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Contributor moose

New users tell that Ubuntu is slow (live sessions)  
Written by zwyber the 8 Mar 09 at 19:55. Related project: Live CD. Won't implement
I tell my friends and family about Ubuntu and most of them come back telling me that Ubuntu makes their PC run very slow. They didn't know that you had to install Ubuntu to get the true speed.

I think that many people may encounter this problem, because when you run a live session it really just looks like it is installed. Because of the speed these users don't want to use Ubuntu and tell everyone they know that it is very slow.
1318
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Solution #1: Show (extra) notification.
Written by zwyber the 8 Mar 09 at 19:55.
Very plain and simple, show a (extra) notification, telling the user that they are running in a live session and that Ubuntu runs very slow now.

Why extra? If Ubuntu developers are going to create a welcome screen where they put this information some people are not going to read this. Just a small dialogue after the welcome screen has been closed would be nice.

OR

Put the message in the default wallpaper, easier but not really the best solution.
-389
votes
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Solution #2: Live CD Cloud
Written by kidmodify the 9 Mar 09 at 02:07.
Use a Live CD "Cloud" if the computer is connected to the Internet to help increase speed. That way you have two sources of incoming data, the CD, and the Web.
-431
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Solution #3: Use multiple CD Drives if possible
Written by kidmodify the 9 Mar 09 at 02:14.
Some computers have more than one CD drive. Make it possible to use for example two disk drives each with an ubuntu CD. This could (as far as I know) double the speed, depending on the drive speeds.
254
votes
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Solution #4: (Pre)cache executables on CD agressively
Written by the 13 Mar 09 at 12:24.
Cache the executable files on the CD very agressively.
Cache the data files a lot less.
If there's a lot of RAM, precache executable files, if possible all of them.
This will make the use of the CD (or a slow HD) a lot faster.
446
votes
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Solution #5: Grub option to load into memory
Written by scubanator87 the 13 Mar 09 at 13:45.
Some live CDs (like puppy for instance) have the option to load the OS into memory.

Provided there is enough RAM (2GB?) Allow users the option to load the OS into memory and to continue to boot from there.
-142
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Solution #6: Don't run Compiz in LiveCD
Written by sci-fi guy the 16 Mar 09 at 23:08.
Maybe integrate a checkbox to turn it on with Solution #1 above.
259
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Solution #7: Notify During OS Boot
Written by Basem the 22 Mar 09 at 08:54.
While booting the OS, add a line that says "Enjoy ubuntu in full speed by installing it"
-52
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Solution #8: As #1, keep notification visible
Written by euxneks the 26 Mar 09 at 19:01.
I like the idea of letting them know that they are using a LiveCD on the desktop - we should also have interaction with it so that a user can get an idea of what a LiveCD is and why it's slower than the real system.

Once they close this, allow them the ability to open it again.
-90
votes
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Solution #9: Most users don't need all programs in live session
Written by ahsaeed the 29 Mar 09 at 16:11.
When I use Ubuntu in live session i don't wont to play games for example .. and some users do..
So..
i recommend to add another option to the boot menu as an advanced option..
"select programs to load during live sessions " .

-47
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Solution #10: Insert USB to improve performance
Written by sanketmedhi the 2 Apr 09 at 11:23.
Everyone might not have 2 GB of RAM but everyone has a USB drive. Live sessions booted from CDs can be cached onto USB storage for improved performance.
173
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Solution #11: Promote bootable USB
Written by sanketmedhi the 2 Apr 09 at 11:51.
Bootable USB images should be promoted rather than live CDs. Bootable USB drives can be prepared using software such as the one showed on https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick . Alternatively, the software that runs on Windows when an Ubuntu live CD is inserted should include such a functionality.
-58
votes
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Solution #12: fast live session
Written by Dorje the 2 Apr 09 at 22:10.
like solution #9 add an option to deselect unnecessary programmes and also give the percentage increase each unselection generates .
like for eg.
deselecting games =increase in speed 10%
and so on

PS:i don't know much about programmes so i dont know how much speed gain every (possible)deselection will generate
47
votes
closed
Solution #13: Use UnionFS to our advantage
Written by deriamis the 4 Apr 09 at 18:40.
Since the majority of load times is in late-linking the libraries, why not have the often-used libraries in a ramdisk and use UnionFS to overlay those files on a path? In combination with pre-caching (#4), this could be a significant speed boost. If we combine it with using a LiveUSB distro (#11), we could be on par with the performance of the computer itself.
43
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Solution #14: Add an option to create a live-usb from the autorun menu of the cd
Written by pepperpupper the 5 Apr 09 at 12:47.
Add an option for creating a live-usb to the autorun menu that pops up when mounting or inserting the cd/iso. Many people will use daemon-tool or similar to mount the cd in Windows, and if they see an option to create a live-usb from the popup menu, that would be a way of making it easier for everyone to do so.
39
votes
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Solution #15: Offer a tool for creating a live-usb in occasion with the download link
Written by pepperpupper the 5 Apr 09 at 12:54.
The title is self-descriptive. This would be another way of making it easier for people to find out about the possibility of creating a live-usb.
29
votes
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Solution #16: Instead of notification write it in the background.
Written by ll the 6 Apr 09 at 03:52.
A modified background that includes a warning can be used instead of a notification. Many computers at universities that are meant for multiple users use the background to communicate a special procedure especially in libraries for catalogue searches. This will decrease confusion and not use as many resources as a notification (I assume).
14
votes
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Solution #17: Install Ubuntu natively from within Windows
Written by pepperpupper the 7 Apr 09 at 14:14.
Make it possible to install a native Ubuntu installation from within Windows to another partition than the one running Windows from or to an USB-memory key, making it easier to install Ubuntu without having to boot into live mode.
5
votes
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Solution #18: Calc & disp speed-up performance on log-out based on sys's characteristics
Written by lackscr8ivity the 7 Apr 09 at 14:25.
When running the live session I would guess the memory, processor, hard disk read/write speed (maybe not this one), etc. system hardware & performance are evaluated.
As well, when running a program (game, OpenOffice, etc.) the CD read/write & load time could stored. Thus, when the user ends the live session, in the log-out window list some statistics: "These are the 5 programs you used the most:
From the live CD it took X-amount of real-time to load, but based on your system's hardware, if this were installed, we would expect it would X% faster."
58
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Solution #19: disabeling unnecessary services for the live-cd
Written by moose the 14 Apr 09 at 08:08.
So the live-cd shouldn't start services which are not neccessary for testing ubuntu (as some people use the live-cd as a secure system, services like cups are neccessary):

# anachron, atd, cron: I never used a live-cd longer than six hours - why should I create a cronjob?
# acpid, acpi-support, apmd, powernowd, powernowd.early: If I use the live-cd, I want to test if my hardware works and if the software fits my expections, not if the sleep option works.
71
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Solution #20: Solution #1 but sooner
Written by Ssdg the 29 Apr 09 at 11:25.
My idea would be to tell it on the first screen (the one that offers you to test, install, etc...).

Like:
Try ubuntu without
Install on your hard drive for better performances
...

not by demoting the live CD mode, but by promoting the installation.

I'm not in advertisement, but ubuntu will look much better.
-84
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Solution #21: Make user choose when downloading Ubuntu
Written by chareos the 6 May 09 at 14:08.
Make the Ubuntu download to be an EXE file which lets user choose to create a LiveCD (with performance warning here) OR a LiveUSB.

Also, a performance warning on LiveCD boot itself would be great !
-75
votes
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Solution #22: Load LiveCD into temporary file
Written by Avantarius the 10 May 09 at 09:42.
For systems with 1 GiB RAM or less, where solution #5 can't be applied, load the content of the CD in a virtual file system which could be located in a file on the computer's harddisk, i.e. create file on a existing ntfs-partition, an unpartitioned space or even use the m$-windows-swapspace.
55
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Solution #23: Put a note into the loading screen
Written by Kver the 16 May 09 at 20:51.
When a live cd shows the loading bar, there's plenty of time for a message such as "Loading and running content from this DVD will result in slow performance, and changes or customizations will not be saved."
5
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Solution #24: Use the new notification system
Written by aroach31291 the 22 Oct 09 at 17:19.
Firstly, I think that many of the solutions above are solving the wrong problem. People that try out Ubuntu may think that it is installed by just inserting the CD. The user may have no idea that they are using a LiveCD. After they discover that Ubuntu is "slow", they give up and reboot back into Windows. Notifying the user that they haven't installed Ubuntu yet would be the best way to solve this problem.

Utilize the new notification system. Have it simply display a message when the desktop has finished loading similar to:

Ubuntu is not installed yet! Feel free to use Ubuntu before installing it, but beware that it may be a little slow. If you like what you see click the install icon on your desktop!
2
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Solution #25: Show notification when system is waiting for CD drive
Written by mikko.rantalainen the 7 Oct 10 at 06:45.
Live session from USB/flash memory should be pretty okay even today but the real problem is accessing files from optical drive. Even there, the problem is latency, usually not the bandwidth.

The live session should run a small background service that displays a notification message when system is waiting for CD drive to access required data. The message could be along the line "Reading data from CD (installing on the hard drive would improve performance)" [however, the label should not claim to be reading CD if one is booting from e.g. usb memory stick]. The notification should be displayed if read command has waited in disk scheduler queue for more than a second.

This could be extended to deal with installed system, too. It would make sense to point out bottlenecks in the system to the user. If the system feels slow and a notification pops up that says "Waiting for disks (installing a fast SSD drive would improve performance)" would give a reasonable hint to the user which hardware upgrade would help the most. This could be even further extended and a similar notification should pop up if all CPU cores have been taken for more than 5 seconds ("Waiting for processor (upgrading the processor would improve performance)").

See the 19 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 19 Feb 12 at 03:08) >>

Searching with Nautilus  
Written by moose the 30 Jun 09 at 17:25. Related project: Nautilus. Not an idea
Today I searched some files on my external hdd with ~ 300 GB of data. This took quite some time. After the results came, I wanted to view one folder. So I opened this folder and wanted to go back to the searchresults after I looked in this folder. The problem was that nautilus began again to search for the files again.
5
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Solution #1: save searchresults
Written by moose the 30 Jun 09 at 17:25.
If Nautilus would save the searchresults some time (e.g. one hour or until the pc is shutting down; but how long it saves the results isn't important for this idea), Nautilus would not have to search again. So it would be faster.
6
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Solution #2: "search for files" in nautilus
Written by balloooza the 30 Jun 09 at 17:42.
You know that app in the places menu, that is a really fast searching tool, and for some reason nautilus is much less effective than it, so the functionality of that app (the speed) could simply be added to nautilus.
9
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Solution #3: Provide a great desktop search engine per default
Written by xfuser4 the 2 Jul 09 at 09:28.
We need a good integration of a desktop search engine into GNOME. The current situation is, that we have different search engines, that are all not very well-integrated. E.g. it would be nice, when searching a term with tracker inside a PDF file, that the search term got automatically higlighted in evince.

Also the performance and memory usage of the desktop search enignes are quite bad.

- Beagle provides fast access and gives good search results, but uses lots of memory

- Tracker doesn't provide good search results (e.g. it is not possible to search for partial terms), is not very fast. The only good thing is, that it uses less memory

Both search engines are working too much on the disk. The problem is, that the inotify framework of the kernel is not the right thing for search engines. It needs to discover all files before observing them - instead of providing a listener to all file accesses...
1
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Solution #4: don't search all over again after changing view
Written by mrkazoodle the 7 Jan 10 at 09:55.
also after switching view (for example list view) after searching some file, it starts to search for the exact same file and the exact same results all over again: this is a really annoying and a true waste of time

See the 1 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 5 Jan 12 at 20:40) >>

Improve gedit find function  
Written by kevgillan the 4 Apr 08 at 10:12. Global category: Others. Not an idea
The search and incremental search functions in gedit are a bit clumsy to use because a) doesn't always scroll to view appropriate place, b) doesn't positively tell you if a term is not found, c) requires another window which gets in the way of the document.

Can all these be improved? A quick find inspired by firefox would do the trick.
94
votes
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #6380
Written by kevgillan the 4 Apr 08 at 10:12.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #6380 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!
2
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Solution #2: Adopt ideas from Chrome (the Browser)
Written by moose the 29 Aug 11 at 14:42.
I have added a screen shot which explains it much better than words:
http://www.martin-thoma.de/ubuntu/chrome-search.png

* Use the scroll bar: Add a little colored bar for each place where the searched word was found
* Highlight all occurences of the searched word, but the current one in a slightly different color
* Indicate how often the word occured
* choose the position of the search window in a way, that it's not over the search result

See the 4 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 30 Dec 11 at 20:33) >>

improve firefox context menu  
Written by moose the 2 Oct 09 at 17:35. Related project: Firefox. Not an idea
I don't need most of the items on the context menu and I guess most users don't need them. They bother me, because sometimes I click by accident on them:

* Save as bookmark (with FF 3.0 you have this nice star in the url bar and under "bookmarks" you can also save them)
* Send Link
* Copy Image URL
* Send Image
* Use as background image (you can easily do this in gnome)
* back / forward (you have icons)
* reload (F5 + icon)
* stopp (ESC + icon)


To check weather most other users behave the same way I made a proposal for a mozilla test pilot test: http://labs.mozilla.com/testpilot/
-2
votes
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Solution #1: Delete and implement new function
Written by moose the 2 Oct 09 at 17:35.
Delete those items (if the test pilot study showed the same results for others) and exted firefox with something like a menu editor: https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/710



See the 2 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 5 Oct 11 at 15:57) >>

Volume on start is too high  
Written by moose the 10 Oct 09 at 05:10. Global category: Look and Feel. New
If I watch a movie I set the volume very high. Sometimes I forget to set the volume back to a normal value before shutting down. When I start the computer again, the starting sound is much too loud.
-3
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Solution #1: Set volume to default value on shutdown
Written by moose the 10 Oct 09 at 05:10.
If the volume would be set to a default value on shutdown, I hadn't this problem. This default value should be editable, of course
3
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Solution #2: Make the starting sound independent of the sound volume
Written by mabynke the 10 Jun 11 at 21:12.
It should be possible to set the volume of the starting sound independently of the normal sound volume. Then, it would not be too loud or low, no matter what you set the volume to the day before. There would of course have to be an option to make it use the normal sound volume, should anyone want that.

See the 2 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 10 Jun 11 at 10:23) >>

OpenOffice - Import HTML with CSS  
Written by moose the 15 Nov 08 at 23:10. Related project: OpenOffice.org Word Processor. New
The last few days I wanted to create PDF-Files of my website. So I copied the Website (ctrl + c) and pasted it (ctrl + v) in OpenOffice. Well, the text and the picture were imported but not something like borders, background-colors, colors in general ... it would be nice if OpenOffice would copy also the information which is stored in the CSS-File.
38
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #15665
Written by moose the 15 Nov 08 at 23:10.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #15665 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 2 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 10 Jun 11 at 07:47) >>

localized search engine plugins for firefox  
Written by moose the 5 May 09 at 17:47. Related project: Firefox. New
I am german, so if I install Ubuntu I install the german version. Almost everything is translated, but not the search engine plugin in firefox (upper right corner). For most of those search engines (Ebay, Wikipedia, Amazon) exists a german version that I have to add with http://mycroft.mozdev.org/ or by going on this website.
67
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Solution #1: add plugins of other languages
Written by moose the 5 May 09 at 17:47.
Replace the english plugins by language specific plugins if they exist. If you chose an english installation install the english plugins, if you chose german installation german plugins.

e.g.
english:
http://www.amazon.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://www.ebay.com/

german:
http://www.amazon.de/
http://de.wikipedia.org/
http://www.ebay.de/

edit: just found the launchpad bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mozilla-firefox-locale-all/+bug/52537
27
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Solution #2: #1 and find a way to allow it to follow the session locale.
Written by Ssdg the 6 May 09 at 17:13.
If the plugins are set at the installation, what if your share your computer with a foreigner? move to another country? etc?

Maybe ubufox should do the trick.
2
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Solution #3: #1 and #2 and also change the "Latest Headlines" section
Written by Attiliron the 9 Dec 09 at 20:55.
Since the BBC news are interesting to me, they are not very usefull for the average user and should be replaced by local news. The string "Latest Headlines" should be localized too.

See the 2 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 6 Mar 10 at 16:12) >>

Alignment of Formulas  
Written by moose the 18 May 09 at 13:00. Related project: OpenOffice.org Formula. Not an idea
If you use OpenOffices Formula-Feature, you can choose three alignments: left, centered, right. But if you chose left, not only the text ist aligned left but also the numerator of fractions ist aligned left.

This is a little example. If you use longer equations it looks even worse:
aligned to left


centered
0
votes
closed
Solution #1: Change this behaviour
Written by moose the 18 May 09 at 13:00.
The enumerator and the denominator should be aligned in the center of the fraction although the fraction itself can be aligned to the left.

See the 1 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 19 May 09 at 02:22) >>

To many websites in Firefox history  
Written by moose the 5 May 09 at 17:59. Related project: Firefox. New
I vist / search a lots of websites in the internet. As Firfox developed the new "Awesomebar" I've been very happy because it was easier to find sites I've already visited. But the more sites I visit (and search in google) the less useful is the awesomebar and deleting something from the history is quite time consuming
17
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Solution #1: add blacklist for firefox history
Written by moose the 5 May 09 at 17:59.
For some websites I like to have the website in the awesomebar, but not the single pages.

e.g. I want to have google, but not google searches in my history. So I'd like to add google to the blacklist. Google websites would not appear in the history.
-6
votes
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Solution #2: Have a custom homepage with links to favourite sites
Written by malofighter the 5 May 09 at 19:00.
Startpage with links to favorite sites with a thumbnail of the website.
4
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Solution #3: Ability to delete entries in the awsomebar
Written by malofighter the 9 May 09 at 17:11.
Have a little cross next to all the entries so you can delete the ones you dont wan't.
3
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Solution #4: never add certain status codes
Written by moose the 5 Jun 09 at 19:14.
I don't want those 404 - page could not be found - messages in my history. 500 - internal server error would be another message I would not like to have in my history.

Don't get me wrong - I want Firefox to decide with the response code weather to add it to the history, not with the title.

List of HTTP status codes

See the 6 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 12 May 09 at 19:13) >>

Ask for Root permission  
Written by moose the 20 Apr 09 at 12:10. Related project: Nautilus. Already implemented
There are some programs / files that need root access to use them. Sometimes there is only an alert that you don't have the rights to execute / delete / save this program / file.
76
votes
closed
Solution #1: Use promt like Synaptic
Written by moose the 20 Apr 09 at 12:10.
When I start Synaptic a root prompt asks for my root passwort. If Nautilus did the same for files I want to delete where the owner is root or gedit / kate would ask for root password if I want to save a file with owner root it would be great.

At the moment I open those programs with Alt+F2 "gksu" or in the console with "sudo" like "sudo rm -r /home/moose/.local/share/Trash/files/2008_0918_RT2860_Linux_STA_v1.8.0.0"
2
votes
closed
Solution #2: Use the pre-existent nautilus script
Written by sanketmedhi the 4 May 09 at 14:26.
There is already a Nautilus script which allows you to right-click the protected file and select "Open as Administrator". It is just like running gksu on the file.

sudo apt-get install nautilus-gksu

http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/nautilus-gksu.jpg

See the 3 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 9 May 09 at 15:17) >>

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