the categories shows their contents. The best part is the search bar. If you type "screen" it will filter the results and show you screen resolution, screensaver, login screen, for example. Watch this video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePEbfsV2yQw

0
votes

Selected solution (#22): Redistribute into better categories

Written by Aielyn the 26 Oct 10 at 13:15.

Instead of the current split into Preferences and Administration, have the System menu split into parts of the system. And then, on each submenu, the list would be split so that Preferences go on the top of the submenu, and Administration goes on the bottom, with a divider between them, thereby making it easier to distinguish between them, while being able to see both.

EXAMPLE LAYOUT - NOT PART OF SOLUTION ITSELF, JUST A POSSIBLE LAYOUT:

- Software
- Interface
- User
- System
- Third Party

Software would contain everything to do with software - Update Manager, Synaptic Package Manager, Software Sources, Computer Janitor, and Preferred Applications would all be examples.

Interface would contain everything to do with the User Interface - Mouse, Keyboard, Monitors, Audio, Menus, Appearance, etc.

User would hold things that are relevant to the users themselves - Languages, Passwords, About Me, E-Mail Settings, and Users and Groups as a few examples.

[...]

System would contain everything to do with system settings and underlying system operation - Time and Date, Drivers, power management, Startup Applications, System Monitor, etc.

Third Party would then contain anything introduced by third-party programs and dealing specifically with those third-party programs - for instance, Opera Widget Manager, Wine settings, etc.

TO BE CLEAR - THE ABOVE IS JUST AN EXAMPLE, NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION ITSELF. It can serve as a discussion point regarding how to best implement the Solution, but the Solution itself is only concerned with splitting it into categories and then dividing the resulting submenus into Preferences and Administration segments.

2
votes

See the 112 comments or propose a solution >>

Professional-looking bootloader

Ubuntu

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

Mentorship is available if you want to fix this bug.

Written by Murrquan the 28 Feb 08 at 14:42. Global category: Look and Feel. Implemented

Ubuntu's bootloader is a stark black and white screen, filled with confusing options. It gives newbies a moment of indecision, as they try to figure out if they are supposed to choose something, and wonder why there are three or four Ubuntus listed. Then the timer finishes counting down (starting from 10), and the newb begins to feel like he's getting in over his head as his PC boots into Ubuntu.

Too much information up front, stark text-only display, painfully long countdown timer.

5944
votes

524
votes

Selected solution (#2): Use Plymouth and the latest GDM for a faster and smoother boot up.

Written by vs8 the 14 Jan 09 at 15:59.

openSUSE and Fedora 10 feature more elaborate art than Ubuntu, I'm not talking about the colors they choose, because I like the Ubuntu colors, it's the art style.

One thing they got right is the boot up. Those distros boot very smooth and they look professional, Ubuntu looks rushed, plain and ugly.

I've seen Fedora boot, and the new plymouth thing rocks, Ubuntu should use it too. It's way better than the actual ugly usplash.

The other thing is the GDM, Ubuntu uses a very old GDM, which is slow. At least on my PC (AMD Phenon 9600 Quad Core, 4gb RAM). The new GDM is smoother, faster and it works fine.

In short, Ubuntu needs eye candy, from boot up to shut down it will attract more people, I guarantee it.

What is Plymouth?

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=fedora_plymouth&num=1

[...]

Screen:

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Image:Tours_Fedora10_012_Plymouth_Boot.png

openSUSE art:

http://www.opensuse.org/screenshots.php

New GDM login screen:

https://fedoraproject.org/w/uploads/9/94/Tours_Fedora10_018_Login_Screen.png

Thank you.

0
votes

330
votes

9
votes

516
votes

-81
votes

48
votes

See the 122 comments or propose a solution >>

Easy mounting of Images like ISO and CUE

Written by Nanotron the 28 Feb 08 at 20:17. Related project: Nautilus. Implemented

I'm a big fan of Images like .iso. However it is not very easy to mount these Images.

Developer comments

There is already right click->open with "archive mounter" in Gnome, however it currently has a major bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gvfs/+bug/299956

5716
votes

Selected solution (#1): Auto-generated solution of idea #194

Written by Nanotron the 28 Feb 08 at 20:17.

I feel there should be a Tool in Nautilus and Dolphin which allows mounting Images by double Click or something similar. (This feature exists int MacOS). Or with a right click on the I think that would be a very useful Tool for every one.
A good example for this is CDemu.

I know there are some other good programs, but I think that would be the easiest way

691
votes

-16
votes

0
votes

40
votes

-71
votes

-12
votes

Selected solution (#8): Okay, here it is :)

Written by r0g the 28 Oct 09 at 05:09.

In the form of a python script for nautilus actions.

http://www.technicalbloke.com/iso_mount.py

I don't have time to do the unmount command too but it should be easy to adapt if you know a little python, consider that homework & pls post me a copy :)

I think it would be nice if Ubuntu came with some more useful nautilus action scripts and a nicer way of adding/removing them. At the moment getting them in and out is more of a pain than it needs to be. It ought to be as easy as Firefox (if not easier!) to install plugins, maybe then people would make more.

Roger.

-44
votes

See the 65 comments or propose a solution >>

Improve file/folder sharing experience (Samba)

Written by bartong the 29 Feb 08 at 01:35. Global category: Internet & Networking. Implemented

Currently it is very difficult to setup and control access to shared folders without editing conf files and reading detailed instructions on all the variables. I propose that sharing (specifically Samba) be given a well worked GUI and some real TLC to bring it up to standard with the experience on Windows or OS X.

5396
votes

Selected solution (#1): Defaults and GUI Options adjusted appropriately

Written by bartong the 29 Feb 08 at 01:35.

By default a share should be accessible as Read Only by anyone on the network without a username or password (guest access). While guest access should be turned on by default, it should also be easy to turn it off, and if desired to give guests read/write access to the folder.

You should also be able to specify local users who will have read/write access, and these local users should sync with smb users invisibly (ie: the user doesn't need to know that there are two password databases being used).

The Properties window for a folder should contain a Sharing tab with all the options available to choose. I also propose a Shared Folders option in the Preferences menu should list the currently shared folders along with their settings, and provide a button to take you into the dialogue where you can set the options.

127
votes

29
votes

21
votes

Selected solution (#4): Samba Server Configuration Wizard

Written by Agafonov the 18 Nov 09 at 21:29.

We need a simple to use step-by-step wizard which will ask some really simple questions and generate an smb.conf file based on the user's choices.
How about https://launchpad.net/sscw ? It is a working example, although right now it's using zenity. If re-written using python it would become a very handy companion to nautilus-share.
We even should not include smb.conf in the samba package: once installed, samba server will not work until the user has defined how it should behave.

56
votes

Selected solution (#5): Share Sub-Folders by Default

Written by Klau3 the 11 Mar 10 at 01:51.

Right now, when right clicking on a folder and selecting “Sharing Options” – for example you want to share your Music folder and create a guest access to it – Samba will only share the files within the music folder but NOT THE SUB-FOLDERS where all the music is.

When sharing a folder, most people want to give access to sub-folders. For that reason, I suggest to reverse the handling of Samba sharing, so that you would have to click on an extra box to show that you don't want Samba to share sub-folders.

10
votes

3
votes

Selected solution (#7): Allow Ubuntu to change the mounting options of FAT partitions

Written by qwerty800 the 6 Feb 11 at 21:05.

I personally have a file depot on my network where users can drop the files they want everyone to access.
It used to be on a NTFS partition, but is now hosted on the samba network. Doing such was a fairly hard task, since NTFS doesn't save permissions for each file, and is mounted with the 700 permission, while Samba requires XX4 or superior. I had to modify my fstab config file for that, and that's definitively not what I'd call user-friendly.

7
votes

Selected solution (#9): Centralized file-sharing administration

Written by komputes the 17 Aug 11 at 22:42.

The question on many user's mind is "What am I sharing (and to whom)?"

“System > Administration > Shared folders” is a feature that has been removed since 8.04. There has been no replacement for this tool since its disappearance.

Solution is to create a utility that should provide a graphical front-end to configure both samba system shares (managed in /etc/samba/smb.conf) and samba usershares (/var/lib/samba/usershares/).

Stepping a bit outside the scope of the issue (samba), this application should have a pluggable infrastructure which can also be used to show and configure other types of shares (nfs, ftp, ubuntuone).

Central administration, what a concept!

See the 49 comments or propose a solution >>

Fix compatibility with webcams and microphone

Written by dragonx the 28 Feb 08 at 17:30. Global category: Multimedia. Not an idea

In many cases, I can't configure my webcam or I have problems with the microphone. Now I can use my webcam but only with V4L2 and only 3 programas detect my webcam. It's a good idea can use my webcam in all programs as camorama.

Developer comments

That's pure driver issue in the first place. A big plus is to recommend UVC-based webcams to users, since it takes a lot of work off the shoulders of driver-developers. On the
integration-side proper support for v4l/v4l2 in webcam-related applications needs to be solidified. The ideal application to polish up is cheese of course.

5301
votes

See the 42 comments or propose a solution >>

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... Next >>

Submit your idea