Contributor probono

Now, when you plug in a USB audio device, you must manually go into System>Preferences and change the source. This should be done automatically, under the assumption that if the user is actively connecting a device, he or she probably wants to use it.

This should work both for ALSA and OSS.

I'd like to see an iTunes interface like to manage apt'ed software.
I mean the exact iTunes interface applied to synaptic with lots of attributes like: package screenshot, end-user description like klik or click'n run website catalogs.
I image to handle actual software rep/catalogs like I handle single songs into iTunes
I know this is crazy ;)
my 2cents,

Luca

For example, I noticed that Warsow (shooter online game) is in version 0.32 in the repositories, and the up to date version is 0.42. It would not be a very big problem if the program would still be usefull, but in this case, as the game is online, needs to conect to a server and this directly depends on the version that is installed. So, this package in the repositories is useless because nobody will be able to play as they arent players in the servers for this version.

Everybody does not realize that the version is old, so there is people that is going to think that the game isnt playable and this affects very negatively to the users experience.

And I guess that warsow is not the only package with this problem.
If something in the repositories is useless, there must be a change: update it or remove it, both options are better than having the wrong idea of why something doesnt work. It is better to think that the problem can be fixed easily.
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I want to clarify something: I am not talking about the packages that are still useful even if they are not updated. Of course, they should be updated, but the main problem I am pointing out are the packages that are useless if they are not updated because I think that these are more urgent than the others. It seems logical for me, as the other packages still work and have a practical function while these are completely useless.
As sidney said in one of his comments, maybe this packages that I am talking about could be reduced to the ones that depend on internet, but not necessarily and they dont have to be games necessarily either.
So, I would bet that there are lots o packages that have no reason to exist if they are not updated and and we need a deep revision, update and cleaning.

I hope to have clarified the idea completely now.
Leave a comment if the vote is negative, please, so I can improve something.
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There are some very good ideas in some comments (for example, Auzy's, ru7hl3ss's or mp3phish's), so read them and take them into account too, please.

There should be an easy way to install .sh, .pl, .bin and .run files without using the terminal.
An example of this would be for .sh files when the user double clicks on them the terminal automatically pops up and executes "sudo sh .sh".
This would allow users to easily install these types of files and make Ubuntu easier for new users.

I run VirtualBox every once in a while, and whenver ubuntu upgrades the system kernel, I have to download a new kernel module for the VirtualBox.

At this moment, I am running kernel 2.6.24-18. The only modules in the repository are for 2.6.24-16 and 2.6.24-17.

I propose that whenever a system update is released that contains a new kernel image, that update must also include modules for other applications found in the standard Ubuntu repo. That way people don't get dependent on the older kernel images found on the computer and need additional kernel images. Only one image should be required unless you're doing something advanced or out of the ordinary.

This idea goes hand-in-hand with Idea #9504: FULLY uninstall kernel images after new kernel installs with system update

The current Linux kernel cannot support hardware manufacturers for new devices out of the box. This is because the kernel coding team refuses to stabilise the API/ABI interfaces neccessary so that a single compiled module can work. So modules cannot continue to link.

At the moment, if you create a new device, if people want to support it during installation, the manufacturer must compile one for every minor kernel module release, and every distro (so maybe 200 different compiled modules), or the installer must carry gcc and compile it.

We should push the Linux kernel team to fix this, and bring it to attention. This would allow us to use the same compiled driver from 2.6.X all the way to the end of the series, instead of requiring it to be constantly updated. We could upgrade our kernels whenever we want, without worrying about recompiling our custom modules.

Think about it, a single kernel module which works on nearly any distro, and does not need constant updating/recompiling to remain working. Breaking modules constantly wont stop manufacturers like nvidia from keeping it closed source. All it will do is get rid of the annoying open source wrapper to their closed sourced module that needs constant recompiling.

Anyone can grab windows drivers, and load them using ndiswrapper (which linus says is a violation of the GPL), and the actual driver wont need updating for a new kernel, but ndiswrapper will. So if you have 10 wireless devices, with ndiswrapper, you only need to recompile 1 module (ndiswrapper), not 10. If the kernel was fixed, that number would be 0.

Jono Bacon posted a article on this a while ago:
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/09/02/driver_ease.html

Important: Before voting, make sure you know what you are voting for. Without this, it is IMPOSSIBLE for driver developers to provide drivers which are mostly guarenteed to work out of the box on their driver CD's, because they would need to compile something for every variation. We should be able to pop a CD in the drive, and load the same module anywhere. This would fix that. If you vote against, please say why. If you vote for, please say why. Just be honest, and ignore kernel politics, and base your decision on what you personally believe.

[....]

Here in Australia Microsoft allocates a student as a Microsoft representative at every major University and gives them a free Xbox at the end of the year.

We should contact every university's main computing club and allocate a Ubuntu rep (without pay). It would look great on their resume, all CD's and demo materials are sent to them, and some ubuntu gear could be sent to them as thanks. (maybe just a T-shirt or something).

At our uni we had a linux rep, however, he had no focus, and we had no idea what to make of it. Lets get dedicated reps in there, so that the often held linux install days work better.

It would not take any programmers off their duties, and we could simply post a list of universities on the ubuntu frontpage for people to send applications to, if their university hasn't been allocated one yet.

Lets get the word across. Its no good offering to hand out CD's online if people haven't heard of ubuntu, this would give people a chance to tell people why ubuntu

The same way that it's done now, when a user tries to view a divx movie.

I like the idea of using applications that smoothly fit together and reuse libraries already loaded. Therefore, I'm trying to use mostly GTK+ applications when working in Gnome and mostly QT-based applications in KDE. When I'm searching for an additional application to install in the repository I'd like to have a swith to turn off applications building on one of these toolkits in order to ease the choice. Similarly, I would be interested to see the programming language used a bit more obvious since I'm a bit prejudiced and prefer c++ applications over python or perl-based applications.

Ubuntu has this wonderful UbuFox integration that prompts you to install missing plugins via the package manager when you visit a webpage that requires Flash.

But YouTube (and some other sites) will tell you you're missing Flash and then link you to the Adobe Flash download webpage, which has a .tar.gz and an .rpm but no .deb download.

Since we already have .deb files for flashplugin-nonfree in the repositories, would it be difficult for Ubuntu/Canonical to convince Adobe to host it alongside the other download options?

I don't really know if this has already been implemented on Ubuntu, but applying Fedora ideas to boost X startup would be appreciated.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/OneSecondX

A new wireless card or soundcard alone should not be a reason to upgrade the whole distro (and slow down everything because the newer version demands more resources).
Find a way to offer support for new hardware on all still supported versions of Ubuntu.

There should be a way, to find the names (and manpages) of all configuration files and command line tools related to a particular topic (usb, networking, drives, x.org, file operations, permissions, whatever) from inside the normal help system.

edit: "all" means all, that are part of the standard setup.

edit2: As one reply to this already pointed out, you can find manpages in help. The problem with this is, you have to know the name of the program or file. You should be able to find them by topic.

provide DVD image where both installers are included.

I want to spread the word about Ubuntu .
Not only that, I also want to spread Ubuntu by actively helping my friends with the first steps starting from the installation. As I dont always ask them (or forget) about hteir architecture it would really fits me to have both on one DVD .

In addition: wouldn`t it also be possible to discover the architecture automatically? and then ask if I do want to take the 64bit e.g. or stay with the 32bit?

The new Hardy has maken it fast, but I think it can be made even faster. There are many things ubuntu boot unnecessarily
for example, I do not use evolution or sheduler. still, with default installation, it wakes up, eating a bit of memory. So i usually turn it off. similarly the task sheduler..the all take up memory, furthe slowing it down..also, it drinks time when booting.

So I think you want to be asked of when installing Ubuntu- How You're gonna use it...do you want these all softwares in startup and so...or some standard install profiles which make a blend of these features...

Firefox should automatically use the package manager to install Flash, like Rhythmbox does with codecs.

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

There are standards namend ELF and POSIX. Compile all packets so that you can run them on any kernel. So I can use other kernels like solaris or freebsd for ubuntu. It should be possible.

I would like a version where I install the apps after I have nothing but a base OS, make the OS work with my hardware but then let me choose the apps one at a time.

make a GTK version for virtualbox gui
i'm ubuntu (maybe i'll move to xubuntu) user and so i prefer gtk applications and i don't want to waste my harddisk with qt libraries...

It will be nice if we can simply add space from our google accounts into nautilus and used it transparently like other filesystems on computer.