Contributor powerjg

Right now, at school, there is a limit (cap) on the weekly bandwidth that I can use. Unfortunately, the school does not provide bandwidth monitors, and there is no comprehensive program for linux. It would be nice if there was a program that monitored bandwidth (on all or some ports) and totaled it to provide daily/weekly/monthly totals. An alarm built into this to warn you when you approach a limit would be helpful.

"The only other major gaps in Ubuntu's functionality are the result of weaknesses in the GNOME desktop environment. As I mentioned in my recent GNOME 2.20 review, GNOME's file dialogs are still woefully inadequate, lacking support for multiple image thumbnail display and basic file operations like delete and rename. GNOME's feature-anemic file manager also lacks many of the more powerful user interface features found in KDE alternatives like Dolphin.

Although Ubuntu isn't directly responsible for these problems, the distribution still suffers from the defects. The Ubuntu developers could help to address these issues by encouraging upstream developers to revisit some of their design decisions. Canonical could also potentially invest some resources to resolve these problems upstream by contributing the necessary fixes. At this time, Canonical still isn't nearly as involved as Red Hat or Novell in upstream GNOME development. Usability improvements are an area where the Ubuntu development community would really be able to bring something useful back upstream."

From: We're only Human after all: a review of Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/ubuntu-gutsy-gibbon-review.ars/5

While requesting features to the open source community which consist mainly of free workers, we may often forget to say how much we like Ubuntu and look like costumers requesting.

So you can say thank you to the thousands of developers and users who gave their time by voting for this article :)

Gimp is the defacto photoshop clone, please be it the default in kubuntu too!

New users of ubuntu often feel isolated and uncomfortable with ubuntu because they don't know their way around it. Such tasks as software installation and other areas are in dire need of brief introduction.

This should work as follows:

1-Boot the LiveCD

2-You are asked: "Choose your level:
A.Beginner B.Advanced"

3-If you choose "Advanced" you will proceed as usual.

4-If you choose "Beginner" a wizard opens and shows some valuable information like how software is installed in ubuntu and the like.

Network Manager connections to wireless networks use the user key chain to store the network password, and it's not possible (or not easy -- I have not figured out how) to configure system-wide connections that are available to all users without them having to know the wireless network password. Also, it's not possible or not easy to configure (wireless) network connections that already connect before the user logs in. All in all, using Network Manager's wireless networking on a computer with multiple user accounts could use some central "for the entire computer" network management.

This would make Kubuntu more appealing to kids and women (in my experience at least)

Mark ideas that have already been taken seriously and been implemented.

There should be different states:
Considered for implementation
Scheduled for implementation
Currently in implementation
Already implemented

You can list these states like "Latest ideas" and "Most popular ideas".

Possibly there could also be an additional ranking/voting round for ideas that have been considered but not yet scheduled.

[No description]

As a user I want to be able to listen to audio or watch videos with the least amount of setup. I would like to have a single interface (Codec Manager) that lists all of the most common audio and video formats and shows me if I am missing the necessary codec for playback.

Use Case: Enable MP3 playback.
Precondition: MP3s are not currently playable.
1. User logs into the system.
2. User opens the Codec Manager.
3. System displays a list of common audio/video formats.
4. User selects MP3s.
5. System displays some info about MP3s.
6. System displays a list of available codecs.
7. User selects a codec and clicks Apply.
8. System downloads and installs the selected codec.
9. System informs the user when completed.

Other possible features:
- Display a list of audio/video types that are missing codecs.
- An auto-setup function, that grabs the recommended codec for all formats.

Audio and Video formats that should be supported:

Audio:
- MP3
- OGG
- AAC
- FLAC
- Real Audio

Video:
- MP4

[....]

Given the success (as far as I know) of your Dell partnership, please do everything possible to seek alliances with other vendors, as it will reinforce the idea that Ubuntu is a viable alternative to other operating systems and will provide better hardware support for current Ubuntu users.

Dell is offering new models based on Ubuntu (recently the XPS M1330 in a few countries), proof that the business model makes sense.

People around the globe that are using/concidering using Ubuntu are afraid that some of their hardware won't work for them. And some are frustrated to buy additional add-on cards to work around unsupportad onboard chips. All this could be avoided with a lookup in an ubuntu Hardware Database Website.

Some problematic hardware can be used with more or less work if helping information is available together with the hardware compatabillity data.

The hardware database can be found at http://hwdb.ubuntu.com/

From idea #47: The data should then be available in a format that is simple for users to browse on-line when considering new hardware.

Hi!

I'm a big fan of Images like .iso.
But it is not very easy to mount this Images.
I think there must be a Tool in Nautilus and Dolphin wich alows mounting Images with a double Click. (This feature exists int MacOS). Or with a right click on the file and then there must be a poit "Mount Image". I thick that would be a very use full Tool for every one.
A good example for this is CDemu.

I know there are some ohter good programs, but I think that would be the easyest way and very confortible.

Nanotron

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.

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

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. What would be the alternative? Well, when a Fedora PC is booted up, the first thing the user sees is a graphical splash screen, and "Booting into Fedora (kernel version) in 4 seconds ... " The user can press a key to interrupt and select from kernel versions or alternative operating systems, or just let it boot into Fedora.

Can't we create our own attractive bootloader? Or, failing that, copy-and-paste Fedora's?

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).

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

[....]

Suspend and hibernate still seems to be a big issue based on forum posts. Really focus on fixing it, even with proprietary drivers.