Contributor jsmidt

Currently Ubuntu packages seem to be compiled using very conservative compiler switches, so binaries work even on (very) old hardware.
Many other linux distributions (like ArchLinux) take advantage of enabling compile-time optimizations, that results in much better experience in terms of 'feel' (compare snappiness Arch or SuSE have compared to Ubuntu on slower machines, like 500MHz).

Since nowadays *everyone* has at least i686 and MMX (you wouldn't want to run ubuntu, if you haven't had it, anyway) these architecture-specific optimizations are not so specific anymore... Why not use it to our benefit, especially that compiler suite (GCC) improves over time, and make ubuntu snappier distro?

Ideas which are done (or work in progress) should have the voting arrows removed or replaced with a tick for done(or working symbol).

That makes it immediately obvious to people the idea is being actively worked on, or is going to be, at which point, voting no longer has any influence on the idea anymore anyway.

The status of projects isn't obvious enough, so doing this will make it more obvious, and make more sense overall.

Most of the planet uses the Metric System. So why does the system default to imperial units? Make A4 the default paper size for printing, only two countries don't use it. Most people don't know what inches are so cm or mm should be the default.

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.

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:

- Merge 'Screensaver', 'Screen Resolution' and 'Screens and Graphics'.
- Merge 'Network', 'Network Proxy' and 'Network Tools'.
- Merge 'Update Manager, Synaptic Package Manager, Software Sources'.
- Merge 'Encryption and Keyrings', 'Authorizations', 'Keyring Manager'.


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

[....]

Whilst it's possible to use the "migration" tool in Ubiquity (the live installer for ubuntu) during the installation to migrate settings over, there seems to be no way to do this _after_ the system has been installed.

It should be possible to pick the migration functionality out of Ubiquity and make it a standalone application which a user could run over and over (as necessary) to migrate the current setup on their Windows partition into their Ubuntu partition.

A further useful feature would be a "delete windows" option which makes it easier for people to fully migrate from Windows. It should find the Windows partitions and (after confirmation/checking) delete them, reformat them and add them to Ubuntus storage. Either via LVM, or by massaging the partitions, or even adding the space under some mount point.

Organize a web-based Debian Recognition/Appreciation Day every year. Doesn't have to be anything formal, but the Debian maintainers are a key factor to the huge success Ubuntu is experiencing these days and they deserve the props.

I think the 6 ttys available by default are an exageration for the common user who doesn´t use it, wasting memory resources.

Many games feature the ability to play with other people. However, the first thing the game will check for is to see if it is currently up to date. When Ubuntu enters version freeze, the games fall out of date, and it can be harder to play them online without finding a 3rd party update or compiling it yourself (Freeciv, Scorched3D, and Battle for Wesnoth to name a few). This also creates issues when different distributions freeze at different times, so it can be hard to play with other Linux users.

Ubuntu should provide a repository for up to date games for games that will always need the latest version to play online.

Make it easy to join a Ubuntu Workstation to a Active Directory Domain. Like Windows does for instance.

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).

Currently I can encrypt an ubuntu system during install, but if I did not I have to reinstall to get encryption. I would like a simple way to tell ubuntu to encrypt the system or a part of it, such as:

Swap
Home
Root
All

It would be useful to create a graphical user interface for the new ufw (Uncomplicated Firewall) in Ubuntu. Would be useful to make every new release with an enabled firewall by default and with this graphical firewall utility also.

The possibility to restore deleted files with a right mouse click in the trash bin in Gnome

Provide this warning with possibility to solve the problem.

In todays computer systems the main bottleneck is not CPU but disk access which is several orders of magnitude slower than CPU and memory. In such circumstances the way to improve application performance is to prefetch data it needs from disk before it even requests it and it is the point of prefetching techniques. This speeds up boot and decreases the time needed to start programs. This replaces and it is faster than the currently used readahead.

Most business laptops and some of the end user ones too now include a fingerprint reader.
Those are perfectly possible to use on Linux either by using thinkfinger (IBM/Lenovo) or fprint (HP).

The various PAM modules for those should be installed by default or at least be easily installable and integrate correctly in the default desktop.
GDM, gksudo and the gnome screensaver would have to be modified in order to correctly support fingerprint readers.

That way the user would be able to login either by entering is password as usual or using his fingerprint.

Summary:
Ability to download only changed bits of files and use much less bandwidth.
Scope and Use Cases:
Ann has slow internet connection. She sees that there are 150MB of updates and decides not to update at all leaving her with vulnerable and buggy system.
Implementation Plan:
Adopt it from Debian?

Previously discussed here, but still not implemented: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=409916

Allow users to log into Ubuntu Forums and other Ubuntu sites (such as ubuntu brainstorm) using their OpenID.

It is very frustrating when you get caught out after 30 boots and the system does a full check. Especially if you are about to give a presentation or you just need to read one bit of information. The Ubuntu team have done a great job of speeding up the boot time but this irritation undoes all the good work.

Possible solutions and further explanation:
http://micrux.net/?p=52