Contributor loonyphoenix

It would be great if the GNOME Games set is split into separate packages, as out of the 10 or so games I only actually want 2 or 3 which means I have to hide the rest with the menu editor.

Some programs (games especially) benefit when Wine is run in a separate xserver. Some users have developed programs and scripts to do this automatically, but I think this can be improved and made an option in Wine.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3377903

Premise: 64 bit has now an extensive range of applications working but still one may want/need something peculiar with no 64 bit support, why should he renounce to it?

I've just read a guide on a blog about how to have any 32 bit application run on a 64 bit ubuntu installation and it is awfully baroque for average Joe, so here's the idea:

Ubuntu 64 bits could have a built in option to manage 32 bits applications, libraries and repositories as well.
If I am fine with 64 bit only I keep it off (or I do not even install it if I am given the option during the installation).
If I know that I need a 32 bit app I go to System > Administration and enable the whole thing.

At this point I should be able to install 32bit apps normally trough synaptic, and the system should take care of:

- letting me know (either by hilighting or UI separation) if the app I am installing is 32 or 64 bits, if it is 32 and there is a native 64 bits version it should prompt me so I do not "pollute" the system unnecessarily.

- installing their 32 bit libraries in a separate folder and take all the necessary steps to make them work and keep the system clean.

- managing 32 bit repositories so they do not get mixed up with 64 bit "main" repos, thus the system stays clean.

I think that having friendly tools to handle smoothly the 32 to 64 bit transition phase would, as we say here, save the goat and the cabbage, allowing a better user experience by not forcing the user to chose between an extensive range of applications and the full performance their hardware can express.

It's good to have the cursor out of the way when putting in text sometimes, it's a good option to have so users don't have to frustratedly shove their mouse out of the way really quick.

I'm sure the human brain is quite capable of picking up on where the invisible cursor is when they move the mouse again, but I'm sure it's not necessary to completely disappear the cursor for text entry.

Instead, it could be made mostly transparent but still opaque enough to know where it is. Perhaps when the mouse is moved again, some effect could be used to make it's location more obvious, like a halo or brief flash.

This may provide a minor improvement in accessibility for some users without drastically effecting the great many users.

in a tree becouse we'll know what to update:

for example:

>compiz
---compiz-core
---compiz-plugin
---compiz-gnome
>evolution
---evolution-data-center
---evolution-webcal
---evolution-plugin
>firefox
---firefox-3.0
---firefox-3.0-gnome-support

etc, update manager should be more intelligent in general!

People tried to install or update to Interpid Ibex may felt surprised suddenly how painful is running Gnome on a machine with 512mb or ram or less. (i'm now using LXDE by default)

Since no much significant features were implemented, it seems to be still dirty code on Gnome should be cleaned to optimize it for computers not so plenty of gigabytes of RAM.

Interesting to see how we can save more than 100mb of ram using LXDE instead of Gnome, even running all Gnome applications, like nautilus, gnome-terminal, gedit, etc.

would be interesting if the .Trash folders could use the Trash icon instead of the Folder icon.

Problem:
The default install of Abiword comes without .odt support (and misses many other formats). The user has to install the abiword-plugins package to work with .odt files.

If I had not explicitly sought for Abiword's .odt support I would have reverted to OpenOffice.

Spending extra time to make Abiword compatible is quite a high barrier for normal users (=users that expect an application to work out of the box).

Solution:
Abiword should support .odt by default. Either recommend to install the abiword-plugins package when installing Abiword or integrate the plugins into Abiword (means they cannot be removed).

At least integrate .odt support somehow BY DEFAULT.

Note to Mods: This Idea is NOT a Duplicate of Idea #14003, which has been marked as "Already Implemented" (see below). The already implemented functionality is only available on the Alternate CD. This idea is to add the functionality to the Standard CD.

According to Ubuntu's Upgrade Notes, the Alternate CD includes functionality to allow for upgrading from the CD, rather than from the repositories.

This functionality should be included in the Standard (i.e. "Live") CD.

This idea is in response to Idea #14003 being marked as "Already Implemented". Idea #14003 requested dist-upgrade-from-CD functionality be included, to which the developer response was "It has been possible since day 1. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes."

According to the linked Upgrade Notes, dist-upgrade-from-CD is available, but only from the Alternate CD.

Either the contributor for Idea #14003 was not clear enough, or - more likely - the developer who commented didn't consider that the vast majority of people do not know/think about/use the Alternate CD.

More importantly, while the Alternate CD is a logical place to have edge-case installation functionality, I think that one could make a strong argument that dist-upgrade-from-CD is not an "edge case".

Therefore, dist-upgrade-from-CD functionality that is available on the Alternate CD should be included also on the standard LiveCD.

[....]

I am shocked at the Intrepid beta as I saw - what I thought to be - a blatant digression with the wallpaper and the login/logout sounds from Hardy to Intrepid.

I see for the sounds they made the packaging more freedesktop-friendly, but it still doesn't mean I like it.

Hardy
wall: http://staging.altonlabs.com/ubuntu/hardy.png
login: http://staging.altonlabs.com/ubuntu/hardy-login.wav
logout: http://staging.altonlabs.com/ubuntu/hardy-logout.wav

Intrepid
wall: http://staging.altonlabs.com/ubuntu/intrepid.png
login: http://staging.altonlabs.com/ubuntu/intrepid-login.ogg
logout: http://staging.altonlabs.com/ubuntu/intrepid-logout.ogg

(Feel free to use the links (temporarily) for your blogs. For the wallpapers, see ubuntu-wallpapers or /usr/share/wallapapers. For the sounds, see ubuntu-sounds /usr/share/sounds)

I personally - as a computer nerd - don't care much about the default wallpaper in an operating system as I know it can be changed, but first impressions mean a lot to others. It does mean a lot to me, however, as someone who is in marketing and who has been trained in design for a number of years.

[....]

Currently the System Monitor is sort of worthless as a Windows-style Task Manager. When the system is frozen because of a buggy application, System Manager won't take the screen back, even when a keyboard shortcut is used to try to bring it up.

And often the keyboard shortcut assigned to killing applications won't come up either.

Both of these need to be more able to take over control of the desktop and dominate buggy applications.

Windows Task Manager has this ability, and will almost always come up no matter how many things have crashed.

Also, add links to shut down, reboot, or restart the windowing manager.

I propose that the new version of gimp be put into 8.10.

Many of us use the trash as a "just in case" tool, just in case we make a mistake. We don't use it as a backup of deleted files. I'd like a way for the trash bin to optionally manage itself, and delete the oldest files automatically as my harddisk is running out of space. This would ensure that I always have a second chance, whilst not having to worry about maintaining my trash can.

To ensure that the files don't disappear immediately after being trashed ruining the safety margin, there could also be an option for files deleted to be locked for a certain time period, to ensure that files don't get deleted instantly. (such as where you delete a 500MB file when there is only 500mb of space, and then 1 minute after immediately install something).

In fact, it actually adds a greater level of trash safety, because files in the trash will persist as long as they can, as opposed to now where if you don't empty the trash, there may be 300gb of files in there, and the only easy option is deleting all of them unnecessarily. However, files could still be manually deleted

That system would allow you to put tabs of different program into the same windows.
For example : You open Firefox, and you drag'n'drop a Pidgin tab into the Firefox window, then a Konqueror tab into that same window, etc.

I am trying to use the gimp more and more, but one of the biggest drawbacks I see is the fact that it are all different windows. I have to work in the image AND constantly change settings in the main window. This is very annoying since I constantly have to go back to my taskbar to "search for" the gimp, change a setting, and go back to the image.
This is very annoying when you've got many images open which you're working on and the taskbar is therefore full of things..

It should come in one window by default.

ps. I tried to install gimpshop several timees but it always gives me errors or doesn't work.

It would be nice if you could select a repeating video and set it as your desktop backgound.

The movie can be just about anything, although "leaves in the wind" and non distracting ones are the best.

If user removed pendrive without unmouting several times warn him about the consequences and give him an option to disable caching for removable drives.

I installed Ubuntu 'Intrepid' (development) to partition 5 for testing (my 'work' system, 'Hardy' runs on partition 6).

Now booting my 'work' system causes an error report:
"fsck.exts: Unable to resolve 'UUID=188478b0-...."

and also indicates my file system has been broken, by saying:
"Please repair file system manually"

Repairing manually turns out to be no small task. I did it once, after a great deal of investigation and work. I took notes about what I did, and amazingly, I have even found(!) the notes. Unfortunately they aren't clear enough and I'll have to begin researching this AGAIN(!) to make booting work correctly, again.

If Ubuntu can't avoid creating these problems while installing, could someone (more knowledgable than I am!) create a script that would let the user indicate that an Ubuntu install caused this problem and that it should be fixed? Then the error could trigger the optional repair process and make an Ubuntu upgrade or testing install MUCH less dysfunctional.

I can't believe that I am the only Ubuntu user who wants to try another version, or try to help with testing, who runs into this. It is (for me) a difficult 'manual repair'.

Thanks, James

"Make Desktop Linux Better than Apple" is the title of this article: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/Shuttleworth-Make-Desktop-Linux- Better-than-Apple/. Well, if they want to make it better, it has to be user friendly. And the error messages in Ubuntu mostly aren't user friendly. They don't explain:

-How to fix the problem
-The reason of the problem in noob-understandable language

For complex and difficult problems, a link to a page in the Ubuntu User Guide would be nice.
Advanced users want to see the technical error message, so a details section should be added. The details section can be collapsed.

I think this can be done easily by using a common framework integrated into GNOME.

Merged from http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/13011/ :

When possible, a Revert button should be added to the message. This button will fix the error automatically, in case of an interrupted package install, for example.

I made a mockup for this:

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/9004/schermafdrukerrormessagov9.png

I did this in Glade.



[....]

Make an entry to "install-font" in the context menu when right-clicking a font file. The font would then be moved to the appropriate directory in the home folder. It took me a while to figure out how to install fonts!