Contributor mondoud

The options available so far in order to format any media requires many steps which are non intuitive. A right-clickable option on a USB key or any removable media would be simpler. It would bring a dialog box warning that "all content on this media would be erased, are you sure ? Yes - No" style. If the user clicks Yes, then the system would ask for the admin password...

I think Ubuntu needs a proper, pretty, functional, simple and friendly Graphical Interface to format Pen Drives and other Hot Plug devices. Because gParted and others do it really good but are generics, a lay person new on Linux or a lay person newly arrived from Windows™ can do serious data loss if he/she choose the wrong device on the partition table for example. And it only format, don't have any special feature to Pen Drives and other Hot Plugs. A Specific GUI (Graphical User Interface) only to Pen Drives and other Hot Plugs like Cellphones and MP3™ players would be so a great feature and help. With unique features like pass and covert videos - using existing codecs like mencode - to MP4™ players for example.
I think it is easy, just create some Glade, Gambas2 or Gazpacho + GTK, cause the features are already there, ready to become together. Like i said, a GUI that links directly to USB or Bluetooth on the System and identify only these devices, use already existing codecs, and already existing functions/commands like mkfs, lsusb and othes, and pop up it all friendly to the user, to let he/she choose safely what he/she want to do.

Edit: +add christopher_lees suggestion - "Right-click on the device and choose "Format Drive...", give it a name, give it a filesystem, and click Format. An absolute necessity."
kernel_script - Just add a gksu on that action and would be perfect.

Examples:

=Hot Plug Devices Config= (HPDC)

"That tool allow you to easy manage all your Hot Plug Devices like Pen Drives, Cellphones, MP3™ players, MP4™ players, Bluetooth Cellphones and others. You can easily and safely format these devices, convert you favorite videos and music for you MP3™ and MP4™ players, and, rip your CDs direct to these Devices"

And some example of tools that could be used:

mencoder, ffmpeg, some code fork from SoundConverter and Sound Juicer, or ,just click on the option on HPDC and call them, mount and umount options specifically for these devices and format options for these specific devices. (like just put some direct paths like mount or umount /media/sda etc)

[....]

Currently when a program falls into an infinite loop and hangs, grabbing nearly all the cpu cycles when it does, what's the current procedure for the end user? The computer will most certainly be painfully slow to user input (assuming it's responsive at all.) We need to kill the offending process ASAP. This can be daunting for new users, and frustrating even for seasoned users. Currently the options include xkill, killing from the System Monitor, ps then kill, or (one of my current favorites) pkill. Sometimes X is so slowed down, I even Clt-Alt-F1 into a fresh tty. In the 21st century can't we do better?

What about this instead: When a runnaway process grabs nearly all the CPU cycles, 3 seconds later a 'ballon' notification should appear in the taskbar informing you that the system suspects this, and offering you the option to 'click here to kill the program'. Offer this functionality as an option that can be turned of if the user so choses.

Why not have the system realize what's going on, 'quaranteen' the damage by automatically renicing processes, and provide a notification with option to terminate the offending process?

In the new way I have suggested, the system monitors it's processes. If a process belonging to a currently logged-in user suddenly grabs 95% (just for example) or more CPU and keeps hold of it for more than, say 3 seconds, a few things happen. First, the offending process is automaticallly re-niced to the highest nice value. Second, a freedesktop.org - compliant singal is sent. Third, GNOME, KDE, XFCE, or whatever window manager / desktop enviro is running picks up the signal and creates an alert to the user. The processes for sending the signal, receiving it and displaying the alert have all been re-niced to the lowest nice value, effectively clearing the way.

Maybe the alert will take the form of a 'balloon' from the taskbar? Maybe a nice compiz fade-in popup? Maybe something like mumbles-project.org uses? Whatever method is used, the alert notification must supply a 'one click' to terminate the offending process.

What we're doing here is changing the paradigm. The question isn't 'How do we allow users to terminate a misbehaving program?' Intead its 'How do we ensure users's systems will remain responsive to input.'

[....]

The included Sticker with the Ubuntu CD is too large & kind of huge.

Please ship good ubuntu stickers witn the cd


The stickers background should not be white.. It should be transparent so that it'll look more professional on a laptop body, matching with the body color.

Possible options
1> Powered by Ubuntu Logos
Like this: http://blog.mypapit.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/after.jpg
or
http://shabbir.hassanally.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/ubuntu-sticker2.p ng

2> Just Ubuntu LOGO
like this:
http://www.shiftingheat.com/images/p1000212_sm.jpg

And remember.. background should be transparent

Touch sensitive LCD wall - very Human Interactive (both hands).
see
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4239227.html?page=1

Is Ubuntu interested in projects like this?

If so, here's an idea.
============

Step beyond hardware licensing
of conventional accessories, attachments, devices, etc. (don't drop it - keep it - but build on it)

Consider Partnerships , and
partnerships with new hardware that is totally new - hasn't reached consumer market yet.

Whether its providing a software platform, assisting with drivers, interfacing, advanced applications programs for end users, or
drumming up some sponsorship, advertising to Ubuntu users for donations (or any other form of support) - there are bound to be some ways to get involved.

This might involve teaming up with Debian and its other variants.

Solicit approaches from (potential) hardware manufacturers on the Ubuntu web site. They maybe inventors, new startups, or established manufacturers with a new product line.
Ubuntu could "Help" new products come into the world.

The "attitude" of Ubuntu may be an advantage in this activity.


[....]

for gnome:
make window's button on task panel not to disappear when that window is being loaded. (it disappears for a while and then reappears)

choose some media center -
elisa, freevo, mythtv, whatever,
and integrate it to the default installation.

Add a Wikipedia extension to Deskbar so that you can search Wikipedia from the Deskbar.

This would be useful for all, but especially Edubuntu.

Make so that you can perform simple math straight from Deskbar.

Such as 917-437, or 652+313 or 94/7, or 124*71.

Create a unit conversion extension for Deskbar.

miles - kilometer
millimeter - centimeter - meter - kilometer
yard - meter - feet - inch
acre — hectare - sqm
Celsius - Fahrenheit - kelvin
pound - ounce - stone - gram - hectogram - kilogram
second - minute - hour - day - week - month - year
km/h - mp/h - knot - mach

Example:
"74 kilogram in pound": 74 kilogram = 163.142074 pounds

Currently,. it only shows the actual weather status. It would be a great addition, I wouldn't have to go to a website to check the weather anymore.

This can be done like that - when the user clicks the panel icon, a list shows under it with the forecast for the next 5 days.

As a migrant from redhat based systems to debian the first things I do on a fresh system after opening my terminal are add the alias for ll="ls -l --color=auto" in /etc/profiles and uncomment for page up/page down = start/end of history settings in /etc/inputrc

There may be others like that that other former redhat users miss if anyone would like to add to the comments, but I'd really appreciate not having to do that on every fresh Ubuntu install and I'm sure it would help others transitioning from other distros, especially sysadmin users running Ubuntu Server.

Folders that contain links to media in other directories in ubuntu.

For example, a pictures smart folder than shows every jpeg, tiff, gif, png, bitmap etc... that is on the system in one place.

More and more requests for site-related issues are being made. (I've even made some myself, including this idea.)

Would it hurt to separate the two types of ideas a little more?

I know everyone here supports improving Brainstorm, but I'd rather see the major focus given to Ubuntu ideas.

Perhaps relegating site-related ideas/discussions to appear in the Brainstorm category only would be one solution?

The main task of a package manager is to keep track of the list of packages the user wants to have installed and to automatically deal with their dependencies, making sure that exactly those packages are installed that depend on the requested ones. Unfortunately it is not even possible to display that list in synaptic. There exists a filter for all automatically installed packages, while exactly the opposite would be interesting. In short: I think it would be very useful to include the functionality of:

aptitude search ~i | grep -v "i A"

I even think that this list is what should be displayed first when synaptic is started. Currently it displays the completely useless list of all packages: Everyone who wants to install software will look into some category or search for the package. The users software wish list would make much more sense.

An option to automatically remove all orphaned packages whenever an item is removed from the wish list, would also make life much easier and would be quite natural: A user who uninstalled some software doesn't expect the dependencies of that software to still use much disk space.

For two partitions which do not support the same filenames standards, enable the system to automatically "correct" filenames when copying files from a partition to another.

Use case : Hugo (Ubuntu) wants to share some files with Arthur (other OS).
If Hugo tries to copy his file named "Albinoni : Adaggio.ogg" from his ext3 partition to a fat32-usb-key, the opperation will fail with no explanation due to the ":" in the name.

Files transferts have to be very easy and smooth in order to develop the use of Ubuntu. The system should modify the name automatically, replacing ":" by "-" or taking it away.

As for copying a file that already exists, a pop-up could raise to warn the user with this kind of message :
"The filename contains the special character ":" which is not allowed on this device. Do you want to replace it by "-", if not the file will not be copied "
[No] [Yes] [No for all] [Yes for all]

== From merge #8630 ==
Currently, the only characters that Ubuntu does not support in filenames and paths are slashes, while Windows has a considerable list (apostrophes, asterisks, etc.). So when browsing such files having special characters, it could be a problem.
^^^ This situation can be solved by implementing this idea.

There is currently no default way to launch the expo function of Compiz using only the mouse. It would be great if, when Expo is active, you could middle-click the workspace switcher to activate it.

It would be handy and wouldn't detract from current functionality.

In the menu, "Transmission" should be "Transmission BitTorrent client". Just like "Firefox web browser". Newbies to Linux don't know what Transmission is.

idea from:
http://contentconsumer.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/is-ubuntu-useable-enough-for-my -girlfriend/

One major flaw I've found is with mounting devices.
It would be great if one could just plug a device in, then after it mounts s/he could give it a permanent mount name.
People shouldn't have to manipulate udev rules!

Below is an example:

A new linux user is using Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon, Gnome or KDE.
They have one external USB hard drive, and one USB flash drive. Let's say they first plug in the external drive, it mounts under /dev/sda1 (successfully, let's assume hotplugging works) to the location /media/disk.
The user plugs in the flash drive. It mounts as /dev/sda2 to the location /media/usbdisk.
Success! But wait, what happens if the user unmounts both devices, and then reverses the procedure? What if he mounts the usb drive first?

Lo and behold, the opposite happens:it configures them as /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda1, respectively mounting the external drive to /media/usbdisk, and vice-versa.
Now, /etc/fstab allows you to assign device markers (/dev) to certain mountpoints, right? But how can one effect which new device is assigned which marker? With UUIDS, right?
But when one assigns UUIDs to certain /devs, it effectively disables hotplugging!
So where are we? Back at the beginning!
Now, I may be wrong about a few of the particulars here, and if so, please, please correct me. But does anyone know a way around this?
In Windows XP, Vista, and Mac OS X, one can assign a mount point/drive/partition a permanent name.
This is very annoying; for example if I have shifting mount points then my ktorrent, amarok saved locations get screwed up.

There are a few programs that help with this.

http://flomertens.free.fr/disk-manager/features.html

[....]

There are still too much applications who have their own "network preferences" when you have to configure your proxy.

It makes no sense (or for very specific corner cases). Connection is something system wide.

I suggest that each application that doesn't use by default the system proxy ($http_proxy) is considered as a bug. It's even more important for application that doesn't offer this settings and consider that you should be directly connected to the internet (gdebi, xulrunner, ...). If a password is needed, each application should ask it (and not silently failed) but if you entered your password in your proxy preferences, it should never be asked at all (unlike Epiphany).

People using a proxy should only enter the configuration once (if it cannot be automatically guessed) and the proxy setting should be easily discoverable (linked to network or network-manager. The current "Preferences" is definitely not obvious). Then, all should work as expected for all applications.